by Terry Spear
“I think they know that about him and his men already. The word has spread about how he rescued Joey. When we return home, Ronald is making another pack member play Santa for the kids to avoid having anyone else go out to see one at a mall. Nobody is happy about it, especially not the new Santa. He has the right look, which is why Ronald chose him, but he and his mate never had children, so he sounds more like the Grinch right now.”
“Then someone should toss Ronald and his brother out on their ears.”
“Hear, hear,” Nick said.
Aidan was wrapping Nick’s injured wrist with an Ace bandage.
“Greg and I’ll be home in another couple of hours,” Holly told her mom.
“Are you sure you want to come home? Sounds like you are having a nice visit with Nick and with Aidan too. You’re not getting any younger, you know.”
Truthfully? No, she didn’t want to go home. But she felt she owed it to her family so Ronald and Jared wouldn’t hassle them any further. “Yes, I want to come home.”
“I’ll stay,” Greg said, glancing at Aidan to see if it was all right.
“What would your mother think?” Aidan asked.
“Greg wants to stay,” Holly told her mother.
“I told you, if they’ll teach him to cook, they’re welcome to keep him there as long as it takes.”
Holly laughed. But would that be an imposition to Aidan and his men? She didn’t want them feeling like they had to offer just to please her.
“Ted and Mike are Aidan’s bodyguards,” Holly said.
“It’s okay by me,” Mike said, “if the doc is all right with it.”
“We can always use another hand in the kitchen to help with supper tonight,” Ted said.
“Yes!” Greg said, full of enthusiasm. “You can teach me to guard too.”
“We have plenty of room here,” Aidan said. “Greg won’t be any trouble at all. Are you sure you want to return to your family’s cabin, Holly?”
“I have to. But maybe I can return to your place later.”
“Sooner,” Aidan said.
“We’ll see.” She couldn’t assure Aidan of anything, not until she knew how Ronald was going to react. Then she told her mom, “I’ll call you back before I leave here so you’ll have an idea when I’ll arrive there.”
“Have a good time until then,” her mom said. “But you know, we’ll be fine, and you don’t have to return here to protect us.”
“Thanks, but if Ronald gives you too much grief, I’ll come home sooner.”
“All right, dear.”
When they ended the call, Holly said to Nick as he sat at the table, a toasty fire warming the room, “I’m so sorry about how Ronald treated you.”
“I know, but it wasn’t your fault. You and over half the pack spoke out against his actions, but unless someone replaces him, things will never change.”
“If we could find someone to take over, who in the pack would make a better leader?” she asked.
Nick shook his head. “Who would make for a better leader for the rest of the pack? I don’t know. A new leader would be a godsend. For me? Being in Seattle and around the pack reminds me too much of my beloved Millicent. I don’t know if I’ll feel at home with any of the other packs, but I’m willing to give it a try.”
“Good. I’m glad. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
“Truthfully, I needed the time to deal with my mate’s death. Not that being banished from the pack helped matters. I appreciated everyone’s assistance. Ronald’s an ass.”
“I agree.” Holly wished she could go with Aidan to see where Nick would end up, if he did indeed find a pack that would work for him. But she figured he might live with one for a while, and then another, just to find the place where he wanted to live permanently. “You’ll let me know where you end up and how you’re doing, right?”
Nick smiled at her. “Sure thing, Doc.”
“Food’s ready,” Greg said, carrying the plates to the table.
Ted and Mike brought in the dishes of steaks, potatoes, and grilled asparagus and set them on the table. Greg carried in a plate of store-bought, peppermint-decorated brownies.
Then they all sat down to eat lunch.
“This is damn good,” Nick said, cutting up several more bites of the rib eye steak. “You can’t know how much I’ve craved having a steak like this. All I’ve had is fish and more fish.” He caught Aidan’s eye. “Right after we eat, I’ll give you a sample of my blood, if you think it’ll help you in any way.”
“Thanks,” Aidan said. “I appreciate it. Who knows? You might be the key to all of it. Holly’s blood cells aren’t aging any faster, so it will be interesting to see if yours are the same way. She says everyone else in the pack is like this. But Everett Johnston and his mother and sister showed the changes in their cells.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help. Do you think Ronald’s pack will be affected eventually?” Nick asked.
“That’s what I keep telling Ronald, that it’s possible it could happen to us too. Then what would he do? I have every intention of working on this with Aidan and helping him to solve the mystery, if he can and if he wants me to,” Holly said.
“Yeah, I’m ready to add you to the team, full partners even.”
Everyone stopped eating to see what Holly said to that. She felt her cheeks flush with heat. Was he asking what she thought he was asking? Or was it just a work commitment?
She needed a change of pace. The problem with wolves—which was good, really—was that they didn’t get sick that much or need her for medical emergencies very often. No one was even having babies anytime soon. Joey and his siblings were the youngest kids in the pack.
“But I’m sure she’ll need time to think about it,” Aidan said.
“I’ll do it.” She didn’t need to think about it. This was an opportunity of a lifetime.
Greg’s jaw was gaping. Nick was smiling and nodding. Ted and Mike chuckled.
