“Now you’re talking.”
They headed out to visit with the wolves and jaguars, all talking about the exciting evening they’d had.
“We don’t get a chance to chase off bears in Houston,” Uncle Strom said. “Man, that was a good run.”
“That was a big black bear,” Gavin said, hugging Amelia close.
Owen and Candice agreed. “More fodder for my stories,” she said.
Slade and Sheri were sitting together on one of the stone benches, roasting marshmallows. “Do you think we chased him away for good?” Slade asked.
“Only time will tell,” David said, hugging Elizabeth close. “This is really great, isn’t it?”
“Family and friends?” Cameron said, kissing Faith. “You bet.”
***
The next morning, Elizabeth and David headed to a garden center to pick out whatever she needed. She’d joked about having the others help, though if anyone was bored, they were more than welcome. What they hadn’t expected was for several wolves and jaguars to volunteer to go with them and help her pick out plants; she couldn’t have been more thrilled.
By the time they returned home that morning, she had enough to fill her garden, with room for the plants to grow. She loved it because she wouldn’t have to keep shopping for items. Now she had a ready-made garden.
After the guys chipped in to dig the holes, they planted, mulched, and watered everything. Then, with Sheri and David by her side, Elizabeth spread the rest of her grandmother’s ashes on the memorial rose garden.
After they finished a late breakfast, David and Elizabeth went in to the office, and Gavin joined them. Amelia had left earlier on another flight, and the other pack members came and went so they could spend time with all their guests. They were still talking about all that had happened with the jaguars and wolves coming to their aid and enjoying some cinnamon rolls that Mel had baked and dropped off for the whole lot of them at the breakfast, just in appreciation for everything they had done for him and his family.
A new client came in and they were back to business, setting aside the wolf business for now.
The woman who came in said to Elizabeth, “Hi, I’m looking to buy a wolf, not a wolf dog, you know, for protection, and I was hoping that you would be able to help me locate the real deal. I haven’t had any success so far and I’ve been looking for weeks.”
David, Elizabeth, and Gavin all smiled at each other.
They could help her find a wolf, not a wolf dog, for sure if she wanted to be part of a whole wolf pack. Not that they were going to turn anyone into a wolf, mind you, but…that was what immediately came to mind.
Epilogue
Elizabeth had been torn between being with her grandmother and returning to be with David, afraid he would find someone else in the meantime, yet she knew she couldn’t have done anything differently. That if he’d had a chance to find someone he’d loved during the interim, she had to let that happen, particularly since she hadn’t known how long she would have to be with her grandmother until the end. She was glad beyond measure that David had felt the same way as she did about him. That she was the only one for him just like he was the only one for her.
And she was so glad Sheri was here with her, not just because she was her best friend but also because Sheri couldn’t wait to help with Elizabeth and David’s babies when they came.
Elizabeth was thankful for Sheri’s family, too, that her parents and Hans had broken away from the Yellowknife pack after all these years and joined them, vowing to help the newly turned wolves anytime they needed assistance. It warmed her throughout.
Sheri’s mom and dad had adopted both David and Elizabeth, and since Georgia was a midwife, she was eager to finally deliver some new wolf pups. Sheri’s dad, being a building contractor, was busy having the house of his and Sheri’s mom’s dreams built farther away on the lake, but close enough they would offer any assistance the newly turned wolves would need.
For now, Elizabeth was just enjoying the peace of her new life. She and David sat on the back patio, looking at the snow falling on the lake, watching some of the other wolves of the pack dashing out of their homes for a late-night run while Sheri babysat for Cameron and Faith, their kids having gone to bed already.
Elizabeth put her hand on David’s thigh to help herself up, and he quickly stood to assist her. “Did you want to run as a wolf?”
“Yeah, you know it.” Because she was having twins, she felt more off-balance than usual. The kiddos were kicking like crazy, and she’d learned today she was having two boys.
David had been thrilled with the news, but she knew he would have been just as thrilled to learn they were girls.
He helped her into the house and began stripping her out of all her clothes. She felt like a beached whale, but she loved how he looked at her as if she were just a beautiful mom who was having their babies.
***
David never imagined he’d have a family like this.
He had always planned to free Elizabeth from her pack and mate her. He’d known from the first time he’d met her that she was the only one for him. She would be his family. He’d never guessed her best friend’s family would make him part of their family. And he’d even gained a brother. He was glad for their expanding pack of royals.
He was also glad Sheri’s family backed her all the way on working on a degree in criminal justice. She and Elizabeth had been having so much fun taking the classes together, and when he and his friends were having shifting issues, they were there to run the office.
Kintail would probably never forgive Sheri, her family, and Elizabeth for abandoning the pack for good. Maybe he would learn from the experience and be a better leader.
David smiled at Elizabeth as she rubbed her bare belly, and he was glad Sheri’s mother could deliver her—most likely as a wolf. At least Elizabeth didn’t have shifting issues—since the babies were due during the full moon. He wrapped his arms around her and put his hands on her expanding belly, loving her and the babies. They were his whole life.
And then they shifted, and were off on their run, no worries about the cinnamon black bear, who had vacated their territory for good.
Their whole pack couldn’t be happier with all the additions to their numbers and the new friends and family they had now. And David and Elizabeth were the happiest of all.
Read on for more wild and sexy Arctic Wolf adventures in
Available now from Sourcebooks Casablanca.
En Route to Big Lake, Alaska
The case just had to involve flying.
On his first day as a private investigator in Seattle, Gavin Summerfield had gotten a case that made him want to string the thieves up. Stolen pets had become a lucrative market for criminals. In this case, two male, champion-sired Samoyed pups, worth nearly three thousand apiece, had been stolen from their owner’s fenced-in backyard. The woman and her two teen daughters were in tears.