Between a Wolf and a Hard Place

by Terry Spear

  “Your secret’s safe with me. I know Eric and Sarandon don’t believe in any of this stuff.”

  “What’s this all about? The sisters believing in ghosts? They do, you know.” CJ took a bite of his sandwich.

  “Well, Ellie told me she does.”

  “Okay, so what’s the problem? You’re not sure you can live with the idea?”

  “No, it’s not that.” Though Brett realized that Ellie might feel it could be an obstacle to their relationship if she truly believed and he truly didn’t. He would either have to shrug her comments off, which he didn’t want to do, or pretend he believed, which he didn’t want to do either.

  “What then?”

  “Did you see how pale Meghan and Ellie were when the piano was set in its final spot at the inn? Ellie said she’d seen Chrissy, and the ghost had startled her.” Brett ate more of his sandwich.

  “Laurel didn’t seem perturbed over anything. I was watching her, waiting to see if she wanted the piano moved further.”

  “Maybe she didn’t see Chrissy.”

  “Laurel says she believes in ghosts and told me for certain the inn, especially the attic room, is haunted. Well, and the basement.”

  “Yes, but maybe they don’t always see the same thing at once. I was wondering if their cousins might know of a way to exorcise Chrissy. Ellie didn’t seem to care for the idea of getting her cousins involved. Maybe you could ask Laurel.”

  “If the ghost doesn’t bother her—”

  “It bothers me.” Brett took a bite of his pickle, really not wanting to tell CJ the details, but if he was going to convince him why it was important, he knew he’d have to.

  “You said you don’t believe in them.”

  “Ellie does.”

  CJ frowned, and Brett knew his brother wasn’t getting the whole picture, though as close as they were, they rarely needed to overexplain things to each other.

  Brett leaned forward. “I was kissing Ellie when the ghost upset her.”

  CJ smiled. Brett knew CJ had been dying to know when Brett was taking it to the next level with his mate’s sister.

  “I’m serious. This is serious.”

  CJ chuckled. “Okay, I know it is, or you wouldn’t have told me about your first kiss. I’ll ask Laurel if she saw Chrissy when we were moving the piano around, and I’ll see what she has to say about the Wernicke brothers and if they have any idea how to get rid of a ghost. Are you sure that’s the real reason for Ellie pulling back?”

  “Yes. She said it wasn’t because of me but because of the ghost.”

  “All right. I’ll see what I can do. I’m not promising anything though. The sisters don’t want their cousins involved in the inn in any way, shape, or form.”

  “I understand.” Brett didn’t have a lot of hope that the ladies would change their minds about their cousins, but he had to do something.

  “Hey, and congratulations, Brother. Ellie’s worth it.”

  “Yeah, well, I agree, but I kind of messed things up between us last night.”

  CJ arched a brow.

  “I was just talking off the top of my head. Hey, if Jake or Darien had seen other women, they wouldn’t have felt the compulsion to be with them like they did with their dream mates, right?”

  “Yeah.” CJ leaned back in his chair. “And…?”

  “Well, I had the notion that if Ellie dated another wolf, she would realize that no one else would be right for her but me.”

  CJ groaned. “Are you crazy?”

  “I didn’t mean for her to go off and actually do that. I was just making a comment, thinking out loud. You know how it is. I still think it’s a good idea to prove we’re meant for each other. But I wasn’t suggesting she really do it.”

  “Well, make it up to her, Brother, because I don’t want to have to deal with the fallout from Laurel when she learns about this.” CJ shook his head. “Now if only we could get Sarandon hooked up with Meghan…”

  “Yeah, except that your boss is wooing her big time.”

  “True. Peter’s quiet about it, but I know he’s really interested in her. I’ll talk to Laurel tonight. Oh, and if you have a spare moment, the ladies want to put up lights on the inn for Halloween. They put up some out front, but the roof of the inn…”

  “I’ll be sure to drop by to help.”

