“Elizabeth, honey, it’ll be okay. I promise.” His heartbreak for her came through in every word. “Don’t think about that right now. I’ll call you back as soon as I know what time we are leaving and when we’ll get in, and we’ll go from there.”
“Okay.” She sniffed. “At least the waxing gibbous moon phase is here, so you won’t have a problem with shifting for a while. And it’s summer.” She sighed through her tears. “No moon and no snow. I swear my grandmother planned it that way. I love you so much.”
“I love you too. Your grandma was a great woman. For the time I got to know her—even though it was just on Skype—I loved her and miss her too. It’s time for us to be together now though.”
“I know she wanted this for me, for us. I know she did. She knew how much I wanted to be with you. I love you. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Then Elizabeth ended the call so she could take care of her grandmother, one last time.
Chapter 3
Hating to hear her feeling so destitute after her grandmother died and unable to hug Elizabeth like he wanted to, David was immediately on the phone to Amelia, waking her. He didn’t waste time with niceties. “Hey, it’s on.”
Amelia responded like he hadn’t just awoken her from a dead sleep. “Elizabeth’s grandmother died.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’m calling my mom to have her get ahold of a couple of standby pilots to take Slade’s and my flights for the next couple of days. I’ve already talked to Slade about going with us so we can switch off on flying. We always have a bag packed for emergency flights so we’re ready to leave at a moment’s notice. This is definitely an emergency rescue mission. I’ll take care of the flight plan. We’ll be going to Winnipeg, refuel, and then to Calgary, which is two hours from there. And another three hours from Calgary to Yellowknife. Are you sure that the business with being mated to ‘Candy’ was enough to have Kintail call off his watchdogs?”
“We won’t know for sure until we get there. I’ll rent a car and pick her up at some place we can agree on, someplace not anywhere near the airport so they won’t think she’s taking off. We’ll meet you back at the airport after that.”
“Okay.”
Then he called Elizabeth back. “How are you doing?”
“I wish you were here already. What’s the plan?”
“I’m flying out with Amelia and Slade. You need to pick a place where I can come and get you. If you have any indication that they’ll be on the lookout for us at the airport, let us know and we’ll change our plans in a hurry.”
“What if Amelia comes to meet me at a restaurant instead? There’s a place called the Wildcat Café. Hopefully, if anyone’s following me, they won’t think twice about me having dinner with a friend.”
“Okay, though it’s going to kill me to be so close to you and not be able to see you. I’ll stay with Slade.” And pray this worked out all right. “What about your car?”
“I could have Sheri drop me off at the restaurant and tell her I was going with Amelia to do something after dinner. I’ll call Amelia by some other name though. I hate lying to Sheri about any of this, but I can’t tell her what’s really going on. I’m afraid Kintail would force it out of her if he suspected anything.”
“What if Sheri wants to join you for the meal?” David asked.
“Actually, she could. It might even seem more natural if we all went out to eat together and then I left to do something with Amelia, telling Sheri that Amelia will drop me off at home afterward.”
“Sounds good.” He told her the flight times to the various airports, then they said another rushed goodbye. But this time the goodbye was tinged with hope because their next hello wouldn’t be over the phone.
It would be in each other’s arms.
***
“I’m so sorry about her grandmother, but I’m damn glad Elizabeth is coming back with us. And if she decides she can’t live with you, there’s always me,” Slade said to David, smiling.
Amelia shook her head. “You’d better not even think of it, Slade. I don’t want to be on the outs with the whole pack because of you stealing the woman away.”
Slade laughed. “As if that would ever happen. I’m just glad David and Elizabeth can finally work something out between the two of them if it’s meant to be.”
That was the thing. No matter how much David was sure it was, they wouldn’t really know for certain it was meant to be until they’d had the chance to be together in a normal setting. At least they’d have a playground—so to speak—in their backyard where they could run to their hearts’ content when he wasn’t working. And a home they could make their own. And a pack where she knew most of the members already, members who loved her. Maybe he had nothing to worry about. Maybe her transition to his pack, his life, would be easy for her.
Maybe everything would be just fine.
They loaded up the plane, and it wasn’t long before they were heading to Winnipeg. Slade took the first shift, being more of a night owl. Amelia and David would get some sleep, but not until after he explained Elizabeth’s plan and Amelia’s role in it.
“Oh, I bet they’ll have bison burgers. I haven’t had any of those since we left Alaska,” Amelia said.
“Bring us some back, will you?” Slade asked. “I haven’t had one since then either.”
“Anyone watching might wonder why Amelia is taking a sack of burgers to go,” David said.
Slade sighed. “All right. But don’t you get yourself kidnapped by Kintail’s pack, Amelia, or Mom and Dad will have my head. And David’s too.”
Six hours later, they landed in Winnipeg, grabbed a quick bite, then refueled. Slade turned the pilot’s seat over to Amelia, his eyes already closing as he slumped next to David.
David called Elizabeth to see how she was doing. “Hey, how are you?”
“Nervous. And I can’t stop crying. I start to think I’m doing okay, then all of a sudden I’m crying again.” She stopped and blew her nose, the sound loud and clear through the phone. “She’s already been cremated, so at least that’s done. I waited until morning, then told Sheri that my grandmother had died. She had practically adopted her. She’s upset because she loved her too. I didn’t tell anyone else, but you know how fast word spreads. I know Kintail will hear soon.”
“Okay, that’s to be expected, even though we hoped he wouldn’t learn about it until after you were well on your way out of there. What about a bag of your things? Your personal belongings?” David hadn’t even thought about that before now. He’d always thought someday they’d be together, and she could bring whatever she needed. Whatever she didn’t have, they’d just get in Ely.