While the Wolf's Away, page 11
He raced to catch up to Owen and Candice, who always waited for him. He sometimes wondered if they felt bad for him because he had been the odd man out. He still might be if things didn’t work out between him and Elizabeth, but he didn’t let that worry him now. He veered around an ancient oak, leaped over a fallen log, and spotted Owen, who turned and barked at him to hurry up and join them. When he was finally side by side with his packmates, Candice licked him in greeting, and they started off again, sniffing the trail, identifying squirrels and birds and deer that had been through there recently.
Then they heard a woof behind him, and he gave a wolf smile. Faith and Cameron and their three wolf pups were scampering to catch up.
The pack happily took off, everyone helping to watch after the little ones who were off the trail more than on it, searching for new scents and sightings of anything that intrigued them—a butterfly, a dragonfly, a lizard that quickly scampered under a rock ledge. The world was a wide-open place of wonder and discovery for them.
And sometimes it felt that way to David too.
***
Elizabeth had sensed David was anxious about the full moon tugging on his wolf need to shift. They’d made love again last night, but he’d been…distracted, she thought. She wished she knew how to console him. To let him know she was there for him every step of the way. But when he left the room before daybreak, she let him go. He’d come to her when he was ready. Until then, she had to give him the space to sort it out for himself. She would be encouraging, supportive, but no matter how much she tried to tell him it didn’t bother her, she knew it bothered him. And that wasn’t anything she could fix.
She got up and showered, then heard Sheri showering. When they were both dressed for work, she met Sheri in the kitchen.
“Did I hear David—” Sheri peered out the window. “Scratch that. He ditched his clothes on the back patio.” She sighed. “I think he doesn’t want to let on how bad it is for him still.”
“All the more reason it’s important we’re here for him and the others.” Elizabeth made them some hot tea.
“I agree, but if it were me, I would go after him. Show him he doesn’t have to sneak out or hide what’s going on.” She opened the pantry, digging around for pancake mix.
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. I was thinking he might need to do his own thing, and I might end up making him feel more uncomfortable.” Elizabeth bit her lip, wondering if Sheri was right.
“You’re overthinking this. He’ll want to see that it doesn’t bother you. I’ll have my pancakes and fix some more for the two of you when you return.” She nodded toward the wolf door. “Go!”
Elizabeth gave her a huge smile. “I’m going.” She brought David’s clothes into the living room and dumped them on the floor. Then she stripped and dumped her clothes on top of David’s to say she was his and he’d better just get used to it. She gave Sheri a thumbs-up, then shifted.
“That’s the spirit.” Sheri smiled at her. “Go get him.”
Elizabeth raced out of the house and followed David and the rest of the pack’s scents.
She barked to let the others know she was coming, her heart as light as her paws flying across the ground. She wanted to run with David and then go home, and as soon as they shifted back into their human form, she wanted to make love to him. To prove to him that she loved him just like he was.
It took a moment for her to realize no one responded to her bark though.
She howled then, her wolf’s voice carrying further than her bark, and got a chorus of howls in response. She’d never felt such joy as she experienced in that moment. She ran all the faster to meet up with them. Now they knew her wolf howl, and she knew theirs, just not who they all belonged to. But she’d learn that soon enough.
Then she saw David running back to her, huge and majestic, his white fur flowing in the wind. He was beautiful.
She pounced on him, partly in play and greeting and partly in annoyance that he couldn’t see that she was happy for him, glad that he was what he was because if he hadn’t been turned—besides the fact he would have died of a heart attack at his young age—she wouldn’t have ever fallen in love with him. Not when he’d been human. Oh, maybe she would have still had the hots for him, had she met him, but she would never have felt this connected to him like she was with both parts of him—wolf and man.
He tackled her back, less aggressively, just in fun, and she knew from his scent and posture—if he’d had any doubts she would love him like this too—he was thrilled she had come after him. She still had to talk with him about this. They needed to communicate their concerns with each other. Work them out. Show how much they valued each other.
But right now, in this moment, this was all that mattered.
She pulled away from him and licked his face and he licked hers back, then rubbed up against her. This was a lovely way to start the day as wolves. Though she would have loved a kiss and a hug this morning before they went for a run. Together. They turned in unison, trotting side by side, just the way it should be. The two of them. A couple.
When they finally rendezvoused with the rest of the pack, they were greeted by a chorus of the most beautiful howls she’d ever heard. She knew they were trying to show her who belonged to which voice. After some playful romping and more chasing after the pups, the pack began to disperse, and David and Elizabeth headed back too. She suspected he’d been in his wolf coat for long enough that he could manage work for a while.
The whole scenario really brought home the pack’s problem with shifting during the full moon while trying to run their office. She couldn’t wait to help make that easier for all of them.
There was nothing better than feeling needed, Elizabeth thought. Other than being loved too.
Elizabeth howled as they approached David’s house to let Sheri know they were on their way and she could fix breakfast for them so they could eat and get to work.