“You’re leaving the pack?” Greg looked like he was ready to leave with her.
“I’ll return to finish up whatever business I have with my practice and see if I can get blood samples from everyone first, but yeah. I’ve wanted to do this since Aidan made us aware there was a problem.”
“Do you want to examine Nick’s blood cells on the microscope before you return to your cabin?” Aidan asked.
“Yeah, I sure do.” She wondered how her parents would view her leaving the pack to join Aidan in his research. Then she remembered her mother’s comment that Aidan might not want anything more to do with her after the project was done.
A more pressing concern reared its ugly head. What if she and Aidan wanted to mate, and she didn’t age as fast as him? What if it took decades to find a cure?
Chapter 15
“After all the excitement we had earlier today, I don’t think we can do an encore for tonight,” Mike said, moving the dirty dishes to the kitchen.
“The meal and company were great,” Nick said. “I was glad to get my mind off the crevasse incident.”
“You’ve been climbing for a while?” Aidan asked.
“Yeah. Looked like you have been too.”
“Yeah. For the fun of it. I try to get in a couple of climbs a year. More if the other guys want to go.”
“I’d be ready,” Ted said.
“Me too,” Mike said.
“It’s a deal,” Aidan said, wondering if Holly would be interested in something like that. Something easy, though, until she could decide if she liked it or not.
“I haven’t done any mountain climbing except as a wolf, but I’d love to do it.” Greg quickly helped to pick up more of the dishes, as though he thought that if the tough bodyguards could do kitchen cleanup duty, he could too.
Aidan figured that was something Holly didn’t see every day. She looked bo
th amused and impressed.
“If I’m going to fall into crevasses, I need to have the training to know how to make it out of them on my own. I’d be willing to try it. I’m sure we’ll have nightmares tonight about the accident,” Holly said.
“Doc can do something about that.” Ted carried the tub of butter and empty serving dishes into the kitchen. “If you stay the night.”
Smiling, she glanced at Aidan.
“Hell yeah. If you stay the night, I’ll chase your nightmares away. If you don’t stay here, just give me a call, and I’ll be right over.”
She laughed and motioned to Greg, who was washing dishes. “My kid brother is here.”
“Hey, I’m almost an adult. Don’t mind me.”
She gave her brother a get-real look. “Right. And everything we say or do, you’ll repeat to Mom and Dad.”
“About the mountain climbing? I’d take you on some easier rock-climbing adventures and see how you like it. And I’m serious about you staying the night,” Aidan said, wishing she would. Not only because of the ordeal they’d all been through today, but because he wanted to spend more time with her.
“Believe me, if I wasn’t worried about Ronald pestering my family, I would.”
“Do you want to get this business of taking a sample of my blood over with before I change my mind?” Nick stood up from the table.
“Yeah, let’s do it.” Aidan wanted to get it done, mostly because he still couldn’t believe Holly’s blood wasn’t aging faster. He kept thinking it was an anomaly or she had some immunity to the change. “Coming?” he asked Holly.
“Yes, I sure am. We’re partners in this, right?” She said it in a joking way, not like she really believed they’d be full partners.
He helped her up from her chair. “Absolutely. I can’t wait to see your take on the research.” Then he motioned to Ted, Mike, and Greg, who were all busy cleaning up the kitchen. “Carry on.”
Ted saluted him with a clean spatula.
“What do you think the problem is with the blood issue?” Nick asked.
Aidan told him he suspected it had something to do with their DNA.
“I missed out because I was no longer part of the pack.”
“We’ll catch you up. Some of the other packs have doctors who take blood samples and send them to me. The ones that don’t, I visit monthly to take samples.”
The three of them went into the lab, and Nick sat down to give his blood.
“Are the two of you going to hook up?” Nick asked.
Holly glanced at Aidan, a blush creeping over her face.
Aidan couldn’t help smiling. “That’s all part of the plan.”
* * *
Holly hadn’t expected Nick to make the comment, or for Aidan to say he was working on hooking up with her. “Yeah, sure. We’re going to spend Christmas together, meet the rest of the family…” Holly said, then quickly added, “Of course, I’m joking. Not about going to his family’s place for Christmas…” Ugh, she was rambling.
She rarely got nervous, but wolves did look at other wolves as prospective mates and could quickly dismiss the notion or give it a second or third thought. Just as humans did when they were considering if a guy or gal would possibly be a good match for the long term.
She didn’t want to admit how many times she had thought they might make a great team in and out of work. She certainly was attracted to him, and he seemed to be to her. That Aidan had risked his neck to come for her and Nick—and didn’t wait for either Ted or Mike to do it—said volumes.
Aidan laughed. “It’s definitely something I want to explore more. I think we’d make a great team—professionally and otherwise.”
“I knew it. The moment I saw the two of you standing shoulder to shoulder up on the cliff, you looked like mate material to me. In fact, I was certain you had left the pack and mated the male wolf. And then the doc had to rescue you and me from the crevasse. Not his men, but the doc.” Nick rolled down his sleeve. “I was really hoping you were coming down to speak with me that night. But I realized it was a long way down. Traversing that section in the dark without breaking your necks would have taken a couple of hours, and I suspected that if the doc hadn’t hooked up with another pack, she needed to get back to her own or she would have created a lot of worry. After what happened to us in broad daylight, it was a good thing you waited.”
