They had barely finished eating lunch when he got a call that a couple with their sixteen-month-old baby had been hiking on a trail that led up to one of the higher-elevation lakes and had been caught out in the open during the thunderstorm. Eric and Pepper took off in his truck to rescue them.
When they reached the couple, they took them down to the ranger station, and Eric got a call about an off-road vehicle driving in an area of the park where driving was not allowed. The truck was stuck in a creek. Oil and other harmful chemicals could poison the water, just because someone wanted to drive somewhere that wasn’t allowed and unsafe to cross. Eric couldn’t help but be angered at the thoughtlessness of some people.
He ticketed the driver and hoped he’d receive a hefty fine, while Pepper told the man all the ramifications of what he’d done—the way he’d destroyed the plants his tires had trampled, the chemicals his truck left in the water, and how that ruined the river and that area for the wildlife and the visitors who came to enjoy the natural beauty of the park. She told him three times that he should be ashamed of himself.
Eric had to fight smiling at her, glad she was wearing her uniform so she looked official and could say what she had a mind to say.
The man opened his mouth to speak once, but Eric said, “The lady is talking.” Ranting, but tough if the driver of the vehicle didn’t like it. Everything she said was true.
Eric felt the same as she did. Helping people when their vehicles got stuck in mud on regular roads because of the rain was an entirely different story. It would be a good one on the lawbreaker if his truck was unsalvageable. A maximum penalty could result in the man getting a fine of $5,000 or six months in prison, or both, which would suit Eric fine. Before he could mention the federal law that covered destruction to National Park Service property and personal liability, Pepper was quoting it.
Eric loved his mate and was glad she had come with him for the rest of the afternoon. They spent a couple of hours checking out campsites and helping folks move their tents where water runoff had flooded the area they had been set up in.
They’d both been wearing rain gear, but when they had to help rescue a couple of canoeists from a capsized canoe in one of the rivers, Eric removed his coat and tied himself to a tree while he waded out to reach them. Pepper took care of the first of the men, shivering and hypothermic, wrapping her own raincoat around him to warm him.
Once they’d helped haul the men and their boat to safety and gotten medical help for them, it was time to quit work for the day.
Now the real fun would begin.
As soon as he and Pepper parked at the cabin and got out, Eric scooped his soaking-wet mate into his arms and set her on the covered porch. She pulled out the key and unlocked the door, then he whisked her into the room, shut the door, and they began kissing.
Her shirt was plastered against her breasts, her pants clinging to her legs, her curly hair dripping.
“I like this new look on you,” he said, growling a little, his hand molding around her cold breast.
“Fire first?” she asked, kissing him back while she slid her hand around his arousal, his pants molding to his body just as much.
“Fire already started.”
She smiled against his lips and rubbed her wet body against his, kissing him with enthusiasm, her hands sweeping over his buttocks.
This was the way he wanted to always end his workday. Maybe not soaking wet at a cabin in the park, but with Pepper, kissing, touching, breathing in their heated scents, and loving every bit of it.
As she started to unbutton his shirt, he began working on hers, but he had to keep stopping to rub his hands over her wet shirt, feeling her breasts, the nipples peaking, her breath nearly ceasing at his touch.
She struggled to remove his shirt and then was pulling it off his shoulders and kissing his chest. He loved her passion and matched it, sliding his hands up her shirt and cupping her lace-covered breasts.
His thumbs stroked her nipples through the fabric. Though the cabin was cool, he was burning up as she licked the rainwater off his cheek and then began to kiss his mouth again.
Her mouth fused with his, their tongues sliding against each other, her body stroking against him. The friction against his cock had him working again on her shirt buttons. After unfastening her shirt, he pulled it off her shoulders and dropped it to the floor.
He removed her bra next, wanting to feast his eyes and then his mouth on each of her breasts. Beautiful. She pulled away and leaned down to take off her boots, and he quickly did the same with his. Wet socks went flying, then their pants, and he pulled her in for more hugging, kissing, and touching.
It wasn’t enough. He wanted her in bed, on top or underneath him, her choice. But he wanted to fill her with his love. He slipped her panties down her legs, kissing her from her breasts down her abdomen, while he pulled them down. Then she did the same with him, only she licked his cock on the way down. He felt his whole body become rigid with tension, before he swept his wet mate up into his arms and carried her into the bathroom for a quick shower. Then they dried off and headed for the first of the bedrooms.
She eagerly climbed onto the bed and pulled at his arms to join her. The kissing renewed, and he stroked her feminine nub, bringing her quickly to the top. She cried out, but just as quickly, he joined her, sliding into her, claiming her. He began thrusting, loving every bit of her—the way she wrapped her legs around his body, the way she arched to meet his thrusts, the way she stroked his back and legs with her soft fingertips. He soon followed her into that sweet state of bliss. If he’d ever had any doubts about her being his mate, their lovemaking confirmed she was perfect for him.
She was his wolf goddess.
“Where have you been all my life?” Pepper asked as they curled up together in bed.
He chuckled. “I could ask you the same thing.” He loved this time with her, getting to know her intimately, but he loved too that she’d come to see him on his job and had helped him out in every situation. “Do you think the man whose truck got stuck in the creek felt ashamed of himself?”
