“Can’t complain. I was up here seeing a cousin before he left to visit a friend. I was…” Rowdy sneezed. “I was curious about the wolves at the avalanche site yesterday, Ed.”
“Well, you and everyone else. I’ve already had trouble over that. Someone was asking if I’d pay him a bounty to take down the wolves. After they saved two people? I don’t think so. Someone else wanted to take pictures of the wolves and punched the hunter. Gave him a bloody nose. As much as I hated to do it, I had to arrest the photo hobbyist. A reporter caught the whole damn thing on video. Now animal-rights folks are mad at me for locking up the other guy and not the hunter.”
“You don’t have any idea if someone living in the area raised them?” Rowdy asked.
Then the two men paused to give the waitress their orders.
Owen and Candice’s meals had been served, and Candice was pouring maple syrup over her pancakes while Owen salted his steak. It was a good thing they had such good hearing, or they wouldn’t have made out the sheriff’s conversation with Rowdy.
Candice reached over to Owen and squeezed his hand. He nodded to let her know he was as surprised as she was to learn a detective was looking into the wolf situation.
After the waitress left cups of coffee and a decanter at the sheriff and the detective’s table, the sheriff said, “Nope. Don’t know of anyone who owns wolves or wolf dogs in the area. But I’d say it was a sure bet.”
“Are you looking for whoever is taking care of them?”
“Nope. As long as the wolves don’t hurt anyone, livestock, or pets, I’m not mounting a hunt for them. Unless we start receiving complaints—and we’ve had dozens of sightings of them since the accident, but no real trouble—I’m not doing anything about it.”
“Were there any real sightings?”
“One of two Samoyeds on leashes with their owner.”
Owen could imagine some Photoshopped pictures cropping up next.
Rowdy sneezed two more times and then blew his nose into a hanky. “Sorry. I think I caught a bit of a cold last night.”
“Serves him right,” Candice whispered to Owen.
He nodded.
“Mr. Lexus said the wolves were really his dogs. His Samoyeds look a lot like the wolves. They are white, but if you look at the video of the rescue, those are wolves. Maybe wolf dogs, but definitely not purebred Samoyeds,” the sheriff said. “They’re way too tall.”
“Wolf dogs,” Owen said, snorting.
“Have you had any incidents with wolves causing trouble here in the past?” Rowdy asked.
“Nope. And seeing Arctic wolves is even more unusual. An occasional gray wolf is seen in South Dakota, but Arctic wolves?” The sheriff shook his head.
“Well, that was really remarkable, seeing them dig those men out like that. If they hadn’t, the snowmobilers would never have made it. I still can’t believe that yahoo was taking a video of them when he should have been digging out his friends. I understand the men are in stable condition.”
“Yeah. We had a landslide a while back, and the man who was buried wasn’t so lucky. Oxygen deprivation. We couldn’t revive him.”
“Well, hell, what does Mr. Lexus think? That he can have his dogs take credit for saving the men’s lives? What if you have another case like this and call on him to bring his dogs to help?” Rowdy asked.
“Exactly. Lives could be lost because of it. He’s already been talking this up on Facebook. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started trying to train them in rescue operations to keep up the charade. They’re smart dogs, but that doesn’t mean they can do what those wolves did.”
“If they can manage it, maybe some good will come of it.”
Owen finished his food and looked to see if Candice had. She pushed her plate aside and nodded. “Ready to go,” she said softly.
“Let’s go.” He paid the bill, and then they left the restaurant, trying not to catch the sheriff or the detective’s attention.
“Hey, do you know a Candice Mayfair?” Rowdy asked.
Chills raced up Candice’s spine, but she slowed her pace to hear what was being said.
“From what my dispatcher says, the lady is a romance author.”
“Romance author, eh?” Rowdy leaned back from the table as the server brought them their plates of stacked pancakes.
“Yeah. Writes that weird stuff. Werewolves. All the rage, you know.”
“Werewolves?”
“Yeah. Helen reads all her works, says I should to support a local author.” The sheriff snorted. “Hell, I don’t even read the paper.”
Candice stepped outside with Owen, her heart racing. She motioned to a red pickup as they walked briskly to Owen’s vehicle. “That’s his truck right there. The one I saw last night.”
“I’m glad we’re leaving for a time. A reporter might have a nose for news, but a homicide detective would also know how to look for clues. And watch to see if we left the house as wolves. I can’t believe a homicide detective is trying to learn about the wolves. Discovering that you write about werewolves didn’t help. How much do you want to bet the detective will look up your books and realize you write about Arctic werewolves?”
“Yeah, and maybe even believe I’m raising a couple and that’s why I only write about Arctic ones. I wouldn’t be surprised if he put a motion camera out there to watch the house while he isn’t around.” As soon as they got on the road, Candice brought out her notepad. “If you don’t mind, I need to ask you a few questions.”
“An interview?”
She laughed. “Not quite. I just want to keep my facts straight. Okay, so do werewolves have sex as wolves with each other?”
