If Eric had been a beta, he would have done just that: looked a little chagrined and turned to watch his brother talking about identifying butterflies. Sarandon had pulled out pictures that their cousin, a professional photographer, had taken of butterflies and was explaining about the various kinds.
Instead of backing off, Eric smiled at her. Just a little. Like he was glad her potential wolf suitor—who was really just a stalker as far as she was concerned—wasn’t the one for her. Like he was hoping he might have a chance with her if she wasn’t interested in the other wolf.
“Well, that’s good to know,” Eric said, ultraserious. “Then if he bites at me the next time, I won’t hold back.”
She didn’t want Eric to get the notion he could court her next. But she hadn’t expected him to say what he did. It was understandable, but she hadn’t expected that response. She certainly didn’t want the wolves fighting over her.
She had been happily running her pack for seven years on her own. Real she-wolves were known to do that. And she’d never met a male wolf she’d been remotely interested in. Harold had been the perfect mate, coleading the pack in perfect harmony with her. Well, if she could call it coleading. He had looked rough and tough as male wolves go, although he had really been just a beta. But he had been perfect as far as being mostly agreeable.
The only thing she had regretted was that their mating had never produced offspring. But two of the women in her pack had twins, and another had one child—all males. She didn’t have to have children of her own, because she played with and helped take care of all the kids so much that they were like her own.
On the other hand, she didn’t want Eric to believe he had to take that kind of beating from another wolf, just so the other wolf wouldn’t hassle her. Even so, she couldn’t tell Eric what to do if Waldron was intent on fighting him. “With regard to Waldron, be my guest. Maybe another male wolf could knock some sense into him.”
She doubted it. When two males wanted the same thing, one could kill the other. That’s the way it was in the wolves’ world. Then she looked at Eric and asked, “Where did you get the other wound?” She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t considered it could be something other than a bite wound. What were the odds that he’d had an earlier wolf fight with some other wolf in the park or elsewhere?
“Nothing important,” he said.
She didn’t believe him. Maybe he’d injured himself on the job, but she doubted it.
“One time, I had a group ask me to take them on a hike through the mountains in search of Bigfoot,” Sarandon said to the boys, drawing her attention away from Eric.
“Did you find him?” one of the boys asked.
“Nah. If he exists, he didn’t want to be found.” Sarandon started talking about other guided tours he’d taken people on.
“Are you from this area?” Eric asked Pepper. “The Scoutmaster said you’d been presenting programs for five years.”
“Nope. Not from this area.” Which was true. They weren’t originally from this area.
Again, he cast her an elusive smile.
She smiled back this time. Their conversation reminded her of a cat-and-mouse game between wolves. He wanted to know where she and her pack were located without asking overtly. As a wolf, he’d easily picked up on her reluctance to get to know him better—the scent she was giving off, her arms folded defensively, her focus on Sarandon and the boys. Though when she did turn her attention to Eric, her eye contact was direct—total alpha posturing. She suspected he had already checked her cabin reservations, since he could as a member of the staff. He could even use Susan’s injury as the excuse to get in touch with her. Pepper was glad she’d only used their P.O. box.
“First time to actually camp in the park?” he asked.
“We’ve been here before. But it’s been maybe five years since the last time.”
“To…the campsite or the park?”
She chuckled. “The campsite. We’ve been to the park, but not all together as a pack.”
“Lots of times?”
“Yes.” Which meant she lived nearby, and he would deduce that. Which made her wonder why she hadn’t run into him before. “Have you come here a lot?”
“No. I’ve only worked here since Thanksgiving. Before that, I worked jobs in Silver Town—with the ski resort and elsewhere. We have our own lands to run on and I’ve visited most of the national parks at some time or another, but I wouldn’t have come anywhere near campsites when I was running as a wolf. Now I’m regretting that I hadn’t been up here more. I must have gotten extra lucky last night.”
“Right. And you have the wound to prove it.” She couldn’t help but be annoyed with Waldron all over again. Where had he been when Susan needed help? He’d only been around to annoy Pepper and injure another wolf who had helped her out.
Eric shrugged it off. “No big deal. I wouldn’t have bothered seeing Doc, but I felt it wouldn’t hurt to get some antibiotics.”
“I can’t believe you have a doctor in your pack.” That was the only thing she really wished. That they had a wolf doctor who could take care of injuries or sickness and delivering babies, instead of going to a human doctor for their care.
“Doc Weber takes any wolf patients. Humans too, but he transfers them out as soon as he can. We run Silver Town. As a pack.”
She closed her gaping mouth. She knew of Silver Town, but she really couldn’t believe they ran the whole town. She’d never had any reason to visit. Then she wondered about Eric’s name. Maybe he was the pack leader and didn’t need to be a leader of anyone else’s pack. Wouldn’t that be a joke on her when she’d been worried about his intentions?
“Silver? Any relation to the town’s name and founding fathers?”
