“No. Now. I feel it in my bones that I could go any minute now. Oh, scratch that. You smile at me and look at me with those big, adoring brown eyes, and I almost forget I’m as old as an ancient oak tree. If Elizabeth and I could trade places, I would be racing out of here to be with you. She’s a silly goose to waste her life away here without you.”
Sometimes, Ada’s curly white hair was piled high on top of her head in a chic coiffure, as if she were getting ready to go to a dance. Other times, like today, her hair was long and silky and down around her shoulders as she lay in her big bed. She did seem more tired than usual, but she still had good days too. Besides, David was used to this line of conversation. Ada had been saying she could go any minute now ever since Elizabeth had returned home to take care of her. He smiled wider and gave her a wink for good measure. “You’re not going anywhere and good thing too. Who would sing my praises if you weren’t around?”
“Are you on Skype already?” Elizabeth asked, hurrying into her grandmother’s room with a couple bottles of water. She sounded mildly accusative, but David knew it was a game the two women played, Elizabeth pretending to be late to the session, David and her grandmother getting on just a little early so she could chat privately with him.
“Grandma, you know you’re not supposed to be on Skype without me. I never know what the two of you are plotting.” Elizabeth’s beautiful brown curls were partly up and partly down. She looked like she’d been working in her grandmother’s garden again.
He hoped Elizabeth would love gardening in the plot at his cabin. He hadn’t planted anything there yet. He wanted it to be her garden. Every summer he kept it weeded, just in case he had to go rescue her and bring her home. In the winter, it lay dormant waiting for the spring. Waiting for her.
“What am I plotting?” Ada said. “Running away with this handsome wolf since you won’t? We would make a lovely pair, wouldn’t we?” She sighed dramatically. “But alas, he only has eyes for you. You need to go to him.”
“I can wait,” David said, like he’d said so many times before, because there had never been anyone like Elizabeth and he knew there never would be. “I’ll wait forever for you, Elizabeth, honey.” And he would. He would wait as long as he had to. But being together like this wasn’t the same as being together. The last time they’d actually been together, they’d been on the run from her pack leader. But staying in hotels and having unconsummated relations because wolves mated for life hadn’t really counted.
Yet, they’d known then and they knew now they only wanted each other.
Still, he couldn’t help the doubts that crept in. When they were finally able to physically be together, safe from danger, would they still feel the same way about each other? When they finally lived in his cabin on the lake, and he was off working as a PI and she was… She was what? He didn’t even know what she would do when he was away on missions. Would the magic still be there?
“She’s treated like an omega wolf here,” Ada was saying. “I’m not just crying wolf. She needs you and your pack’s protection. And she needs it now.”
“Grandma, shush. I’m fine. I’m happy to be here with you, and I won’t leave until it’s…” Elizabeth took a deep breath, but the tears in her eyes said it all.
David hated that Kintail was such an ass. He wanted nothing more than to swoop in and take Elizabeth away from her pack, get her out from under his control. David had been glad Elizabeth had more time with her grandmother before the end came, but he hated that Kintail and the other pack members were still giving Elizabeth grief for having freed David and his friend Owen. It’d been years since then, but Kintail knew how to hold a grudge; losing new wolves wasn’t something he would ever get over.
Losing yet another wolf wasn’t something Kintail would stand for either. And Elizabeth would leave, the first moment she could. It might have been a different story with a different leader. If Elizabeth had been met with kindness, with understanding, maybe she would have stayed. But Kintail was who he was: Controlling. Demanding. Greedy for power. Kindness was weakness, and weakness was death.
That’s why Elizabeth needed to be free.
“Okay, so let’s go over the new plan of rescue and evasion, shall we?” That was Ada’s favorite topic of discussion when they had their weekly Skype sessions.
“If I drove long days and didn’t stop for much, I could make it in three days going up and we could make it in three days coming back,” David said.
“Right,” Ada said, as if she were making the trip herself.
Elizabeth let her grandmother dominate the calls with David because her grandmother loved them, and it always gave her something to look forward to for the next week. David enjoyed talking with her too. He’d loved his own grandparents, but they were gone now, and Elizabeth’s grandmother had adopted him, whether he ended up mated to Elizabeth or not. He loved Ada just as much as Elizabeth did.
David continued going over their plans. “And flights are around twenty-two hours, depending on layovers. Some are longer. Layovers are two hours in Calgary and seven hours in Edmonton.”
“I don’t like that plan. While I want the two of you out of Canada as soon as possible, Kintail and his men will be watching Elizabeth after I’m gone, and they’ll be watching the airport to see if you turn up.”
Elizabeth’s grandmother had never liked the idea of them escaping by plane, but David didn’t want to discount it either. Driving would mean a delay in reaching Yellowknife to pull Elizabeth out after Ada’s funeral. It was risky to wait.
“True. But I was thinking I could solicit Amelia—Gavin Summerfield’s mate—to help us,” David said. “He’s another PI partner and long-time friend, and she’s a pilot. Then we wouldn’t have long layovers because we can take a more direct flight instead of having to fly their scheduled routes.”
“Oh, yes, that sounds much better. Also, I don’t want a funeral,” Ada said. “I’m being cremated, and Elizabeth has instructions to scatter my ashes over the roses in the backyard. Well, if the yard isn’t covered in snow. I’ll try not to leave when it’s snowing out.” She always said “leave,” like she was just planning on taking a trip—which, in a way, was exactly how she thought of it. “Oh, and I’ll try to leave when it isn’t the full-moon phase.”
The phase of the full moon could be an issue for David. Not for Elizabeth. She and her family were royals, having very few purely human roots in their genetic makeup. But David had been turned by one of her pack members, so he’d been born as a human and dealing with a full moon was harder for him. It tugged on his need to shift, though now he was better at controlling it than he used to be. He still couldn’t entertain the thought of flying during that phase, though, unless either Amelia or her brother, Slade, piloted him. Their father, Henry, flew planes too, but David figured, as a royal like Elizabeth, Henry would be holding down the fort while either Amelia or Slade helped David and Elizabeth get out.