David let her go inside first. Right away, she smelled the pancakes and maple waffle syrup and sausages. Sheri was right to say she liked her own cooking. Elizabeth gave her a few appreciative yips while still in wolf form, and Sheri waved a spatula at her from the kitchen in acknowledgment.
Then Elizabeth shifted and dressed, and David ran into the bedroom to shift and pick out something appropriate for work.
He came back in, his hair damp from a quick cleanup, his smile sexy and sweet. “Thanks for coming to run with me, Elizabeth.” He poured himself a cup of coffee. “And thanks for fixing us breakfast, Sheri.”
“Oh, you are so welcome. I’m running to the office to try to figure out what the heck you guys did to your poor filing system. Though I use the term ‘system’”—she tossed up a couple of exaggerated hand quotes—“lightly. If there’s a system to that madness, I haven’t figured it out yet.” Sheri smiled and headed off to the office.
Elizabeth and David ate in silence for a bit, the sound of the silverware tinging against their plates unnaturally loud. Elizabeth cleared her throat. “You shouldn’t have run off without me, unless you really didn’t want to run with me.” She tried not to sound too hurt, but wasn’t sure she managed to pull it off.
“I’m sorry. I just thought—”
“That I wouldn’t be sympathetic to your cause?”
“I don’t want your—”
She set her fork down with a clang. “David, if we’re going to do this—mate, I mean—you have to trust that I can live with it. I don’t want you to feel that you have to sneak out without me so that when you return you will have your wolf under control. I love you. You love me. This shouldn’t be an issue.”
He let out his breath. “You don’t know how I feel about this. The rest of us are used to it, but—”
“Amelia? How does she treat Gavin? Like he has a plague when he can’t control his shifting? Or can’t shift during the new moon?”
David shook his head, looking so lost that her annoyance began to melt away.
She took a deep breath and let it out. “Well, I wouldn’t treat you like that either. We all have our frailties, our vulnerabilities. You can’t know how often I worried that you would find another she-wolf to mate. It was eating me up inside from week to week, us being apart, me not knowing how long it would be for. What if some cute she-wolf came prancing up to your door and professed her undying love to you? A bird in the hand came to mind.”
David chuckled.
“I’m serious. I worried about it all the time. Grandma would tell me I shouldn’t borrow trouble. That I should just continue to enjoy the time I did have with you and not worry about the time I couldn’t spend with you. And so I made the most of our visits—until it was time to flee Kintail’s tyranny to be with you. Just you. And the pack, of course.” She reached across the table and grabbed his hand, holding it tight in hers. “We can work this out, get used to the way things can be that will be the best for both of us. But we have to be honest with each other and talk about it.”
“I agree. I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I was thinking I could just get this under control and join you, have breakfast, and get to work and let you sleep a little longer.”
“And not take me for a wolf run too? That’s just plain mean.” But she was no longer upset with him, glad they had cleared the air.
David smiled and flipped his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. “I promise to never let you sleep in again.”
She loved that about him. The intimacy he always shared with her. The little things. “Okay, good.”
“Good,” he said. They shared a smile, then finished breakfast, cleaning everything up, and rewarding each other with a hug and kiss that left Elizabeth a little breathless. She smiled up at him. “Now this is what I wanted first thing this morning. Not an empty bed to wake to.”
“I agree, by the way. About the empty bed. I would have felt the same way about you if you had done that to me.” He leaned down, molding his lips to hers, sharing a maple-flavored kiss that Elizabeth never wanted to end. Her body tightened, growing warm. She slid her leg up his, wrapping it around and pulling him closer, her hips grinding into his as he walked her backward, only stopping when she bumped up against the cool steel of the refrigerator door. “And yeah,” he said, pulling away and resting his forehead against hers, “this is definitely the better way to get my day going.”
Unfortunately, it was also a little too late to finish what they started.
She pulled away with a rueful grin and straightened her clothes, her eyes promising to come back to this later. “Okay,” she said, trying unsuccessfully to brush his hair out of his eyes. “Are you ready to go?”
“No.” He smiled. “But I think we’ll be missed if we don’t.”
***
When they arrived at the office, Sheri was on the phone and no one else was in their offices. She put her hand over the receiver and said, “This one’s for you. A callback on the Mel Warner case. Gavin had a call out, Cameron’s not here yet, and Owen is running down a lead.”
“Okay, I’ve got it.” David took the call in his office.
“How did things go between the two of you? You looked happy enough when you returned from the run,” Sheri said, back to filing. Elizabeth pulled up a chair beside her and started to help.
“Good. He’s not going to slip out to run without me anymore.”
“That’s good, or I would have had to give him a talking-to.”
Elizabeth smiled. Sheri would have, too. “How have things been?” Elizabeth pulled out a stack of papers piled up in Owen’s to-be-filed box. “Geez. We really need to get these guys to start filing stuff online. This is ridiculous.”
“Agreed,” Sheri said. “Though so much of this is handwritten notes, papers they’ve accumulated for receipts, and other important documents on cases. Aside from this paper disaster, things are good. I was answering phone calls, Owen and Gavin took the cases and were off, leaving me to run the whole place. And then you and David showed up. That’s been it.”
