“Come on, Elizabeth,” Tom coaxed by the bedroom door.
She growled again at CJ, not about to let him get in the last word, then loped into the bedroom. She saw that Tom had placed the rifle on the dresser. He didn’t shut the door to the bedroom, and she suspected he still didn’t trust the man and was listening to ensure he didn’t move from his spot by the fire. Tom had set her clothes on the bed. Then he headed into the bathroom and washed up.
She shifted and slipped on the sweatshirt while he put the extra medical supplies away.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take so long, Elizabeth. Nice fire, by the way. You’re pretty handy to have around, you know?” He looked around and shook his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have turned my back on you and missed seeing you shift.”
She smiled, loving him. “Yeah, well, you might get other ideas.” The sweatshirt was long but barely covered her buttocks.
“I always get those other ideas when I see you—naked woman, wolf, coyote, or otherwise.” He came to her before she could pull on the sweatpants and wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh, you’re so cold,” she said, trembling in his arms, the chill of the air outside clinging to every inch of him. Her skin was still warm from having been in her wolf coat. She took in deep breaths, smelling the crisp, clean air on him.
She noted she did not smell CJ on him. Hunter’s spray, camouflaging his scent.
“That’s why I came over here to hug you—to get warmed up.”
She curled into him, wanting to rub his arms to warm his icy body, but he chilled her and she folded into him instead. “He’s your cousin?”
“Yeah,” Tom growled. “I figured we’d stay here until someone worried about me being caught in the snowstorm and came looking for me. But now we’ve got to get CJ to the doc. His bones will knit together too quickly but not correctly, and Doc would have to break them again to set them right.”
“Your cousin. I can’t smell him. He’s one of the ones that’s been prowling the territory, then?”
“Looks like it.”
“Great. Do you have something we can haul him in?”
“Yeah. Got a toboggan for emergencies.”
“So when do we leave?”
“Tomorrow, first light. If no one comes for me before then, we’ll head out on our own.” He rubbed her arms, looking into her eyes. “I’m sorry about everything that’s happened. That you’re in the middle of all this.”
She sighed, cuddling with Tom. “We don’t know anything for sure.” She reached up to help him out of his parka.
“You know, if you change roles and start stripping me out of my clothes…” Tom said.
“Just your parka.”
“Aha, then next you’ll want to remove my sweater and jeans, and who knows where it will end.”
She smiled as she peeled off his jacket and tossed it on a chair.
“So now that we have that out of the way and you know what you could be in for…” Elizabeth trailed off. She pulled off his ski hat and dropped it on the wooden floor, then cupped his face and looked up for a kiss.
His lips were just as cold as his coat had been, his nose, too. She quickly warmed his face, her hands cupping his chilled cheeks, her kisses turning his mouth hot and insistent. He slipped his hands into her hair and held her close.
They took a breath and he leaned his forehead against hers. “You shouldn’t have left the cabin, Elizabeth. I can’t lose you.”
“I’m okay. Really, Tom. Are you sure we can’t leave now to get your cousin into town?”
He pulled away to look down into her eyes. “It’s too late in the day to attempt to leave the cabin with CJ in his condition. We’ll have to start out in the morning. How do you feel?”
“A hundred percent.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Seems I’ve heard that somewhere before.”
“I am. Really. I don’t need any more help dressing and undressing.”
“As far as the undressing part goes? You might not need my help, but I’m happy to oblige anytime. In fact, I insist.”
She chuckled. “What will we do about him tonight?”
“I’ll tie him up. Even if he’s not going anywhere on his own, he could manage to unlock the door to the cabin and let in some of his buddies. No sense in taking any chances.”
She pulled free to finish dressing. “I’ll fix us something hot to drink and warm up some more of that venison chili. Sorry that you missed getting the kindling.”
“That’s okay. We might have caught one of the bad guys. I’ll talk to him before he falls asleep. Join me when you’re ready. After we eat, we’ll pick up where we left off.”
“You don’t think we could get down the mountain sooner?” She still worried that CJ’s brothers would show up and huff and puff and threaten to blow the cabin down. Most of all, she wanted to get CJ to the hospital.
“I hiked up here looking for wolf tracks, so I don’t have a snowmobile or I would have taken you down as soon as the weather cleared up a bit.”
“We could both turn into wolves. You could tow the toboggan. We both could. It would be easier for us to run in this snow and—”
“Farmers are antsy about wolves. Darien doesn’t want us running in our wolf coats anywhere near town in the farmers’ vicinity. I know some have risked running as wolves out here. Nearer to the town, no. The farmers and ranchers have been told not to shoot any wolves they might see, but it doesn’t guarantee they’ll abide by the rules. Besides, I’ll be armed with my rifle just in case. You can run alongside in your wolf coat, and we’ll pretend you’re my new dog.”
“The things I do for you.”
“Yeah, but that’s not really what I want you to do for me.”
He kissed her again and then left the bedroom.
Tom closed the door to give Elizabeth privacy while she finished dressing. He was concerned about CJ, yet he wanted to wring his cousin’s neck if the cousins were up to no good and CJ had had any part in it.
Tom stood over his cousin, watching him as he appeared to be sleeping.
Elizabeth quickly left the bedroom. “Asleep?” she whispered.
“Seems to be.”
She entered the kitchen and looked into a cupboard. Tom joined her, moved around her, and opened another cabinet. He brought out a couple of mugs. “Coffee? Tea?”