by Spear, Terry
A distant howl caught her attention. A wild gray wolf returned to the Rockies? She’d heard the Sinapu had reintroduced some into the area. Sinapu was the Ute word for wolves, and they were dedicated to the protection of the wild wolves and their habitat.
She stared in the direction, listening until she heard his mate call to him. Taking a deep breath, she wondered what it would be like to coexist with wild gray wolves in this day and age.
Would men ever be able to live with wolves in peace?
She hadn’t lived in the wild for so long, she couldn’t get the feel of it.
The fickle breeze switched directions. She turned her head to smell the scents. Nothing but the heavenly aroma of earth, pine needles, and oak leaves.
The sun withdrew from the tree-shaded sky, and her skin grew chilled. She rolled down the sleeves of her green sweater, annoyed she hadn’t made any headway in locating her family’s home.
The house had to be close by, she assumed.
She skipped over a fallen tree, then spied a clearing as the sky grew darker. Her heart sped up, and she dashed for the clearing.
A few more steps and she entered a landscaped yard. Not wild like it had been when her family had lived here. The natural earth-toned stone blocks still protected the home’s exterior, though she assumed someone had scrubbed away the black soot that had covered it after the fire. She stood in awe, overwhelmed for a moment, tears filling her eyes. Memories of playing in the woods, her mother calling to her sister and her to return home, the aroma of apple cobbler and fresh fish coming to her all at once.
The roof…
She stared at it. Green metal? She wrinkled her nose. And…and the place had been extended out the sides and back. She growled under her breath and moved in closer to get a peek inside the windows. Aluminum-framed windows replaced the wood ones and were now adorned with forest green shutters, which were pleasing to the eye. What was that on the roof? A skylight?
A light flickered on in the living room. She stopped dead in her tracks. The warm yellow glow filled the big picture window, but she couldn’t make out any sign of a person moving about inside.
Forever, it seemed she stood in the clearing, staring at her home, frozen with indecision. She wanted to check out the cellar. The moneybox, if still hidden, was down there, and the only way to get to it was by going inside the house.
On the other hand, the house belonged to her, and not just the hidden money, making her feel whoever lived here now had to go. They had no right to her home.
Mostly, she needed the deed and will to prove it was hers.
Her fists clenched and her jaw tightened. She wanted to scream, “Come out at once, or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll…”
The faint snap of a twig coming from the woods behind her garnered her full and immediate attention.
She whipped around. In the dark woods, the iridescent eyes of a wolf shown.
Nothing else…just the eyes. A gray? Had to be.
She glared at it, showing she wouldn’t be intimidated, or frightened or…
The front door of her house squeaked open, and she jerked her head around.
“Whoa,” a man said, stepping onto her front porch, his hand still on the doorknob. “What have we here?”
One very pissed-off homeowner whose home had been stolen by this person. Not to mention all the changes that had been made to the property when it didn’t belong to him.
A black SUV drove up on the gravel driveway and skidded to a stop. Two males got out, who looked eerily like the man on the front porch. If she had to fathom a guess, the three were more than just brothers—they were triplets. Both looked her over as if she was prime meat, taking in every inch of her, from her hiking boots to the top of her head with her red hair pulled on top in a chignon with copper clips.
“Jeez, Shawn, you didn’t tell us you’d invited Devlyn’s mate to the pizza party. What would he say?”
“Hey, Fisher, she was feeling well enough to go with Devlyn to attend that woman’s wedding in Portland, Oregon,” Shawn said, smiling broadly. “This little lady is someone else.”
The men all stared at her, then the other shook his head. “Hot damn, we got another one of them in our midst.”
“I’ll say, Heath,” Shawn said.
“Sure is going to cause some troubles,” Fisher said. “Got any more sisters?” He directed the question to Serena.
She took a step away from them and away from the wolf. Fisher turned his attention to the wolf, but no one said a word. She wasn’t afraid of the beast, but instead kept her focus on the men in front of her. They were her enemy.
