Silence of the Wolf

Chapter 23

Tom jerked open the door and let Kemp and Radcliff in. Both men grinned at him, snow clinging to the fur around their hoods. He smelled the fresh, crisp air and pine on them.

“I didn’t hear you coming. No snowmobiles,” Tom said.

“We used snowshoes. Quieter. We could hear any trouble in the area.”

“Am I damned glad to see you,” Tom said.

Kemp slapped Tom on the shoulder with warm regard. “Darien asked for volunteers to see if you were here. Glad you were instead of stuck someplace else in this weather.”

Radcliff entered the cabin and shut the door and locked it. “No coffee on yet? Blizzard hit town hard. Everything is snowed under. Electric lines and trees are down. So we’ve had a time of it there, too, and—”

They all caught a glimpse of Elizabeth pulling on a sweatshirt as she rushed to shut the bedroom door, her cheeks crimson.

Kemp and Radcliff stared at the bedroom door, their jaws hanging open.

Tom said, “How about one of you getting the fire going again? The other can get some coffee water ready. I’ll be right back.”

“Need any help?” Kemp asked. “You make better coffee than I do.”

“That’s not what you said when you complained last time about my coffee-making ability,” Tom said, grinning. He knew the brothers would rather check on the she-wolf.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Kemp said.

“Yeah, I bet.” Heading for the bedroom, Tom motioned to his cousin and said, “Just don’t bump the sofa bed and jar CJ.”

Both brothers glanced at the living room. “What the…” Kemp said. He yanked off his jacket and gloves, tossing them on a chair, then pulled off his ski hat. “Here we worried all the way up here that Tom would be safe. All this time he had a real setup going. Though I’m not sure about CJ.”

Radcliff shook his head as he ditched his parka, hat, and gloves on the dining-room table and started the coffee. “This will be one for the history books on Silver Town.”

Tom knocked on the bedroom door. “Elizabeth, can I come in?”

Elizabeth opened the bedroom door a crack.

“Can you hand me the lockpicks for the cuffs?” Tom asked. Now that he had backup and CJ was still incapacitated, he figured he didn’t need to keep his cousin confined. Last night he’d hated to do it, but Elizabeth’s safety came first in case whoever wanted her came here to get her. Though he mostly trusted CJ, Tom hadn’t wanted him to open the door to visitors in the middle of the night while he and Elizabeth slept.

“Sure.” She hurried to get the picks and handed them to him. “We can go now, can’t we?”

“Yeah, we sure can. Just holler if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” She shut the door.

Kemp stood over CJ. “Looks like you had some trouble.” He got a fire started. “So what’s the dice with Elizabeth? And… him?” he asked as Tom removed the handcuffs.

“CJ caught his leg in a trap. We need to get him down to the hospital.”

“Has he been involved in the livestock situation?”

“No, I haven’t been,” CJ said, sitting up in bed, rubbing his wrist, and sounding tired and irritable.

Tom and Kemp joined Radcliff in the kitchen.

“I didn’t think she would be returning that soon. How in the hell did she end up here? Or… was that really the plan all along? To rendezvous with her?” Kemp asked.

Radcliff frowned. “Yeah, what is she doing here?”

“In a blizzard?” Kemp asked.

“With you?” Radcliff leaned against the kitchen counter, crossed his arms over his chest, and raised his brows.

“Long story, but essentially she fell out of the sky.”

Radcliff poured cups of coffee for all three of them. “You want any, CJ?”

“Yeah.” CJ still looked pale except for the dark circles around his eyes.

Tom figured he hadn’t slept well last night from the pain and probably from the confinement.

Both brothers stared at Tom, waiting for him to say something further about Elizabeth.

“Plane crash. Elizabeth was kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped,” Radcliff said, not asking a question but mulling it over.

“She’s okay, though?” Kemp said, glancing back at the bedroom door.

“Yeah, she’s like an angel without wings and as close as I’ll get to heaven.”

Kemp turned to his brother. “I told you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, yeah, that her leaving like she did wouldn’t mean she was gone forever. And there wouldn’t be any chance for us when she came back.”

“Hey,” Kemp said, “next time a woman like that is at Bertha’s B and B and needs a ride to the slopes, have her call me.”

“But give Bertha my number,” Radcliff said, grinning.

Getting serious, Kemp cleared his throat. “Are there any more survivors?”

“No.”

