Chapter 8

Owen had seen Candice pale as soon as she looked at her phone, and he wondered what was wrong. But he didn’t want to broach the subject if she didn’t want to discuss it in front of Cameron and Faith. She ignored the call and stuck the phone back in her pocket.

Maybe it was just a spam caller. But he didn’t think so—she looked too worried. As soon as they left the MacPhersons’ home and started walking back to his place, he would ask who had called.

Faith served the gingerbread cookies, coffee, and tea in the living room, and they talked about the case Cameron had been working on. “I got a little help from the police,” he said. “They were arresting a man on drug charges and asked to speak with the father, whom I needed to serve. When he came outside, I handed him the papers, and then they hauled the son off and I was finished my job.”

“So far, we’ve done pretty well with our new office and the jobs we’re getting,” Owen said. He couldn’t have had better luck on his first case.

Candice said, “You know, I think I need to have a PI for one of my heroes, and I can obtain information for the story from all of you.”

Owen hoped that meant she was seriously considering staying with the pack. “We’ve certainly got a ton of stories to share.” At least she seemed to be fine now that she’d gotten over the phone call, and he was glad for that.

When the phone rang again in her pocket, she pulled it out, checked the ID, and then turned off her phone.

He was certain now that the caller was some kind of trouble. Not just a spam caller. Faith and Cameron tried to act like it was no big deal, but he knew from their concerned expressions that they thought the same as him. Something was wrong.

When they were finished visiting, Owen and Candice said their goodbyes and headed out to walk through the woods to his place. “Is someone bothering you?” he asked.

“Yeah. Our stalker. I listened to his voicemail. I can’t believe it. It’s Rowdy Sanderson and he must have learned who owned my home and then discovered my unlisted phone number.”

“Because he’s a homicide detective and would easily be able to learn all there was to know about you.”

“Well, at least we drove here, so he wouldn’t have any idea where I went.”

“Unless he saw my license plate and recorded it when he was snooping around your place. Maybe yours too, to learn who was staying there.”

“Great. Then he could know where you live.”

“I doubt he’d come all the way here to look for you. Why would he? To learn if you have a couple of rescue wolves? Not only is it not his jurisdiction, but it’s also not his field of expertise.”

“So then why is he calling me?”

“Probably to ask about the wolves, just out of curiosity. I can’t imagine why else he’d be so interested.”

“Well, I’m not going to talk to him. I’m afraid I might slip up. I haven’t murdered anyone or witnessed a murder, so I’m not required to answer any of his questions.”

“I agree.” Though if Rowdy had been calling Owen, he’d probably talk to the detective himself, just to learn what was up with the guy.

When they reached Owen’s house, he and Candice talked to David and Gavin about everything they had put together. Candice approved everything, and then she figured out where she was supposed to be on her world tour so she could pretend to be calling her uncle from there. She was in Edinburgh, Scotland, and it was six hours later there. It would be nine at night now.

Owen hoped like hell that this worked. Lies could snowball in a hurry, but he couldn’t think of a better cover story to explain why she didn’t have the time to claim her inheritance.

“Okay, how do you want to do this?” she asked.

“I’ll call Strom, tell him I found you, and give him your cell phone number. I’ll just let him know which city you are in at the moment. I’ll explain that you can’t get out of the tour, but you said that you’d be back right after Christmas…” Owen looked up his moon phase calendar. “Well, make that around New Year’s. You still have the waning gibbous during Christmas, but the new moon will be upon us over New Year’s. You’d probably have a good chance of controlling the shifting anywhere between December 29 and January 7. And then you’ll see him and the judge and sign the documents you need to.”

* * *

Christmas. Despite everything being decorated for Christmas and loving the spirit of the holidays, Candice had never really given any thought to how she would celebrate. She suspected the pack had Christmas dinner together. She hadn’t had anyone to give gifts to since her parents died. That was something she hadn’t considered about staying with Owen and the pack over the holidays. Normally for her, it was just a day to write like any other. Speaking of which, she needed to proof her manuscript and send it in.

And New Year’s? She didn’t celebrate that at all. It was just the day to take down all her Christmas decorations, clean her house, and begin writing a new book, or finish the one she’d already started.

Owen and the other men were watching her, waiting for her to agree or disagree, and she realized she’d zoned out.

“Uh, yeah, okay, that sounds good. I’ll make it the earliest possible date, allowing for driving time. I’ll call him after you do, pretending you had just gotten word to me.”