“Are you lost?” Shawn asked, his voice deeply sensual, but a tad concerned. He tilted his head to the side slightly. “She sure looks like her, doesn’t she?”
Did he have a clue she’d come for her house? That he didn’t have long to live here? The crap about looking familiar was a guy line for sure.
She studied him back, trying to determine if she had met him somewhere before. Dark-brown hair curled behind his ears and hung just below the bottom edge of his denim shirt collar. Her eyes drifted to his jeans—well-worn, stonewashed, faded, soft and hugging his muscled thighs, and…
“Miss?” Shawn said. “Are you lost?”
“Hell, come on in, miss, and share a beer and pizza with us. We’ve got plenty for all of us. I’m Heath. If you couldn’t tell, we’re all brothers.” He lifted three pizza boxes, then motioned with his head to the other man. “That’s Fisher, our youngest brother by five minutes.” Heath was darker haired, amber eyed, and wore a plaid shirt, jeans, and hiking boots—the lumberjack look.
Blue-eyed Fisher grinned and raised three six packs of beer. He looked more like a cowboy, with a Stetson, well-worn cowboy boots, jeans, and chambray shirt with the western trimmings. His hair was a much lighter brown with golden highlights.
“And our oldest brother, Tanner, is…” Heath gave a small smile. “Well, he’s roaming the woods right now.”
Quadruplets? It took every ounce of effort for her to break free from her dilemma.
The hair at the nape of her neck stood on end. She knew the wolf was still behind her. Not close. Still hidden in the woods, still watching her.
The brothers’ half-wild, half-pet wolf maybe?
“Would you like to come inside and use a phone?” Shawn asked.
She swallowed hard, the tears stinging her eyes. For now, she’d leave her beloved home behind. For now.
She turned and glanced in the direction of the woods. Her vehicle was off the road two miles through the woods. She’d have to search her house when Shawn and his brothers weren’t around. She was certain they wouldn’t agree to her looking for the deed while they were in the house. Unless…unless she came back later when they were sleeping off the beer.
The wolf, gray and blond pelted, his eyes a beautiful dark amber, had drawn several yards closer, watching every move she made. He was a large gray. His ears perked up, twisted back and forth, listening to the sound of her breathing, judging how panicked she might be.
He sniffed the air, but she was downwind of him. Her lips lifted at the corners slightly. Then she bolted in the direction of the creek, hoping to return when they were asleep. She didn’t want them seeing her car and license plate, possibly learning who she was, yet.
“Miss!” Shawn yelled. “Miss! Shit!”
The men ran after her, but humans were so unattuned to the wild. She’d soon lose them in her territory. The wind kept shifting and she couldn’t detect their scents.
The land seemed so familiar, coming back to her as she made her way through it—the terrain, the trees, maybe taller than before, closer to the house than before.
For now, she dreaded meeting up with the wolf that bounded after her in hot pursuit. Not because she couldn’t hold her own against him, but because sh
e feared being tracked. She’d do this her own way. She had no intention of being forced to tell them why she’d been studying the house…or who she was. If she could get her deed, a lawyer, and file her claim, she’d get rid of the squatters without much trouble. Except, she’d have to prove she was her family’s descendent too. She was afraid if she didn’t find the deed and will first, they could destroy them, and she wouldn’t have any recourse. Then she’d have to use her credit card and go after Harold.
“Damn it, where’d she go?” Shawn yelled.
“Hell, Shawn, we’ve got to let Devlyn know about her right away,” Heath said. “He’ll want a report at once.”
She scrambled into the creek, then made her way downstream several hundred yards. Around a bend in the river, she climbed into an oak tree, certain the wolf would lose her scent.
For some time, the men and the wolf searched for her, splashing through the creek. Their boots knocked rocks on the shoreline together occasionally, then their noisy search faded away. The wolf circled beneath her tree, then headed after the men.
