Her own maternalistic instincts came to bear, and she loved watching David hide behind a tree and then jump out to scare the pups. That led to a merry chase of all three wolf pups trying to catch David’s tail as they ran around and around the tree after him. He would make a good father, she thought.
Then the wolf pups were running off to tackle Owen, who good-naturedly chased them until they were tired of running. Then they licked his face, letting him know they’d had fun.
Corey was the wild pup of the bunch. She watched as he climbed to the top of some rocks and then tumbled down, while the other wolf pups, Nick and Angie, waited to pounce on him at the bottom. He popped right up, tussling with his siblings, and then was right back at it again, and Elizabeth could just imagine what he would be like when he became a teen. Wild, adventurous, getting into trouble, not with humans so much as just getting himself into hot water as a wolf because of his daredevil streak.
Corey reminded Elizabeth of a cousin of hers who had died in a plane crash in the remote area of the Northwest Territories before she met David and the others. Her cousin had been just like Corey as a kid. She still missed him. Once he’d become an adult, he hadn’t tamed down even a bit. She figured he wouldn’t have been happy learning she had rescued Owen and David, either. He might have been headstrong, but when it came to the pack leader, he had always done what he was told.
She loved the idea of growing with this pack, of all the new babies coming and helping to take care of them, of assisting with the older kids and the PI business. Having been isolated from her own pack and working in a dress store as a clerk, she found everything—she nuzzled David, making her thoughts on what “everything” entailed perfectly clear—way more exciting here.
After the run, they all headed back to the houses, shifted and dressed, then gathered back at the MacPhersons’ home for the traditional nightcap. Elizabeth loved every moment of it.
Back at David’s cabin, Sheri said, “I’m off to shower and bed.”
“Night,” Elizabeth and David said in unison, heading for the master bedroom.
“Night,” Sheri said, then disappeared into the bathroom.
“I was so surprised that Cameron wanted us to become PIs.” Elizabeth hadn’t wanted to upset the order of things after they’d only just arrived. But she was thrilled they would want her to be one of them. Not just a pack member or a love interest, but an honest-to-goodness private investigator.
David laughed. “Yeah, I thought you would like that.” He began to help her out of her shirt. “If the two of you, or just one of you, enjoy the administrative duties and aren’t interested in becoming a PI, we won’t be offended. We just want you to be happy.”
“Oh, believe me, we are. What a beautiful way to end what has been a lovely day. The pups are adorable too.”
He poked her hair behind her ears and sighed. “I know we should wait to consummate the relationship, but…” He made a sound, a rumbled half agony, half laughter. “I’m not going to lie. It’s going to be hard.”
“Hmm, we’ll see how it goes. I’ve only been here for a day. Before, being on the run like we were, dodging bullets and bad men and a rabid pack leader, staying in hotels and riding for hours in a car, which I had to drive lots because you all were shifting like crazy”—she smiled at the memory—“that’s not the same as living plain old workaday lives.” Even though the sex was great between them, there was more—so much more they needed to discover about each other to make sure they would be compatible for a lifetime.
Interests, hobbies, ideology, getting along with the other pack members. Normally, parents or other family members could be a problem in couple relationships. But in this case, David’s friends were his family, so if she didn’t get along with them—which she didn’t believe would be a problem—that all needed to be taken into consideration.
So far, though, even she had to admit everything had been good.
Elizabeth and David showered, and after toweling each other off, she dried her hair with her hair dryer and joined him in bed, sans clothes. She’d so hoped they would be back to this kind of closeness again, and she wasn’t disappointed. He wrapped his arm around her, caressing her bare skin, kissing the top of her head.
She couldn’t believe she was really here with him. It had been a long flight, and after having sex and a hot, soapy shower with him, two wolf runs, the pack celebration, and getting a job, she should have been exhausted.
She wasn’t. She didn’t think David was either.
Letting her fingers trace swirling patterns on his chest, she asked, “So when you were in the office, did you pick up any cases to work on?”
“Yeah.” He explained about Jimmy and his missing dad. “I checked with the local hospital and some farther away, vehicle accident reports, hotels he might have stayed at, but nothing.”
“If you need me to help, just let me know.” Wouldn’t it be amazing to help reunite a boy with his dad for her first case?
She felt his smile just before he kissed her head. “I will.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes and sighed. She was getting ahead of herself.
She was eager to start working on a degree to become a full-fledged PI, but she knew there was more to it than just jumping in headfirst. There would be requirements. School. Probably a criminology degree.
The thought doused a little of her happiness. She hadn’t been in school for years. What if she failed the classes? She would take them over again. Because the PIs were former police officers, they could probably help her study. The same for Sheri.
She and Sheri would get the ball rolling on that first thing in the morning.
“What are you thinking about?” David asked, his voice hushed as if he didn’t want to wake her up too much if she was already drifting off to sleep.
“About enrolling in college.”
He chuckled and pulled her on top of him, his arms wrapped lovingly around her. “I was thinking about this. About being with you when I’ve wanted this forever. To hold you close, to talk to you, and run as wolves, the whole nine yards. I didn’t expect to be also working with you, but I’m glad for that too.”
“Oh, I was thinking about that too.” She kissed his chest, rubbing her nose across his hard pectoral muscles, just as she might have in wolf form. “But then I was thinking Sheri and I need to get registered for classes. We’ll need to update the dates and things on our high school diplomas.” The longevity that came with being a wolf was absolutely a blessing, but it could be a pain in the butt sometimes too.
“Right. We can do that.”
“Good.” She sighed. “I dreamed of this, you know. I mean, not being a PI… That’s just a bonus. But of this. You. I’m so glad we did it.”