Susan snorted. “You wouldn’t know a hot wolf if he knocked you down and licked you all over.” Susan smiled. “Now that gives me some interesting ideas. Let’s see.” She lifted her phone off the table.
Pepper wondered what she was up to.
“He said his name was Eric Silver, and he’s a park ranger.” Susan pulled up an Internet browser. “Yep, here he is. Giving a lecture to a group of senior citizens. With his dark hair and eyes, his height, and that gorgeous smile, he looks like every woman’s fantasy.” She sighed dreamily. “And,” she said in a pointed way, “he’s all smiles with the gray-haired women and men, so he wasn’t putting on a show just for you.”
“He wasn’t putting on a show for me. He wanted me to do what he said. If he’d wanted to put a show on for me, he wouldn’t have suggested taking you to Silver Town.”
“He’s clearly an alpha wolf, not a beta. And he’s a park ranger, so he knows something about taking care of people in the park who are injured.” Then Susan frowned. “Ohmigod, you don’t think he’s the wolf Waldron attacked, do you?”
“Yeah, he was. Though I’m surprised Eric returned to our campsite as a wolf.”
“See? He’s interested in you. Or, well, maybe he ditched his clothes somewhere nearby and was watching us as a wolf. Although”—Susan elongated the word, putting her phone over her heart and looking up at the ceiling—“in my fantasy of him, he would be thinking only of me and not you.”
Pepper laughed.
“Did you bite Waldron?” Susan asked. “Richard said you took off after him and you smelled of blood when you returned. Not your blood. I was in the car by then and missed out on all the action.”
“Waldron was chasing him, though I didn’t see any sign of the wolf. Waldron had bitten him, and I had to do something to get Waldron’s attention. He was definitely in hunting mode and determined to catch hold of his prey.”
“And kill him?” Susan sounded horrified.
“If he could have gotten hold of him, I’d say that was a good bet.” That brought back memories of the alpha who had killed her mate—though her mate had been a beta—and Pepper shuddered.
Susan closed her gaping mouth. Then she set her empty glass on the table. “So, where did you bite Waldron?”
“His tail, the first part of him I reached. I didn’t bite too hard, but I still drew some blood.”
“Was he pissed off at you?”
“We had a wolf-to-wolf confrontation. Yeah, he was pissed, but I wasn’t backing down either, and if he wanted me to look at his courting favorably, he had to mind me.”
“Oh, wow, I bet that nearly killed him.” Susan shook her head, taking another chip from the bowl and biting into it.
“Yeah, he didn’t like it. If we’d been mated wolves, I’m certain he would have growled and snapped at me to back off.”
“You’re not going to, are you? Consider courting him?”
“No way. Look how aggressive as he is toward another male wolf who hadn’t provoked him in any way. We aren’t even courting.”
“Agreed. But now, Eric? He’s my kind of guy.”
Pepper waved a potato chip at her. “You should have given him your number.”
“I would have, but I was a wolf. I wish he’d given me his business card.”
“He might have. But you were a wolf.”
“I should have shifted and given him a big smile and a big thank-you for his help.”
Pepper laughed. “You would have been way too shy to do that.”
“Yeah. I keep telling myself I need to overcome that. I couldn’t believe Waldron was watching our pack tonight. Well, and that he tore into the other wolf. He’s becoming a real stalker.”
Pepper refilled their wineglasses. “He thinks he’s protecting his ‘property.’ But I won’t be his mate no matter what.”
“Richard said Eric growled and snapped back at Waldron. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to him. Besides you. I wish I’d been there.” Susan sighed.
“Eric is a real alpha wolf. I was surprised he didn’t stay and fight Waldron to the end.” But Pepper was glad for it. She wouldn’t have wanted to see Eric hurt further since he’d already been wounded. Even now, she wondered if he was okay.
She didn’t want to call and check on him though.
She let out her breath on a frustrated sigh.
She hadn’t expected to have any trouble on their camping trip into the national forest. She was a forester and used to working with groups on forest management. Many of her pack members worked in some forestry job or another. Susan supervised their own forest nursery and Christmas tree farm. Some of the pack members worked there or on other tree farms and some worked on other forestry projects, such as tree removal. But they hadn’t been to this forest together as a pack in the last five years or so. It had been a vacation, and before Susan injured herself, they’d been having a blast.
Pepper had a lovely log home for pack meetings, with 250 acres of woods and a covered stone patio for outdoor gatherings. Most of her pack members had log homes of their own situated all over the territory to afford them privacy, but close enough that they could gather as a pack whenever they needed to.
“What if Eric could chase away Waldron permanently?” Susan asked.
“Then what? What if he expected something in return for his help? Our pack? Our land?”
“You? If I were the pack leader, I’d seriously be considering it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not interested. We’ll continue to deal with Waldron like we have since he moved into the area with his pack two weeks ago.”
“I don’t think Waldron will get the message without someone taking him to task, physically. As alpha as you are, you couldn’t beat him as a wolf. Not one on one. Not like you took that other wolf down.” Susan moved her leg off the table and winced. “I’m going to call it a night. When do you see the Boy Scout troop tomorrow to talk about being a forester?”