She would have smiled when they passed right beneath her leafy perch twenty minutes later, unaware she sat right above them. She would have gloated at her cleverness. But tonight, Shawn and his brothers would return to her home, eat pizza, drink beer, and sleep in comfort in her home while she had no place to call her own.
“Come on. Let’s call it a night.” Shawn trudged back to the opposite side of the creek’s bank.
Fisher chuckled. “I know she’s somewhere close by. But Red’s not about to let us catch her tonight.”
Her blood warmed. They thought themselves hunters and she was their prey?
No. This was her land. Hers. And she’d have it back one way or…
“All right, stay out here,” Fisher said to the wolf. He shook his head. “You always did have a thing for a redheaded, long-legged beauty. See you in the morning.”
“Ah, hell,” Heath said. “We all do. And there’ll be trouble. You know it. Then Devlyn’s going to be pissed.”
“Wouldn’t you know she’d show up when our cousin’s gone,” Shawn said.
Shawn and his brothers tromped off. Serena fumed. If the wolf had gone into the house with its master, she would have waited until everyone went to sleep.
Now she was stuck in a tree like a raccoon cornered by a hound.
For a while, the wolf sat. When she didn’t move, he laid down, watching, listening, his ears twitching back and forth. She took in a deep breath and smelled the fishy stream, a hint of snow in the air, and realized how foolish she’d been to leave her jacket in the car. But if she left the tree, the wolf would hear her. Ah, hell. She rubbed her arms, her pants and boots wet from trudging through the creek. If she didn’t get out of the cold, she’d freeze to death.
She began the climb down, and the wolf sat up and watched her. She swore the dumb beast smiled at her.
Before she could race off for her car, he leapt at her, and her heart nearly died a frantic death. He knocked her down, his paws on her back, his heavy weight effectively pinning her to the pine needle–covered ground.
She growled. “Get off me.”
For several seconds, he held her there, not moving, though she tried to squirm out from underneath him. And then he leaned down, and she thought he was going to bite, but instead he licked her cheek.
“Get off me!” she screamed. She instinctively knew he hadn’t meant to hurt her, but was playing with her like a big, friendly dog. Only he was all wolf.
To her surprise, he moved off. For a second, she sat up and stared at him. Then she jumped to her feet and bolted. He ran after her, but didn’t tackle her again, though she expected it. When she reached her car, he paused.
“Afraid of cars and roads. Good. They can kill wolves.” She jammed her hand in her jeans pocket. Then in the other. Panic coursed through her icy veins. Ohmigod, what happened to the car keys? If she’d lost them when she was running, she’d never find them now. Not unless she shifted into her wolf and, with her nose to the ground, could find her scent on them.
The wolf watched her, his eyes fixed on her, waiting for her to do something. She snorted. Her only other option was walking twenty miles to town. Fat chance. Or joining Shawn and his brothers for pizza and beer. Great. Just great. She wanted to take her property back in an impersonal way. The less she associated with these men, the less she’d care about having them evicted.
The snow began to fall. She was out of options.
Cold, wet, and hungry, her hands jammed in her jeans pockets, she headed back toward the house, the wolf trailing her like a puppy would its mother. “You know, you’re supposed to go home with your master,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the beast.
He woofed at her. If she hadn’t avoided making trips to the wilderness with a wolf for so long, she would have recognized the warning in his bark. But it was too late.
The land gave way and she tumbled down a steep incline, branches slapping at her, tugging at her hair and shirt, her hands reaching out to grab something that would stop her fall down the rocky terrain. She swore she’d kill Harold for all the trouble he’d put her through. She felt the impact with the immovable tree before she saw it, felt the pain in her ribs. She smacked her head before the night turned into a hazy gray, then faded to black.
Chapter 2
Former Army Ranger Tanner Greystoke made his way down the steep incline easily in his wolf coat.
