“I looked into the Wernicke brother and sister who ran the hotel,” Darien said. “I couldn’t find any verification that these brothers are related to them. Then again, because of our longevity, we have to hide our ages and the like, so they might have changed their identities at some point. As to their father, it’s just as Stanton said. Their father died a short while ago in Raleigh. We couldn’t learn if he had a brother and sister though. As to whether the Wernickes who ran the hotel were wolves, we don’t keep lists on that sort of thing, but some of our older people that I questioned said they were, that my dad was adamant about the hotel being sold only to wolves and not humans.”
“We wondered if they were even related. The brothers might not be kin of theirs.”
“True.”
“All right. I’m off to look for them and see if they’re the ones who unlocked the basement door, despite Laurel telling them it was off-limits.”
“Breaking and entering, if you can prove it. Just let me know if you want to kick them out of town. They can investigate their aunt and uncle’s disappearance, however they want to, from outside our pack territory.”
“Will do.”
“Oh, and one other thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Brett said you saw a ghost wolf, or what you thought was one, running in that area of the woods where she’s been spotted before. He said Laurel believed the wolf was white. And drove a pickup truck.”
“Yeah.” CJ had meant to tell Darien after speaking with Brett about it, but then he’d forgotten and ended up at Laurel’s place, and there went any thought besides being with her. But Darien didn’t seem to mind. Probably because he thought CJ was making strides with keeping the she-wolves here.
“We’re making a concerted effort to look into it.”
He was surprised. “Don’t you think it was just a gray wolf? One of ours who saw my truck and didn’t recognize it in the snow?”
“We’re checking into it, just in case.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll let Laurel know.” CJ told him that Stanton knew about Laurel’s aunt. “What about the old-timers’ meeting?”
“Scheduled for tomorrow evening so that they can close up their shops for the night and have time this evening and tomorrow to gather anything they might have that helps the case. Let me know if you need me to talk with the brothers.”
“Will do.” Even though CJ was the law, Darien was ultimately in charge whenever it came to wolves in their territory. CJ headed outside and saw that the Wernicke brothers’ van was no longer parked in the lot. He made his way to his own truck, having to stop several times to talk to pack members before he got on the road and started to do a search for their vehicle. It would be easy to spot by the sign on its side that said: Painters by Day, Ghost Busters by Night.
He called the van’s description in to Trevor and Peter, in case they were free to help locate the men.
When he didn’t see any sign of the Wernicke brothers’ blue van, he headed out to the woods where Laurel had seen the ghost wolf. When he reached the spot where the tire tracks had been, he parked the truck and got out to explore a bit. The tire tracks had been right next to the riverbank. What if the wolf hadn’t taken off in the truck? What if it had swum across the river?
He stared across the river, the wind blowing the powdery snow all over, and swore that a white wolf stood watching him in the woods before it turned and vanished.
Chapter 14
At five o’clock, the celebration was winding down and Jacob Summers, the electrician, joined Laurel in the kitchen as she finished cleaning up, though several others had helped her with the job.
“Your finding?” she asked.
“A short in the wiring. I fixed it. No extra charge. Code-wise, everything is fine.”
“Thanks, Jacob.”
“No problem.”
Lelandi came into the kitchen to give her a hug. “Beautiful. Everything went splendidly. I’ll finish up anything else you need done in here. You have some guests ready to check in. Silva was going to do it, but she wasn’t sure what to do.”
“Oh, thanks so much.” Laurel gave Lelandi a big hug back. “I couldn’t have done it all without you and the rest of the pack who helped out.”
“That’s what we’re here for. And about winning the snow sculpture contest…it was an honest choice—and I’ll say unanimous. Everyone voted for it.”
“For…the sculpture,” Laurel said, smiling skeptically.
Lelandi smiled right back.
“Thanks again for everything.” When Laurel hurried to the check-in counter to take care of her guests, she saw the three Wernicke brothers standing there, looking a little miffed that she hadn’t checked them in at once. She stood taller. “Did CJ talk to you about the basement door?”
“No, why?” Stanton asked.
“Because someone unlocked it and let everyone down there.” She wondered where CJ had been all this time if he hadn’t run into the brothers and spoken with them already.
“That’s not good—for your insurance.”
“If you’re not pleased with the accommodations or anything else here, I’ll promptly refund your money.”
Stanton gave her a weak smile. So faked. “We just wondered who was going to check us in. Then again, we figured if we were…make that, when we’re running the hotel, we’ll have the proper staff to manage it. Though we would still be willing to hire you for the job.”
Normally, she and her sisters did hire a manager and more employees to help run their hotels, but this one was so small that they had wanted to take care of it on their own in the beginning. They figured they’d have time to hire additional staff once they knew the pack members better.
“If you do end up owning it, that will be up to you.” Laurel had no intention of running the hotel for these men. But from the sound of it, the brothers couldn’t claim it no matter how much they thought it should be theirs. “How are you paying for your stay?”
“Since the place is really ours, it should be free of charge.” Stanton smiled again.
Acting alpha-like, he was waiting for her to cower a bit. She wasn’t afraid of him. Not that he couldn’t be dangerous, but she just wasn’t going to be cowed by him.
