by Terry Spear
“No way,” Laurel said. “With all our laughing, we would have kept our wolf guests awake.”
“Some of them probably would have joined in on the fun,” Meghan said. “Maybe next year we can do it at the hotel, and if anyone wants to join us for drinks, they can.”
“Good idea,” Ellie said.
“I guess you’ll be coming home with us, Meghan?” Laurel asked as they all began donning coats.
“Uh, yes, right.” Meghan got the back door of the inn for Brett and Peter, who were carrying the gingerbread hotel. CJ carried the gingerbread outhouses to Brett’s and his cars.
Bryce smiled to see them coming into the inn with the gingerbread creation. He quickly came around the check-in counter to help. “I didn’t think I’d get to see it until tomorrow. That’s a winner for sure.”
“That would be nice,” Laurel said, “but we just had fun doing it, and I’m sure our guests will get a kick out of it.”
Once the gingerbread hotel was set up, Meghan and Ellie hung the tiny Christmas lights on the hotel, and Laurel turned them on. Brett took pictures of it for the newspaper. CJ joined them and wrapped his arm around Laurel. “Now that is perfect.”
They all agreed. Then Laurel said, “Well, we have our pack’s Christmas party tomorrow, so we should call it a night. Come on, mate of mine.” She wrapped her arm around his waist and headed for the back door.
Brett took Ellie’s hand and they hurried out after them.
Peter and Meghan paused at the back door. “This was a lot of fun.”
“And you got an outhouse out of it.” Meghan laughed. “Well, two.”
“Thanks for the little wolves. They made the scene extra special.” He lifted her face and kissed her mouth, wanting to return her to her house and strip and join her in bed again. Only this time, he wouldn’t be leaving for the night.
When they came up for air, Meghan said, “They’re waiting for me out in the cold.”
Peter smiled. “Yeah, but they knew we had to say good night. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay the night with you?”
She shook her head. “Let’s get this other matter resolved first.”
“All right. If we can get together earlier tomorrow, before the Christmas party, I’d love that.”
“I would too,” she agreed.
They walked outside to join the others. Brett and Ellie were waiting around and talking to CJ and Laurel until Meghan and Peter were ready to leave.
Peter opened the car door for Meghan, kissed her goodbye again, and then headed for his vehicle.
Laurel sighed. “I know you two are worried about Lena and the possibility of her ghost hanging around, but I don’t think it should keep you and Peter apart.”
“We’re not apart,” Meghan said. “We’ve had dinner three of the past four nights.”
“You know what I mean. Peter looked like it was killing him to let you go tonight,” Laurel said.
Meghan sighed. “I want to resolve this business with Lena first.” Meghan could just imagine Lena sitting down to dinner with them and later joining them in bed.
* * *
Early the next morning, Laurel was making breakfast and Meghan hurried to join her. She’d been having nightmares about Rollins trying to murder the ex-girlfriend in the dark alley in St. Augustine again. She hadn’t had them in a long time.
“Are you okay?” Laurel asked as she finished making blueberry pancakes for them.
“Yeah, just having the same old nightmares again.”
“About Rollins. I checked on you when you cried out last night. Well, both CJ and I did, afraid Rollins had gotten into your guest room somehow.”
Meghan rubbed her eyes and yawned. “That’s why the little snowman nightlight was on?”
Laurel smiled. “Yeah. I hoped he’d chase away the dark.”
“I don’t remember that. I just was confused this morning and thought I’d turned it on before I went to sleep last night.” Meghan’s phone rang, and she saw it was Jessup. Maybe Clementine changed her mind and wanted to visit her son. “Good morning, Jessup.”
“I’d like to visit my son again in the mine, if it wouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“And Clementine?” Meghan suspected she didn’t want to go, or Jessup would have said so.
“No.”
Meghan asked Laurel, “Can you take care of the inn without me for a little bit?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay. Can you pick me up at the inn? I can’t go without an escort,” Meghan told Jessup.
“Sure thing. In an hour?”
“Perfect.” They ended the call.
“No Clementine, I gather from the disgruntled expression you’re wearing,” Laurel said.
“You’re right.”
The doorbell rang, and CJ ran down the stairs. “I’ve got it.”
Then Meghan heard Peter’s voice at the door. She smiled. They must have invited him over for breakfast, or he’d invited himself over to see her first thing. If he kept this up, she was going to have to give in, darn the consequences.
“Good morning,” Laurel said cheerfully as CJ and Peter entered the kitchen.
“Morning,” Peter said. Then he hugged and kissed Meghan.
No more hiding how he felt about her from family and friends, while in uniform or not. She loved this side of him.
“What are you doing today, Meghan?” Peter asked as they took seats and began eating their pancakes.
“I’ll be manning the front desk for most of the day before the pack Christmas party gets started. But Jessup wants to see his son again at the mine. So I’ll do that first thing.” Meghan owed it to her sisters to get back on track doing her share of inn duties, though Laurel and Ellie both agreed she should help the spirits in need.
“Is Clementine going?” Peter asked.
“No.”
