“The Fairhaven boys are missing,” Susan quickly said.
Had they learned of their dad’s disappearance? Gone to see him? “No word to Richard? They just took off in their truck?”
“Yes. He said he got up early like usual and went to rouse them from bed and—”
A truck’s engine rumbled in Pepper’s driveway. “Wait, someone just pulled up out front. I’ve got to finish getting dressed. I’ll call you back in a bit.”
“You just got out of bed? You’re not sick, are you?”
“No, I’m not sick.” Well, not in that way, but sick of what Pauline might be involved in? Yes.
“I’ll check it out while you finish getting dressed,” Eric said, waiting a heartbeat before proceeding.
“All right. I’ll be right there.”
He nodded and stalked out of the bedroom.
“We’ve got some other pressing issues to discuss,” Pepper said to her cousin.
“Now what?”
“Tell you and Richard in a bit. Got to go.” Pepper finished dressing and heard Eric inviting the Fairhaven boys into the house.
“You had Richard worried,” Eric scolded them.
“We had to come right away,” Jonathan said.
Pepper joined them in the living room.
“I’m going to have them fix their own breakfast and we can discuss what’s going on, if that works for you,” Eric said.
“Won’t you be late for work?”
“Not if we make something quickly and I drive a little faster than normal.”
“All right. I’ll call Richard and tell him the boys are here.”
Eric took them into the kitchen and offered them bowls of cereal and fruit while Pepper called her sub-leader. “The Fairhaven boys just arrived at my house. Eric’s having them fix breakfast for themselves. I’ll let you know what’s going on with them in a bit. And we have more to discuss.”
After she ended the call, she checked to see what Eric had prepared for breakfast. “I’m glad you went grocery shopping.” She poured herself a cup of coffee. All three of the “boys” had cups of coffee already. “Okay, so what’s this all about?” She began slicing up the honeydew melon, and for a moment, she felt like she had a ready-made family in the nearly grown boys and Eric. But she suspected they knew something about their father and were concerned for him.
“Our mom and dad changed their minds about us being fostered with your pack,” Jonathan said, scowling. He and his brother didn’t look happy about it. Jonathan dumped tablespoons of brown sugar on his cereal. “We want to stay. But we’re not adults so we can’t do what we want.”
“What? Why did your parents change their minds?” Pepper asked.
“Waldron said if they didn’t get us to return, he would fire my dad as a sub-leader.”
“Why does he want you to return if you’re such troublemakers?” Eric asked.
“Because we’re not,” Jonathan said, glowering in his direction, though she didn’t think he was mad at Eric, just angry with Waldron.
“You have a home with us, if we can get your parents to agree. And that’s the sticking point,” Pepper said.
“Yeah, but Richard got Mom and Dad’s agreement that we would stay with you and work for you and make enough money to continue to make payments on our trucks and our car insurance. They gave us up,” Jonathan said.
“Because they thought you could spy on me,” Pepper said.
“Yeah. Only we like it here and we had no intention of spying on you. Well, we did at first, because we thought you’d treat us mean. But you haven’t. No one has. Waldron would never have had us over for dinner and treated us like adults. We like the other kids our age, both in the Silver Town pack and yours. Richard makes us work, but he’s really teaching us a job. And since Waldron lost out on mating you and taking over your pack, that means we’ll be moving again. We’d like to ski this winter and even work at the resort with the other kids if Darien will let us.”
Leroy nodded.
Eric fixed a thermos of coffee to go. “So why did he want you back? Because you wouldn’t spy for him?”
Jonathan shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. He’s mad so he figures he’ll show us we still have to do what he says.”
Leroy finished his cereal. “He’ll make us pay if we have to return to them.”
“Finish your breakfast, and then I’m calling your mother—and Richard.” Pepper wanted to get this resolved pronto for the boys’ sakes. She had thought they knew their dad was incarcerated in Silver Town.
While they ate, they talked about other things, though she knew everyone was concerned about what would happen next. When they finished, Eric had them help clean up, and she got on the phone to Richard first. “You got a written agreement from the parents that they wanted you to take care of the boys—provide them with employment and a place to stay?”
“Yeah, I did just in case we had any repercussions from Waldron.” Richard sent a picture of the agreement to her email.
“All right. I’m calling the boys’ mother, and I’ll tell them that if they need to go somewhere, they have to let you know. None of this running off. I’ll let you know what happens next.”
“Thanks. They’re really good kids. They just need some proper guidance, which they haven’t been getting in Waldron’s pack.”
Next, Pepper called the Fairhavens’ home. “Mrs. Fairhaven, the boys want to stay with us.” At least she hoped they still would after learning that their father had been involved in growing pot. If they found out that the Silver pack had jailed him, they might not be willing to stay with her pack any longer. “You agreed. They’re happy here. You can either join our pack or the Silvers’.” She hoped the mom hadn’t been involved in the drug business too. Though she could very well have been.
“It’s not that we want to change anything,” the mom said.
“I understand. It’s Waldron’s doing.”
