Silence of the Wolf (23 page)

“The one your father gave you—was it new? Or something passed down through the family?”

“Passed down from my father's grandfather. It had a lovely bone handle, but still…”

“You wanted a horse.”

She nodded, feeling guilty about it still. “I was in such a rush to leave and so distraught that I didn't think anything of it. I just wanted to get weapons, some clothes, food, the horses, and leave.”

“Do you think the killer had it? Used it?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. She didn't want to think that her father giving her his treasured family heirloom had resulted in her mother's and father's murders.

“Would either your half brother or uncle have known that your father gave it to you?”

“They might have talked about it. I could see my uncle being upset that my father, who was the first born of the two, had gotten it from their father and then passed it down to me instead of Sefton. Uncle Quinton… might have even asked my father when he would give it to Sefton.”

Tom kissed her cheek. “I can't imagine how hard that would have been for you.” Tom took a deep breath. “I need to discuss something else with you, though. Jake said you interviewed him for a story. He didn't tell me right away, afraid I'd be upset you'd talked with him at length and hadn't said a word to me before you left.”

She snuggled against him. “I did conduct an interview with him early that morning, all about his photography. He left to be with his wife. Darien and Lelandi came downstairs for breakfast. Jake's article won't be published until next week.”

“We didn't know that.”

Elizabeth barely breathed. Had Tom and Jake been looking for her article and come across the one she had written about coyotes and wolves? She hadn't wanted
them
to read the article. Sure it was available online, but she hadn't thought they would have looked for Jake's interview already and found her other article.

Tom stroked her hair. “Gray wolves came first.”

She thought she heard a hint of amusement in his tone of voice and looked up at him. He gave her a smug smile, as though he was delighted to learn that he and his gray wolves had been right.

Her stomach tightening, she worried how Lelandi would view it. “You won't tell Lelandi, will you?”

“She found the article first.”

Her heart sinking, Elizabeth groaned. “I never meant for her to learn of it. I'm so sorry that she saw what I'd written.”

“Don't be, Elizabeth. She says that makes the two of you even more like sisters. She's very happy for that.”

Elizabeth took a deep, grateful breath. The reason she had made the trip to Silver Town in the first place was to make things right concerning her rotten uncle, and she had ended up finding a home, a pack, and a mate who gave her a whole new outlook on her kind.

Not that they didn't still have real problems.

Early the next morning, the bitter cold and north-chilled breeze stirred up the snow, creating a white mist-like world as Minx, Cody, and Anthony trudged along in their snowshoes to reach Mr. Winston's house out in the country. Like the others in the pack, they were homeschooled. Some of the pack members had better teaching skills than others, and Mr. Winston was the best calculus teacher anyone could want.

“You know our parents won't be happy with us if they learn we're headed out this far when they think we're skiing at the resort,” Minx said to Cody and Anthony as the two boys hauled a sled carrying groceries—bread, milk, OJ, tuna fish, and a few other items they thought Mr. Winston might need.

“So we don't tell them. If old man Winston lets it slip, we'll at least have done the deed, and what would they say about it then?” Cody asked, his jester ski hat jingling with every step he took. “It'll be too late.”

“It won't be too late to ground us,” Minx warned.

“You didn't have to come with us,” Anthony said.

“Of course I did.”

They both looked back at her. She couldn't keep up with their longer stride, no matter how hard she tried, even though
they
were pulling the sled. But Anthony and Cody were always thinking up new schemes, and Minx wouldn't be left out of an adventure for anything. She liked old Mr. Winston, too, and was just as worried that he couldn't get into town to replenish his food when the snowstorm had hit. Not that several members of the wolf pack hadn't offered to help him out. He had his pride. Since they were just kids, they figured he wouldn't mind them bringing him food and giving him some company. As long as they didn't have to do any math problems while they visited.

Cody and Anthony grinned at her.

“Your parents are betas,” Anthony said to Minx, continuing to move through the deep snowdrifts. “You never get into trouble. When we all fell off that cliff that time, I figured you'd get grounded forever since you're a girl.”

“Nah, not Minx,” Cody said. “Not even for one hour.”

“Like the two of
you
should talk. Your parents didn't punish either of you.”

“That's only because we promised we'd never do it again. Otherwise? Dad said he would have had us mucking out Doc Mitchell's horse stalls for two months.”

“Well, you
didn't
have to clean out the vet's stalls.” Minx stopped in her tracks. “How much farther is it? I don't remember Mr. Winston's home being this far out.”

“In the spring it isn't. Or at least it doesn't feel like it. Trudging through powder snow, it is,” Cody said.

Minx waded through the snow after the brothers again, trying to think about anything other than how much this was wearing her out. “I like Elizabeth.”