“Right.”

They discussed the details some more, and then she waited with trepidation for Owen to make the call.

“Hello, Mr. Hart? I have good news. I’ve located your niece. She’s changed to her pen name, Candice Mayfair. She’s a romance author, on a worldwide book tour. I’ve got her phone number to share with you. She said she’ll call you in about forty minutes or so.” Owen gave Strom Candice’s phone number, then paused. “Yeah, I’m positive Candice is your niece… Thanks, and good luck to both of you. Goodbye.” Owen ended the call. “He didn’t say anything but thanks, to send him my bill, and he’ll pay me after he confirms you are Clara.”

“Was he glad? Upset?” she asked.

“Neutral, I’d say.”

“Okay, so I’m pretending to be driving back from dinner. I have reached the hotel. I am going through the lobby and up in the elevator. Now to the room.” She waited forty minutes to call. “Hi, Uncle Strom. This is Clara, though I’ve changed my name to Candice Mayfair, since I go by that for my writing.”

“And because my brother disowned you?” He didn’t sound like he was judging her. Just neutral, as Owen had said her uncle was with him.

“I loved my parents.” She hated to have to explain that to him, feeling as though he wouldn’t believe her no matter what she said.

“Which is why you refused to come home when they needed you the most.” Strom’s voice was hard, and she hated that everyone saw her that way—as an uncaring daughter, when she’d been anything but.

“I came home for a whole week every month to be with them. I constantly called, or wrote, or sent them packages. I was with them as much as I could be. I didn’t expect any inheritance. Like you said, I thought Dad had disowned me.” She hadn’t meant to become upset about this. But damn it, she couldn’t help what she was.

“Apparently, he had a change of heart. Did the private investigator say that you need to return right away and settle this?”

“No. He said I have a month. I’ve got this tour through the twenty-eighth. I can be there by the twenty-ninth or thirtieth.”

“I would have thought if my brother or his wife couldn’t convince you to come home for them, you would have at least have come home for the money.”

She ground her teeth and noticed the men were all watching her, staying quiet. “I had real issues I was dealing with.” If it wouldn’t be a disaster telling him what those issues were, she’d explain. She was dying to clear the air with him, but she knew she couldn’t do it.

“Drugs?”

“No. And not alcohol either.”

“Okay, give me a date you’ll be here, and I’ll arrange to have us meet with the judge in his chambers. Send me a picture of yourself. I only found the one your dad had taken of you before you went on that camping trip.”

“I didn’t think you and Dad ever talked.”

“We had issues, but yeah, we talked.”

They set the date and then Candice said goodbye, feeling the hurt and loss all over again.

“You can’t help what you are, or the difficulties you’ve had to overcome,” Owen said, taking her in his arms as she set the phone on the counter. “If you could have told them, if they could have accepted you for what you are, everything would have ended differently. But you couldn’t.”

“You’ve lived with this five years longer than me. Do you ever feel you’ll become used to it?”

Owen rubbed her back in a sweet, unassuming way, reassuring her she had nothing to be ashamed of. “We have one another. Sharing a common set of traits like this makes all the difference in the world to us. We accept one another and what we’ve become. We don’t need to ask for anyone else’s acceptance.”

“Yeah,” David said. “It makes all the difference in the world. We were like babes in the woods for quite a while. Misery loves company as the old saying goes.”

“Hell yeah,” Gavin added. “At least one of us was always able to retain his or her human form at any one time, and that helped to protect us.”

“Have you ever considered joining a gray wolf pack somewhere else so there are even more of you…of us to have as friends?” she asked.

“We’re Arctic wolves,” Gavin reminded her. “It’s harder for us to blend in with our surroundings except when we have snow. We would endanger another wolf pack if we joined them in an area that doesn’t have as much snow. Especially since we’re not royals.”

“Royals?”

“The ones who were born lupus garous and have their human roots so diluted that they can control their shifting at all times. They are the ones who can shift during the new moon and not shift at any other time, if they choose,” Owen said.

“That’s what you meant when you said I could have a wolf at a signing with me.”

“Right.”

“What do we do now?” David asked.

“Just procure more PI jobs. In the meantime, I’ll show Candice around the area and—”

“I have a book to proof. And another book to start,” she reminded him. She needed to go back to work, not treat this as a vacation.

“Need any help with proofing?” Gavin quickly asked.

