"Joe and I will help you get them to the gate."
"But what if you get caught?" Cassie asked.
Thompson waved a piece of paper. "Forged transfer documents."
"Thank you, Mr. Thompson."
He raised his brows at her. "You made a pretty persuasive argument back at Leidolf's ranch, young lady. We still have the gray wolves for the exhibit, and they came from another zoo, so they're zoo inhabitants through and through. I hope you don't plan to move them. Maybe some day we'll have reds in an exhibit that were born in captivity."
She squeezed his hand, her eyes blurry with tears. "Thanks again."
Then they pulled the cages through the gate and Thompson locked it again. "Keep them safe. Oh, and we caught the cougar. Litter of five. All of them are happy and healthy and well fed, sleeping in the big-cats exhibit. Seems like a fair trade."
Leidolf thanked him this time, and they all headed out across the woods toward the street where they'd parked a van. After loading their precious cargo, they drove back to the ranch. Cassie finally caught her breath, when Leidolf said, "I don't know how you talked me into this."
Cassie lifted her chin. "She's like one of the pack."
"Just how long are we to keep the mother and her pups and Big Red at the ranch?"
"Until they're ready to begin life all over in North Carolina. Won't the park rangers there be surprised to see the new additions all of a sudden?"
"You're not babysitting them tonight."
"They'll be fine left to their own devices. Do you have a secure place to keep them?"
Leidolf snorted. "Now you ask."
"Yeah," Fergus said. "We have an enclosed building with an outdoor run that'll be perfect. Pierce and Quincy and I can make some straw beds for them for the night."
"Anything else you have in mind to do with what's left of the night?" Leidolf asked Cassie.
"Just collapse in bed and sleep, unless my mate has something else in mind."
"Just what I'd hoped you would say, Cassie."
Once they were home, they didn't sleep at all except for a few catnaps. Cassie felt she was close to being in heaven. The way Leidolf was so attuned to her needs, the way she could turn him on, and prime him to such an extent that she drove him right over the edge.
She sighed, loving how he couldn't get enough of her any more than she could of him, and cuddled next to him while he slept soundly once again.
For three days, she tried to fight her compulsion to leave and do her job. She hadn't seen Aimee, but she and Carver and the girls were getting to know each other and she was happy with that. But the looming deadline for a contracted magazine article was setting Cassie's nerves on edge. She'd never missed a deadline... ever. And she couldn't quit thinking about it.
Somehow, she managed to sleep in between love fests with Leidolf, but after sharing a bite to eat with him and returning to the bedroom where he began mulling over the financial mess the ranch was in, she paced.
"Don't worry about it, Cassie. They'll use someone else's article, and you can send them yours later." Leidolf looked up at her. "Unless you're here to distract me from this... so that we can return to that." He motioned to the bed.
She'd quickly learned that when he was trying to figure out finances, it was better to let him stew in private. She knew if she mentioned leaving to him again, he'd stop what he was doing and give her another excuse why she couldn't leave yet. She had to get away.
She folded her arms. "I could just run over to Idaho and do a story on the wolves there."
"No. My mother and father and sister are coming soon to meet you."
"Soon. It could be weeks."
Leidolf shuffled more papers, poked at an adding machine, and watched as the paper rolled out with more numbers on it.
"I could be back long before they showed up."
"We need to take care of Irving and Tynan. Since the new moon has given way to the waxing crescent moon, they can now shift, so we can take care of this business once and for all. Tonight. You need to see that justice prevails."
She sighed deeply. "Fine." And paced some more. She stopped suddenly. "My backpack. I need to return to where I stowed it. It's my favorite outfit for observing wolves in."
Leidolf was frowning as he stared hard at the papers, muttering numbers to himself.
"Shouldn't take long. I'll see you late tonight. Earlier if I find my backpack sooner." She walked out of the room.
She had nearly made it to the front door when Leidolf stalked out of the bedroom. "Where are you going?"
She turned around and gave him an exasperated look. "To the place where I stashed my backpack."
"Alone?" He acted like she was going to take a trip to the moon, solo.
"Yes, alone. Everyone's got work to do. I'm just going to the forest. I'll grab my backpack and return. You're busy with your financial reports and--"
"I'll go with you." He yelled for Elgin. "Cassie and I are going to Mount Hood National Forest."