Neither Cody or Anthony made a comment.

Minx let out her breath. She was still thinking about meeting Elizabeth at the ski resort when she remembered something. “My dad thinks Eric Silver was at the ski resort.”

Cody glanced over his shoulder. “Why does he think that? They left the pack months ago.”

Minx wasn't sure if her dad knew what he was talking about, either. But what if he did?

“Okay, so how does he know?” Cody finally asked.

“Well, my dad's not sure, but he thought he saw Eric in the men's room at the ski resort after he dropped me off there to join the two of you. Eric, if it was him, was moving really fast and had his mask down for only a moment. Dad only got a glimpse of his profile. Dad was a little surprised to see him, thinking the brothers had moved far away. But he could have sworn it was him.”

“Did your dad tell Darien?” Anthony asked.

“Of course, but because he couldn't be certain and because the Silvers have no idea where their cousins are staying, there wasn't much they could do about. Hey, is that smoke? Yes! We're getting closer.”

She stopped again. “Cody,” she whispered, since he was closer to her than Anthony.

Both brothers stopped to look at her.

She pointed to wolf tracks in the snow.

***

Per Darien's orders, all the searchers would remain in human form. Darien worried that the farmers or ranchers in the area would find out about the hunt for the wolves and try to tag along, although Elizabeth would have preferred tracking as a wolf. On Elizabeth and Tom's team, Bjornolf and Anna had split off in another direction to look for any wolf or human footprints.

“Were your cousins really well liked?” she asked Tom.

“Yeah, they were. Everyone felt really bad about their dad. And about them leaving.”

“So it makes sense that Mr. Winston would give them a place to stay while they figured out how they wanted to attempt to return.”

“I guess so,” Tom said. “But Mr. Winston probably would have told them that we weren't mad at them and would have welcomed them back, so the fact that Eric was so against just coming clean from the start makes me worry they're up to something. And now that they've put the pack in danger, they've actually hurt their chances.”

Elizabeth wished they could spread out a bit, but he wouldn't leave her for a second, and she knew he still worried someone might attack her.

“Lelandi is the psychologist in the family. What has she said about any of this?” Elizabeth examined a cluster of spruce branches, noticing some of the snow had been brushed off as if someone had walked into them recently. It could have been a searcher, but then again, Bjornolf and Anna were farther away, and the other search teams even more spread out. This was really recent, new snowflakes not having had time to cover the blue-green needles again.

Her heart sped up a little.

“Lelandi says it's possible they're acting out. Or maybe seeking revenge for their dad. Or they might not even be involved in any of this, like CJ said.”

“Or, they just want attention.”

“It's one damn stupid way of getting it,” he said, glancing in her direction.

Elizabeth understood his anger, the betrayal, only too deeply. She turned away from him and studied a footprint in the snow, situated among the branches of the spruce. “Haven't you ever done anything to get someone's attention and afterward you regretted it? Some will do anything to get some notice, negative or otherwise. Since they're angry that your brother put their father down, maybe they've been fuming about this and lashed out.”

“It's dangerous for the pack. We can't have our farmers reaching for their guns every time they see a wolf in a wolf-run town. We might have welcomed them back before, but now I don't know if we want to have pack members whose decisions place all of us in danger,” Tom said, joining her as she measured her boot size with the one left in the snow.

“Man's, recent,” she said. “He stood here, hiding among the branches of this spruce tree.”

Tom pulled his rifle off his shoulder and searched around the trees.

Someone was hiding nearby, listening, watching. If it was one of Tom's cousins, she desperately wanted to talk him into giving himself up.

“They had a pack. They can't let go of it. They want to be part of it again, but they don't know how to come back and still save face,” she said.

Tom moved off into the trees, but Elizabeth didn't follow him. He quickly came back for her. “Aren't you coming?”

“They deserve a second chance, Tom. Maybe some intervention sessions with Lelandi. I never had a pack to grow up with. I only had my mother and father to learn from. I can only guess what it would be like for them to play and fight and be part of a pack growing up—and then lose their father, you and your brothers, and the rest of the pack all at once. Let them return to the pack. Show them what you've all shown me—tolerance, acceptance, and unconditional love.”

Tom looked around at the ground, searching for more footprints. “It's up to Darien to make a decision like that.”

His expression tight, Tom stalked across the snow, shouldering his rifle. He took Elizabeth into his arms and hugged her tight. He whispered into her ear, “They're here, aren't they? Listening.”

She nodded, tears misting her eyes. She never cried if she could help it, and she'd been more misty-eyed around Tom and his pack than she wanted to admit. “You wanted to protect them, Tom. They knew if anyone would listen to them, it would be you. What they did
was
stupid. It all needs to end now.”

