“Yeah, I figured it would be good to know if anyone has ever reported anything.”
Elizabeth switched her focus, too, and started doing white wolf searches. But after a while, when she couldn’t find anything about wolves, she started doing dog searches again. If the pack could get a dog soon, that would alleviate some of the concern they were all feeling, having been so close to being caught.
David glanced at her screen. “Do you see any that might work?”
“Yeah, I’m marking the pages. And I found an article about wolves who rescued some snowmobilers in North Dakota. Apparently people thought they were Samoyeds or white German shepherds or something.”
“That was actually Owen and Candice.”
“You’re kidding,” Elizabeth said, her eyes going wide.
“Nope.”
“I’m looking forward to hearing that story some day. But anyway, Samoyeds really do look similar to an Arctic wolf.”
“I agree. Alaskan malamute would be good too.”
“Did you find anything about the men in that canoe reporting that they’d seen wolves in this area?”
“Not yet. It’s early still, though. But I did find an old reference to Arctic wolves being here from two years ago.”
Elizabeth’s brow furrowed as she read, but then she smiled. “Did you see the comments? Doesn’t seem like anyone believed him.”
“It only takes one though.”
“That’s true. We have issues in the Canadian Arctic sometimes, but it’s different up there. People are more used to seeing Arctic wolves there than they would be seeing them here,” Elizabeth said.
“True. Even gray wolves create a lot of interest.” David leaned back, rolling his shoulders and sighing. “You ever wonder what it would be like if we could just be ourselves? Let everyone know who and what we are?”
“Yeah, but you know how that would go. Can you imagine the fear? We’d be a scary oddity at best, captured and experimented on at worst. No thanks. I would rather we have our anonymity and pretend we’re like everyone else. Maybe in some future world they would be more open to us, but I won’t hold my breath,” she said.
“I agree. Hey, would you like to go to a drive-in movie tonight after dinner?”
Elizabeth smiled. “I would love to go.”
“Okay. I think they are showing Jurassic Park, lots of cool dinosaurs, people screaming, running away, dinosaurs eating people. Some good, wholesome fun.”
She laughed. “Sounds good to me.”
***
That afternoon, they got with the rest of the pack members to have lunch together. They didn’t always do this, but when they had urgent business to attend to and wanted to let new pack members know they were all in this as a team, they did. It was like having a celebration of families together, and it just felt right.
Candice showed Elizabeth some dogs she had found. “These are the breed of dogs I said dug out the avalanche victims when Owen was with me. They seemed to be perfect for the role.”
“I found that article on you both. That was amazing,” Elizabeth said. She showed her phone to the others. “I found a couple of places where they’re looking to rehome their pups. These are white Alaskan malamutes.”
“I have to say”—Candice pointed a pup out to Corey—“that pup looks a lot like you when you were around that age and bit me.”
Corey smiled. “Nah. I looked like a wolf.” He puffed out his chest, and Elizabeth smothered a smile. “This one looks like a dog.”
“Sure, but I’d never seen a wolf pup before, so you were just a cute little puppy as far as I knew. I never once imagined a wolf would approach me at the campfire,” Candice said.
“I was hungry,” Corey said as if that explained everything.
Candice laughed. “Well, this pup is located only about an hour away, so since none of us are having shifting issues now, maybe we can go check it out.”
“Yeah, let’s go for it,” David said.
The kids wanted to go with Candice, and Sheri said she would go with her, too, to help with the kids. David suspected they would be coming home with the puppy no matter what. That meant housebreaking, leash training, and everything else that went along with teaching the puppy who was in charge. They needed to get this done, but they didn’t want to end up with a dog that was a problem for the pack rather than a solution.
Candice said on the phone, “Yes, we would like a female.”
David raised a brow.
Candice smiled at him. “We’re on our way!” She, Owen, and Sheri loaded up the kids and headed out. The rest of the pack continued their search, hoping to find one nearby who needed to be rehomed.
Finally, Elizabeth said, “Here! A couple is divorcing, and he’s going to Alaska and she’s moving back home to Florida. Neither wants the responsibility of the dog. She’s a white German shepherd, about an hour and a half from here.”
David had thought he and Elizabeth would just chill this afternoon after lunch, but she appeared excited to go check the dog out.
“I’ll go.” David didn’t want anyone to think he was clinging to Elizabeth, but if she wasn’t going to be home with him, he wanted to see the dog too and help them make a decision. He just hoped Winston would be good with a couple of new dogs in the pack. Though as good-natured as he was, David figured he would be.
Elizabeth took hold of David’s hand and kissed him. “I know you had other plans for us today.”
“Are you kidding? We’re going to see a dog. Doesn’t get much better than that.” Well, maybe keeping her in bed the rest of the afternoon until they had their dinner and went to the drive-in would have been better, but dogs were a close second.
Amelia and Gavin joined them and it didn’t take long before David and the others arrived at a home that was up for sale an hour and a half away. As soon as they pulled into the driveway, they heard a dog barking.
“I just can’t take care of her,” the owner said after they all introduced themselves. “I’ll be living at home with my parents for a while, and my dad is allergic to dogs. He never came to visit me because of it. I hate to give Velvet up. She’s a lovely dog, but with my husband and me splitting up, I just don’t have a choice.”
Amelia was already looking over the dog, and Elizabeth was talking to her and calling her to come.
“She’s housebroken and doesn’t chew on anything she shouldn’t. Well, she steals socks, and tissues from the wastepaper baskets, but she doesn’t chew on them. She’s a collector and just takes them to her bed.”