“Why? Though we have the camera recording of all that you said and did, we still want you to pay for your crime,” Gavin said, damn serious.
“And you don’t want them investigating you for shooting me.”
“It was self-defense, pure and simple. Of course they’ll take my gun and check my story as part of the routine investigation.”
“You didn’t have to shoot me twice!”
“You didn’t drop the gun the first time I shot you. I wasn’t waiting for you to shoot me. Then what a mess we would have been in!”
After they were ready to leave, they paddled for hours. The EMTs would have to use the portage to join them, unless they could convince Asher to carry his own gear and canoe, but he probably wasn’t in any shape to do it.
“Are you doing all right?” Gavin asked Amelia. She looked tired.
“Yeah. Maybe we can stop and eat soon.”
Asher was now lying down on the bottom of the canoe, sleeping or out of it.
“Is he all right?”
“Sleeping, I think. Let’s paddle to the beach over there, and we can grab something to eat and check on him.”
“How far do you think we have to go?”
“Another six miles.”
“Okay, that’s good. I can do another two hours after we eat some lunch.”
They pulled onto the beach, and Gavin woke Asher up. “We’re having lunch. How are you doing?”
“I’m dying.”
“So melodramatic. Maybe next time you’ll think twice before you pull a gun on a former cop.”
Amelia made them tuna fish sandwiches, and after they ate, they were on their way again.
Asher lay back down in the bottom of the canoe, and a couple of hours later, they finally reached the island where they’d meet the police and EMTs. No one was there when they arrived. Gavin hoped they were just taking longer to get here and hadn’t been confused about the meeting location. Another hour passed, and Amelia was about to call the EMTs and police when they saw four canoes headed their way.
Amelia wanted to jump for joy at seeing them. She waved vigorously instead. They’d helped Asher onto his own sleeping bag and had taken care of him the best they could.
After the EMTs stabilized Asher, they took him in one canoe, and some of the police towed Heaton in the other.
The police questioned everyone thoroughly, while Gavin and Amelia explained the business with the downed plane, the shooting, and the confession. Amelia hadn’t wanted to give the camera to the police, though they needed to use the video-recorded confession on it. She wanted to send a copy to Gavin’s and her email to ensure the video recording didn’t get “lost.” But they had no internet out here, so she couldn’t do it. And they needed to give the video to the police so they could see she and Gavin were innocent of any wrongdoing.
Gavin identified the location where the shooting had taken place, and the police were heading there to get any evidence from the scene that they could. Then they released Gavin and Amelia so they could be on their way.
They were so tired from staying up so late last night that they stopped early, had dinner, and retired. Being newly mated, they managed only a catnap before making love.
The next morning, they got up even earlier to make up for stopping early the night before.
When they finally arrived in Ely, David was waiting for them. He hurried to greet them, giving Amelia a warm hug as if they were old friends. “I can’t believe Owen, and now you, found a beautiful Arctic she-wolf to mate.” He said to Amelia, “Faith said you don’t have any sisters.”
“Sorry, no.”
“That’s a shame.” David helped them carry their gear and the canoe to the Suburban. “Faith and I picked up your vehicle, Gavin, and it’s at your home now. She said you were flying out to Seattle. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you? Those gray wolves could eat you alive.”
“I really think too many of us would catch their attention. I don’t plan to stay long.”
“You’re taking Amelia?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve been part of this whole fiasco from the beginning, and I want to learn the truth too.”
“Do you need me to drive you to the airport? Or home?” David asked.
“Home. Thanks, David. We’ll repack, get washed up, and head out again. That way, we’ll have the car for when we return.”
David said, “Faith and the kids are going to pick Winston up. They can’t wait. And frankly, everyone else is excited too. It feels like Christmas in summer around here. Winston will be here with us when you return. Owen and Candice have already said they want equal time with the pup. You may never get to see him.”
Amelia laughed. “I’m so glad the other family didn’t get him. Sounds to me like he’s got several families to love on him.” She was so grateful Gavin had wanted Winston to join their family.
“A whole pack,” Gavin agreed.
She was a little apprehensive about this new mission and hoped they learned the whole truth about what was going on with the sabotage of the plane. She also hoped she was a help to Gavin and not a hindrance.
She still couldn’t believe Heaton had planned to kill her father. Glad he couldn’t hurt anyone further, she just hoped Asher was put away for a very long time.
When they arrived at Gavin’s home, a log cabin sitting in the woods on a lovely lake, Amelia couldn’t have been more excited.
David helped Gavin with his bags and the canoe, while Amelia carried her bags to the door. A dog woofed inside, startling her. “Winston?”
David smiled but didn’t say anything.
Gavin unlocked the front door and pulled it open. Winston bounded out to greet them, startling her.
Then several people inside shouted, “Welcome to the pack, Amelia!”
And that was Amelia’s first meeting with all the pack members. She’d been worried whether she’d fit in. Now she was sure that wouldn’t be a problem as Cameron and Faith’s two boys and girl all gave her a hug. Everyone else in the pack hugged her after that, Gavin finally giving her a whopper of a kiss while everyone hooted and hollered. She was both embarrassed and thrilled.