Pepper frowned at Eric. “He ought to get ten years in jail. I know most people don’t think anything of it. Sometimes it’s a lark. Sometimes it’s the thrill of doing what no one has done. And sometimes, the asses do it because they think they can get away with it. But I was at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina when some jerk ran over a female loggerhead turtle attempting to make a nest. The off-road vehicle dragged her for some time before he could get rid of the dead animal beneath his truck. The turtles are threatened. But that’s the thing of it. To some, it’s no big deal.”
Eric was opening his mouth to agree with her when he thought he heard the handle turn on the front door. He couldn’t remember if he’d even locked the door, because he’d been so wrapped up in wanting to make love to his mate when they first entered the cabin. His clothes and gun and their phones were in the living room. Nothing for protection here in the bedroom.
Pepper was already slipping out of bed and shifting into her wolf form.
Eric couldn’t, in case the offender was human. But she would be good protection for backup. On the other hand, he didn’t want her to get shot if the person breaking in was armed with a gun. He opened the bedroom window and pushed out the screen. Before Eric could tell her his plan, she jumped out the window. Hell.
Heart pounding, he sprang into action, shifted, and followed after her.
She ran into the woods and came around to see who was breaking into their cabin. Eric agreed her plan was a good one. Then they saw one man guarding a vehicle, and two men in the cabin.
“Hell,” one of those men said and hurried back toward the door of the cabin. “They’ve run out the back way.”
Eric recognized the man’s voice. Waldron. He wondered if one of the other men was Ted’s brother, Turbo.
When they saw a fourth man leave the building, Eric knew they were outnumbered. Even two could be a problem if Pepper had to take care of one of the male wolves. Eric sure wished he could howl for backup, but none of his pack would hear him this far away.
“What do we do?” one of the men asked.
“Run ’em down. Hunt them. Like wolves hunt their prey.”
Eric nudged at Pepper to follow his lead. He would ensure that once they reached a creek, their paw scents would be washed away. He thought they’d have a fire when they woke after making love. But he hadn’t expected to go swimming to try to save his mate and his life. It was too reminiscent of losing his first mate.
Except he half suspected these wolves wouldn’t take her back with them because she knew too much. Eric had been at all the sites where their marijuana had been growing. Pepper was his mate. And, he’d been the one to take Turbo’s brother down. So Eric knew if they caught up to him, he’d be a dead wolf.
The only advantage they had was that he’d been coming to these woods since November—both as a park ranger and a wolf. He had ventured over miles and miles of acreage. He just had to get her closer to the edge of the forest and Silver Town. If they could reach his pack, like he’d tried so fervently to do the last time he’d lost his mate, he and his pack could take Waldron and his men down permanently.
He had to ensure that he kept Pepper and himself out of Waldron and his men’s range. Wolves could run after their quarry for long distances over even the roughest terrain. They could easily travel over fifty miles a day in search of food. So he and Pepper could continue to run. But they had to do more than that. They had to truly evade Waldron and his men until Pepper and he could howl for help. Even so, in the woods, their howl couldn’t travel as far as it could over an open plain where it could be heard for ten miles. The other problem was that if they howled here, the killer wolves on their tails could also pinpoint their location.
Thankfully, creeks crisscrossed all over the mountains, so whenever forks in the creek appeared, Eric led Pepper in a new direction. Sometimes that meant leading them both away from their destination for a half a mile or so, but only so they could lose the wolves tracking them.
They were going to have to rest for a while in just a little bit. He wished now he’d let everyone know where he and Pepper were going to be. Not that anyone would bother them if they thought they were having a “wedding night” of sorts. He didn’t think anyone would be checking up on them unless the Park Service called his brother and told him Eric’s vehicle was at the cabin Pepper had rented, and their clothes and ID were there, but both of them had disappeared. Then, everyone would be searching for them. But by then it could be too late.
Instead of sitting out on dry land, Pepper found a pool of water that had warmed during the day, much like the one that she and her she-wolves had been playing in the day that Susan had been injured.
For fifteen minutes, they rested, nuzzling each other every once in a while to show their affection, but listening for any sounds that could indicate wolves had tracked them here.
Then Pepper indicated she was ready to run again. Eric moved with her until he saw the wolf targeting them. The same wolf who had bitten him in the shoulder. Waldron. They couldn’t outrun him now and lose the tail. Eric wanted Pepper to run off and hide, but he didn’t want the other wolves to catch her. He saw no sign of the other wolves and thought they’d split up to search for Pepper and him. Before Waldron could howl and let his pack know he’d caught his prey, Eric lunged for him.
The wolf would never have a chance to tell his friends his location. He would never bite Eric without his retaliation. And he would never threaten Pepper or her pack again.
What Eric hadn’t expected—and Waldron hadn’t either, apparently—was to have Pepper dash in to bite his back leg, while Eric concentrated on going for his throat. The wolf wasn’t going down easily, but Eric suspected Pepper was worried the others would show up, so he and Pepper had to take Waldron down quickly.