“First thing in the morning, and another after that. And I have two sessions after lunch, so I’ll be hanging around the area. I’ll have someone stop in to feed you while I’m gone.” Because Susan was using crutches, she was staying with Pepper for a couple of days. Longer, if she needed to. But Pepper didn’t want her to have to try and do for herself right now.
“Thanks for putting me up for a couple of nights.”
“No problem, Susan. You know I always enjoy your company. If you think of it tomorrow, you could give Eric Silver a call and tell him that you’re all right. I’m certain he’d like to know that. While you’re at it, you can thank him for the rescue, and if it comes up in the conversation, ask him if he’s okay.”
Susan smiled broadly at her. “You are interested in him! But I doubt he’d want you to know if he was injured. Macho wolf syndrome, you know.”
“Possibly. Unless he wanted to get our sympathy. The doctor said it should take about four weeks for your leg to mend, which means half or less time for us. Just don’t put any stress on the leg for now. You don’t want to increase the fracture.”
“No, that’s for sure. It already hurts enough. I hope Pauline can run things until I return to work.”
“Pauline will be fine, but I’ll run over there to check things out. You don’t have to worry about anything. Just rest.” Then Pepper raised her brows. “You didn’t do this on purpose did you, to get some time off? You know I’d spell you for a while if you needed vacation days.”
Susan laughed and hobbled off to bed, saying good night.
Pepper retired to her bedroom, hoping she could figure out a means to keep Waldron away from her pack and her lands without having to take more drastic measures. He’d been scent-marking all over her territory, and so had some of the males of his pack. She’d taken him to task for it, but what else could she do? They outnumbered her more than two to one, from what he’d said. Sh
e couldn’t complain to human law enforcement that Waldron and his men were peeing all over her property. She still wouldn’t give in to him no matter what. But it could be a real problem for a wolf pack if they ignored it.
She tucked herself into bed, thinking about Waldron attacking Eric and drawing blood. She should have told Susan to call her when she learned how he was, if he was willing to tell her the truth.
* * *
His injuries throbbing, Eric answered Sarandon’s call while he got on the road to return to Silver Town. “Hey, what’s up?” Like Eric, his brother loved the outdoors. He was a guide for anyone who needed one—photographers, nature lovers, hikers, and rock climbers. He loved doing it all.
“Just a heads-up; I might be a little late to the forestry careers talk tomorrow,” Sarandon said. “I’ve got a Lepidopterist Society meeting first thing in the morning so the members can count butterflies and identify different varieties. If we have a big showing, we’ll be there a while. So I might have to talk after you do.”
“I’ll let the Scout leaders know,” Eric replied. “I’ve got other business to attend to after I speak, so if I’m not there, just give your lecture and I’ll meet up with you after lunch at the next Boy Scout campground. They’ll love hearing what you do. I have something I have to do afterward, and I’ll take care of it during lunchtime.”
“I thought you said you had the whole day scheduled to talk to troops.”
“I do. We have two other Scout troops camping in other areas to meet, but when everyone’s busy with lunch, I have other business to take care of.”
“I thought we could get lunch together. We don’t often see each other during the duty day.”
Eric suspected his brother sensed something was up. He couldn’t get anything past Sarandon. His younger brothers, sometimes, yes, but not Sarandon. Even though the quadruplet brothers were only minutes apart, he and Sarandon were the closet to each other, just like Brett and CJ were close.
“Okay, so what are you going to do that’s so important?” Sarandon asked.
“Nothing. Just checking out an area on the nearby creek.” He wanted to learn more about the pack that had rented the cabin, like where they lived. Which meant checking their reservations. Since he worked for the park, it would be easy for him to do. He had to know if they were involved in the illegal cultivation of cannabis.
“For…what?”
Eric couldn’t lie to his brother. After their father had lied to Eric and his brothers, Eric wouldn’t do that to them. But he wasn’t about to tell him he had seen a fantasy in the forest he wanted to know more about, and wanted to prove to himself in the worst way that Pepper was innocent of any wrongdoing. Pepper was the only name he had to go by. And she was just as hot and spicy as her name. “Just checking it out.”
“Okay, well, let me know if you discover anything interesting.”
“Will do.”
“I bet,” Sarandon said, sounding skeptical.
Eric knew he had to get his injuries looked at, and better Sarandon hear about the fight from him rather than pack gossip. “A couple of wolves bit me.”
“Is it bad? It has to be or you wouldn’t have told me. Do you need me to come get you?”
Sarandon knew not to make a big deal of it.
“Not a problem. And I wouldn’t have mentioned it if I hadn’t wanted Doc to look at it.”
“Hell. It is bad or you wouldn’t be seeing Doc.”
“Just to be on the safe side.”
“How bad—”
“Minor.” Though both wounds were still bleeding and hurting like crazy.
“This has to do with the drug wolves?”