“If somebody’s looking for Elizabeth, we need to get her to town just as much as we do CJ,” Radcliff said.

“My thoughts also. The weather seems much better today. Now that you’re here, we’ll have safety in numbers. After we have some breakfast, we’ll head out. Is anyone else up here looking for me?” Tom asked.

“Are you kidding?” Kemp said, grinning. “Half the town is searching for you. Even farmer Bill Todd, though Darien asked him to stay at home. The man insisted he had to look for you, saying it was all his damned fault you were such a blamed fool.”

Tom chuckled. He liked the farmer, but he knew why Darien didn’t want the human out searching. “Someone from the pack is with him, right?”

“Sam is. And to ensure nothing goes wrong, Deputy Trevor is sticking close to him in case Bill sees a wolf and gets trigger happy.”

“We just got a jump start on the rest of the searchers.” Radcliff sounded proud of himself and his brother. “As soon as we learned you were missing and the storm had cleared, we put on our ski-patrol hats and were on our way.”

“Thanks, guys. You don’t know how welcome your arrival is.” Tom glanced at CJ, pinning him as the man who could still cause the most trouble if his brothers intercepted them on the way home.

Elizabeth couldn’t find enough warm clothes—no boots, no parka or gloves, not even another ski hat—so she opted to be a wolf for the run into town. Tom wasn’t happy about it, even though he had suggested she might have to do that, but it was the only thing she could do. The men had a devil of a time dressing CJ. His leg throbbed really badly, though he tried not to show it. When they pulled sweats over his injured leg, he passed out. They quickly wrapped him in blankets and strapped him onto the toboggan before he came to.

Eager to run, Elizabeth paced back and forth in the living area, out of the men’s way. She couldn’t contain her excitement.

“You stay close to us, Elizabeth.” Tom crouched beside her and ran his hand over her head. “Don’t stray.”

“No rabbit chasing,” Radcliff said with a wink as he zipped up his parka.

“No deer chasing.” Kemp smiled at her while he slipped on his gloves.

“No chasing wolves down,” Tom said, ultraseriously.

She licked his mouth and the brothers chuckled.

Once they had bundled up, they carried the toboggan outside.

Tom shut the door to the cabin, then joined the men and Elizabeth in the snow. Wearing snowshoes, the men trudged through the drifts while Elizabeth ran ahead. She had to. Walking at a snail’s pace next to the men wasn’t an option, as far as she was concerned. Besides, she’d keep an eye out for CJ’s brothers, and if she smelled a whiff of anyone she didn’t know, she’d warn Tom and the others.

Tom slung the rifle over his back, while Kemp pulled the toboggan for the first part of the journey.

Tom and Radcliff hollered out every once in a while to let the searchers know they were all right, if any of the searchers could hear their voices. They’d have a fight if CJ’s brother came after them and meant to cause trouble.

Elizabeth was certain the brothers wouldn’t come for them, though. Too many people were out combing the area for Tom. And if the brothers did come upon Kemp pulling the toboggan and Radcliff and Tom, what could they do? If they wanted to take CJ with them, they’d still have to transport him to the doctor. So she felt the brothers would leave them alone.

She dashed ahead, jumping into the snow with exuberance and having the time of her life. She’d love to do this again when Tom was a wolf and could play with her.

“Elizabeth!” Tom yelled at her.

She turned her head, snow clinging to her fur, a few flakes sitting on her nose, and woofed back. Then she bit at the snow, having wanted to play in it since that first time she visited Silver Town. Now she was finally able to do it.

She rolled around in the snow, then shook it off. When she looked back again at Tom, he was shaking his head as he and the others trudged after her. The brothers smiled.

Kemp said, “You sure are one lucky SOB.”

“I sure am,” Tom said.

Elizabeth smiled in her wolf way, right before she tore off again. She would laugh if she could.

“Elizabeth!”

She was quite a distance ahead of the men and hidden by spruce trees when she saw Sam, a rifle resting on his shoulder, staring straight at her. She did her best impression of a dog as she observed the two men with him. Deputy Trevor and the one who had to be the human farmer. Great.

The gray wolves wouldn’t recognize her in wolf form, and she could smell their scents, but she stood downwind of them.

She woofed and wagged her tail vigorously. Then she leaned down with her front legs, her butt up in the air, still wagging it in play, but didn’t move any closer.

“It’s a wolf,” the farmer said, pulling his rifle off his shoulder.