When he reached the base of the hill, he shifted, shivered, and prayed the woman wasn’t injured too severely. She was lying on her back, passed out, her red hair splayed across the brush. She was beautiful, ivory skin, red cheeks from the cold and the walk. When she was glowering at him, she had beautiful blue-green eyes, bluer than Bella’s.
After seeing she was breathing normally and her heart rate was steady, he crouched down to lift her off the cold ground. She opened her eyes and studied him, every bit of him—from his muscles to his package. She was definitely a wolf, and he smiled.
He cradled Red in his arms and hoped he wouldn’t injure her further, but he had to get her out of the cold. It didn’t help that her pants and boots were wet.
“What’s your name?”
“Serena,” she said.
“I’m Tanner.”
He struggled to make his way up the narrow wolf trails he and his brothers had made, and when he reached the top of the hill where it leveled off, he headed straight for the house. Changing out of his wolf form and running around as a naked human in the freezing cold wasn’t the smartest way to travel, but he couldn’t carry her any other way. He could have howled for his brothers, but damn if he wanted them to come to her rescue. When she opened her eyes again, he wanted her to see him, not one of his brothers.
He took in a deep breath, inhaling her sweet scent. Earlier, he kept tracking her smell and knew she had to be one of Bella’s kind: a red wolf, maybe even a relative, who looked a hell of a lot like her. He’d say they were sisters, but Bella had said her sister had died in the fire many years ago.
Now every one of his brothers would want her. Could they even convince her to stay here? They had to get hold of Bella. Maybe she could encourage her to stay with their pack. That still left the problem with his brothers. And Devlyn, their pack leader. If the brothers fought over her, Devlyn would decide what to do.
Which meant Tanner had to make sure Red wanted him, not his brothers. He smiled and quickened his pace. As long as she didn’t have as quick a temper as Bella, no problem. He was glad Heath was here; as the pack’s doctor, he’d check her out.
Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at Tanner’s bare chest for a minute, took a shallow breath, groaned, and closed them again. She’d heal. Their kind always did. But it might take a while. He listened to her steady breathing and heart rate. He shook his head, not believing how fortunate they were to have
her here with them tonight. He was still concerned about her injuries.
Like what had happened between Devlyn and Bella, Tanner had rescued his own little red wolf now. He smiled broadly, perfectly pleased with himself. Until he approached the front door of the house. He knew as soon as Shawn opened the front door, Tanner would have a fight over keeping her for himself. Not that she wouldn’t have a say in it. Which meant he had to prove just how perfect a match they could be. At least he hoped so.
“What the hell happened?” Shawn asked, his brow furrowing, and Tanner knew his brother thought he had caused her injuries.
“She was returning to the house—at least she was headed this way—but lost her footing and fell down a steep incline. I tried to warn her. She hit a tree on the way down, smacked her head, and passed out.”
Fisher and Heath came out of the den, then both crowded around while Tanner carried her to his bedroom.
“Hey, not in there,” Shawn said.
Tanner gave him a look like he’d better cool it.
Shawn folded his arms. “Devlyn won’t like it if you make a claim to her without his say.”
“I’m in charge of his leather goods factory whenever he’s gone. I’m the eldest of the four of us, and next in line to be the alpha leader if anything happens to our cousin.”
Heath whistled. “Already tempers are flaring and we don’t even know who she is or why she’s here. Just because she’s here doesn’t mean she wants to stay. Let me take a look at her.”
“She’s come home,” Tanner said, laying her on his bed. “I think she might be Bella’s twin sister.”
* * *
The Greystoke brothers drove to the pack clinic with the mystery red she-wolf lying in the middle bench seat, her head on Tanner’s lap. Fisher was sitting in the third seat in back, Shawn was driving, and Heath was sitting in the passenger seat up front.
“She’s got to be Bella’s sister,” Shawn said, driving through the woods on the winding road to the clinic.