He smiled. This was going to be one interesting trip back home.
Chapter 6
Candice needed to get her mind off the homicide detective and where it belonged: on creating werewolf romances. They had a long drive ahead of them, and she figured she’d put the time to good use since Owen was driving. When he smiled at her, she hoped he didn’t think she was being too silly for asking, but what did she know? Wolves did it in the wild, or at least the mated alpha pair did. Then she frowned. He opened his mouth to speak, but she blurted out, “It’s not only the alpha mated pair that have sex, is it?”
Now how wrong would that be?
Owen smiled again. “Well, truthfully, I’ve never had sex with a wolf. And I haven’t chased after Cameron and Faith to see what they’re up to when they want some alone time as wolves.”
“You take care of the kids?”
“Pups. When Faith shifts, so do the kids. So yeah, I do. Or the other guys do. We all take turns.”
Candice thought that was amazing. “Were you watching Corey the night he bit me?” She couldn’t imagine how the pup had gotten across the river without help.
“No. He was with his mom on the other side of the river. Cameron too.”
“Are Cameron and Faith your pack leaders?”
“Sort of. Cameron has always been pseudo in charge of the detective agency. He convinced us all to go into it together. We’ve been friends forever. We call it a pack, but I don’t think we really consider him and Faith in charge of it. We just work and play together. Makes it easier that way.”
“Okay, so what is it like being with a human versus a wolf? I mean, well, just the kissing part.” As soon as she spoke the words and saw the dimple in his cheek and the curve of his mouth, she felt her face flush with heat.
“You want to know what it’s like being a wolf with a human? The difference between night and day.”
“Well, I don’t mean to be fishing for compliments or anything but—”
“You noticed it too, didn’t you? How our pheromones stir each other’s up? How they make the experience headier, more complex, more…intriguing?”
“That’s just because we can smell the pheromones.
Right? I mean, it would be the same if we kissed any other wolf, wouldn’t it?”
“Leidolf, the red wolf who helped us out and shared Lupus Garou 101 with us, said there has to be a real mutual attraction between the wolves. Humans experience something similar. One man may smell divine to you, and another is a total turnoff. Or elicits no feelings at all. Like maybe a close relation. You might like the way a father smells, but that doesn’t make you sexually attracted to him. It has to do with procreation of the species, finding the wolf that is not only suited to you by temperament, but also carries the right genetic material for the offspring.”
“Hmmm.” Candice continued to jot down notes.
“The other thing is that once a wolf sets his or her sights on another, and they commit to each other, and I mean a sexual commitment, that’s it. They mate for life.”
She closed her gaping mouth, then finally said, “Wolves do that for the most part. Though some take another mate if they lose theirs. But the human half wouldn’t feel obligated, would they?”
“It’s tied into our wolf half, the need to take care of the wolf kids—something I didn’t think would happen to me, being the bachelor that I am. Not that I ever thought I’d marry someone and then turn around and divorce her, but that was always an option. Somehow our wolf instincts override our human instincts in that area. Once a relationship is consummated, there’s no going back.”
“That’s hard to believe.”
“It’s like our ability to heal or see and hear better. I always thought I was in good shape until I became a wolf, but I couldn’t be in better shape than this.”
“Have you ever shifted when it was or could have been a problem?”
“At first, yeah. We had to keep a really low profile. You?”
“Some. I moved to South Dakota during the phase of the new moon. Okay, another thing I was wondering about. Have you ever had a confrontation with real wolves?”
“No. You?”
“No. I wonder what they would think of us because we have both human and wolf scents.”
“They might stay away. It’s hard to tell. They’re territorial and have to have enough prey for their pack, so they could try to kill a trespassing wolf.”
“This doesn’t wear off, does it?”
“No, I’m afraid not. You will have better control over it as the years go on. We asked Leidolf if there’s a cure for it. I don’t think he appreciated us asking. He was born like that, like others of his kind. It’s not a curse or a virus. It’s who they are. And what we are now too. If you didn’t know already, we have increased longevity. You probably wouldn’t have noticed this early on.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. Wolves used to only age a year for about every thirty years, but it’s down to around five now. A researcher is looking into what’s caused the change and how to fix it, if it’s fixable. I’d say we’re lucky to have any increased longevity at all.”
“Wow. But you say some werewolves were born like that?” Candice asked.
“Yeah, they’ve been full lupus garous for generations.”
“So how did you feel about being turned when it first happened?”
“After seven years, I’ve gotten used to it.”
Candice tapped her pen on her notebook. “At first, it was unsettling to me, to say the least. If there were such a thing as a cure, I think I’d miss this part of my life now though. Like you mentioned about exercise and being in good shape, I can run for miles and not even notice it. I return home after a long run and begin writing my stories. It’s a great way to start my day. At night, it’s a great way to de-stress. When I used to go to the gym, it was a hassle. I had to take time out of my work day just to drive over there. With all the traffic, that definitely wasn’t a way to de-stress. It took me forever to unwind after arriving home and return to work on the story. I normally run both in the morning and at night, and I feel great.”
