“So why would Cheryl have come along?” Gavin asked. “I was thinking she was a cover for Lee’s interest in Conrad.”
“Could be. Will you really take me up on flying with me?”
“Sure. Maybe I can volunteer for any job that requires I fly out to the location, just to try to overcome my phobia.”
“Anytime you’re free and I have room, I’ll take you up. How far is your pack located from where our company is situated?”
“We’re two hours’ drive south from there. So close enough to visit and date you.”
She leaned into him and kissed his mouth. “You’ve met my dad. You’ll need to meet my mother and brother.”
“My pack will be thrilled to meet your family too.”
“They won’t feel we have to be part of yours, will they?”
“No. We really don’t have a pack leader as such. Though Cameron and Faith were turned first, and he’s always been sort of in charge of the PI agency. He was the first to have a mate, and we were fine with them serving as pseudo pack leaders. It’s much more democratic than in a real wolf pack. We all have a say. No matter what though, we freely offer our services in any way you or your family may need. Wolves need to stick together, and with as few of us as are here, and with us being Arctic wolves, even more so.”
“Thanks, Gavin. I offer the same to you and your pack members, though I can’t speak for my family. I believe your offer to help us with this crash will be all they need to convince them you’re one of the good guys.”
“As long as you don’t tell your family you tased me when we met in Alaska.”
She chuckled. “You will never let me live that down.” Then she kissed his mouth again, and he knew they were going to have to do some fast dating if he was going to hold off on a mating.
The sat phone rang, and she fumbled to get it out of the pouch.
Either there was a development in the case—though at this hour, Gavin thought it was unlikely—or there was some other trouble.
“Hello? Dad? Oh no.”
* * *
“I hate to ask this of you, Amelia, but Slade got into another fight with one of the pilots, and he’s a mess,” her dad said.
Amelia ground her teeth. “All right. You want me to return to fly Slade’s plane.” She’d sock him herself for being so pigheaded when it came to fighting the pilots who were with their competition.
“He had just cause,” her dad said.
“What could be worth fighting like that?”
“The guy disparaged your name. Said you’d been sleeping with any guy who was available. Slade knew he was just trying to rile him, but he couldn’t help himself. One of Slade’s eyes is swollen shut. He can’t fly in that condition. I’m sorry. I know you wanted to do this with Gavin, and as hard as you always work, we wanted to let you take the break.”
She knew her father assumed she wanted to get to know Gavin better. That this was the first time she’d met an Arctic wolf she really, really liked. Or she wouldn’t have agreed to stay out in the wilderness with him and assist him.
“Of course I’ll return. When do you need me?”
“First thing in the morning.”
“I will kill my brother. Okay. I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, honey. I’ll see you in the morning.”
When they hung up, Amelia was surprised to see Gavin was already dressed and starting to pack up camp. She appreciated that he’d overheard and was getting ready to leave, not questioning her, but making this happen.
“Thanks, Gavin, and I’m sorry.”
“I would have been in the same boat as your brother if anyone had mouthed off in a bad way about you.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks. I guess I can’t fault him too much. You really don’t mind?” She began getting dressed.
“No. I completely understand. That’s what wolves do for each other.”
“If I can, I want to come back in a couple of days. I’ll leave the sat phone for you in case you have an emergency.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“I’m so sorry about this,” she said again, thinking of how they were going to spend half the night paddling toward the dock again. Forget about getting much sleep. Or anything else.
“Good exercise. If you’re too tired of paddling, I can do it.”
“No way. Not after putting you out like this.” They packed the canoe, and then they were off. “I think we’re getting really good at this though. I think that’s the fastest we’ve packed up.”
Gavin agreed.
They were quiet on the long trip back, cognizant of how voices could carry across the water in the event they passed islands where people were camped and sleeping. Amelia was tired too. She had every intention of paddling all the way back, relieved when they had to cross land a couple of times, though she was even tired while doing that. She was ready to collapse and sleep until her dad picked her up early in the morning. Then she’d have to fly.
“I didn’t even know it was possible to land a seaplane in the dark,” Gavin finally said quietly to Amelia as they did another portage.
“The wind has died down, but that means the water is glassy. A light mist will probably cover the lake early in the morning, so if Dad uses his landing lights, they will reflect off the mist and ruin his night vision. He’s good at glassy water landings, coming in at a low rate of descent, using a nose-in landing altitude, and watching instruments as well as looking outside the plane for any dangerous obstacles. It’s so important to watch for possible debris in the water. Even a moose in the water can cause a hazard. In Alaska, caribou migrated across the rivers and lakes at night. That’s where we had to fly a lot of night missions. Otherwise, in the fall and winter, we would have been really limited in the amount of time we could fly. We did a lot of search-and-rescue missions there.”
“Good thing I wasn’t flying there.”
She smiled. “We can make a large campfire to give him a reference point to determine his descent. And we can place a couple of lanterns on the dock. The little beams of light across the water also help as reference points.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
They were quiet again after that and finally reached the lake where they still had to paddle for some hours.