Elgin came out of the kitchen holding a glass of milk and an oatmeal bun. Fergus appeared with Evan, who was hastily finishing a piece of toast before he had to do his extra ranching duties.
"You're in charge, Elgin. We'll decide Irving and Tynan's fate tonight."
"We've got everything under control here," Elgin said, with a very commanding presence, the connotation being that Leidolf and Cassie could stay at the lake as long as they liked.
"Thanks, Elgin." Leidolf took Cassie's hand and headed outside as Fergus, Elgin, and Evan saw them off. "Do you want to go fishing?" Leidolf asked Cassie.
"Fishing?"
"I saw a huntress at my lake dressed in safari gear, and before I could make her mine, she vanished in a sea of green."
"I saw a sea god dripping with water, but before I could take advantage of him, I smelled my prey, the mother wolf."
Leidolf pulled out the keys to his Humvee. "Sea god? I like that. Much more impressive than pack leader."
"Hmm," she said as he tucked her under his arm, "then I must be a goddess."
"Beyond a doubt." He glanced at Elgin and Fergus. "I shall return, but make sure no one takes my Jag out for a ride without my express permission." He gave Evan a hard look.
"Guess there's no chance of me taking it out for a spin on a date." The alpha teen grinned and bowed his head.
Leidolf shook his head at him. Shades of himself at that age, except Jags hadn't been invented back then.
Inside the garage, Leidolf grabbed a sleeping bag and another bag of camping gear. "Creature comforts I usually don't bother with when I go to the lake, but for my nymph..."
"I get royal treatment?"
He chuckled. "Here I thought you were newly turned, and instead you were a royal."
"Yeah, well, sometimes it's a good idea to play down our heritage."
They climbed into the Humvee and, with as much fanfare as royalty would get on short notice, several of Leidolf's people stopped working to wave at them.
"When the cat's away, the mice will play," Cassie remarked, and smiled, getting comfortable in the seat. She definitely hadn't had enough sleep. She glanced at the cloud-filled sky. She couldn't see it, but she knew the waxing crescent moon was headed on its way into the night sky. "Do you think Irving and Tynan are equally guilty in the crimes they've committed?"
"Yes. Even though Tynan's the follower, he's participated just as much as Irving has."
"I've, well, I've never witnessed a wolf fight to the death like that."
Leidolf reached over and rubbed her thigh. "You don't have to watch if you don't want to."
"It's different when the wolf is attacking you. Then I wouldn't have any qualms."
"They'll be attacking, rest assured."
"You won't be fighting both at once, will you?"
"It's the only fair thing to do."
She scowled at Leidolf. "So what will you be trying to prove? How macho you are?"
Leidolf didn't respond, and she realized she'd hit a nerve. "Why would you have to prove anything? You're the pack leader. Everyone looks up to you and respects you."
Then she recalled what Alice and Sarah had told her. That Leidolf hadn't fought Alfred or the others in the pack leadership to free them of the evil. That he'd been too injured even to show up. She bit her lip, hating to have brought it up. Yet, if he couldn't fight four of the wolves at once, could he manage two? The other he'd fought had been a big gray. Irving and Tynan were reds, and although they had lived long lives, they still hadn't been born lupus garous.
Cassie ground her teeth. Damn.
"You're grinding your teeth, Cassie. Why?"
She clenched and unclenched her hands, trying to alleviate the tension. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone. Least of all your pack. And certainly not to me."
Leidolf didn't say anything. She was about to tell him that she wouldn't stay to watch then. That she'd take off for North Carolina and get to know the packs there before she introduced Big Red and the she-wolf and her pups into the area.
Leidolf reached over and took her hand and squeezed. "Not for the pack, or you even, Cassie. I have to do this for me."
She bit her tongue. Despite his saying that it wasn't to prove anything to anyone but himself, she knew better. He was bound to be top wolf, and settling a matter like this would prove it. Despite desperately wanting to leave so that she couldn't see him injured, she knew he'd want her there, supporting him, cheering him on.
She tried to enjoy the scenery as they reached the turnout where Leidolf parked the Humvee. She attempted to enjoy his hand on hers, the way he brushed his body against hers as they hiked through the woods. Breathing in deeply, she tried to concentrate on the way the earth smelled so rich and full of minerals, the trees fragrant with pinesap, a hint of rain on the breeze. But the impending fight continued to clutter her thoughts.
