Seal Wolf Hunting (9781402293832) (12 page)

He took his seat. “I didn't ask.”

In total surprise, she stared at him a little too long.

He shrugged. “I'm on vacation.”

Without approval, her mouth curved up a little. “You are a hot SEAL wolf.”

“Thank you.”

She noted he was trying hard to keep a straight face. “I mean,” she said, tilting her chin down to let him know she was being perfectly serious, “I can't see you turning down a mission when someone could need rescuing. How could you not ask what it was all about?”

“It's like I told Hunter. I have a hot mission here that needs to be taken care of.”

She frowned at him. “You're not being serious.”

“Like hell I'm not. There's always a situation going down. And there are others who contract out to do what we do. We're not the only ones available for this sort of thing, whatever it was. But if we don't get some downtime, we'll be worthless. Besides, I've already signed up for this job and here I'm staying.”

He sounded serious, but she couldn't believe it.

“You didn't exactly sign up for it,” she said, still feeling guilty that she hadn't sent word that Catherine and Emma planned to put him up for auction.

But some part of her knew he'd do it even without having been asked, and another part of her said she wanted to visit with him this time, to see if maybe she could change his mind about what was important to him. Not that she had any intention of chasing after him. If he wanted to stay because it was his idea, then she'd be happy about it. She knew it could never work out well between the two of them any other way.

“You're right,” he said. “If Catherine had asked, we would have done so anyway. You know I would have helped Emma out with this stuff no matter what. All she had to do was ask.”

Lori knew he would have too. “You come home to have a vacation. There was no way she'd normally ask you to do a bunch of work for her.”

“Working on stuff like this is fun.” He cast her a sexy smile that hinted at liking something more than just the work, then shrugged. “I don't mind it at all. It gives me more focus. Besides the pack obligation,” he continued, slanting a look her way that was roguishly sensual, “I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world but here right now.”

Right now. Not as in forever. Well, maybe not with her either, but just here, in this place.

“Damn, you're a good cook.”

“You do a great job painting,” she said, glancing back at the wall.

“Thanks. Can't say I've done much painting before. But it's kind of relaxing.”

Again, she thought of him and his last mission. She sighed. He needed this, she supposed. He probably preferred staying busy to sitting on the deck and staring out at the lake, which would have given him more time to brood over what had gone wrong on the mission. He was a doer, not a couch potato.

Then again, that was part of his trouble: keeping busy instead of dealing with his issues.

They finished eating, and he looked like he had thoroughly enjoyed the meal. She loved to cook, so she was glad he wasn't picky about what she fixed.

“I'll clean up the dishes, if you want to get the trimming tools out of the storage building.” She grabbed up their plates.

“Sure. And then later, we could watch the sunset.”

She stared at him. She didn't believe he'd want to watch the sunset with her on a regular basis. If she kept sitting with him and watching sunsets, and swimming with him, and kissing him while he was turned on in that hot wet suit, she was going to lay claim to him and declare that he couldn't leave. Forget letting him decide what he wanted to do with his life.

Now how would that be for alpha posturing?

She smiled to herself over the notion. Wouldn't he be surprised?

“Yeah, sure.” She collected the rest of the dishes and cleaned up while he headed outside.

She had just finished putting away everything when gunshots sounded in the distance in the national forest. Her heart gave a little skip. Wolves, even if they were
lupus
garous
, always were wary of the sound of gunfire.

She expected to hear Paul on the deck with the clippers and garden gloves. She should have known he would be back to his SEAL self.

He stalked inside. “I'm going to take a look and see what's going on.”

“Do you think someone is in trouble?” Lori asked.

“Maybe. There shouldn't be any hunting right now.” Paul headed for the bedroom and changed into jeans, hiking boots, and his bright palm-tree shirt, then headed out of his room. “I don't have anything else that is bright enough to wear to ensure I'm visible to the shooter.”

“I'm going with you.”

He nodded, and she was a little surprised he'd agreed. But if someone was fighting off a bear, he might need her help.

“Have you got something bright to wear?” Paul asked.

“A neon-pink T-shirt.”

“Why don't you wear that so the hunter doesn't think you're prey? If it
is
a hunter and not just someone in trouble.”

“That was just what I was thinking.” After she changed into jeans, boots, and her colorful shirt, Paul armed himself with a gun and knife—which made her think of the invasion of Catherine's house—and they quickly headed out of the cabin and made their way through the forest.

After a fast twenty-minute run, they heard a man moving about in the underbrush ahead of them, hidden by the foliage.

“Hot damn,” the hunter said to himself, but with their wolves' hearing, both Lori and Paul heard him before they could even see him.

What instantly irked Lori was that the man didn't sound like he was in danger. That was about to quickly change.