“How are you doing?” Gavin asked her.
Awful. She wasn’t stroking the water half as much as she had been at first. She was so tired that she felt she could keel over and just fall asleep in the middle of paddling. Boy, would she be sore tomorrow.
“I’ll make it.” Mind over matter, she told herself. She would make it because she said so.
“We’re nearly there,” Gavin said. “The thing about any kind of boating is that we can run into things at night too.”
“You mean the moose?” She’d been watching them from a distance, but as the canoe drew closer, the moose moved off. They could be so cantankerous that if they felt something was in their space, they might charge.
When Gavin and Amelia finally reached the shore, she didn’t think she could set up camp. She was so exhausted.
Gavin quickly helped her out of the canoe and then began unloading the gear and setting it on the beach as if he had superhuman energy. Amelia thought he was trying to save her from having to do too much. With lanterns standing nearby, he had the tent up in record time.
Carrying some of the bags, she kept stumbling, annoyed with herself.
“Why don’t you make up the bed while I tie up the food and get naked, and I’ll join you in a few minutes,” he said.
She smiled at him. He was so cute, no matter the hour or how tired he had to be too.
“I should help more.” But she was having a time just making up the bed.
He called out to her, “You’d better be in bed by the time I get there.”
“If I get in
to bed first, I’ll be out like a light.”
“Even better.”
She shucked off her clothes and then climbed into the sleeping bag. He soon joined her in the tent and began stripping. She tried to stay awake to say good night to him.
But before she was ready for it, she heard the sound of her plane’s engine as her dad flew in to pick her up early the next morning.
* * *
As soon as Gavin heard the seaplane’s engine, he tried to untangle himself from Amelia, but she was so tired that he hated to wake her. On the other hand, she had to leave quickly, so he hurried to get dressed, and then she finally got up, looking as tired as he felt.
“Are you going to be all right to fly?” Gavin was worried about her. Did she fall asleep at the wheel, so to speak, if she hadn’t had enough sleep?
Amelia hurried to dress. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Thanks, Gavin.”
“I’ll take your bags to the plane and tell your dad you’re coming.”
“Thanks.”
“All right.” Dressed in her bra and jeans, she pulled him in for a hug. “I’ll call you on the sat phone as soon as I know I can join you.”
“That’s a deal. I’ll paddle back for you.”
“Unless you think me returning would be more of a hassle for you than it’s worth.”
“Are you kidding? No way. Just call me.” He pulled her tighter and kissed her mouth, loving the feel of her soft lips against his, her eager tongue quickly engaging his. God, he wanted this and so much more—all that made them mated wolves. Hating for her to go, he said, “I’ll go see your dad.”
Then Gavin was out of the tent, hauling her bags, while her dad was tying the plane to the dock.
“Mr. White,” Gavin called out to announce himself, though he knew the astute wolf had noticed his approach.
“Henry.” Her father took Amelia’s bags and placed them in the plane.
“She’s coming. We paddled most of the night to get here, so she’s still tired.”
Henry eyed Gavin for a moment as if he wondered if they’d been fooling around.
“Your intentions?”
“To court Amelia. She wants to return to help me with my mission when she can. We’re well-suited, and I can’t tell you when I’ve had a better stakeout. She’s a real help.”
“Okay.”
“Any word on the aircraft investigation?”
“Not yet.”
Gavin explained about Heaton showing up and how he worked for the competition now.
“Their mistake. You’re sure he actually left the area?”
“Fairly certain, unless another paddler arrived and the plane took off with that canoeist instead. Is your son all right?”
“Slade can be a hothead in dealing with the other pilots. The truth is, I would have reacted in the same way.”
“And Amelia?”
Henry cast him a dark smile. “She would have tased the guy.”
Gavin turned to see Amelia headed for them.
“Tased who?” she asked, looking from her dad to Gavin as if she was afraid he’d told on her.
“If someone had said something derogatory about the family,” her dad said.
“Oh yeah.” Then she kissed Gavin and headed for the plane.
Her father paused for a minute, as if he wasn’t used to seeing Amelia being so affectionate toward anyone in public.
He slapped Gavin on the shoulder. “Take care. We’ll talk later.”
Gavin suspected Henry meant about his relationship with Amelia. He waved at Amelia and her father before they took off, and then they were sailing across the lake and soon airborne and finally gone from his view.
He missed her at once. Her smiling face, her warm hugs, her snuggles. Her kisses. He couldn’t wait for her to return, but for now, he had to get his mind back on the business at hand. He hoped he’d learn for sure whether Conrad was having an affair, and then he would look further into the sabotaging of the plane.
Chapter 14
Amelia should have expected her father to give her the third degree when he took off flying. She really wanted to sleep until he landed at the hangar where she’d pick up a load of passengers.