They had a big dinner of grilled steaks, corn on the cob, green beans, watermelon, and ice cream, while everyone told wolf stories. And Amelia knew as she sat with Gavin on a stone patio, Winston at their feet, with the others sitting about on the various chairs around a fire pit, that she was finally home.
Faith said, “We’ve been talking about how Amelia and her family are Arctic wolves and royals and how this could be beneficial to us. At the same time, we don’t want to be a burden to them if we’re having difficulty controlling our shifting during the full moon. We want your family to feel as though they’re part of ours, and anything we can help you with, we’re here for you.”
“Thank you,” Amelia said. “I’ve got to say that having a larger group of Arctic wolves as friends is a good thing.”
“Some of us met your family when we went to get Winston. We couldn’t wait to get him. They’re lovely. We’ve already talked among ourselves about having them join our pack, though we hadn’t had a chance to discuss this with Gavin or you yet.”
“I’m sure they would be interested, but I can’t speak for them,” Amelia said, glad that Gavin’s pack wanted to include her family but not sure her parents would like being told what to do.
“We’re completely democratic in our rules. Though Cameron and I have been kind of running the pack, we’ve discussed having your parents take on the pack as our leaders.”
Amelia’s eyes misted. She couldn’t help it. Not only was it a great honor, but her parents had never been asked to do such a thing.
“We know you have to leave for Seattle, but when we get together the next time, we’d like to propose this to your parents, if you think they’d be agreeable,
” Cameron said.
“Of course.” Amelia thought they would be, but she couldn’t speak for them.
Everyone began talking about plans for the fall, and Amelia caught Gavin smiling at her. She took hold of his hand and squeezed.
Despite loving the reception she’d gotten and enjoying this festive time with the pack, Amelia was eager for everyone to leave because she wanted to try out a real bed with Gavin instead of a sleeping bag on hard ground. He was still smiling at her as if he knew just what she was thinking, and then, as if the whole pack could read their minds, everyone began to clear out, congratulating the two of them and leaving them alone.
Except Faith, who made them an offer. “I know you have to leave for Seattle, and you might want some time alone. We wouldn’t mind taking Winston with us.”
The kids looked so eager that Amelia laughed. “That would work out great. Give him all your loving, and we’ll pick him up when we return.”
Winston was everyone’s dog, and he went eagerly with the kids and everyone else.
“You’d better have a soft mattress, Gavin” was all Amelia said as she dragged him into the house and down the hall, looking for his bedroom.
Chapter 18
“I love your home,” Amelia said, peeking into the two spare bedrooms, one made into a game room, the other a guest room. When she reached his master bedroom, she’d expected something fairly utilitarian. Instead, she found a nicely decorated masculine setting of forest greens and dark pine wood, with pictures of shaded forest trails and the sunset on the lake. A cushy green love seat sat against one wall of the spacious bedroom. A chest of drawers, a highboy, a king-size bed, and bedside tables furnished the rest of the room.
“Our home, and you can make any changes you want.”
She checked out his huge walk-in closet, only half-full, and smiled. “Looks like there’s plenty of room for me.”
“I’ll make more room for you if there’s not enough.”
“You know just the way to a girl’s heart.” Then she checked out the lavish bathroom. A glass-surrounded shower stall, a jet whirlpool tub, a separate closet for the commode, a black marble countertop, two sinks, and a wall of mirrors. Now that was perfect for the queen.
She really needed a shower before they ended up in bed. Though they’d gone swimming both as wolves and humans in the lake and the river, so they weren’t that dirty.
He rubbed his hand over her back. “Tub or shower?”
“Which do you prefer?” she asked.
“Whichever one you’re planning to be in.”
She laughed and began stripping off her clothes. “I have a laundry basket in my bathroom at home, so I don’t usually just throw my dirty clothes on the floor.”
He was jerking off his clothes just as fast. “We can set up things any way you want so you’ll feel right at home.”
She was still unfastening her bra when he started the shower. She tossed her bra on the sea-green tile floor and joined him. He shut the door, and with the shower massager spray sluicing down their skin, he cupped her face and began to kiss her.
Water ran down their faces, and they licked and kissed each other’s mouths, their hands exploring their slippery, wet bodies. He reached back to a built-in shelf and grabbed a bottle of body wash, then squeezed it onto her, the pearly, lime-scented soap sliding over her skin. As soon as she poured some on his, they began running their hands over each other’s slippery skin. She loved feeling his muscles beneath her fingertips as much as she loved feeling his hands caressing her breasts.
When his fingers soaped her mons and then began to stroke her clit, she about melted under the heated water. She slid her hands down his hard-muscled chest and reached his erection and began to wash and stroke him. He quickly pinned her against the wall, pulling her hands above her head, kissing her lips with passion, seeking entrance and spearing her mouth with his tongue.
His body was doing wicked things to hers, his penis rubbing against her belly, his hands shifting so he held both of her wrists with one and began stroking her clit with his free hand. She realized he didn’t want to come in her hand. He wanted to finish inside her but was intent on bringing her to climax first.
