“The ghost left tracks?”
“A trail. The snow was too deep for the wolf to leave paw prints in the snow.”
“Did you smell the wolf?”
“No. It’s a ghost wolf.” CJ smiled.
Brett laughed. “But it left tracks as it plowed through the snow.”
“Right. When we reached a dirt road that led to the river, we found fresh tire tracks. Really fresh. Despite how much the snow had been blowing, the flakes hadn’t yet filled up the tire tracks.”
“The ghost wolf was driving a car.” Brett took another swallow of his beer and smiled.
“Pickup truck, by the look of the tire treads.”
“Did you tell Darien?”
“Are you kidding? Look at how you reacted.”
Brett shook his head. “You know what Darien is like. He isn’t me. He’s the pack leader and he takes everything seriously. You never know… He might have learned something that ties into what you’ve seen that he hasn’t shared with everyone.”
“I didn’t see anything but the tire tracks. Laurel might have imagined seeing a white wolf in the snow. Someone in our pack might have been out fishing or running and left just before we arrived. He might have been running near the road and took off into the woods when he saw my truck, thinking we were human.”
“I’d still call Darien and let him know what happened. Do you really think that Laurel imagined seeing the wolf?”
“No. We followed a trail and it disappeared in the vicinity of the truck’s tire marks. I think she saw a wolf.”
“Not really a ghost wolf then,” Brett said. “But we don’t have any pure white wolves in the pack.”
“I know.”
“When you saw the Wernicke brothers, they weren’t white wolves, were they? I never had a chance to ask Jake or Darien what they looked like.”
“One was black. I’m thinking it was Stanton because he seems to be the leader, and he was in the lead there. The other two were gray. I really think the snow colored Laurel’s vision,” CJ said. “If the wolf was old, he couldn’t have moved as fast as he did. Though it took me a little while to park the truck, then get out, strip, shift, and take chase. Do you really believe the ghost wolf story was just told to frighten teens into watching their driving on the country roads?”
“That’s what I’ve always heard. Nobody I’ve discussed it with has ever seen the ghost wolf or a naked woman. So I don’t believe she exists. It’s just a situation like you and Laurel experienced. A wolf out for a run that’s spotted by a passerby driving in a snowstorm. Have you seen anything else? Anything to do with the hotel, beyond the situation with the paint cans being moved?”
“A letter C appeared on one of the walls in the main room. I’ve painted over it a number of times already, but it keeps reappearing.”
“Huh. Any reason for it?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Oh, one other thing. Did Dad ever talk to you about wanting the hotel torn down?”
“Not that I recall. He didn’t like it sitting there, as dilapidated as it was becoming. He said it was an eyesore. But I don’t remember him ever saying he thought it should be demolished. Darien wouldn’t have gone along with it. He’s the reason we have Victorian Days. He loves the town and everything about its history. If our dad had wanted to tear it down, even petitioned for it, Darien would have said no.”
“I agree. Which is probably why, if Dad wanted that, he never said anything to the rest of us.”
They finished their meal, and then Brett began to cut up the pumpkin pie, topping it with whipped cream as CJ cleared the dishes and loaded them in the dishwasher.
“Okay, so about Laurel. You’re not going to let this stop you from getting somewhere with her, are you?” Brett asked.
CJ snorted.
“I’m serious. She only has eyes for you, and we all know you are totally hung up on the woman. So…how are you going to resolve this with her and make it right?”
Damned if CJ knew.
Chapter 10
Alone in the house, Laurel felt really isolated. Even though their home had a feel-good aura, she hadn’t realized how lonely it would be with her sisters away. She felt like a wolf missing her pack mates.
The wind was blowing and howling eerily. She considered the chocolate cake still sitting in its box on the kitchen counter and realized she’d intended to invite CJ in for a slice or two after their run.
As much as she loved chocolate and as inviting as it looked, she didn’t want to have a slice by herself when she’d intended to share it with him.
Feeling drained, she finally retired to bed, pulling her handmade quilt up to her chin. She’d seen Brett taking pictures of the lights on the hotel earlier, a little after CJ left, but then Brett had disappeared around the front of the hotel again. She’d almost wanted to invite him in for cocoa and a piece of cake to thank him for helping to promote the hotel in the paper, but she didn’t want him thinking she was interested in him like she was interested in CJ. And that made her feel disconcerted about CJ all over again.
She knew she’d upset him by mentioning that his father could have been involved in her aunt’s disappearance or the cover-up. But she hadn’t been able to let go of what CJ had revealed about his father. It all added to her unease about what had happened to her aunt. She’d felt she had to say what she thought could have happened.
Because she felt something for CJ, she didn’t want to hide the truth of what she’d been feeling. Still, she felt bad about suggesting that his father could have been involved in her aunt’s disappearance and that her comments had upset CJ. She should have kept her thoughts to herself and let the truth come out on its own.
She rolled from her back to her side and stared at the clock. She couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow was the big grand opening, and now she was even more worried about the Wernicke brothers and what they might find, or how they might try to make her and her sisters’ lives more difficult. She closed her eyes, her thoughts drifting back to kissing CJ, his warm, sensuous lips pressed against hers¸ his hard body tight against her body. Thinking about playing with him in the snow as wolves brought a smile to her lips. He was so good-natured to have taught her how to ski. And he hadn’t dismissed her concerns when she wanted to chase down a ghost wolf that hadn’t been a ghost wolf at all.
After what she’d said to him about his father, CJ probably wished he’d never kissed her or shown her any affection. Unable to stop feeling bad about it, she groaned and stared at her cell phone sitting on the bedside table. Would he be awake? Annoyed if she called him? With every intention of apologizing, she lifted the phone off the table. Thankfully, Darien had given her all the key pack members’ cell numbers in case of an emergency. Which was something else nice about belonging to a pack.
This wasn’t an emergency, but she couldn’t sleep, and if she didn’t make amends with CJ, she’d never get any rest. She hoped he wouldn’t be sound asleep and become further annoyed with her for calling him at this late hour.
She poked at his name on the phone and a tired male voice said, “Hello?”
“I’m so sorry about this evening. I shouldn’t have said what I did—”
“Who is this?”
Ohmigod, in her tired state she must have punched a different Silver’s phone number.
“Laurel?” There was a definite hint of a smile in the masculine voice.
The trouble was the Silver brothers and cousins all sounded similar. She had no idea which one she had called. Because of her slight Irish accent, he could guess it was her or one of her sisters. And since she was the only one here at the moment, it had to be her.
“Sorry, wrong number. I was calling Ezra Holcomb. I guess that’s not you.” She ended the call, her whole body warming with embarrassment as she snuggled under the covers and felt like a complete idiot.