Tom gazed into her eyes. He shook his head. “You're beautiful, you know? Inside and out. Despite all you've been through.”

“CJ turned himself in.”

“That was
only
because he stepped into the trap and couldn't run any farther.”

“I think my charging after him, growling and snapping, spooked him. I think he came to see you when you were gathering kindling like he said, trying to find a way to get your attention and show you he didn't mean you any harm. Only… I sort of ruined it by suddenly coming on the scene.”

Tom heaved a deep breath but didn't say anything. He wasn't convinced yet.

“Let them come in on their own and square things with Darien and Lelandi. Get back to being a pack. I like CJ. I want to have the biggest family I can have.”

Tom smiled at her, holding her still, looking down at her with wonder and admiration. “It won't be easy. For any of us.”

“Time will heal.”

“But not in your uncle's case,” Tom said vehemently. “That bastard will pay for attempting to kill you.”

“I also want to know if he murdered my parents. I want the proof, and Hrothgar can deal with him. As harshly as he sees fit.” Quinton didn't deserve anything better.

Movement by one of the trees made Tom raise his rifle as Elizabeth turned to see who it was.

“Brett,” Tom said, sounding surprised, despite having assumed that one of his cousins was nearby.

Brett was wearing a white parka and ski pants that made him blend in with the snow, with only a hint of dark bangs showing beneath the hood of his coat and dark brown eyes. He studied Tom, waiting to see his response. He had Tom's stern jaw, and she wondered if when he smiled, his expression would be similar to Tom's.

Bjornolf and Anna came behind Brett, weapons pointed at the ground.

“We were watching him,” Bjornolf said, “while he listened to the two of you talk. I didn't know what was going on until I realized you knew he was there.”

“Thanks, Bjornolf, Anna,” Tom said, then turned his attention on his cousin. “Where are your brothers?”

“They're not here. We spread out so that we won't get caught in a cluster. We knew you were searching for us, so we split up. We've been trying to find the damned wolves scaring the livestock. It wasn't us. But we knew you'd suspect us first. We've tried damned hard to find the bastards and turn them over to Darien.”

“Why did you keep CJ out of this?” Tom asked, sounding suspicious.

“Hell, Tom. You know him. The minute he left the pack, he regretted it. He had his own ideas about how to get back in with the pack. Took us a lot longer to come to terms with everything. We know Darien had no other choice, but still…” Brett took a settling breath. “You're still family, our pack. We knew the farmers would hunt any wolf, and one of our people could be killed. We had to hunt the rogue wolves down ourselves. Prove that we weren't anything like our dad.”

Elizabeth felt all misty-eyed again.

“All right, say I take your word for it. But CJ said he overheard Eric talking to the guy who kidnapped Elizabeth. Did you know about that?”

Brett creased his forehead. “No, Eric never told us what they talked about. But I suspected that guy was up to no good.”

“Do you have any clues?”

Brett snorted. “They're red wolves. They use hunter's spray. We saw the three of them clustered in the distance, spooking some calves. They're big wolves, but they're definitely reds. We took chase, but they disappeared into the mountains. Easy to do when we couldn't scent them.”

“You wore hunter's scent camouflage, too,” Tom accused.

“Hell, yeah. If we hadn't, you would have only smelled
our
scents at the farms. That would have assured you we were the culprits.”

“What now?” Tom asked.

“I'll go into town. Settle the score with Darien. Where's CJ?”

“Injured, leg trap. Doc's taking care of him.”

Elizabeth saw the concern wash over Brett's face.

Tom turned to Bjornolf and Anna. “Take him into town, will you?”

“What? I'm being treated like a prisoner?”

“Let's just say that until Darien has a talk with you, this is the way it's going down.”

Brett shook his head. “So who are
you
?” Brett asked Bjornolf. “I've never seen the two of you in the pack before. Leave for a short time and everything changes.”

“Sheriff Peter Jorgenson's brother, Bjornolf.”

“He's a retired Navy SEAL,” Anna said.

“Damn, I didn't know Peter had a brother who was a SEAL. I thought you were trouble.”

“I am—for the bad guys.”

Brett chuckled, but Elizabeth thought the amusement was a little strained. “Didn't know they sent you guys on missions like this.”

“I owed Peter big-time for not keeping in touch. See you later,” Bjornolf said to Elizabeth and Tom, and the three of them headed back through the woods in the direction of the town.

“He sounded sincere,” Elizabeth said to Tom, searching for new tracks, smelling the breeze, looking for any signs Brett's brothers had been with him at some point.

“Could be. But why were the red wolves causing trouble for us?” Tom asked.

“The guys who kidnapped me were red wolves. I was able to smell them once their hunter's spray wore off after we'd been flying for a few hours. They have to be the same ones.”