They ordered and sat down at one of the tables. Sarandon began talking about their pack as if Pepper might be interested in joining them. But he didn’t tell her about their father’s misdeeds or anything that could cast a bad light on him or his brothers.
After listening to Sarandon talk almost nonstop for twenty minutes, Pepper turned to Eric and asked, “Were you really chased by a bear when you were human? Or were you a wolf at the time?”
“Both. The time I told the Scouts about, we were human. As wolves, when we were about fifteen, Sarandon and I were hiking up in the mountains and it started storming. Remember my talk on lightning storms? We were up on a peak when a thunderstorm rolled in. We sought lower ground and found a cave, thinking only about protecting ourselves from the lightning. But then we discovered the cave had a resident. A sleeping black bear. We hurried out of there and scrambled down the mountain, figuring we’d take our chances with the storm.”
“Wow, I would have been so freaked out.”
“We definitely were. What about you? You must have had some harrowing experiences over the years,” Eric said.
A server brought their lunches to the table and left.
Pepper said, “Yeah, it’s hard not to, given our life spans and as much time as I’ve spent in the forests. One time I’d taken a couple of wolf pups with me on a hike. The mom needed a break and she turned into her wolf so the twin boys would take wolf form and I could take them for an outing. I was trying to make them mind, but also to get them used to exploring nature and the world around them. So I was observing them like any wolf ‘nanny’ would, while also watching the area surrounding us.
“Then I saw a cougar. She had two yearling cubs with her, and she was teaching them how to hunt for food. Before she could see us, I moved the pups away from the area quickly. That was the scariest thing that ever happened to me. If I’d had my pack with me, no problem. A wolf pack would have scared them off. But one wolf and two pups? They were only four months old in wolf form, four in human years. I couldn’t have fought off the cougar and her cubs. After that, I made it a rule that if any of us took pups out into the woods, we went as a pack.”
Eric blew out his breath. “Now that would be a tale to tell the Scouts, if you could tell it.”
“I wish I could. Between your and Sarandon’s tales, the boys were absolutely awestruck. I think that’s the quietest I’ve ever seen a group of Boy Scouts. I don’t remember seeing you giving the lectures before though.”
“It’s a new job for both of us since Thanksgiving of last year,” Eric said. “So we missed the summer when the Boy Scouts are camping. The park service normally hires temps in the summers, but I’d been working up north in the same capacity for a few years, so I managed to get a permanent position down here closer to home.” He drank some of his water. “So how long have you been at the job?”
“Nine years. I started giving lectures to troops five years ago. I hadn’t expected a park ranger or a nature guide to show up today. That must have been your doing,” she said to Eric.
“Well, actually, we both had the idea at the same time.” Eric lifted a pickle off the plate. “I was telling Sarandon about what I needed to do, and we both had the idea that he could add something to the talk. Then we’d have lunch after that.”
“That was a good idea. I was curious though. Do you often prowl the park at night as a wolf?”
“Yes. I love the woods. It gives me a chance to run in my wilder form.” Eric then noticed two male teens looking at them curiously from across the room. Even though they were talking softly—their wolf hearing ensured they could hear each other—the teens seemed to have caught some of their conversation.
Pepper glanced in the teens’ direction, then said, “I think they overheard us.”
“Only if they’re wolves.” Eric finished off his sandwich.
“Not any of yours, I take it.”
“Nope. And not any of yours?”
“No.”
Eric eyed them for a moment, wondering where they were from. He frowned. “What about Waldron’s pack? Would some of his wolves be here?”
“In the summer? Teens out hiking in the park, then coming in to have lunch? Could be.”
Eric thought it was too much of a coincidence that Waldron would attack him for showing any interest in Pepper, and now two teens—possibly from Waldron’s pack—were having lunch at the same place and same time as them.
“But you don’t know them?” Eric asked, wondering just how much interaction she’d had with Waldron and his pack.
She shook her head. “He said his pack is thirty members strong. I don’t know where they’re living, what they do, and I didn’t ask. He didn’t share either.”
“You never met him before? I mean, you haven’t known him long-term then?”
“He just moved into the area, from what I understand.”
So she and her pack must live close by. Then again, Waldron and his pack must also.
“I wonder why they would move out of their own area,” Sarandon said, as if he thought the pack had caused trouble and moved on.
“Yeah, I was wondering the same thing.” Though Eric had no intention of bringing it up, because he and his brothers had moved on when their dad had caused all the trouble for the pack. Now they were back, but Eric still felt unsettled, responsible, and angry with his dad, when they hadn’t caused any trouble. Still, Eric and his brothers had left the pack even though it wasn’t their fault, so the same could be true of Waldron and his people.
“Do you want me to talk to the boys?” Sarandon asked.
“Nah. They’re just checking us out like we’re checking them out.” But Eric wondered if they knew who Pepper was and if they were in Waldron’s pack, and he knew word would get back to him that two male wolves had lunch with her—one who had even shared a sandwich with her. Though it was all innocent, another wolf interested in courting her might not think so.
