Climbing them winded him, which was alarming. If he couldn’t navigate three steps without panting, what chance did he have of making it home safely? He’d always counted on stealth and speed, and he had neither.
The steak might revive him, though. He’d carry it into a secluded part of the woods, eat it, and then maybe rest a little. If he found a good enough hiding place, he’d wait until dusk to finish the trip.
Both the screen door and the storm door were still open, as promised. Rachel stood five or six feet back from the door, and she lowered the platter so he could see the meat. “Come and get your reward, wolf.”
He edged toward the door and stopped short of the threshold. Come toward me, Rachel. Tempt me with that steak.
As he’d hoped, she came closer. “You can smell it, can’t you? I see your nose twitching. Lucky I didn’t hurt your nose last night. I feel guilty about that.”
He had far more reasons to feel guilty about last night than she did. He put one paw into the room. As long as the door stayed open behind him, he could get away. She couldn’t close it from where she stood holding the platter.
Once he realized that, he grew bolder. He might not have his old speed for long, but he could manage it for a few seconds. Stepping cautiously toward the platter, he gathered himself. Grab the steak and run. That’s all he had to do. She couldn’t get to the door fast enough.
Seizing the meat in his jaws, he whirled at the same moment the screen door slammed shut. What the hell? The steak dangling from his jaws, he turned toward her in confusion. How did you do that?
“Sorry, wolf.” She held up a narrow spool of fishing line. A nearly invisible filament stretched from the cardboard spool in her hand to the handle on the screen door. “It’s for your own good.”
She’d outsmarted him. Damn it. Humiliating though that was, he couldn’t help admiring her ingenuity. Apparently he wouldn’t be escaping today.
As that truth settled over him, he waited for anger and frustration to heat his blood. Instead he felt a far more dangerous emotion. Relief.
It seemed that he wasn’t all that eager to leave after all.
Chapter 5
When Lionel drove up around ten that morning, Rachel heard his truck and closed her bedroom door before going out to meet him. She’d debated whether to tell him about the wolf at all, but she trusted him completely, and discussing the odd situation with someone else would help ease her mind.
Lionel climbed out of his old blue Dodge with a smile on his broad face, as always. He was built like a linebacker, which made him very handy to have around when she had to wrestle large pieces of wood into submission. She didn’t have a little brother, but she would have wanted him to be sweet and funny like Lionel.
He wore his dark hair down past his collar, and he shoved it away from his forehead as he walked toward her. She smiled at the unconscious gesture. When she’d hired him two years ago, he’d been less sure of his place in the world. Today he carried himself with the loose-hipped, casual stride of a nineteen-year-old who had decided he was someone of value after all.
Part of that confidence might come from the totem on a silk cord around his neck. She’d carved the small wolf for him last year, and it had become his badge of honor. It signaled to everyone in Polecat that she thought enough of him to give him a job and one of her carvings. She was grateful for the impulse that had prompted her to do both of those things.
“How’s it going, Miss M?” He’d come up with that nickname on his own. His grandmother was a Bette Midler fan and he’d grown up hearing about The Divine Miss M. Because he hadn’t felt right calling her Rachel, he’d decided on Miss M, and Rachel was honored to share a nickname with Bette Midler.
“I’m fine.”
“Just wondered, because you don’t usually come out to meet me. Is there a problem?”
“Sort of. Well, I hope not.” She’d discovered early in their relationship that Lionel picked up on her moods very quickly.
He had an artist’s soul, and she’d encouraged him to try carving as a way to express his creativity. So far she’d seen no evidence he was doing it, but he could be working in secret. That would be like him, to want to surprise her.
“So what’s going on?”
She took a deep breath. “I have a wolf in my bedroom.”
His face turned a dull red. “I don’t think you should be telling me that, Miss M. I know you’ve been going online looking for guys to date, but—”
“Not a guy-type wolf, Lionel. An actual wolf. A big black wolf.”
His embarrassment was replaced with alarm. “Wow. Did you kill it?”
“No! Would I do something like that?”
“I didn’t think so, but I can’t see how you’d get a real wolf into your bedroom unless he was dead, and I thought maybe you needed help getting rid of the evidence, which I would totally do for you, even if it meant we’d get in trouble.”
“I could still get in big trouble for not notifying Fish and Game that I have him. I took him in the house because he’s hurt.”
“Bad?”
“I think he’ll make it.”
Lionel exhaled noisily. “Good. That’s very good. But listen, you should call Fish and Game right now and make up some story about why you didn’t contact them earlier. I’ll back you up.”
“I’m not calling them, Lionel. Last night this wolf came swooping in and attacked a grizzly that was about to chew me to bits.”
“No way!”
“That’s how he got hurt. He might be a hybrid, but I’ll bet he once belonged to someone, because he’s used to people and obviously thought he should protect me. But I think he’s on his own now. I plan to turn him loose once I’m sure he’ll be okay. That’s only fair.”
Lionel gazed at her, his dark eyes filled with concern. “What if he has rabies?”
“I’ve seen no evidence of that. Remember, I worked with a vet.”
“Okay, maybe he doesn’t have rabies. I suppose you’d recognize the signs. But he’s still a wild animal. Wild animals can seem like they’re friendly until bam! They turn on you. There was this guy in India whose pet hippopotamus ate him.”
“This wolf saved me from a bear. He’s not going to turn around and eat me.”
“You can’t know that for sure. Has he ever growled at you?”
“No.” She realized that wasn’t exactly true. “Well, once, but I think that was because I tried to shave his fur so I could dress his wounds. He’s afraid of either the scissors or the razor, or both.”
“But he did growl. You say he’s in your bedroom?”
“Yes.”
Lionel’s eyebrows rose. “Did you sleep in there last night?”
“I did. So what?”
“So what? He could have attacked while you were sleeping, that’s what!”
“Well, he didn’t, and I don’t expect him to.”
“Meaning that you’re going to sleep in the same room with him again tonight?”
“I was planning on it.”
Lionel shook his head. “Bad idea, Miss M. Maybe he was too weak to attack last night, but with another day’s rest, he might be a whole different wolf.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Well, I am. Can I see him?”
“All right, but you have to promise me you won’t tell anybody about this.”
Lionel looked genuinely offended. “Like I would.”
“I’m sorry. I know you wouldn’t. But . . . I feel protective of this wolf. I’m sure it’s the same one I saw years ago.”