Silence.
“Okay, what is going on with Waldron and your husband? It can’t be that Ted wants the sub-leader position that badly. And just so you know, and you can tell Waldron I said so, I’m a mated wolf now, so he’s not mating me or taking over the pack or my land.”
“Do…do you know where he is? My Ted? He’s gone missing.”
Pepper looked at Eric. She couldn’t tell the woman her husband was in jail unless the Silver pack gave permission. “Do you know where he’s been working?”
“He’s getting his real estate license.”
“So no real job at the moment?”
Eric raised his brows.
Pepper didn’t want to talk about this in front of the boys.
The mother said, “He’s still working on getting his real estate license.”
“Okay, hold on a minute.” Pepper said to Eric, “Could you drop the boys off at Richard’s on your way to work? They’re grounded from driving their truck for not getting permission to leave Richard’s place. If you don’t have time—”
Eric looked half growly, half pleading with the desire to resolve things between them. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, but I need to speak with…” She paused.
“Okay.” Eric appeared to realize the dilemma she was in. “I’ll call you in a while.”
“Thanks. We’ll be fine, Eric,” she said, wanting him to know she wasn’t really upset with him.
Eric took the phone from her, set it down on the table, and pulled her into a hug, kissing her soundly. “I love you.”
She hadn’t expected that and kissed him back. “Love you too. Be careful.”
“Will do.” Then he left with the boys.
Jonathan said on the way out, “See, that’s what we need to find. A she-wolf we can mate.”
Pepper smiled a little at the comment. He was way too young to find a mate.
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She lifted her phone off the table and said to their mom, “Your husband has been involved in the growing of marijuana in the national park. The Silver pack arrested him, which is good for all our sakes, so he’s safe. I don’t know how much you know of any of this, but last night his brother attacked Eric, my mate, who’s a law-enforcement park ranger. If you’re involved in all of this, we’ll deal with it. But if you’re not or you don’t want your sons to be, then at least do right by them. Let them stay with my pack.”
“I…didn’t know that’s what Ted was doing.” She sounded shocked, then she said, “All right. I’ll join your pack. The devil take him.”
“He’ll be in jail for a while.”
“I mean Waldron.”
Pepper sighed. “Everyone works in my pack.”
“I’m a hard worker. Waldron made so many promises to those following him, but he hasn’t kept any.”
“Like?”
“He promised he was mating you, providing us with a new home, that Ted would be a sub-leader, and everyone’s income would quadruple with his plan to grow some really hot-selling crops. I had no idea what they were. He said they were medicinal, good for cancer… I should have known it was too good to be true. I was furious when our sons got into trouble for stalking you. My husband blamed it all on Waldron and said we had to do what he told us or we’d lose everything.”
“How many are in the pack?”
“Six of us now. Two others died, but Waldron wouldn’t say how.”
Pepper was dumbfounded. Waldron had told her he had thirty pack members! “Does that include the boys?”
“No, adults only. Waldron, my husband, and me, Ted’s brother, Turbo, and two other men, besides the two that died. Turbo is so arrogant that he bragged he’d been seeing one of your pack members, and if Waldron didn’t hurry, Turbo would be mated to her and part of your pack before Waldron was. That angered Waldron.”
Hoping beyond hope that Mrs. Fairhaven wasn’t right, Pepper asked, “Who was the woman?”
“I don’t remember her name, but she had two little kids and Turbo wasn’t really interested in raising someone else’s kids.”
Pauline. “Okay, here’s what I’ll do. Richard, my sub-leader, has taken the boys in. He has a separate house behind his for when his parents were getting older. They’ve passed away and the house is vacant. The boys have been staying with him in the main house so he can keep an eye on them. But if you’d like, you can move into the smaller house with your boys. They’re doing really well and they seem to be happy.”
“All right. I’ll take care of my affairs here and then get in touch with you. Can I…see my husband?”
“Talk with Darien Silver in Silver Town. I’m sure he can arrange for you to visit with him.”
“Did…did you tell the boys?”
“No. I’ll leave that up to you. Are you going to be all right?”
“This is a real shock, I must confess. I still can’t believe it. But I want to thank you for taking in the boys and now me too. I couldn’t have returned to Waldron’s brother’s pack. Not after all that happened there.”
“Okay. I’ve got to call some other folks, Richard included, so he knows you’ll be staying with him.”
“Thank you.”
Pepper felt bad that she hadn’t sent Eric off to work with more of a hug and a kiss. She prayed they could incarcerate Waldron and the rest of his men before Eric had to deal with any of them further.
She called Richard to let the boys know their mother was coming to stay there. Then she called Pauline and asked her to come to her house as soon as she could. Knowing it would concern Pauline, but not wanting the distraction, Pepper asked her to find someone to look after her boys while they had the talk. Pepper had to know if Pauline knew what Waldron and the rest of his men had been up to. She was surprised Pauline had seemed to be looking at the Silver pack for a prospective mate. Maybe she realized how bad Waldron and his people would be for the pack and had stopped seeing Turbo. When had she been seeing him? When others in the pack took care of her kids? He must not have been visiting her at her place. Too risky. And there hadn’t been any scent of him around her place.
