“When he learned I was part coyote and had made him that way—which is why the she-wolf shunned him, ignoring the fact she wouldn’t have wanted him because he also was mated—he wanted to kill me. Thankfully, her brother got to him first. I left the area after that.”
Carol was quiet for a long time. “You don’t think what has happened to you up here has anything to do with your family, do you? Or maybe this woman’s brother?”
“I… don’t believe so. The wolf who was interested in my former mate is probably mated by now,” Elizabeth said, hedging on the question about her family.
She thought back to when she’d run away from her pack and settled in Oklahoma near her mother’s family. That hadn’t been all that far from where the red pack was. Texas wasn’t, either. As much as she hated to admit it, she had never been able to move very far away from her family—even as cruelly as they’d treated her. They were still family, the only blood relatives she had.
But what if Carol’s suspicions were right and her family was causing her trouble again? What if North had betrayed her? And told her uncle she was here? Or he might have unwittingly revealed her whereabouts or been forced to give Uncle Quinton the information.
“Where was your pack from?” Carol asked.
Elizabeth hesitated to say.
Carol chewed on her lower lip. “Not from around here, are they?”
“Southeastern part of the state.”
“About seven hours from here?”
“Yeah… so not all that close.” Elizabeth had a bad feeling about this. How would Carol know how far the pack was from here?
Carol looked disconcerted, her forehead wrinkled, and she chewed on her lower lip again. “You’re part of Bruin’s old pack?”
Heart pounding, Elizabeth gaped at Carol for a second, and then she clamped her lips closed. Carol knew them. Elizabeth hadn’t thought anyone from the gray wolf pack would know them. Then again, both Lelandi and Carol were red wolves. Dr. Weber was, too, Elizabeth remembered.
As much as possible, Elizabeth had stayed clear of the red pack while living with her mother and father. Her uncle and half brother had visited her—and caused all the trouble for her. She hadn’t been able to get to know the other members of the pack, except North. He had come to see her a few times, the only red wolf she knew at the time who didn’t wish her any harm.
But she’d truly believed everyone would regard her the same way as her family, no matter where in the country she ended up. She hadn’t found many wolves who treated her like Tom’s pack had.
Carol paused, then said, “You and Lelandi don’t seem to know each other.”
“I didn’t live with the pack.”
“Okay. I understand. But the red wolves can’t think they’re any better than you. They’re just like you.”
“They’re red wolves. Not half coyote.” Elizabeth couldn’t see how Carol wouldn’t know that. “What happened to the red wolf who turned you?”
“He was killed after he bit me.”
“Good.”
Carol sighed. “As a nurse, I try to save people. I think that’s the hardest part of being a wolf for me. When wolves do really bad things, they can’t go to jail and live among humans. Not for extended periods of time. They’d have to shift at some time or another, and that could be a disaster. The concept of achieving justice by killing is hard for me to live with.”
Elizabeth moved to sit up and groaned, still sore.
“Just lie still. I’ll leave you in a second to sleep. I just wanted to share that I read an article you might find interesting. In some parts of Canada, the wolves and coyotes are mixed. Most of the wolves actually have coyote blood,” Carol said.
“Really.”
“Yeah. Not as much down here. The wolves and coyotes are often enemies, and the wolves will kill the coyotes that enter their territory. But up there, some red and gray wolves mix with coyotes when they have slim pickings.”
Elizabeth sighed. Of course wolves would only consider coyotes when they had no other option. “Why research it?” she asked, curious.
Carol laughed. “Some controversy exists between red and gray wolf shifters. The red wolves claim they were first and gray wolves came after them. Of course, the gray wolves assert that they came first.”
“The red wolves were first,” Elizabeth said. “At least that’s what my father and the rest of his red wolf pack said.”
“That was the thing. I was curious because one had to have come first, and I wanted to know the truth. So I did some research. According to some scientists, red wolves were not first.”
Elizabeth contemplated this, frustrated with arbitrary pack problems. What difference did it make in the scheme of things which wolf came first?
But then Carol said, “Gray wolves were first. Some mixed with coyotes and created the red wolf.”
Elizabeth rolled over on her back to look at Carol. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Have you told Lelandi?”
“No. It’s our secret.”
Elizabeth felt a tremor of excitement at this new knowledge. As soon as she did more research, she would write about it in the Canyon Press. If any of her red wolf pack heard about it, well, it was a good one on them. “How come nobody knows about it?”
“Some still say the gray and red wolves are separate species, but with DNA evidence to the contrary, it’s kind of hard to refute. Apparently, those of us who are red wolves are not pure wolves at all, but a mix of coyote and gray wolf.”
Elizabeth smiled. “My wolf family would love to hear that.”
“I’m sure they’d want to keep the status quo. I’m so glad to meet you. I’ve been dying to tell another red wolf what I’d learned, but not Lelandi. I figure she wouldn’t be happy to hear the news and have to admit to the grays that she’s part coyote and that her kind didn’t come first. You, on the other hand, have every reason to want to know the truth.” Carol smiled.
If red wolves were coyote-gray wolf mixes, that had Elizabeth worried for Lelandi because of the way Elizabeth’s people had treated her. “What would Darien think if he learned that about his mate?”
“She could be a pink poodle for as much as he adores her.”
Elizabeth chuckled. “Pink poodle?”
Carol grinned.
Elizabeth loved Carol. As for Darien, if he truly felt that way about his mate, he had to be all right. “How did you come to be turned exactly?”
“I saw the future.” Carol smiled as if that’s all she cared to remember about it.
Was Carol bottling up feelings, just as Elizabeth had been, not wanting to share them with anyone?
For the first time ever, Elizabeth wanted a friend like Carol so they could talk about their pasts and maybe she could work through some of the hurt.
“What have we got, Tom?” Darien asked as he leaned down. They both were peering at pictures on Tom’s computer screen in the den, the room warmed by a cheery fire, the big windows looking out on the snow-covered woodland landscape.
“She takes lots of photos. These are the last few. The guy on the lift chair behind them was blurred, the camera’s focus on the trees. He wore a black balaclava, a matching ski hat, and reflective sunglasses. He has on a blue-gray ski jacket and a black ski bib. There’s no telling what his face looks like, just his approximate build. The guy waiting down the slope from her is wearing a brown jacket, black ski pants, and a blue knit hat. Can’t see if he’s wearing goggles or some face covering since his back is to us. We can call it in and be on the lookout if they are still on the slopes,” Tom said, sitting back against the leather chair.