“Yeah, my cousin Darien and his mate, Lelandi, are the pack leaders. He has two brothers and I have three. Our family started the town in the old days. It was first a silver mining town. Since then, we’ve done tours of the mountain in the mining cars, and we started a ski resort. We don’t have a lot of accommodations for out-of-town skiers. Mainly we to try to keep the non-wolf ski population from visiting since we’re rather remote from other Colorado cities.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s probably why I’ve never been there. It’s not on any of the main highways. I never even considered that it would be wolf-run. Or that any pack would run a town.”
“It’s perfect for raising kids. If you and your pack ever need a home, I’m certain Darien and Lelandi would welcome you to the town.”
“No, thanks. We’re fine.”
“I thought the male who attacked me ran the pack you were with.”
“He’d like to, I’m sure, but no.”
“Then you run it?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?” Eric had such a speculative gleam in his dark-brown eyes, his lips curving imperceptibly, that she figured he was putting all the puzzle pieces together.
“Yes. And I’m not looking for a mate. Do you have your own police force?” If they did, Eric could easily have her license plate checked out, even get her address that way, if she was parked in the same area that he was. Since he was a law-enforcement park ranger, he might be able to run the tags himself.
“We sure do. Two deputies, one being my youngest brother, and a sheriff.”
“That’s nice. Well, I’ve got to run along. I suppose you’re meeting up with another Boy Scout troop after this one, and two more this afternoon?”
“Sure am. What about you?”
“Same.”
“Great. Sarandon and I will see you then. I’ll walk you to where you’re parked.”
She had parked in the farthest lot out, figuring she could use the exercise after she and Susan ended up having too many chips and too much wine last night. “Not necessary. See you at the next campsite.” She stalked off, feeling the wolf’s eyes on her ba
ck.
As soon as she turned left into the woods, she glanced back in Eric’s direction. Yep, he was watching her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled.
She shouldn’t have glanced in his direction, telling him she was interested in what he was doing. Every action a wolf took would be recorded by others and analyzed. She didn’t want him drawing the wrong conclusions.
Pepper made her way to her vehicle, glad Eric had abided by her wishes and hadn’t followed her. She’d give him high marks for that. Not that it would change her mind about him or any other male wolf who thought he might take her mate’s place.
She got into her mini-SUV and drove to the next campsite, realizing he could still find her vehicle if he really wanted to by smelling her scent on it. She sighed. What difference would it make anyway? She wasn’t going to have anything to do with him beyond talking to him a little at the campsites in between lecturing.
When she arrived at the next troop encampment, she was shocked to see Eric already there and lecturing. He must have known a shortcut, maybe a road only park officials could use. He didn’t even glance her way, though she was sure he knew she was coming up the trail to the campsite because the breeze was blowing her scent in his direction. For an annoying fraction of a second, she realized how much she wished he had glanced her way, smiled a little, and continued on with his talk.
She was used to being acknowledged when her pack members were around. When Waldron was around, he paid constant attention to her, as if she was the only person in the world. But that annoyed her. She was puzzled by Eric’s behavior. He appeared to be giving up on her way too easily—for an alpha. Unless he had just been trying to be friendly and didn’t have any deeper goals in mind.
Nah. He was totally intrigued by her. She’d smelled his interest. But he was different, not pushy like the others she had known.
The Scoutmaster spoke to her, but she barely heard a word he said, instead listening to Eric pull the boys into new tales, all different from the others she had heard. Right now, he was talking about the time he was chased by a bear when he was a kid and climbed a tree, but the bear did too.
The boys were sitting cross-legged in front of him, and he sat the same way to give his lecture, as if he were just one of the boys. The boys looked enraptured, their mouths gaping, their eyes wide. She was just as caught up in the tale, wondering how he got out of the predicament he’d found himself in. She wondered if he was giving a new lecture so she wouldn’t have to hear the same old stories again. She had to admit she was fascinated with his adventure stories.
“Mr. Silver is new to us,” the Scoutmaster said to her. He chuckled. “He sure has some tales to tell.”
Considering how long lupus garous lived, at least until lately, she knew why Eric had so many tales to tell. She let out her breath on a long sigh. No way would her wolf video or little pine tree sapling garner the attention Eric did.
She wished she’d gone first like before. Unlike him, she didn’t have another lecture prepared, and she wasn’t good at impromptu speeches.
She sighed again and saw Sarandon coming down the same trail she had. He was all smiles—directed totally at her. Maybe he was the one she should watch out for.
Chapter 5
After the lecture, Eric gave Pepper a brief smile in greeting, then joined Sarandon as he waited to talk to the troop. Pepper was speaking to the boys now, and Eric asked his brother, “Did you want to meet me for lunch after this?”
“Certainly. Guess you don’t need to do what you were going to do now.” Sarandon was careful not to be specific in case Pepper could catch any part of their conversation. “Did you want to wait for me?”
Eric thought about it. He really had wanted to track down where her pack was from. But he was feeling so wiped out, he figured he needed to eat. Then after the last lecture, he’d swing by the cabins Pepper had rented and check them out.