“She’s got me,” Owen said. “In fact, we need to work on that, like she said.”

“Okay. We can take a hint. Call us if you need any help with anything.” David slapped Owen on the back as he headed for the door.

Gavin echoed the sentiment and then followed David out, shutting the door behind him.

“I’ll be just a moment.” Owen hurried after his friends.

Candice turned her computer on, serious about proofing her book while Owen saw the men outside.

When he returned, Owen said, “I guess you don’t need me for a while.”

“Not until tomorrow, and then you can begin reading it.” She didn’t want him to feel he had to keep her company. She wasn’t a guest who needed to be entertained.

“Okay. I’ll chop some firewood, and I need to run into town for some groceries. If you want to make a list, I’ll pick up whatever you need. Unless you want to go with me.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll make a list. I really need to get going on this.” She wrote down several items she liked to have for meals, including lavender, jasmine, and mint teas, if the store had them.

“If you need anything while I’m gone, anything you forgot, just give me a call. And here’s a list of everyone’s phone numbers in case you have any kind of trouble. Not that you’d have any trouble, but just for reference.”

“Thanks, Owen.” Candice added the numbers in her cell’s list of contacts. She was going to give him some money for the groceries, but he shook his head.

“I’ve got it.” Then he left, and she decided to work on her laptop in the big sunroom with a view of the lake instead. She settled on the chair in front of a café table and looked across the lake at the cloud reflections drifting across its surface and watched a hawk flying high overhead—just beautiful.

Then she turned on her laptop and got busy.

Two hours later, Owen returned with groceries. She’d made some real progress proofing her manuscript, so she’d gone outside to take in the fresh air for a moment. She was glad he came outside and checked on her. “How are you doing?”

“Great. You’ll be able to read this soon.” She headed into the living room with him, wanting to visit with him now that he was home.

“I look forward to it. Does fish and shrimp, wine, and rice pilaf sound good?” Owen asked.

“Love it.” She put her laptop on the bar and helped him put away the groceries. “You were gone a long time. Is it that far to the grocery store?”

“I had to run into the office first. We had a couple of cases, but Gavin and Cameron are taking care of them.”

“Sounds like business is picking up.”

“We always have cases, just online mostly. But yeah, now that we have an office, it seems to be getting some attention.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. “You’re cold. Your nose is red.”

“I am, but I was enjoying the outdoors and the view of the lake for a few minutes.” Though she’d stayed out longer than she intended. This felt wonderful, being warmed up in Owen’s arms, not just turning the heat on high or sitting beside a crackling fire.

Candice realized how much she’d missed anyone’s intimate touches. Yet there was more than that with Owen. There was a sense of real belonging.

She hugged him tighter. “It was too nice to come in any earlier. But I admit this feels pretty good too.” She thought about how it would be to always warm up like this on cold winter days. If she needed something when she couldn’t control the shifting, she realized any of the pack members who had more control could take care of the issue for her.

He kissed her then, and Candice knew she should put on the brakes a bit. She was just warming up to the idea of joining their pack, of moving here. She wasn’t ready to mate a wolf for life.

Yet she kissed him like she was claiming him as her mate and telling herself she had to be sure they were right for each other in every way. He started to pull off her jacket, and she hoped she hadn’t given him the wrong idea. He dropped it on the barstool, pulled off her hat, and gathered her in his arms again, holding her tight. Just holding her.

“Who’s winning the competition?” she asked, snuggling up to him, glad his hard body was so warm.

“Which one?” He rubbed her back and kissed her cold nose.

“The Christmas decorating contest. What other would there be?”

He smiled. “You.”

Candice sighed and pulled away, helping to put away the rest of the groceries, even though she had to open lots of cabinet doors to find where things went.

He started cooking the seasoned tilapia in hot olive oil.

“If I moved here—”

Owen glanced at her, looking so hopeful that she hated to give him the idea she wanted to mate him. She needed to get to know him first. They may not be compatible in the long run. He had to feel the same way about this, deep down.

“If I did…where would I stay?”

“With me. There’s plenty of room. I’ll have jobs and won’t be home all that much. You can write to your heart’s content. And if you’re sitting outside and grow cold, I’ll warm you right up when I arrive home.”

“What if I…fell in love with one of your buddies?” She thought they both were really nice, cute, intriguing. Not like Owen though. She’d already started to build memories with him. She would never forget saving the snowmobilers while Owen dug at the snow just as vigorously beside her. Or how, with a sprained ankle, he went out to chase off the intruder and then later came looking for both the man and her to make sure they were fine.