“I’ll say,” Holly said.
“I was damn glad to see you with other wolves though. I knew Ronald wouldn’t have opened the pack to others, so that’s why I really thought you were with them now,” Nick added. “When Greg came looking for me, I couldn’t have been more pleased. After he ran into my camp, he went into my tent to shift, wrapped himself in my sleeping bag, and came out to talk to me. He said he was supposed to meet with you, but he smelled my scent and detoured in case he could find me. He said he had to rush off because he was already running late. I didn’t have a chance to say anything but ‘be careful,’ and then he said he’d be right back, shifted, and loped off as a wolf. I’m damn glad he didn’t run into the trouble we all did later.”
“I am too. Where we usually go, it’s not that dangerous,” Holly said.
“Right, because of the families that are with you,” Nick said. “I did worry about Greg because that old grizzly was hanging around and might give him problems. The next thing I knew, all of you showed up at the camp. Warmed my heart to see you. It was getting damn cold living out there all the time, with the winter really setting in. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you came for me.”
“I tried finding you several times,” Holly said, giving him a scornful look.
“I didn’t see you, but I’m not surprised you were looking for me. I really wasn’t ready to deal with anyone from the pack. Not unless you’d come to say Ronald was gone, but I knew he wasn’t. I’ve been to the cabins when the pack was there, learned the bastard was still in charge, and disappeared.”
“I caught your scent a couple of times. I went looking for you at various times. But I could never find you. You were much too wily. When you let us see you last night, I suspected you were ready to visit with us.” Holly was glad for that.
“You know why?” Nick asked as he watched Aidan look at his blood under a microscope.
“Aidan and his men were with us.”
“Correct. I had hoped you had come to your senses and mated a wolf from another pack, that the other men were part of the pack, and they had taken your family in. Which was why Greg was with you.”
“I’m ready to make a change in my life too. I can’t live with Ronald’s rules any longer.” She joined Aidan at the microscope, and he left the chair so she could examine Nick’s blood cells. “What do you think about his cells, Aidan?” Holly asked. “You’re the expert.”
“How old are you, Nick?” Aidan asked.
“Sixty-nine.”
“I’d say that they haven’t changed. If I consider his wolf age and what I’ve seen in cells for a wolf that old, I’d say these appear right for our original longer longevity.”
“That’s good news, Doc,” Nick said.
Holly took a deep breath and let it out. Without being able to check his blood, she’d been worried about Nick. “You’re certain?” she asked Aidan.
“Yeah, I am. I’ve taken samples of blood from so many wolves now, I can pretty well pinpoint the changes. But I’m still surprised that neither of you are changing.” Aidan switched to another page on his monitor and showed her two blood samples. One of Nick’s blood cells with the original longevity, and another blood cell sample that had faster aging from one of the older wolves in the Montana pack. “Now, of course, everything has to do with genetics, lifestyle, and so on. But I would guess there’s a good chance his cells aren’t aging that fast.” Aidan paused. “Why would Everett’s and his family’s be different, if this has anyth
ing to do with your pack?”
“Maybe because they weren’t from our pack originally?” Nick asked.
“Right, they weren’t. And everyone else has always been with the pack. What if we have some kind of immunity to the change?” Holly asked.
“Possible. Do you have any pack members who aren’t royals?”
“No, everyone has had lupus garou roots for generations, so our strictly human gene pool is low.” Holly found the topic of their longevity changing so drastically both intriguing and worrisome.
“Yeah, but you’re from one of the oldest lines that we can tell,” Nick said.
Aidan raised his brows, waiting for Holly to tell him more.
“Yeah, so is yours.” She said to Aidan, “You know how some wolves like to brag that they are closer to the original lupus garou—the one who was the beginning of our kind? Dad always argued Nick’s line wasn’t as old as ours.”
“And I know mine is,” Nick said. “According to our oral history, we have roots that date back to the First Viking Age in 795 when the Vikings were raiding the Gaelic Irish coasts. Even though a lot of records for the period don’t exist, we live so long that generations continued to repeat the oral history. According to my great-granddad and my granddad, we came from one of the early Vikings who landed on those shores. Could have been even earlier.”
“Mine were in Iona, Scotland, when the Vikings attacked the monastery there.” She raised a brow at Nick.
“Your families were from enemy camps.” Aidan sounded fascinated.
“Back then, but we also settled in Scotland and Ireland,” Holly said.
“You’re not related, are you?”
Nick shook his head. “No one in my family would ever admit to that. Not back then.”
“But it’s possible,” Holly said, smiling at him.
“I would think that those whose families have been wolves for more centuries would age faster. What about the rest of your pack?” Aidan asked.
“Royals, but none that approach both our families’ history, at least that they know of. Some families didn’t share the oral history of their roots, just like some humans do and others don’t,” Nick said.