“I’ll ask Sam if he could meet you down at the mine. His tavern doesn’t open until lunchtime, and he’s been offering to help safeguard you ladies. I think Silva’s been insisting he go too. You call me as soon as you leave the mine,” Peter said.
“Thanks, that will be nice and I will call you afterward.”
After that, they talked about the snowy weather coming, and then they finished eating and helped clean the kitchen before they all left for their respective jobs. Peter had gotten ahold of Sam, and he was eager to help.
“I’ll pick you up at three at the inn for the party?” Peter asked Meghan.
“Um, at my house. I need to dress.”
“All right. I’ll see you then.” Peter gave her a warm hug and kiss.
She could sure use these every morning before they went their separate ways to work. And cuddling with him at night when she was having nightmares? Much better than a snowman nightlight.
CJ and Peter drove their vehicles, following Meghan and Laurel to the inn, then waited while they parked and entered the building.
Meghan asked Laurel, “So whose idea was it for Peter to join us for breakfast?”
Laurel smiled at her, and they began pulling off their gloves, hats, and coats and hanging them up in the staff coat closet. “Let’s say it was mutual. I thought it would be nice if we invited him and told CJ to call him, but Peter called first.”
Meghan chuckled.
Ellie said from the check-in counter, “What did you expect? Peter is totally in love with you.”
“I’ll say,” Laurel added.
“Where’s our guard staff?” Meghan asked, not hearing any of the men around.
“Trevor and Tom are here. They’re checking around outside. Bryce will come a little early this afternoon to man the check-in counter because we’re going to the Christmas party, so I came in a little early to relieve him of his job.”
“Thanks,” both Meghan and Laurel
said to her.
“It was going to be my turn at the front desk, but Jessup wants to see his son again in the mine,” Meghan said.
Laurel brewed them cups of hot cider and made the guests some cinnamon buns.
“It’s all yours when you get back,” Ellie said, smiling, then moved around the counter to take charge of the reception desk.
When Jessup came to pick Meghan up at the inn, she wanted to ask about Oliver’s mentioning he didn’t want to mate the one woman to see if they could clear the air about that and maybe Oliver would then be free to go.
“I’m sorry. I should have called you before this, but Clementine stubbornly refuses to go to the mine.”
“I totally understand. I had another thought. Sometimes spirits can’t let go because they have unresolved issues. Maybe he feels guilty because he tried to stop Rollins and wasn’t able to. Or”—she had to be so careful how she worded it—“well, he seemed really perturbed about the business with not wanting to mate a she-wolf. Had he been interested in someone else? I felt Oliver wanted to discuss something more with you, but he…was having a hard time doing so.”
“You don’t want to go there.”
Meghan’s lips parted in surprise. She really thought Jessup wanted his son to find peace. What was the issue with Oliver and his father? Meghan wanted to impress upon Jessup the importance of how discussing the matter with his son could help him leave, no matter what the issue was. That had been eons ago after all.
“Believe me,” Jessup said, confirming he wasn’t going to discuss it, “you don’t want to know.”
“All right. It was just an idea. Then we’re back to square one with getting Clementine to agree to see him. Or if you can think of anything else that seems to be bothering Oliver that we might be able to talk to him about, then just let me know.”
“I will. Thanks.”
She figured whatever the matter was, the anger or hurt was still as raw as it must have been ages ago.
When they parked at the mine, Sam was waiting on them, eager to get this show on the road. They all went into the mine, but Oliver didn’t appear for her. Maybe he was angry his mother wouldn’t visit. Or maybe the issue with his father wasn’t going away. Of course, she truly hoped Oliver had left, but she didn’t feel that vibe down here. It was still eerily cold, and the feeling of oppression continued to permeate the tunnel.
“No sign of him,” she said after they’d waited another half hour.
“Okay, we might as well go,” Jessup said.
When they left the mine, Sam headed back to the tavern to do preparations to open for lunch.
“Uh, could you take me to another location before you drop me off at the inn?” she asked Jessup.
“I’m sorry we didn’t connect with my son, but yeah, sure. I can take you wherever you need to go next.”
She hoped Jessup didn’t change his mind when she told him where she wanted to go. She needed to make headway with the Lena problem if she was thwarted with Oliver.
When they had climbed out of the mine, she asked, “Do you know where Peter’s old homestead is?”
Jessup studied her for a moment, and she was afraid he’d tell her he couldn’t take her there. She was certain from his expression he knew where it was. He finally nodded and drove her out to the old homestead. Meghan was glad he knew where it was. The small, one-story home had seen better days, the paint peeling off the exterior, moss covering the roof tiles, the trim rotting. Meghan felt sad to see it in such bad shape. Then her cell rang, and she saw the call was from Peter.
“Where are you?” Peter sounded anxious. “Sam said you were through at the mine already.”
Uh-oh. She was supposed to call Peter as soon as she left the mine. She was so eager to see if Lena was hanging around the old house that she forgot to tell him she was out of the mine. And she hadn’t headed straight to the inn.