“One of them, yeah. CJ and the rest of the sheriff’s department are checking into it.”
“One? What about the other?”
“He was a…guard wolf for another pack, just visiting the park.”
“You’re going after the wolf tomorrow then?”
“No.” Not that wolf. The she-wolf.
“Then—”
“I think he was protecting his pack. Anyway, I was just curious where their pack is from.” Eric pulled onto the main road going to Silver Town.
“Related to the drug business?”
“I don’t believe so.” He sure as hell hoped not.
“Any woman you’re interested in seeing more of in particular?” Sarandon asked, his tone bordering on amused, but he was also curious. “You wouldn’t be interested if there wasn’t more to it than that.”
“As if it’s any of your business, but yeah. There were some women in the pack.”
“Hell, Eric.” Now Sarandon sounded surprised. Which, given Eric’s disinterest in women for the past two years, was understandable.
“They might be mated.” Eric knew Sarandon would assume he was interested in one of the women in particular. He didn’t want to tell him about the possibility that her pack, or some of her pack, could be involved in illegally raising cannabis. Not without proof.
Then again, Pepper had been the leader of the group of women at the creek, not necessarily a pack leader. The other women had fluttered around her like she was a goddess, everyone attentive to her, and when she entered the cabin, she’d definitely been the one in charge.
“Do you want me to go with you when you check the area out?” Sarandon sounded worried.
“No.”
“The wolf who attacked you could be her mate.”
“She didn’t have one. Apparently some wolf has been wanting to court her though.”
“Do you have a name for her?”
“Pepper is all I got.”
“All right. Let me know what Doc says about your injuries.”
“Sarandon…”
“All right, all right. See you tomorrow if we can get together. Otherwise, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sounds good.” They ended the call. Despite the fact that Eric’s shoulder was hurting like crazy, he was trying to see the point of view of the wolf who had bitten him, but he was having a difficult time of it. He called Doc, hating to make this a late night call, but Dr. Weber always took calls anytime of the day or night. Not that he would be happy about it. Doc wasn’t a late-night person.
Still, Eric was damn glad they had a wolf doctor in their pack. Reporting that a wolf had bitten him to a human doctor would be bad news all the way around for wolves, his kind and otherwise. And lying and blaming a dog could cause problems too. Of course, Eric could have called their pack vet, because he didn’t mind taking care of anyone any time of day or night, but Eric really didn’t want to see the vet.
“Hate to be calling you like this,” Eric began.
“Another snakebite?” Dr. Weber asked, sounding grouchy.
Eric was still irritated with himself for not spotting a coiled-up rattler only a week ago while he had been out searching for a missing hiker. He’d been wearing heavy-duty, snake-proof boots, but the rattler had struck out at him from a stack of rocks, and had dug his fangs into his thigh.
“A couple of wolf bites this time. I probably shouldn’t even be bothering you with it.”
“Wolf bites? While you were in the national park? A regular wolf? Couldn’t have been one of our pack. If you’re calling me at this hour, it needs to be seen. How long before you get here?”
“Half hour. Yes, I was at the park. No, it wasn’t one of our people, and before you ask, it was a lupus garou.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“You don’t need to tell Darien.” Eric knew he would anyway.
“When a wolf bites one of our people, Darien needs to know about it. I take it you didn’t provoke the wolf.”
“One of them is involved in the drug business. The other bite happened in a different location, and the wolf was just being protective of his pack.” Eric didn’t want Darien sending out
a hunting party to take down the “dangerous” wolf.
“All right. I’ll let Darien know.”
Fifteen minutes into the drive, Eric got a call. Darien. Eric let out his breath and explained about the woman’s injury and the subsequent events.
“It’s a national park, not a place a lupus garou pack can claim for their own,” Darien said angrily after Eric had finished. “And you didn’t act aggressively to the wolf or threaten their pack in any way.”
“I know, but it’s okay.”
“I know you, Eric. It’s not okay. You’re going to try and locate the pack.”
“Yes, as a human and in my capacity as park ranger, I am checking on the status of the woman’s injury. I won’t be running as a wolf. They have to respect the uniform.”
Darien didn’t say anything. Eric knew Darien didn’t want him going alone, not after what had already happened between him and the wolf. He was concerned about the woman’s injury, but he was also bothered by the notion that some wolf was hassling Pepper. Not that she’d appreciate Eric stepping in and chasing off the other wolf if she thought she could handle it herself, but if it worked out well for her, he was certainly willing to help her out.
“I haven’t had a chance to check in with CJ. What happened when he and the others investigated the trouble I had up on the cliffs?”
“No bodies. No marijuana plants. But all the wolf prints and trace evidence of blood, including your own, were there. The wolf pack had to be close by to clean it up as fast as they did and move out. Eric, you’re not to investigate these people on your own any further. You’re not immortal.”
“I had to take a chance. This is the first time any of us have actually encountered the wolves responsible.” Not that it did a whole lot of good, since the wolves were now dead. What if he learned Pepper and her pack were involved up to their wolf ears in this shady business?