She could go along with that plan. She nipped his lip, her body moving against his fingers, begging for completion.
“You are so hot and wet for me,” he whispered against her ear, licking the curve of it.
“Oh God, Gavin, finish it.”
He smiled and kissed her mouth, stroking her harder, faster. She hadn’t expected him to grab her ass and lift her. She wrapped her legs around him, and he drove his cock into her. She was still thinking of cleaning up and making love on that very soft mattress he’d better have.
When she felt his hard erection fill her to the hilt and he began thrusting into her, she figured he just couldn’t wait for the bed. She couldn’t either, his thrusting and rubbing hitting all the right nerves. She shot straight to the moon, crying out, before he followed with a satisfied half growl, half groan.
“I couldn’t wait,” he said, kissing her mouth, still holding her to him. The wolf had stamina.
“Me either,” she had to agree.
They took it slow then, him separating from her, then setting her on the floor. She began washing his hair while he washed hers. Then they washed the rest of their bodies before finally turning off the water and grabbing a couple of towels.
Once they’d finished drying each other, her hair still damp, he carried her to the bed.
“It better be soft.” She realized he hadn’t said if it was or wasn’t. Not once. Good sign or bad?
He just smiled at her, pulled the covers aside, and dropped her on the pillow mattress. As soon as she fell against the ultrasoft mattress, she felt it surround her like a nest.
She moaned with ecstasy. “I think I’m in heaven.”
He joined her on the mattress, covering her with his hard body. “Not yet. Soon.” And he began kissing her all over again.
* * *
When Gavin and Amelia arrived at their Seattle hotel the next afternoon—a posh, five-star hotel, so different from camping in the wilderness—they had a welcoming committee: two of the gray wolves who served as the enforcers for the Seattle pack.
“We’ve told you before you can’t be here,” Rock Rockledge said, his black, bushy brows pinched into a perpetual scowl.
“We have business here, investigating a case. We’re not moving into your territory. We have our own,” Gavin said.
“Make it quick. We know you don’t hold your shape during some of the phases of the moon. And it’s getting close to being trouble for you.” Rock glanced at Amelia. “I remember you. Your family moved into the area. Before we could tell you that it was our territory and to go back to where you came from, you packed up and left.”
She folded her arms. “We had no intention of causing problems for you. We’re royals. We can shift at will. Can you?”
“We’re counting the days that you’re here,” Rock said to Gavin. “So get your business done and get out of here.”
“We’ll be here as long as it takes.” Gavin wasn’t going to be pushed around by these wolves. It was one thing to live among them, quite another to visit a city for either pleasure or work and be told you couldn’t ever be here. He and Amelia were going to get the job done. He didn’t know any other wolf pack as disagreeable as this one.
Gavin swore the guy cast him an elusive smile. Maybe the gray pack had been waiting for the Arctic wolves to make a stand. Or maybe they planned to kill them if they didn’t listen.
Then the two men left.
“Are you going to look into Orwell’s wife’s situation? You said you had two cases,” Amelia said, kissing his cheek.
“I will, but first we have to see what’s going on with Eleanor Dylan.” Gavin felt the early onset of the urge t
o shift into his wolf, and he groaned. “Skip that. First, I’m going to shift.” He was glad the gray wolves hadn’t seen that he was having trouble with this already. He just hoped Amelia didn’t regret that she’d hooked up with a wolf who wasn’t a royal.
“No problem, Gavin. Shift, and I will too.”
He smiled at her. She was the perfect wolf mate for him. He could hold off and not shift for a couple of hours sometimes, once he began getting the urge. But he’d rather do this now, while they were safely in a hotel room, and hopefully turn back into his human form fairly quickly.
Amelia hung out the Do Not Disturb sign, then locked the door and joined him before he could remove anything more than his boots. She pulled his T-shirt over his head and kissed his chest. Then she began working on his belt.
He slid his hands down her back, smiling down at his beautiful she-wolf, and for the first time, he wasn’t annoyed about having to shift when he wanted to complete a mission. The mission could wait. Being with his mate as a wolf couldn’t.
They helped each other undress, and then they kissed and moved apart, shifted, and leaped onto the bed. She shifted back, and he watched her as she turned on the TV, selected a conspiracy theory movie, and shifted, curling up with him to watch the movie as wolves.
* * *
For two days, Gavin and Amelia followed Eleanor Dylan around in a rental car while she had her hair done, got a facial, manicure, and pedicure, shopped for clothes, lunched out, and more. In the meantime, Amelia was doing searches on the internet. “Hey, I looked up the jewelry-store heist and dug deeper into the background on the store. Guess who the owner of the jewelry store is.”
“Who?”
“Megabucks Eleanor Dylan.”
“Now that’s too much of a coincidence.”
“You didn’t remember this?”
“I wasn’t working the case. Too personally involved. And I was off for a while, broken leg, physical therapy. When I went back to work, I was stuck in the office for months, running down leads on other cases. I never gave it much thought. They’d captured all but one of the bad guys.”