  “Okay. Good. Maybe you can tell Ellie what a dumb idea you had and get back on her good side.”

  “I hope so.” Brett hoped she had no intention of going out with anyone else. What if she thought he’d only said that because he wanted to see other wolves? Great.

  Brett and CJ paid for their meals, said good-bye to Sam and several pack members eating lunch there, and then headed out.

  Brett saw the Wernicke brothers’ blue van drive by and wondered what they were doing here this time.

  “They’re doing a story on the Silver Mine ghosts,” CJ told him. “Wait until I ask Laurel about the situation.”

  “I will.” Brett wished he could talk to the brothers, but he didn’t want to annoy the MacTire sisters by doing that. He was used to taking care of things and all too willing to do the same for Ellie—if he could wrap his mind around the idea that ghosts exist and that there was a way to make them leave.

  CJ got a call and said to Brett, “Hold up.”

  Brett knew some kind of trouble was brewing.

  “All right, Peter. I’ll let everyone know.” CJ turned to Brett. “Eric called in an alert that a young boy is missing in the park. He wants all of us who can to go out there to search for him, knowing that our kind can find someone faster than humans can. I’m running over to the inn to tell the ladies.”

  “Thanks,” Brett said. “Who do you want me to call?”

  “Sarandon was in the park taking a group on a hike. See if you can get ahold of him.”

  “I sure will. I think the MacTire sisters should stay with one of us since they’re fairly new to the area.” Brett wanted to be the one who stayed with them, though he wasn’t sure they’d want him to if Ellie had told her sisters about him suggesting she date others.

  “Sounds like a good idea. I’ve got to help organize the search. If you want to watch over the sisters, that works for me. I’ll let them know first.” CJ hurried off to his vehicle.

  Brett called Sarandon and gave him the news. “Call Eric to see where he wants you to begin a search.”

  “I’m sure the hikers on my tour will be eager to help,” Sarandon said.

  “Good. I just saw the Wernicke brothers. I’m going to try to contact them and then bring the MacTire sisters out to join the search.”

  “Okay, good luck.”

  “You too.” Brett got in his vehicle and drove off after the blue van and pulled up beside it at the light. “Hey, if you want to help out, we’re all searching for a missing kid,” he called out to Stanton. He gave the coordinates of the search area.

  “We’ll head out there,” Stanton said. He was the eldest of the three brothers and the one who was always in charge.

  “Thanks. See you out there.” Then Brett headed home to grab some cold-weather gear and first aid supplies.

  * * *

  Ellie saw CJ pull up at the inn, then climb out of his vehicle, looking concerned. He met with Laurel outside to talk to her in private.

  Ellie couldn’t help but watch them as surreptitiously as she could through one of the windows.

  Slipping in beside her, Meghan tsked. “They’re just having a newlywed moment.”

  “Laurel looks guilty, like she has a secret. CJ’s going to pick up on that. Besides, he doesn’t usually drop by during his shift unless something’s wrong.”

  “You are so paranoid. And if he sees us both standing here watching out the window, he’s going to really believe something is up.”

  Laurel gave CJ a hug
and kiss and then headed for the inn while CJ went to his vehicle.

  “Okay,” she said once she’d walked inside. “Eric called and said they’re organizing search parties for a four-year-old boy who wandered off from his tent at the park early this morning. Because of our wolf senses, he’s asked Darien for our pack’s help. He spread the word to the sheriff’s department to tell everyone we need to find the child pronto. It’s going to get too cold for him to be out on his own tonight.”

  “Omigod, that’s terrible.” A ghost problem didn’t mean anything compared to a missing child. Ellie was reminded of the case of the Arctic wolf child that Lelandi had received a call about. The Arctic wolf boy had wandered off and ended up with a jaguar shifter family in Texas. Ellie still couldn’t believe it. If jaguar shifters were as elusive as wolves, did other kinds of shifters exist that were just as secretive?