“I’m… Wait, got to go. I’ll talk to you in about half an hour.” Meghan saw movement in the house. Part of the roof’s shingles were gone, and the snow was hip deep. One of the porch poles was cracked, and the porch roof was tilting, looking like it could collapse at any moment. She got out of the SUV and began to trudge through the deep snow toward the house, glancing at all the No Trespassing signs posted around the place, including Danger signs nailed to the exterior of the house.
“Be careful,” Jessup said. “Don’t go inside.”
But she’d seen a woman peering out. “Did you see someone in the house?”
“No.”
Peter called again.
Oh brother. “Hello, Peter?” Meghan thought she sounded innocent and sweet, not frazzled and caught in the act.
Jessup looked at her as if he thought he might be in trouble for bringing her out here when Peter was trying to locate her.
“Where. Are. You.” Now, Peter sounded highly vexed.
She couldn’t fault him, given the trouble she could be in. “At your place. I’ll be home shortly.”
“My place? I’m at my place, and you’re not here. You’re not at the inn or your home either. Hell, Meghan, you’re not at the old homestead, are you?”
“Wait, Peter, I see fresh tracks in the snow. A wolf’s.”
“Damn it, Meghan. Does Jessup have a gun on him?”
“Are you carrying?” Meghan asked Jessup.
“I just thought we’d be talking to my son.”
“Okay, he said no,” she said to Peter.
“I want you out of there now.”
She knew he only wanted to keep her safe and wasn’t just ordering her about for no good reason. Once she’d seen the single set of wolf tracks in the snow, she’d felt some urgency to leave too. Though she was torn about that and learning the truth about his mate. “All right, we’re going.” She ended the call and pocketed her phone. She carefully studied the windows again, not sure what she saw. A woman’s face in the window, or just her vivid imagination? The glass was covered in ice and the windows were foggy too. Shadows and light could have caused the appearance of something shadowy in the window.
She let out her breath and trudged back to the SUV.
“Is the sheriff angry with me for bringing you out here?” Jessup asked.
“No. He’s just worried the wolf tracks might belong to Rollins.”
Jessup looked about at the snow. “I didn’t smell his scent.”
Meghan climbed into the SUV. “We found hunter’s concealment spray at the mine where we think he was camping out.”
“That explains it.”
“The wolf tracks could have been made by a searcher,” she said.
Jessup climbed into the SUV. “Everyone’s supposed to be traveling in groups of two or more. No one should be searching for this guy alone. At first, we figured he wouldn’t know the lay of the land and that would give us the advantage. But since he’s one of us, he knows the territory as well as the rest of us who were born and raised here.” Jessup started the SUV, but when he tried to back out, he couldn’t get any traction. “Uh, I don’t think we’re getting out of here without using some muscle.”
They climbed out of the SUV and tried to push the vehicle, but it was too heavy.
Meghan called Peter back, figuring he was on his way with an army to search for Rollins. “Hey, Peter, can you send a tow truck out here when you come? We’re kind of stuck.”
Chapter 17
The news about Meghan finding wolf paw prints in the snow out by Peter’s old house set his heart pounding even harder. That she was attempting to see if his wife’s ghost was there was bad enough.
Peter should have known Meghan would ask someone to take her out to his old place at some time or other. Jessup was a good man but unarmed. Peter was certain he was unaware of the trouble she might find herself in if she tangled with his wife’s ghost.
Nobody knew if Rollins h
ad weapons stashed somewhere. They hadn’t found any yet, but if he was running as a wolf and had them, Rollins would have had to hide them somewhere.
Peter assumed if Meghan had seen Lena, she would have told him, so that had to be good news at least. But what if Rollins had been using the old homestead as a hideaway? They needed to check out all the abandoned places everywhere.
Now Meghan was stuck there without any weapons to protect either of them, and Peter couldn’t drive fast enough to reach her. Five other vehicles were headed their way to help in the search. But at least he and all the men were heavily armed.
As soon as they arrived twenty minutes later, Peter was glad that Meghan and Jessup were fine. He organized the search teams right away, and the tow truck drove up after that, hooking up to pull the SUV out of the snowbank.
Jessup looked guilty that he’d brought Meghan here, but Peter knew it had been all Meghan’s idea and Jessup hadn’t known Peter hadn’t wanted her to come here.
He took her aside and asked, “Are you all right?”
“Cold, but yeah, I’m okay.”
He didn’t want to ask her about Lena when all the others could overhear them. If her ghost was roaming the place, he could imagine word getting out to the rest of the pack, and those who thought he shouldn’t take a new mate would object to it even more.
He ran his hand over Meghan’s arm, and she quickly said, “Don’t touch me, Peter.”
He pulled his hand away from her as if she’d scalded him, unable to mask the hurt of the rejection, but the notion Lena could be watching sent an icy chill through his body.
Meghan glanced back at the house.
“Lena’s here?” he whispered, feeling like a dark cloud had settled over his soul.
“I don’t know. But it isn’t a good idea to show any affection toward me if she is,” Meghan said softly.
Hell. Peter glanced at the SUV as it was pulled clear of the snowbank. “I’ll see you later.” He hated not being able to touch Meghan, to hug her, and to kiss her goodbye. Yet he hated that his late wife could be watching them and feeling bad that Peter was interested in a new she-wolf, as crazy as that sounded.