“Are we ready to go back and take on the next round of Scout troops?” Pepper asked, setting her napkin on her plate. “And thanks, Eric, for buying everyone lunch.”
Eric thought she was elevating her voice a little, making sure the teens knew why they had lunch together. Was she afraid Waldron would come looking for Eric if he learned he was having lunch out with her? And try to take another bite out of him? Not this time.
* * *
Pepper and the Silver brothers cleaned up their table, then dumped their trash as they headed out the door. The teens quickly followed but kept their distance. They eyed the vehicle Eric was driving and took a picture.
“They have to be from Waldron’s pack,” Pepper said, climbing into Eric’s truck. “There would be no other reason for their obvious interest in us. Like a warning that what we did would be reported back to him.”
She’d halfway expected Waldron to saunter in like he owned the deli and tell Eric she was off-limits. She could see that Eric was all alpha, and he was ready for some payback. Waldron wouldn’t get off so easily next time—if there was a next time.
Eric snorted. “All the better reason to clear the air, and the sooner the better.”
Sarandon cast Eric a warning look. “Not in your condition, it isn’t. And you know if he injured you again before you were healed, Darien and all the rest of us would tear into him. No letting the two of you deal with this on your own.”
“Well, I hope no one does anything on my account,” Pepper reminded the brothers. Just because she ate lunch with them didn’t mean she wanted anything further to do with them. Yes, they were nice, but she doubted just being friends was Eric’s goal.
“This would be strictly on my account. Believe me, no wolf is going to get away with fighting me twice without some payback.”
On the other hand, maybe since the teens now knew Eric was on duty—he was wearing a park ranger uniform and driving one of th
e ranger vehicles—they would relay the information. And Waldron would realize Eric was just taking a break for lunch. Having his brother with them helped somewhat too. Of course, Pepper had no intention of telling Waldron what she was doing that day or any other, but he could guess that if she was with the ranger and another man, she was doing some kind of forestry lecture or project.
Still, she was concerned things would escalate between her and Waldron. Just the fact he was anywhere near her campsite last night proved troublesome. Had he been there for the two days they’d been staying there? And now this. What were the chances that the kids just happened upon them at the deli?
“I hope you’re going to make your brother go home after this,” she said to Sarandon.
“Like I could make him do anything he didn’t want to do.”
They arrived back at the campground, then hiked in to the next troop encampment. “A good night’s rest, and I’ll be good as new,” Eric said as if he didn’t want them to get the last word on the subject.
“He won’t let me see his bite wounds,” Sarandon said. “But after a couple of dozen stitches, and the fact they are bleeding again…”
Eric glowered at him.
“I thought you said there were only a couple of stitches,” Pepper said, glancing at the spots of blood on Eric’s uniform.
“That’s what he told me. He could have a compound fracture and downplay it. He doesn’t like being pampered.” Sarandon hurried to catch up to his brother.
Pepper rushed to keep pace with the two long-legged brothers.
“I can still hear you, you know,” Eric said to his brother.
“I meant for you to.” Sarandon waited for Pepper, but his gaze suddenly shot past her down the trail.
She turned to see what he saw. The two dark-haired teens from the deli. She didn’t believe it was a coincidence that they had come here to hike and just happened to be using the same trail to go to a campsite. Not when they’d taken pictures of her and the Silver brothers at the deli.
“I’ll catch up to you in a moment.” Sarandon obviously intended to talk to the boys. But suddenly Eric was passing her and Sarandon.
Between the two brothers, she had no doubt who was in charge. Then again, Eric did work here as a law-enforcement park ranger and had the authority to question the teens in a more official capacity than his brother did.
She folded her arms and watched the confrontation, curious as to how it would play out. She wanted to know just as much as they did who the boys were and what they were doing here. But she also wanted to see how Eric handled it.
“Are you with Waldron’s pack?” Eric asked.
“What’s it to you?” one of the boys spouted off.
“I need to know who to call if you cause any trouble in the park.”
That made the boys cast each other a look. She thought they appeared a little worried. One shoved his hands in his pockets, while the other lowered his gaze to the ground. She suspected Waldron wouldn’t like to hear the boys had taken it upon themselves to chase after her and the Silver brothers as if they were on a spy mission.
“What is your business in the park?” Eric asked, sounding like a pack leader himself.
“Just hiking around,” the other boy said. “Not against the law.”
“Names?”
“Jonathan Fairhaven,” said the first boy, who was slightly fairer than his companion.
“Leroy Fairhaven.”
“Brothers?”
“Yeah,” they both said.
“Let me see your IDs.”
When they handed over their IDs, Eric said, “Says here you’re from Idaho. If you’re going to stay in the area, you have to get new driver’s licenses.”
“We’re just…visiting for now.”
“Do you have jobs?” Eric asked.
The boys shook their heads.
“What about Waldron?”
“Can’t say.”
“Do you have his cell number?”
“No,” Jonathan said quickly.