  As bad as that situation with the boy had been, Lelandi had given the whole Silver wolf pack a talk about what to do if any of the kids—or adults even—got lost or injured. Ellie remembered everyone looking CJ’s way and him turning a little red, because he had fallen into a killing pit and no one had known what had become of him. So really, anyone could be at risk at any time, and it never hurt to go over emergency procedures again.

  “I’m going to run and put on some really warm clothes. It’s getting colder by the hour,” Ellie told her sisters.

  “Pack blankets, coats, and first aid supplies in case we have to stay out through the night.” Laurel locked up the house and hurried after Ellie and Meghan. “He’s a cute little kid. Blond curls, blue eyes, wearing neon-green-and-blue sleeper pajamas. They won’t be warm enough for him the way the temperature is dropping.” She showed her sisters a photo of the boy. “CJ said Brett’s coming with us. We’ll meet him at the newspaper office.”

  “CJ’s afraid we’re going to get lost?” Meghan asked.

  “Yep. He’s in an overprotective mode, so I figure we’ll humor him,” Laurel said.

  Meghan smiled at Ellie. “Are you still mad at Brett?”

  “I’m not mad at him. I think it’s a good idea.” If Ellie hadn’t been worried about finding a little boy…? She figured the question of dating others wasn’t important right now.

  “Wait, you don’t think Brett wants you to go out with others because he wants to, do you?” Laurel asked.

  “No.” At least Ellie didn’t think so. But what if that’s what this was about? He’d just throw it out there to see if she wanted to do it. Then once she said yes, he would be free to date others too. How would she feel about that? Ellie told herself he would be trying to learn the truth about their interest in each other the same as she was. Would they still be dreaming about each other? And why was she feeling super growly about the whole notion?

  The sisters had just pulled up to the newspaper office when Brett parked beside them.

  “Do you want us to follow you?” Laurel asked. “We’ve got a lot of stuff packed in the car.”

  “Yeah. Same here. Do you want to ride with me?” he asked Ellie.

  “Sure.” Ellie joined him, figuring she’d tell him she was planning to date others, so she wouldn’t be able to see him all the time.

  “There are the photo and the memorial plaque I made, if they work for you,” Brett said, pointing to the backseat as he led the way to the park. “I had them ready and sitting in the car for when I came over tonight. Guess we might have to postpone our dinner date.”

  Her heartbeat quickened as she eyed the framed picture. “We will. We might have to skip it all together. I sure hope we can find the boy in time.” She pulled the framed photo and plaque out of the bubble wrap and felt a chill sweep up her spine. Yes, it was Great-Aunt Matilda, with four little boys she swore were Brett and his brothers. The woman looked stern, like people in most photos of that time. One of the boys was smiling. She thought it was Brett. “This is you and your brothers, right?”

  “Yeah. I found a couple photos of my great-aunt, but this was the only one where she was sitting at the piano. I thought it had a nice, warm, family feel.”

  “I love it.” Would Matilda love it too? Would she leave them alone if they mounted the memorial behind the piano? “It’s beautiful.”

  “I was afraid you might have had some other idea in mind.”

  “No, the frame is the same color as the piano. Nice and Victorian. I love the way you used antiqued paper, and the sentiments are perfect.”

  “I hoped you’d like it. It won’t hurt my feelings if you change anything.”

  “It’s perfect.” But any hope that the ghost was someone else was instantly dashed.

  “I have a box of sheet music and song books in the car too. I’d forgotten I’d removed them and stored them in the box while we had the piano bench refinished.”

  “Oh, that’s great.” Before, she would have loved for someone to use the song sheets to bring the music to life. Now, she wanted to hide them away so no one could play the piano and possibly upset Matilda. “That’s you smiling, isn’t it?”

  Brett chuckled. “Yeah. Eric had just made a crack about how I always smiled in pictures. I was trying really hard not to, but his comment made me laugh. He teased me about that for years.”

  She laughed. She was sure she would have loved Brett when he was a little boy.