“Okay, tell me more about how you met Gavin Summerfield in Alaska. I think you’re leaving out some of the important details.”
Except for the part about her racing through the house naked, she told her dad the whole story, even about tasing Gavin.
Her dad had a good sense of humor and laughed. “Poor guy. And he still wants to see you.”
“I don’t think he’s easily deterred. Though I have to tell you that he and his pack are fairly newly turned. He said they’d help us with anything we need though, he and his pack.”
“Newly turned?”
“Nearly seven years.”
“Doesn’t that worry you? His trouble with shifting?”
“They offered to help us with anything they could, but maybe we can help them, if they need wolves who don’t have trouble with shifting at any time of the month.”
Her dad sighed. “You know what I mean. As far as hooking up with him permanently. It could take years to get his shifting under control. He won’t be able to shift during the new moon. He’ll have trouble with shifting during the full moon. That can put a damper on running with him as a wolf at certain times of the month.”
She only smiled and closed her eyes.
“You’ve got it bad for him already, don’t you?”
She opened her eyes. “Like you had it for Mom?”
“She’s a royal like me, like you. It’s not the same.”
As if that meant anything when he had fallen so hard for her mom. “I don’t mean that. Would you have avoided seeing Mom if she had been newly turned?”
Her dad didn’t hesitate to answer, but Amelia already knew what he’d say. “No. Even if she’d only been turned the day before. I fell in love with your mom when I rescued her from being stranded on that iceberg as a wolf. She was so woeful, wet, with her ears flattened and tail down. Of course, some of her concern was because she believed I was human and would harm her. As soon as I was on the iceberg, she growled and crouched as if she was ready to take me down.”
“But when she smelled you?”
“Her tail rose, her ears perked, and I could see the pure joy in her eyes. And I had made that happen. She licked me, rubbed against me, and then I quickly got her into the plane before moving ice ripped up our transportation. Can you imagine what would have happened then? I would have had to shift, and there I’d have been, stuck on the iceberg as a wolf too.”
“She fell in love with you from the beginning.”
“I was a hotshot pilot and landed at risk to myself between ice floes just to rescue the beautiful Arctic wolf, when I didn’t even know she was a shifter. So yeah, she thought I was a real heroic wolf.”
Amelia would never get tired of her dad and mom telling her their story. It was so romantic.
“You seem to like this guy much better than you did Heaton.”
“He’s fun and fascinating. He’s afraid of flying though.”
Her father glanced at her as if he thought that would be too much of an obstacle between them.
“We made a pact. He teaches me how to swim better, and I teach him not to fear flying.”
“You crashed into the lake.”
“Yeah, but this is only the second plane crash experience he’s had. Maybe a few more, and he’ll get used to them.”
Her father nodded. “He seems like a decent guy. So who do you think might have messed with my plane? Heaton tops my list. Though this business with that jewelry thief seems damned suspicious too.”
“Heaton’s at the top of mine too. If he did it, did he do it out of revenge, or was he hired by someone else—like Red—for some other purpo
se, and revenge played a small part in it?”
“That’s what we need to learn.”
When they arrived at the hangar, Slade headed out to meet them. His right eye was swollen shut, and he was frowning at their dad and Amelia. “I told you I could do this.”
“No, you can’t,” their dad said, still looking annoyed with Slade. Maybe not so much about getting in the fight but with not being able to fly because of it.
“Sorry, Amelia,” her brother said. “I hear you’ve got something hot going with an Arctic wolf and that he’s with a pack. Any single females?”
“Sorry, no. Thanks for defending my honor. You need to learn to duck faster though.”
“The other guy looks much worse,” Slade said.
“You always say that.”
“Hey, he had two black eyes. And we heal faster than humans. He’ll be out of work for several days. Serves him and two of his buddies right.”
“Two of his buddies?” she asked, not believing her brother took on three pilots.
Slade grinned at her. “Yeah. I got both of them too. Except one got in a lucky punch.”
She noted his jaw was purple. “Looks like they got in two lucky punches.”
“I’m sure the guy who hit my jaw broke a bone in his hand. I heard the crunch.”
Smiling, Amelia shook her head.
“But really, I couldn’t believe it when Dad said you were staying with an Arctic wolf on his canoe trip. And I still can’t believe Dad’s plane was tampered with. I’ll kill the SOB who did it. Was it Heaton?”
“Maybe. We don’t know for certain. When do I need to take a load of passengers up?”
“Half an hour,” her dad said. “But your mom wants to talk to you before you go.”
Amelia knew the questioning would begin all over again. Why couldn’t her dad just tell her mom all she’d told him? But she knew her mom wanted to hear firsthand from her, so Amelia wouldn’t leave anything out. Besides, her mom always asked different questions than her dad.
Amelia was walking into the office, ready to deal with the fresh interrogation, when Winston ran to greet her. She was glad he would be staying close by when Gavin took him. Then she wished all over again that she was still with Gavin and hoped he’d stay safe.