Pepper knew it was a lie. She was certain now that the boys were keeping the pack leader informed about what was going on with Pepper and the Silver brothers. Eric recorded the boys’ previous address and sent a text to someone. “No more following Ms. Grayling, or I’ll have to do something more than lecture you,” Eric said.
Both nodded, then headed back the way they had come.
“Do you think they’ll listen to what you said?” Sarandon asked Eric. He looked like he thought Eric should have hauled them in on some charges right then and there.
“Yeah. I think they’re afraid enough of Waldron that they will. But mainly I think they’re afraid he won’t like that they got caught on their little secret agent mission. If they’d been sneakier about it, he might have appreciated the news.”
“They weren’t trying to be stealthy,” Pepper said.
“No. They were being cocky teens. What can I say?” Eric said, raising a brow at her.
“Like you were at that age?” Pepper could just imagine.
Eric cast her an elusive smile.
“Only you wouldn’t have backed down,” Pepper guessed.
“Depends on who I was talking to.”
Sarandon snorted. “You wouldn’t have backed down. Not even with our father or Darien’s father when he was pack leader.”
Eric looked like he could have socked Sarandon for saying so.
Pepper was amused by Sarandon speaking up about Eric. It made her wonder: If Eric had been a pack leader in his own right, would his mate have had any say in leading the pack? That made her wonder if he’d ever had a mate.
“What?” Sarandon said. “It’s the truth. If you felt something needed to be done or said, you did it. And you owned up to it. You never backed down.”
“What about you, Sarandon?” Pepper asked, curious.
“Hell, not me. When Father was in a terror, we let Eric stick up for us. Dad was the sheriff of Silver Town. He was pretty much adrift after we lost our mother. Eric tended to be the bossy one. Keeping us in line when we needed someone to do that. We’re all only a few minutes apart, but he always made sure the rest of us got fed.
“Normally, we had more than enough motherly she-wolves in the pack to check up on us, but occasionally something was going on and we’d be forgotten. When we were a little older, Eric learned how to cook and taught us. So we became really self-sufficient when we were fairly young. Eric even made us do laundry. And you know how that was done in the old days. No washing machines and the modern conveniences we have nowadays.”
“Yeah, I know the days.” She couldn’t help but be impressed that Eric had taken charge of his brothers when he was the same age as them.
When they reached the campsite, they spoke in turn to the Boy Scouts. Afterward, they went to the last camp and then they were finished with their lectures for the day.
Eric offered her his card. “If you ever need anything when you visit the park, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks.” She tucked his card in her shirt pocket, certain she’d never have any need to call him. But what if she did? She would keep it in a drawer of a chest in her living room, like she did with the rest of the business cards people gave her.
Despite the fact that Pepper wasn’t interested in having a mate, she’d had fun meeting wolves from another pack. They were different, interesting, and she realized how everything had become kind of the same old thing with her own wolf pack. She thought about how Eric must have felt to lose his mother and then take charge of his brothers, and how that must have affected him. Maybe that’s why he was genuinely good with the Boy Scouts. Had he been the same way with his brothers? She imagined he’d had to be strict with his own brothers, or they would have gotten away with stuff like all boys would do. But then she wondered if Eric
had gotten away with stuff when he was a kid, or had he been super responsible?
She’d had a close relationship with her mother and father, and when they had died she’d inherited the pack. No one would have considered it any other way. Harold had been a wolf with her pack forever. He had been the closest in age to her, and she had cared for him. He’d been more of a beta. Not alpha pushy like Waldron, who had declared from the first time he met her a few weeks ago that he wanted their packs to join as one.
She knew it had to do with her treed land as much as anything. She had wondered why Waldron’s pack had left their territory, but since she hadn’t wanted him to believe she was interested in him or his pack, she’d hadn’t asked.
No way did she want an alpha male in her life. She’d had too much trouble with several over the years. Including her father before he died. She thought some of it was because she was just as alpha and they’d butted heads all the time. Her mother had been more beta, and Pepper had gotten along great with her.
On the hike to her car, Pepper pulled out Eric’s card to really look at it and smiled when she saw the wolf’s head. It wasn’t just any wolf’s picture. It was Eric’s handsome wolf portrait.
But even so, she just couldn’t imagine dealing with another alpha male like any of the ones she’d met so far without wanting to do him bodily harm.
Chapter 6
All that was on the agenda when Eric went home was to wash the bloodstain out his uniform and then go to bed. He’d probably get up later, but he was wiped out from the lingering fever. Tomorrow, he’d investigate the cannabis plants further, but before he left the park today, he was driving over to the campground where Pepper and her people had stayed.
Sarandon walked him to his truck. “I’m dropping by Silva’s tearoom and picking up some chicken soup, potato rolls, and a pie for you. I already called in the order, and I’ll drop it by your place.”
“I thought you said I should sleep.”
Sarandon turned to leave. “And eat. You need to eat, then sleep. See you later.”
Since when did his younger brother dictate Eric’s life? Not that he didn’t appreciate what Sarandon was doing for him, but Eric knew Sarandon wasn’t going to just drop off the food and leave. His brother wanted to talk more about Pepper and her situation.