“Yeah, sure.”
Like Eric, Sarandon would be telling all new tales so Eric didn’t mind hearing them, especially since some would be new to him too.
“Do you want to ask Pepper if she’d like to go with us? We’ll all be at the next troop campout after that.”
Pepper glanced their way, probably having heard her name mentioned.
“I’m getting strong vibes that she’s not interested in seeing anyone,” Eric said, lowering his voice so only his brother could hear.
“And that’s stopping you, why?”
Eric frowned at him. “She already has trouble with another male wolf. I don’t intend to add to her problems.”
“So take care of the other male wolf.”
Eric snorted. “I would in a heartbeat if I thought she wanted or needed my help. But I don’t believe she does.” If he learned Waldron was the one illegally growing crops in the park, that would be the perfect scenario. Eric could take him down for a criminal venture and get him off Pepper’s back. At the same time, he’d be doing it in the course of his job and for the safety of all lupus garous.
“Ah, so she would think you’d force the other wolf to leave, but then take his place. Gotcha.”
“Right.”
“Well, I got to tell you, Brother, you have more fortitude than I have.”
Eric wasn’t about to let his brother know how much it was killing him to back off. He swore Pepper was surprised he had given her the space she seemed to need when she first arrived. She was probably used to the other male wolf not backing off. Which was why Eric was working so hard at this. And that was a new way of handling a situation like this for him. Of course, she might not care for him, in which case, he really wasn’t pushing it.
“So are you hanging around to have lunch with me, or do you want to just meet me somewhere?” Sarandon asked.
“I’ll hang around. We can leave your vehicle here and take the shortcut out of the park so we can have plenty of time to visit and still be back in time for the next talk.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to ask Pepper? What if she doesn’t say no?”
Eric really didn’t want to press things with her, but Sarandon was right. What if she did want to have lunch with them and she felt left out because they hadn’t asked if she’d join them? Because of his park ranger position, he could get them out of here faster than if she used the visitor roads.
What the hell. If she rejected the idea, he would remind himself it was just a polite offer, nothing more, like if he’d asked any another wolf to join them, just in friendship and camaraderie.
Who was he trying to kid? All he had to do to know how he felt was envision her playing in the creek last night with the other women and then kissing him back as he kissed her—like in his dream.
When she joined him to thank the Scoutmaster, Sarandon gave Eric a look that said he ought to ask, just to be courteous. Then Sarandon began his talk with the boys.
Eric said to Pepper, “Sarandon wondered if you’d like to join us for some lunch.” He thought saying his brother wanted him to ask would make it less of an issue for her. “I can drive us on the official-use-only roads and get us to town quicker, if you’d like. Then we’ll be back in time for the next Scout troop, if you’re doing the same ones we are this afternoon.”
“Is it legal for a nonofficial person to ride in an official truck?” she asked.
He smiled.
She smiled back.
“Sure, if it means getting a Reuben sandwich at that deli on the corner of Fifth and Parker and having a little more time to chill out between lectures,” he said.
“You got it.” And for a second, Eric thought he had made a slight inroad with Pepper. “But only if Sarandon likes the place too,” she added.
“He does. We both do,” he assured her quickly. But he suspected that even if Sarandon hadn’t liked the place, he would have gone along so Eric could visit further with Pepper. Even so, Eric w
as glad both he and his brother ate there whenever they had a chance because the food was so good.
She raised a brow as if she didn’t believe him.
“He loves the tuna melt. I love the chili on cold days, the Reuben on hot days.”
She frowned at him. He thought she still questioned his veracity but she said, “Are you sure you’re all right?”
She was still concerned about him. That was a good sign. “Yeah, sure.” His injuries were aching and he was burning up, but no way was he going to tell Pepper that. As soon as he finished speaking to the next two troops this afternoon, he’d go home to bed. Well, after he checked out the cabins.
“You look flushed.”
He shrugged. “No big deal.”
“The Scouts will understand if you can’t talk to them this afternoon.”
Now that he had a chance to be around Pepper for longer? No way was he going home this early. “If it was a life-or-death matter, I’d bow out. It isn’t. Really.” Eric appreciated her concern, but he wasn’t about to leave now. Maybe she wouldn’t be interested in him. And maybe he wouldn’t be interested in her—if they got to know each other better. But he couldn’t pass up this opportunity to have lunch with her, and having his brother along would help make her feel easier about it.
“All right.”
Before long, Sarandon had finished his talk and Eric drove them to the old-time deli, which featured Chevy convertible toy cars and pictures, checkered tablecloths, a chrome bar, and red vinyl seats. They went to the serving line and considered the menu. Pepper frowned. “Do you have sandwiches in half orders?”
“No, ma’am. Only whole sandwiches,” the server said.
Eric quickly said, “We can split one.”
Immediately, she began to object. “But—”
“No buts. With this fever, I’m not as hungry as I usually am. I couldn’t manage more than half a sandwich.”
She looked skeptically at him. Sarandon was smiling like he didn’t believe Eric one bit.