Wishing Eric could be here while she dealt with all of this, which signaled another change in how she looked at running her pack, Pepper prayed he would be all right on the job. She decided she would join him there, once she resolved some of the issues with Pauline and had a talk with her sub-leaders and the pack.
Chapter 21
Eric wanted to know what Pauline had to say and how Pepper resolved the issue of the boys staying with Richard. But only because he cared about her and her pack. Not because he felt the need to make any decisions concerning either situation.
The day started out stormy, which seemed par for the course with the way his blissful morning had turned into a muddled mess. Except for helping three different families get their trucks unstuck from mud, things had been relatively quiet. He was at the ranger station, while waves of lightning rolled across the sky, forks of lightning intermittently spearing the forest floor. He hoped everyone remained safe. Despite warnings issued to hikers, some still risked life and limb to make the hike during thunderstorms.
Not only was injury to people a concern, but fires started by lightning strikes could be too.
He was about to make a sandwich for lunch and call Pepper to see how she was faring when he got a call from her.
“What’s wrong?” He was ready to call the Silver troops to come to her aid.
“I wish we could have stayed in bed together for the rest of the day,” she said, sounding sexy and alluring.
“My shift won’t end quickly enough.” He’d never watched the minutes go by as much as he had today, wanting nothing more than to return to bed with her on this perfectly stormy afternoon.
“I’m sorry for being so perturbed this morning.”
“You had every reason to be upset. What’s happening with the kids?”
“They’re staying. Darien’s arranged a time for their mother and the boys to visit their father in jail. Ted still won’t spill the beans on the others in the pack. Darien’s fine with that for now. He said they’ll catch the others as soon as they’re able to.”
“Good about the boys.”
“And their mother’s moving to our pack too. So good news all around. When the dad gets out, not sure. But for now, the mom and kids are with our pack.”
Eric smiled, realizing how much he liked hearing her say it was their pack. “And Pauline?”
“She was seeing Turbo. I hate to say this, but she’s so unreadable that I don’t know if she’s telling the truth about the marijuana business or not. She said she knew nothing about it, and she quit seeing him, which makes me believe she knew something was wrong. But when I asked her why she quit seeing him, she said she didn’t think he was good for the pack. That since he was Waldron’s man, she felt there could be trouble. And she was getting interested in one of the men in your pack.
“She didn’t want to say who because it was too early to tell about him—particularly since she already has a couple of sons, and she wanted to ensure a new mate would be as good with them as he is with her. That was another reason she said she called it off with Turbo. She said he faked being friendly with the kids. She could tell he really wasn’t interested in them.”
“Gut instinct about her knowledge of the drug issue?” Eric knew it had to be hard for Pepper to deal with this. He wished he could be there to help out, but it was best that Pepper had talked to Pauline right away and tried to learn what had happened.
“You never want to play against her in cards. She truly is a master at keeping her feelings masked. I really don’t know.”
“Okay. I had hoped she could testify against Waldron and the others, if she knew something.”
“If she decides to change her mind
and tell me, I’ll let you know. But I’m coming to join you for the rest of your shift.”
“Hell, it’s nasty out there.”
“You know what I do. I’ll drag you around the tree farms when you have some time off from your job. I need to see what you do for the day.”
“Can’t you wait for a nice sunshiny day?”
“Nope. I’m nearly to your location. Just wanted to make sure you were still at the ranger station.”
“I can’t believe you want to do this today of all days. But of course I’m thrilled you’re coming.”
“I want to see you.”
“All right. I’d ask if we have a vacancy at any of the cabins and rent a room for a quick nap, but I’m afraid the staff might get suspicious.”
She laughed. “Great minds think alike. I already rented one. I figured as law-abiding as you are, we couldn’t use it while you’re on duty, but we’ll have it after your shift ends. I can’t wait until we get home tonight.”
“You’re my kind of wolf. Did you know that?”
“Yeah, well, you better remember that.”
Eric didn’t plan to make love to Pepper while he was on duty. He was dedicated to his job, and some of that meant ensuring everyone remained safe under his watch. But after his shift ended? He loved the idea as much as both he and Pepper enjoyed the woods. The cabin seemed the perfect way to be with his mate.
“When will you get here?” He hoped he didn’t get called out before she arrived.
“Just parking now.”
“Want a tuna fish sandwich?”
“Yes. And pickles and potato chips,” she said, walking down the hall to the staff kitchen.
He opened the door and smiled at her, both of them still holding their phones to their ears. She smiled back at him, and he wondered how he’d gotten so lucky to have met her that first day in the park.
He introduced her to the staff there as his fiancée and she looked so pleased. Even though they were officially “married” in the lupus garou way, he thought a wedding would be nice to make it more official. Maybe even in the park. He made a mental note to bring that idea up with Pepper later.