  They finally reached the park and met up with some search parties just getting started. Ellie and Brett and her sisters quickly smelled the child’s sweatshirt that the parents had given to Eric. He was sharing it with all the wolves so they could recognize the boy’s scent. Ellie figured the humans gathered there were wondering what that was all about. Then she and Brett and her sisters took off to try to locate the boy’s scent anywhere they could.

  Working as a park ranger, Eric was normally really good at locating missing people of any age. He’d found several people over the year he’d been working there. One had been an older man with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Eric had also located a couple of kids and even some dogs. Faced with the cold weather and its danger for a child so young, he’d called his pack and Darien’s to get more wolf help.

  Through the trees, Ellie saw her cousins searching for the boy. She was surprised they were here. Who told them about the missing boy? And why were they in the area again?

  People kept thinking they’d spotted the little boy and reported the sighting, but the reports always turned out to be false alarms. Dusk was falling, though the wolves could see well in the darkening night and would continue to search until they found the boy. The humans were beginning to panic, worried that they wouldn’t find him before it got too dark. The light had nearly faded when CJ reported that he’d located a fresh trail. Ellie and her party hurried that way.

  Ellie and Brett spied an old wolf den dug out between some boulders, the rocks’ thick understory hiding the entrance. If they hadn’t smelled the boy’s scent, they wouldn’t have noticed it. Wolves didn’t hibernate in dens. The females used them to have their pups, so at this time of the year, the den should be empty. Ellie and Brett crouched in front of the small opening and listened for any sign of the boy.

  “Billy?” Brett called out. “Are you in there? We’ve come to take you back to your mom and dad.”

  “Billy, can you crawl out of there?” Ellie asked.

  There wasn’t any response. Either he wasn’t there but had been at one time, or he was sleeping or hypothermic and they’d need to go in and get him. Crawling into a den as adult humans would be challenging, if not impossible. The opening was only about fifteen inches high and maybe twenty inches wide. Best to do it as a wolf. Unless humans caught them in the middle of the rescue. They’d truly be between a rock and a hard place then. Or…a wolf and a hard place.

  “I’ll go,” Ellie said, already yanking off her jacket and hat.

  “Okay. If you have any trouble, let me know and I’ll come and help.�
��

  “We’ll wait to hear if you’ve found the boy,” Laurel said.

  “Right. We don’t want everyone to converge on the wolf den if he’s not there,” Meghan agreed.

  Meghan and Laurel served as lookouts while Ellie finished stripping, shifted, and ducked her head to slip into the den. As shifters, most of them never went into dens, so this was a first time for her. She wasn’t sure what she would find. She moved through about fifteen feet of tunnel until it dead-ended, forming the top of the capital T and continuing to the right and left. She smelled the earth and recognized that the boy had taken the left tunnel. She moved down it another fifteen feet until she reached the birthing chamber, about three feet wide and two feet high, where Billy was curled up in the soft dirt sleeping, his brightly colored pj’s barely visible in the darkness. Ellie was glad he wouldn’t be able to see her in case he was scared by the big “dog” that had suddenly found him. She moved closer and felt him shivering. Though the den would offer some protection from the wind and cold, he needed pack mates to keep him warm like the wolf pups had when they were born here.

  She shifted and called out that she’d found Billy. She wished he was a wolf shifter because they could easily get him out of there then.

  “Brett’s already on his way with a backpack,” Laurel called into the den.

  “Good, thanks!”

  He hadn’t even waited for her to reach the boy, maybe worried she had run into trouble herself.

  She was so glad to have found Billy, but he wasn’t out of danger yet. And she was thankful Brett had already come for them. She shifted again and shared her wolf’s body heat with Billy like a big family dog might do, trying to warm him. He was shivering badly, which was good. No shivering was even worse. But his eyes were closed, and he was curled up into himself as much as he could to keep warm. Laurel would have to call Eric and let him know what the situation was so that only wolves would come to take care of the boy. They didn’t want any humans to see wolves rescuing him from the den.