Tom cast her an elusive smile.
She kissed his cold cheek. “You’re right. And all this time, you were tracking down your cousins and not the wolves actually spooking the livestock.”
“I suppose so. But we still don’t know for sure if Eric is up to something.”
“True,” Elizabeth agreed.
Not finding any sign of the others, she and Tom had been walking for about an hour when she paused, spying a footprint half-hidden by snow. “There.” She pointed to another place beneath a tree about three hundred yards from the other. “Smaller boot. Wait a minute. Look at the track marks. Somebody’s been hauling something fairly heavy.” She studied the snowshoe prints. “Three people. A girl and two men.”
“A girl? Silva’s out here. Anna, too, but she was with us.” Tom studied the girl’s footprints. “Small. Lightweight. She sat down over here and took off the snowshoes, then continued to walk without them.”
Elizabeth sniffed the air. “Minx?”
Tom sampled the air. “Cody and Anthony are with her. I bet none of them had permission to come out here. Not with the problems we’ve had with the rogue wolves. The boys haven’t given the pack any grief in the past six months, and next year, they’re supposed to work as ski instructors. We hoped that would give them enough to do to keep them focused and out of trouble.”
“They’re good kids,” Elizabeth said. “It looks like Cody and Anthony pulled a sled…” Elizabeth paused and turned, looking off to the side where the girl’s footprints stopped. “Wolf tracks, Tom.” She felt a chill race up her spine. Whoever hauled the sled had left it some feet from the first sign of the wolf prints.
“Darien said no one was supposed to be in wolf form,” Tom said.
“Groceries and one set of snow… wait, three sets of snowshoes,” she whispered, getting a really bad feeling about this.
Tom wanted Elizabeth to stay with the groceries, but he couldn’t leave her alone. And he didn’t want her to continue following the tracks in case they came across real trouble. When Bjornolf and Anna had been with them, that was one thing. Tom had felt a sense of security when he’d thought the rest of his cousins would also turn themselves in.
Tom and Elizabeth followed the trail, both of them trying to be as quiet as possible. The kids wouldn’t have left the groceries behind unless they had run into trouble or had gone after the wolf tracks quietly, trying not to catch anyone’s attention.
They should have returned to Silver Town at once with word of what they’d found. Not that Tom or his brothers wouldn’t have done the same thing when they were the kids’ ages.
Elizabeth whispered to Tom, “Any reason they would be hauling groceries this way?”
“Nothing here but Mr. Winston’s house. He lives way out. He’s a wolf, but when he got cut off from the pack during the snowstorm, he said he didn’t need any help. Looks like the kids thought to take something to him anyway.”
“But the wolf tracks?” she asked, glancing at Tom.
He shook his head. “The house is just beyond those trees. The kids wouldn’t have left the groceries back there without some good reason. Like they were in trouble. Or Mr. Winston was.”
“We should get backup, or I should shift,” Elizabeth said.
Tom listened for any sounds of people or wolves moving about in the trees. Nothing. “Let’s get closer to the house. Mr. Winston should be the only one there, except for the kids.”
“Unless your other two cousins are here. Brett said they had split up, but I’d assumed he meant they were all out looking for CJ.”
“Yeah,” Tom said.
Moving in closer, Tom and Elizabeth used the shelter of the snow-laden spruce to study the one-story log cabin. The living room curtains were open, smoke drifting out of the stone chimney, lights on in the living room and kitchen. Eric paced across the living-room floor.
“Eric,” Tom said.
Of all the cousins, Eric was the tallest, six-one, and the most muscled. He wore a gray sweatshirt and jeans and appeared highly agitated.
A girl wearing a bright blue sweater and with blond hair in braids crossed in front of the kitchen window. She peeked outside, turned, and walked out of view.
“Minx,” Tom said under his breath. Something had to be wrong. The kids wouldn’t leave the groceries out here without having a good reason. They wouldn’t have forgotten them. “Damn. Cody and Anthony must also be in there.”
“Eric and his brother wouldn’t hurt the kids, would they?” Elizabeth asked, her voice soft and concerned.
“No. But why would the kids leave the groceries in the snow—” Another man crossed the living-room floor. Not Eric’s brother Sarandon. And it wasn’t Mr. Winston. Tom didn’t know the gray-haired man.
“My Uncle Quinton,” Elizabeth whispered, her rosy cheeks losing all their color as a shudder ran through her.
Was Eric working with Quinton?
Chapter 28
Elizabeth’s brow was furrowed deeply, and Tom saw the fear in her expression as they crouched in the trees surrounding Mr. Winston’s house. He reached out and touched her cheek with his gloved hand. “I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe Eric was caught unaware and taken hostage.” Though he didn’t look like it. “I… don’t… can’t believe my cousin is in cahoots with your uncle. I want you to return to town for help.”
“You can’t confront them alone.” Elizabeth was ready to give him hell if Tom even thought to do so.
“I won’t. As long as everyone seems relatively at ease, I’ll leave them alone and just keep an eye on them. If anyone exits the house, I’ll make plans. But I want you safely in town.”
She glanced at the small shed where Mr. Winston kept his tools and gardening supplies. “I could shift and wait with you here.”
“No, Elizabeth. I want you as far away from your uncle as possible.” Just thinking of her being anywhere near the bastard gave him heart palpitations. “We need reinforcements.”
The front door squeaked open. Tom’s heart pounded faster. They turned to see who had opened the door. North and Minx. North sported a black eye and it was half-shut.
A chill slid up Tom’s spine as he watched Minx with North. How many were in the house? He had to get Minx away from North.
North shut the door behind him and followed Minx through the fresh tracks, directly toward Tom and Elizabeth.
“What will we do now?” Elizabeth whispered.
New plan. His blood pumping furiously, Tom grabbed Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed, hoping this worked. “Elizabeth, I’ll take out North. You grab Minx and take her home. And get help.”
From Elizabeth’s reluctance, Tom could tell she didn’t want to leave him. She finally nodded and squeezed his hand back.
Minx looked furious. She swung her arms back and forth, matching the pace of her hat’s swinging pom-poms as she stalked through the snow. “Darien will make you all pay for this.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” North growled.
“You’re going along with the others, and that means you’re in the wrong as much as they are. You can help us stop this before it’s too late.”
“Just tell me where that sled is and—” North didn’t say another word except, “Oof,” as Tom lunged for him and slammed the butt of his rifle against North’s temple, knocking him out.
Elizabeth had moved just as swiftly to clamp her hand over Minx’s mouth and muffle the scream that escaped.
“Oh, oh, oh,” Minx whispered after Elizabeth let go, tears collecting in her eyes. “I am so glad to see you.”
“Shh,” Elizabeth whispered, giving the girl a quick hug. “How many others are in the house?”
“Eric, Cody, and Anthony. And some guy named Quinton.” Minx looked at North as Tom dragged him to the sled. “And him.”