“Well, I just have to ensure that doesn’t happen, don’t I?” He leaned down to kiss her thoroughly, and she felt light-headed when he let her up for air, her body thrumming with expectation.

Candice loved how he wanted to convince her to stay—with him. He didn’t seem desperate either, which she was glad for. That would have been a sure-fire way to push her away.

“But if that happened, I would be thrilled to have you join the pack no matter what. Faith would love to have another woman to talk to. And the rest of us would help you move. We own enough property here that we could even build you your own house, if none of the guys appealed as a mate.”

“What would everyone else think of that?”

“They’re all in agreement.” Owen turned and dished out the fish. “We’ve been best friends forever. As soon as they knew Corey had changed you, that you were an Arctic she-wolf, it went without saying.”

“What if I’d been a guy?”

“I won’t deny that bringing another male wolf into the pack could be troublesome. But if we thought he could work well with us, we would certainly have given it a shot.”

Candice served the shrimp and cocktail sauce, while Owen brought over the rice pilaf and fish. She had thought another male wolf might cause problems. She was glad Owen was being honest with her.

“Just so you know, now that we are aware of your existence, we would worry about you being in South Dakota all by yourself. We wouldn’t be able to see you all the time, but we’d be checking to make sure you weren’t having trouble with anyone looking for the Arctic wolves supposedly living there. We wouldn’t feel that it was an obligation, but more of a concern over a fellow wolf.”

“A she-wolf, you mean.”

He smiled. “Yeah, what can I say?”

“That homicide detective couldn’t hang around for very long. The sheriff said he works in Montana. I love the location where I’m living—”

They took their seats at the table. “But…?”

“I have to admit that being with a pack has appeal. But what if it didn’t work out? Still, I can’t really see going back to the way things were. Completely isolated. No one to talk to about these issues. And I don’t mean to do it just online either. Though that would be better than nothing.”

“No matter what, we’re willing to make this work. Just give us a chance.”

“You don’t feel desperate or anything, right?” She had to ask. She still couldn’t quit thinking of it as being like she was the last woman on earth, and no matter how incompatible they might be, he would still want her as his mate.

“Does the desperation show? Too much?”

She laughed. She really did like him.

“So…you’ll stay with us?” He looked like he was trying to act nonchalant about it.

“I just got here. What if in a couple of weeks, you decided you couldn’t tolerate living with me?”

“Then I’d be certifiable, and believe me, Gavin and David would be knocking down my door to offer their hospitality. In fact, when I went to see them off, that’s exactly what the two of them said.”

“You told my uncle you know I am Clara. How did you verify it?”

“I didn’t. I just intended to ask you, and then there was the wolf of my dreams standing at the door. You don’t know how many times I went to that camping area to see if you ever returned. As if by some miracle you would. I had the idiot notion when I saw you across the river that you might be the one for me, though we’ve never crossed paths with an Arctic wolf since we were bitten in Maine and left there. I more than fantasized about you. I searched for you, but I came up with nothing. Then when I saw you at your door, I just knew it had to be fate. I was the only one who had seen you. Twice now. If I hadn’t gotten the job, one of the other guys would have been there instead.”

“Ha! I assumed I was hallucinating when I saw you at the river that time. Later, I thought your son had bitten me. At least, that’s what I believed. No way would I have ever returned. I definitely wasn’t thinking of how much I wanted to meet you again. I was thinking about what an alien world this whole situation had turned out to be.”

“Are you sure? I thought when you saw me as a wolf you were wearing an intrigued look.”

She smiled. “It was more of a curious and a little worried look. I mean, what would I have done if you had crossed the river and come to see me?” She would have been afraid of him, afraid he wouldn’t want her in his pack’s territory. And, if the little one was his, afraid she might be a danger to the pup.

“I would have greeted you and tried to convince you to see the pack then, not knowing you had been newly turned. You really never thought about me after that?”

“Oh, all right. Yes. But I reminded myself you had a litter of pups and probably a vicious mate.”

He laughed. “Well, I didn’t, on either count.”

She saluted him with her wine. “Do you want to take the canoe out? I want to see the lake.”

His cell phone rang, and she waited for him to answer it. But when he looked at the caller ID and then looked at her, she wondered if her uncle had somehow learned the truth. She wasn’t on a book tour anywhere.