“We’ll need some protocols now that we’re working here on how to handle walk-ins and phone calls if the guys are out on jobs or can’t handle them because of shifting issues.” Elizabeth went into Gavin’s office to get his to-be-filed papers.
“Hey, I’m just getting Owen’s papers-to-be-filed nearly caught up. Don’t bring me any more,” Sheri teased.
Elizabeth smiled. She was going to love working with Sheri in the office.
A couple of minutes later, David popped his head out of his office. “Faith said everyone’s swimming tonight at the lake if we want to join them. That’s the joy of living right on the lake. It’s light out late in the summer, and we can play to our hearts’ content after work.”
“Now that sounds just perfect,” Elizabeth said.
“I’m all for it,” Sheri said. “ I sure love Seattle.”
***
After work, they headed home to change into swimsuits. No wolf swimming tonight. Sheri was in and out of the house in record time. “See you there!” she called.
Elizabeth rushed to get in her one-piece blue swimsuit to follow her. David kissed her shoulder, debating whether they could let themselves get sidetracked for a moment. It was tempting, no doubt, but then he pulled on his board shorts. There would be time for that later.
Elizabeth ran out of the bedroom and dashed through the house. “Race you there,” she yelled.
“You got it.”
Elizabeth was already out the door by the time he grabbed some beach towels and bottled water and headed outside.
She was slipping off a pair of sandals next to a lounge chair. “I beat you.”
He laughed. “Not yet,” he said, nodding toward Sheri already heading back to shore from the swimming platform in the middle of the lake.
She smiled mischievously. “Wanna bet?” And she took off again, running to the water’s edge and plunging in, swimming strong strokes out to the platform.
David put the towels and water bottles on their lounge chairs, glad he had four of his own for when a couple of others dropped by in the summer to enjoy a visit, though if they needed more chairs, they could bring some more over.
Sheri walked out of the lake, smiling. He handed her a towel.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” He nodded out toward Elizabeth, who’d reached the platform and was sunning herself on the wooden planks. “I’m glad she loves to swim.”
“Yeah, for being from such a northern territory, we both love it,” Sheri said. “I hurried up, thinking I would give you two some privacy.”
Smiling, he shook his head. “Elizabeth wanted to swim. First.”
“Yeah, I figured it would take you guys longer than that.” She winked. “She’s so happy here with you. She worried so much about just seeing you again, I know, even though she wouldn’t let on.” She held a hand up, shielding her eyes as she peered out over the lake toward the platform. “I’m happy she’s so happy.”
“Thanks, Sheri.” David figured if anyone really knew how Elizabeth was feeling about everything, it would be Sheri. “I’m really glad you’re here too. Even though she knew most of us, you’ve known her forever. It makes a difference, having you here. For all of us.”
“I feel the same way.” Sheri patted him on the bare chest. “Just keep up the good work.”
He smiled. “I fully intend to. Anytime you and Elizabeth need some together time alone, you just let me know. I know how important friendships can be.”
“Well, truthfully, we’ll need to pick up a few more things at the store. I brought what I thought we would need, but you know how that goes. If we weren’t staying here long-term, that would have been one thing.”
“Of course.”
Sheri smiled and gave him a hug, which he hadn’t expected. “Thanks for taking me with you.”
“We’re really glad to have you here.” He stared out at his own little slice of paradise, appreciating the moment, the view, his happiness, the vision of Elizabeth as she stood up and did a running leap off the platform, slicing into the water with a clean dive.
The rest of his pack began showing up, breaking the spell—or maybe adding to it, he wasn’t quite sure.
“What are you doing standing around? Let’s go!” Cameron said, joining David and slapping him on the back before dashing into the water. Sheri dropped the towel and ran after him, ready for another go-round.
David raced in too, diving into the water and swimming as fast as he could to beat his friend.
The race was on with everyone cheering—Owen telling David he could never make it in time to catch up, Gavin telling Cameron he should have gotten more of a head start to win, Sheri swimming along gamely, trying not to suck in a bunch of lake water while laughing. It was hilarious to hear them cheering each of them on, and David had to concentrate on beating his friend and not laughing and swallowing a bunch of water. Even the kids were in high spirits, yelling in their loud, high-pitched voices to hurry, hurry.
“Uncle David, you can win! Daddy, you can win! Go, Sheri, go! Beat ’em!” He knew they had the concept down that the one who reached the finish line first won, but they didn’t seem to want any of them to lose. Family was family, after all.
David had nearly caught up to Cameron, either because he’d slowed down a bit for having a head start, or because David really had rallied enough to catch up, and at the last moment, they both reached the platform at the same time. They laughed and everyone cheered, then cheered again when Sheri slapped her hands on the edge next to them.
They climbed out, laughing, and congratulated each other.
The kids were already heading out to join them, and Elizabeth, who’d been paddling around watching the race, swam over, gliding next to them until they all reached the platform, the rest of the pack splashing and calling out to one another. David pulled Elizabeth up, tucking her between his legs as they sat close, their wet bodies sun-warmed and slick. She leaned against him, secure in his arms amid his family, his land, his life.