She tapped her pen on the countertop. He slowly pulled out a wallet and then handed a credit card to her. She said, “And I’ll need to see some photo ID.”
His brothers chuckled.
“We have a TV show,” Stanton reminded her.
“That I don’t watch.” She eyed his photo ID carefully, memorizing his address, and then began to fill in the information on her computer. “And you’re staying a week and checking out on…”
“Two weeks.”
She looked up from her computer. “You made reservations for a week, checking out on Saturday morning by ten.”
Stanton turned to his brothers. “I thought you said we had reservations for two weeks.”
“That’s what I changed it to. Don’t remember who I talked to, and I didn’t get any confirmation number,” Vernon said.
“Then you didn’t get any reservation extension. We already have the rooms booked after that.”
“Then when do you have the next available opening?” Stanton leaned against the counter, getting into her space.
“Not for three more months.”
“I don’t believe you.” He tried to see her computer, and she turned the monitor so he couldn’t observe it. “That’s fine. We’ll stay at Bertha’s bed and breakfast.”
Lelandi came out of the kitchen and smiled at the men. “Gentlemen, enjoy your stay here.” Then she turned to Laurel. “Thanks for accommodating my brother’s…friends for the coming month. They’ve looked forward to skiing here while my brother, his wife, and their children visit with Darien and me.”
“I can’t wait to meet them,” Laurel said cheerfully, then handed the keys to the Wernicke brothers. “Your rooms are the first three on the right as you reach the top of the stairs.”
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The brothers left then and headed to the stairs.
Lelandi whispered to her, “CJ was supposed to be back already, but he saw the white wolf you thought you had seen—only this time it was on the other side of the river.”
Laurel’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re kidding.”
“No. So he and some others are trying to reach that side of the river and track the wolf down. Trevor’s coming here to keep an eye on things for you until CJ returns. I’ll stick around until he arrives.”
“You don’t really have to.” Laurel knew Lelandi had little ones to take care of.
“Someone needs to stay here with you in case you have trouble, given the circumstances. CJ would, but he had the notion to check out the white wolf and just happened to see it.”
“It’s not one of yours?”
“No.”
“A full-blooded wolf?”
“Maybe, or one of our kind. Just not one of our pack. Anyway, we need to know the truth, and if it’s one of our kind, we’ll see. Oh, and about the hotel bookings,” Lelandi said softly, for Laurel’s hearing only, “we’ll ensure your place stays booked.”
“They’ll just stay at Bertha’s.”
“It’s also booked, guaranteed.”
Laurel smiled. She loved this wolf pack.
* * *
CJ got ahold of Darien, then contemplated how to get to the other side of the river. A bridge crossed to the other side ten miles down the road, but he didn’t want to lose the opportunity.
“I’m shifting,” he said over his phone to Darien.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until you have backup?” Darien asked. “I’ve had the alert roster called. Your brothers are at the top of the list, and Peter’s coming.”
“What about Laurel and the hotel?” He was supposed to be there, keeping an eye on the Wernicke brothers.
“Lelandi is there with her.”
CJ didn’t like it. Two women were no match for three aggressive male wolves.
“Trevor’s joining them as soon as he can get there.”
“All right.”
“But about this wolf—”
“It’s just one wolf. And because it’s white, it could be old or injured.”
“Or an Arctic wolf, healthy and strong. Could you tell?”
“No. The wind was whipping the fresh snow around and pushing the snow from the pine branches, making for a screen of white.”
“Are you sure it’s not a gray wolf and the snow was making it appear white?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve stripped. Got to shift and go.”
“Take care, CJ. Howl if you find anything. I’m on my way.”
“Will do.”
They ended the call, and CJ buried his clothes and phone underneath a pile of snow. Using his enhanced sense of smell as a wolf, he would easily locate his belongings when he returned.
He shifted, his muscles and skin heating as the welcome change came over him, the chill of the wind instantly blocked as his double coat of fur protected him from the elements—both cold and heat. Then he raced to the rocky riverbank, slipped down the rocks until he was no longer standing on the smooth stone river bottom, and swam against the strong flow of the current.
He hoped that if the wolf was older, he could reach him before long. But if this was the same wolf others had said they had witnessed—the ghost wolf that had never been located—he might be so good at evasion that even CJ wouldn’t be able to locate him.
CJ struggled against the pull of the cold, black water. If the wolf had not driven off in the truck like they had previously surmised, had he managed to swim across the river that night, evading them that way? CJ wasn’t sure when the first sightings of the wolf had been reported, though he’d never heard anyone say it was a white wolf. And he’d never known anyone personally who had witnessed the wolf. Or at least who had let on.
When he finally reached the other side of the river and found purchase on the slippery stones, he made his way up the bank and ran into the piney woods. He was here, ready for the chase and whatever he found, but he wished he could be in three places at once: here looking for the white wolf, watching over the hotel to ensure the Wernicke brothers didn’t give the sisters any further grief, and at the sisters’ home, learning if Laurel and her sisters had found anything hidden in their aunt’s furniture when it arrived. He hadn’t told Darien or anyone, because she hadn’t wanted to divulge the furniture’s secret compartments. If she found anything, she would tell him. And Darien and Lelandi if it was beneficial to the case.