All three of them snarled and growled, and Eric hoped none of Waldron’s pack members were close by and could hear them. The moving water and the trees hugging the bank of the creek would help to muffle the sounds. If the others had taken off on other forks, they could be miles away, still searching for Pepper and Eric.
Killing Waldron here could create problems though. Not that they could worry about that now.
He and Waldron kept tackling each other head on. Pepper kept aiming for Waldron’s back leg. And then she managed to get it, and with a chomp, she bit down hard. Eric heard the telltale crack of a bone just as Waldron yelped, then swung around to tackle her. His move left him open to Eric’s lunge and fatal bite. Eric tore into the wolf, taking him down and mortally wounding him before he could touch Pepper.
Eric grabbed the wolf’s body by the neck before Waldron expired and pulled him out of the water, then hid him in some brush. He or some of the Silver pack would have to come here and retrieve the body and bury it. No roads or trails existed anywhere nearby. Even so, they couldn’t leave a human body here in case it was discovered.
Pepper was watching for any further wolf attacks, and then she waded into the water, as if to say she was ready to continue on their way. They still had a long way to go. But if Waldron’s men hadn’t come across them yet, they had to be a long distance off, making Eric feel as though they might make it out of the park and get some much-needed help.
Chapter 22
Pepper assumed Eric was trying to get closer to his pack’s territory so they could get help if the other wolves continued to follow them. At least at night they could remain undetected by humans. They certainly didn’t need that additional trouble.
She wasn’t sure how Eric felt about her helping tackle Waldron, but she couldn’t let her mate do all the work. She had to help him take the wolf down, and quickly, in case the other wolves suddenly showed up. Tackling one wolf at a time was about all they could manage. She didn’t know about the other wolves, but Turbo was a fast runner, and she could envision him going the wrong way, then turning and starting in a different direction, and still not be too far behind.
Pepper had hoped they’d lost the wolves, but on the other hand, she had been glad to end this tonight with Waldron. It had stopped raining about an hour ago, so her coat had dried.
She wasn’t certain where they were going exactly or how close they were to Silver Town. Eric led her across a road to a river, and they ran in the shallow water at the river’s edge. Then Eric woofed at her and she stopped to see what he wanted of her. She was dead tired, but she would forge on until they were safe.
Eric nuzzled her, then lifted his chin and howled. She frowned at him and then smelled the air. She didn’t think they were in his pack territory yet. He nudged her and they kept running.
Again, he stopped and howled. She turned to look at him. They had to be within hearing distance. Ohmigod, this must be the pack leader’s land. Or close to it. Darien and Lelandi lived quite a ways out of town so they could have pack gatherings without anyone getting curious about all the wolves!
But then they saw a wolf race out of the woods, and she recognized him at once. Turbo. She growled a warning before he went after Eric, a bigger wolf than Pepper and infinitely more dangerous.
Eric whipped around and did a frontal assault. Pepper did her maneuver like before, rushing around to Turbo’s backside, ducking down, and biting at his leg.
Turbo growled at her, but she didn’t get a good enough grip and tried again. He was jumping around so much, trying to avoid Eric’s lethal canines and attempting to bite him with his own, that she was having a devil of a time grabbing hold of him. Just as she clamped her teeth down on his left rear leg, she heard another wolf racing to join them. She ignored him and bit Turbo hard.
He snarled at her from a sitting position and then a wolf howled. And another. Then a whole chorus of wolves’ sw
eet symphony filled the air.
The other wolf stopped and hesitated, unsure whether to stay and fight or tuck tail and save his hide. He looked like it killed him to run off, but he did. Several wolves she didn’t know by sight rushed off to take down the departing wolf. By the scent, they were Darien and two others.
Turbo looked resigned to paying the consequences for his actions. He would end up in jail with his brother, no doubt. Both of them with broken legs. Served them right. At least they weren’t dead wolves, but they’d pay their time for the dangerous illegal business they’d been in. Hopefully, Darien and the rest of the men could track down the remainder of the pack and end this now.
* * *
Eric and Pepper stayed at Darien and Lelandi’s house, showered, and borrowed some of their clothes, then Sarandon drove them to Eric’s home at their request. Pepper and Eric planned to stay at his home for the rest of the night. Thank heavens he didn’t have to go into work until the late shift. All that was left to take care of after the fire damage was painting, so Eric’s home was perfectly livable for the night. A hint of smoke could still be smelled in the den. Pepper was glad they could be alone but in pack territory.
Darien and several members of the pack had left to deal with the rest of this business—retrieving Waldron’s body, setting and casting Turbo’s leg, and locking him in a cell near his brother. They’d caught the other wolf without a fight and learned the location of the last wolf. CJ and Trevor were on their way to arrest him. Tom and Brett had taken care of the cabin, bringing Eric and Pepper’s still-wet clothes, Eric’s gun, their phones, her vehicle, and the ranger truck to Eric’s home so they’d have them when they needed to leave. Pepper had updated Richard and Susan about everything that had happened and where they would be before she and Eric retired for what was left of the night.
“Can we try this again?” Eric asked, carrying her across the threshold to his bedroom.
She smiled up at him. “Anywhere and anyplace.”