After helping Elizabeth into his truck, Tom gave Trevor a sketchy explanation of the situation. Peter could fill him in on the ski accident; Tom wanted to get Elizabeth settled at Darien’s place pronto.
“All right,” Trevor said. “I’ll do some preliminary investigating until Peter arrives.”
“Let us know if you discover anything important,” Tom said.
“I will.” Trevor headed for the B and B.
Tom drove them out of Silver Town to Darien and Lelandi’s home in the country. Tom still lived there, but because of Darien and Lelandi’s babies growing into toddlers, he planned to buy a place of his own this spring. He enjoyed helping with the toddlers so he hadn’t bothered looking before this, but Darien and Lelandi would need the additional room as the toddlers grew bigger.
“Did you have anything really important on your laptop? Finances?” Tom asked.
“It’s locked with a password. But if they’re hackers, I suppose they can get into it. No financial documents on it. Just some photos and news articles I’ve written. All are backed up in emails.”
“Good.” Tom couldn’t quit thinking of a million different scenarios. “Were you followed at the ski resort? Did you feel the men had been stalking you before they attacked you?”
He was certain now that the man who had shoved her had something to do with this. And her fall had been no accident. All this trouble for one woman in one day couldn’t be a coincidence.
“No. I don’t believe so. It all seemed to start when I got on the ski lift with the man. He glowered at me, acting as though he wanted me to turn away like a beta would. I wouldn’t. So I said, ‘Hi’ and asked him if he was from around here. Then he turned away, and that was that.”
“Was he a wolf?”
“I couldn’t smell him. The way the wind was blowing, he could smell me.”
“You thought you got pictures of both men?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe that’s why they targeted you.”
Elizabeth was silent for a moment.
“I didn’t smell the men who entered my room at the B and B, either. Did you?” she asked.
“No. No human smell, no wolf smell.” And that concerned Tom. What if these were the same strangers who’d stalked the farmers’ livestock, and they were now targeting guests in town? Or just one special guest. But why?
Chapter 10
While Tom drove them to Darien’s home, Elizabeth pulled her phone out of her backpack to call North. She had to tell him she wouldn’t be at Bertha’s B and B tonight. She paused. What if somehow North’s knowing where she stayed was the reason the burglars had broken into her room? What if they had seen her leave the B and B with Tom and had followed her to the resort?
What if they were working for her uncle?
She chewed on her lip. She hated all this second-guessing.
She called North’s number, and he picked up.
“Call you back later,” North said abruptly, then hung up on her.
She stared at the phone. The break-in might not have anything to do with North, but she sure didn’t like him not taking her call. Was her Uncle Quinton visiting North? Questioning him about her?
“Anything wrong?” Tom asked.
“Um, no.” She had told the truth. There might be nothing wrong. She shoved her phone back into her pack. At least she hoped that was the truth. She didn’t want Tom and his pack involved in this business with her and the red pack.
When they arrived at Darien and Lelandi’s two-story log home, Elizabeth guessed it had to be about ten thousand square feet, large enough to accommodate pack gatherings. Smoke curled from two chimneys. Snow piled on the windowsills and icicles dripping off the roof made the house look like a warm place to spend the winter season.
An unwanted feeling of sadness slid through her as she thought about not having a pack to belong to or someone to watch her back as she watched his or hers. She quickly quashed that notion. She’d been perfectly happy and much safer since she’d hightailed it out of the southeastern part of Colorado and settled in Texas.
Tom escorted her into the house, stopping only to remove the parka draped over her shoulders, and then led her into the living room where he introduced Lelandi. All smiles, she greeted Elizabeth, her hand outstretched. She was gentle, as if she was afraid Elizabeth would break. Elizabeth smelled that Lelandi was a red wolf who didn’t seem to have any animosity for her, despite the fact that Elizabeth was part coyote. That open-mindedness was so foreign to Elizabeth that she couldn’t fathom it.
Her red hair secured in a bun, Lelandi had on the professional navy-blue business jacket and skirt she wore for seeing her psychology clients. Her eyes were clear green, unlike Elizabeth’s more blue-green, but the two women looked similar in terms of height and hair color. Elizabeth was finer boned, probably due to her coyote ancestry.
“You really didn’t have to go to all of this trouble for me,” Elizabeth said, feeling more like an intruder in the family business than anything.
“Nonsense. Usual fare. Think nothing of it. We’re delighted to have you stay with us.”
The welcome was in Lelandi’s voice, though Elizabeth also heard something else—a pack leader’s declaration: You will stay with us for your protection. Elizabeth was used to being independent and on her own, so she wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
The whole home was warm and welcoming, with soft velour couches and chairs, pale yellow painted walls, and a massive stone fireplace where a fire crackled and red-orange flames spiraled upward. An extra cushiony beige carpet was underfoot, and dark, polished wood beams crisscrossed a high ceiling.
But something more than its physical appearance made the home inviting.
Elizabeth could sense the feel of family here, unlike in her own home. She felt safe there from her pack, but she realized there was something to be said for having a family. Her home was isolated, singular, and if she admitted it to herself, lonely.
A blue-eyed blonde came out of another room and greeted her, smiling broadly and with her hand extended. Another red wolf. Elizabeth was astounded to see two of them here. Maybe red she-wolves, in particular, appealed to this group of grays, she thought.
“I’m Carol McKinley, a nurse. I’ve been told you’ve had a rough time of it, so if you’re ready, I’ll take you up to your room. You can lie down for a bit until we eat dinner.”
Lelandi smiled. “We’ll see you a little later. Get some rest, Elizabeth.”
Again, the pack leader had decided. Not that Elizabeth didn’t appreciate the “offer.” She was all too glad to lie down for a while.
“Thanks.” Elizabeth glanced at Tom. He dipped his head, letting her know he approved of the idea.
She didn’t really need his approval, but she wanted him to know she cared about his feelings. When did that get to be an issue?
He ran his hand over her shoulder in a tender caress. “Feel better,” he said emphatically, his gaze on hers.
“I’ll be a hundred percent before you know it.”
He smiled a little at that, and she wasn’t sure if he thought she was joking. “I will,” she insisted, then headed for the stairs with Carol.
“You will,” Carol said, repeating Elizabeth’s words like a mantra. “Half the fight is taking a positive stance.”
“The other half is having genetics that help us to heal faster,” Elizabeth said.
Carol laughed as they climbed the stairs. “I have to admit that’s the thing I love best about being a wolf. I’m a red wolf, too. Newly turned.”