“Same here. It took a while to grow used to the changes, the lack of control over my physical being, and just dealing with the enhanced abilities, like thinking things were closer than they were because our hearing is so much better. After a few months of having lived like this, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. If I didn’t have a pack to rely on, I might have felt differently. I’m not a lone-wolf sort of guy.”
“I have missed being with people. Have you ever considered going to another pack and meeting some wolves just to date?”
“I have, but I haven’t done anything about it. I haven’t been interested in going to another state just to try to meet a woman. If I happened to be on an assignment in the area, and it just happened, then fine. But you have to remember that we’re different from other wolves.”
“Because we’re Arctic.”
“Right. We don’t blend in with the surroundings like gray wolves do. Also, we’re newly turned. Some might not be interested in hooking up with a newly turned wolf.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. So you’re kind of stuck then.” She let out her breath. “Like I am. And turning someone isn’t really an option. Well, it’s an option, but not a really good one.”
“Right.”
“I bet when you go on an assignment, you’re completely focused on your job. Somehow I don’t see you as the kind of guy who mixes pleasure with business.”
“I wasn’t, until I met you and got to make gingerbread cookies.”
She laughed. “I made you make them.”
“I had fun. And I thought they tasted really good.”
“They did.” Then she began working on her story and added the avalanche and snowmobilers for more drama, glad she was getting away from an annoying homicide detective investigating her and the Arctic wolves. Yet, she was a little apprehensive about meeting the other wolves and the little boy who had bitten her.
* * *
Several hours later, Owen and Candice finally reached the wilderness area where the pack’s log homes were located on a small lake in northern Minnesota. “That’s Cameron’s home,” Owen said as they drove past the place. It was all dressed in Christmas lights, with the tree standing inside next to the front window, the colorful lights shimmering and looking festive. Owen hoped she didn’t think he’d overdone the decorating at his place. Then again, he hadn’t expected to be bringing home an Arctic she-wolf to stay with him when he took on this assignment. He was usually pretty good about picking up after himself, so he hoped the place was neat when they arrived there.
He was glad his home would be warm and welcoming, once he turned on the sparkling lights. His cabin was dark when he parked, making him want to start a cheery fire in the fireplace, turn on the lights draped around his Christmas tree, and make her feel at home.
“We’ll drop off your bags and the groceries before we see anyone.” Owen intended to call Cameron to let him know they’d gotten in okay, but he thought Candice would probably prefer to meet with Cameron’s family tomorrow after the long drive they’d had. It was already half past seven. “What do you think? We could just have dinner at my place and get together with Cameron and Faith and the kids for lunch tomorrow.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“I have to warn you that the kids will be super excited about meeting you. And yes, even Corey. Maybe especially Corey. I thought we could run as wolves tonight and in the morning, then join them about noon.”
“Sounds good to me. After driving for so long, I’m ready for a run to stretch my legs.”
He couldn’t wait to show her their territory so she would feel more at home. It was a beautiful area, full of pines, maples, quaking aspen, birch, and oaks that helped to shield them from the world. “Okay. The other guys are working jobs, so they said they’d meet you a little later in the week. They’re already giving me a hard time about it, saying I knew they’d gotten jobs that took them out of state for a few days before I brought
you home.”
“Did you?”
He laughed. “It will give you time to meet Cameron’s family before you have to meet with the rest of the pack. That way it’s not so overwhelming.”
“And you can get to know me better first.”
He smiled. “You bet. We’re all wolves. What can I say? Until a wolf is claimed, there’s always a chance she might fall for some other guy.”
“And if the situation were reversed and you were one of the other guys, you’d have felt the same way.”
“You’d better believe it. I’d finish up the job I had out of state pronto. I’d have returned before the other guy had even arrived here, greeted you at the door with flowers and candy, and made you feel welcome.”
She raised a brow.
He laughed. “Okay, so I guess I need to do something about that, right?”
Smiling, she shook her head, and they got out of the car. The one-story cabin was about as big as her home, with a big front patio, rocking chairs, a swing for two, and a large deck out back overlooking the lake.
“We still haven’t come up with a story about why you can’t return to Houston right away to collect your inheritance.” Owen began hauling her bags into the house. Then he started to turn on all the Christmas lights inside and out.
“I could pretend I’m in another country on a world book-signing tour. I could make up pictures showing various locations where I’ve been. Photoshop myself in all over the world. I could pre-post blogs and make up some for days past.” She grabbed her laptop and another bag and paused to look at the lights. “Just beautiful.” Then she followed him inside.
“Will anyone miss you in the places where you supposedly are doing signings?”
“I do drive-by signings at bookstores whenever I can. I don’t have official book signings, but I do autograph books for fans. I could say I was in England, Scotland, France, and Germany, and then had gone to Australia and New Zealand. Well, maybe that would be a little long. But no one will miss me. I drive all over, signing books in the stores every time I can, and my fans always want me to visit where they live.”