But he was here for now. He wanted in the worst way to learn who the wolf was—to at least solve one of the mysteries they had run across.
He concentrated hard on looking for a wolf blending with the snow-covered trees. He was smelling for it and listening for any sign that it was moving through the woods. With the wind whipping about and the snow making popping sounds as it fell off the trees in clumps, he didn’t sense the wolf anywhere.
Worse, he had just climbed on top of a snow-covered, tangled mass of fallen trees and branches, and as soon as he stepped on it, he felt it move. The timber suddenly cracked and snapped. His heart went into his throat, and before he could leap off it, the deadfall broke beneath his weight and he fell.
* * *
Laurel’s sisters arrived nearly at midnight. As soon as the men off-loaded the furniture into the house and left, Laurel gave both her sisters hugs in greeting. Then Ellie said, “Okay, spill the beans.”
Laurel couldn’t stop worrying about CJ. No one had heard from him in hours, and Lelandi had updated her every hour on the hour. He’d taken off after the white wolf and then vanished. All Laurel could think of was the way in which their aunt and the Wernicke brother and sister had disappeared. At one point, she thought of alien abductions, which was nuts, sure, but she couldn’t quit thinking about CJ and wanting to go in search of him. Lelandi had told her that they had at least forty men out looking for him now. They would find him and he’d be fine, Laurel kept telling herself.
She swallowed hard and tried not to let her sisters see her eyes again fill with tears. If she hadn’t seen the white wolf, CJ wouldn’t be missing now. She was certain he wouldn’t have vanished without a trace unless something bad had happened.
She tried to concentrate on searching one of the highboy’s drawers for hidden compartments while her sisters worked on others. Worrying about CJ wouldn’t help anyone.
“Spill the beans about what?” Laurel asked, certain that Ellie and Meghan wanted to know all about her and CJ. But if that wasn’t the topic her sister had in mind, Laurel had no intention of bringing it up.
Both her sisters had stopped looking at the drawers and were waiting for her to answer Ellie.
“What do you mean, about what? About CJ, of course. Here you are telling us not to get too friendly with anyone in the pack, and what do you do? Get really friendly with one of them. And he’s not just a member, but the pack leader’s close cousin.” Ellie teased.
Laurel hadn’t thought they’d be upset about it, but hopeful that she’d want to stay. She hadn’t been sure until now.
“Really friendly,” Meghan said, nodding.
“I have some bad news.” Laurel hated that she had to tell them now. She didn’t want to mention what had happened with regard to CJ, unless that turned out to be really bad news.
“Don’t tell me you’ve already broken up with CJ. Ahhh, how could you go and do that?” Ellie asked. “Here I thought after you and he were caught in that scandalous photo—”
Immediately, Laurel defended herself. “He just kissed my nose.”
“And the one where you were sitting on his lap? Then he stayed overnight.” Ellie looked up from the drawer she’d pulled out and had been inspecting. “And more?”
“We just watched A Christmas Story and fell asleep on the couch.”
“Ohmigod,” Ellie said, poking Meghan, who was staring wide-eyed at Laurel.
“What did you think?” Laurel was afraid they thought she was mated.
Meghan smiled. “Wow. We thought he’d fallen asleep on the couch and you’d gone to sleep in your bed. You slept together on the couch? Together?”
As if she hadn’t said the word “together” enough! “You’ve fallen asleep on the couch while watching a movie any number of times,” Laurel said.
“Not. With. A. Wolf.” Meghan raised her brows.
“For heaven’s sake, that’s not what’s important.”
“It is too,” Meghan said.
Well, yes, it was. Wolves didn’t have sex unless they planned a mating, and it sure sounded like they could be headed in that direction. But now she wanted more than anything to join the search teams out looking for CJ. If something terrible had happened to him… She shook her head at herself. She couldn’t think of it. He was fine. They’d find him soon, and he’d be fine. But her gut instinct told her it wasn’t true.
“Okay, so what’s the bad news then?” Ellie ran her fingers over the bottom of the drawer, searching for a hidden compartment. “Ow.”
Laurel and Meghan looked up from examining two more drawers to see what the problem was.
“Sliver.”
Meghan rolled her eyes.
“The problem is that the Wernicke brothers claim they’re related to the hotel owners who vanished. And now they’re alleging that the hotel belongs to them.”
“Holy crap. No way,” Meghan said. “Are they still staying here at the hotel as guests?”
“Yes. But they thought they should have free rooms.”
Meghan put down the drawer and headed for the front door of the house.
Grabbing her arm, Laurel intercepted her. “Where are you going?”
“They can’t stay here if they think they’re going to take the hotel away from us.” Meghan’s eyes glistened with tears.
Feeling her distress, Laurel pulled her into a hug. “Darien and everyone else in the pack will help us to uncover the truth. And the unpaid taxes meant that the pack took over the property, so the brothers wouldn’t be able to claim it. But they could cause other trouble for us, trying to ruin our business and forcing us to lose money. We could face financial ruin.”