Alerting Paul, she pointed out fresh bear scat—larger than a black bear's, which meant it was a grizzly's. Paul nodded.

Armed with a rifle, the hunter was dressed in camouflaged clothes, his hat shoved on his short-cropped, rusty-colored hair. He was headed for trouble as he stalked toward the large, dead bull elk.

“The bear could be anywhere,” Lori whispered to Paul as they hid in the woods, watching the hunter. Even without seeing the bear, she was certain it had to be in the vicinity and would claim the fresh kill for its own as soon as it smelled the blood. Like wolves, bears had great hearing and scent capabilities.

The hunter wasn't wearing anything bright, she assumed because he wasn't worried that others were out illegally hunting and might shoot him by accident. But what if others were being asses, just like he was?

“The hunter is putting himself in real danger,” Paul said.

“We can't call out to him or the bear will be alerted that we're here, if he doesn't already know.”

Paul agreed. “I can run faster as a wolf. I'll shift.”

Lori started stripping. “But the hunter is liable to shoot us.”

“He'll be too concerned with protecting himself from the bear, which will show up when I distract the hunter.”

“You mean we're going to be the
bait
.” She ignored the part about how he intended to do this alone.

Paul jerked off his shirt. “I don't want the bear to see you. If he makes his appearance, you return to the cabin.”

“We work as a team—as a pack,” Lori said with finality as she finished removing her clothes and shifted.

“Hell, Lori.” Paul yanked off the remainder of his clothes as he spied the bear headed through the woods toward the fresh kill and the unaware hunter.

In her wolf form, Lori was watching the situation with the bear and the hunter, her tail still, her whole posture in eager readiness as she waited for Paul to give the signal to rescue the man.

“
Watch
out
for
the
bear!
” Paul shouted. “At one o'clock.”

The man spun around to see the bear standing tall on its hind legs. The hunter tried to get off a shot, but his rifle jammed.

“Whatever you do, stay calm,” Paul called out, still hidden in the trees and the brush. Lori remained near him, ready to take the heat off Paul if the bear charged him instead of the hunter. Paul couldn't move toward the man or cause the bear to see
that
as an aggressive action. “He's curious about you, checking you out. Don't run. Wave your arms and speak in a loud voice. Stand your ground. But if you can't, back away slowly, diagonally. Don't look him directly in the eye. That shows your aggression.”

He hoped the hunter would just stand his ground. The bear huffed and popped its jaws. Then it suddenly dropped down on all four paws and slapped the ground.

“Steady, man,” Paul said. The hunter looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

Suddenly, the bear charged the hunter.

“Don't run! It could be just a bluff!” Though bears were unpredictable, if they were predatory, they often gave no warning of an attack and just…charged. But protecting its food, no matter whose kill it was to begin with, could make the bear behave in a much more aggressive manner. Still, running from the bear was
not
a good idea.

The bear veered off at the last minute, at the same time that Paul shouted, “He's bluffing. I'm sending my pet wolves to distract him. So don't shoot the wolves, or you're on your own. Get the hell out of there as soon as the wolves go after the bear.”

Hoping the poacher didn't un-jam his rifle and shoot them, Paul shifted. Lori and he raced toward the kill, startling the hunter, though he had to realize they were Paul's “pet” wolves, as they came from the same vicinity that he had hollered from. Paul hated that Lori was with him though. As big as the grizzly was, either of the wolves could easily be killed in an instant.

He was used to SEAL-type missions where, alongside his teammates, he fought the bad guys in human form. He'd fought wolves, well,
lupus
garous
, when protecting Hunter's pack. But Lori had little experience with this sort of thing. Not that he'd done it more than once either.

They snarled at the bear, distracting him from the man, hoping the hunter was backing away and getting out of there. Paul and Lori had to remain focused on the bear and hope that they wouldn't be injured in the process.

The bear charged Lori and she made a hasty retreat through the woods. Grizzlies and wolves could run at the same average speed of thirty-five miles per hour, so no advantage for the wolves there, though they could turn quickly. And she was doing a terrific job of it—dodging between trees, using hairpin turns.

The bear's strength could be the deciding factor if he caught her.

His adrenaline pumping through every vein, Paul chased after him, growling, snapping, and snarling, getting way too close to the bear for safety's sake, trying to draw the bear's attention away from Lori. The grizzly suddenly swung its massive body around to fight Paul. His heart doing a double take, Paul twisted around and headed in a different direction, running full out. He swore he'd never run from anything so fast in his life.

He just hoped Lori didn't chase after the bear again to get him off Paul's back. He figured she wouldn't have any run left in her. Not enough to stay ahead of the bear for another round of the chase. Even Paul was quickly wearing out. But like Lori, he was running away from the kill. The farther he distanced himself from it, the more likely the bear would stop following him.

The bear was huffing and snorting as he ran after Paul, but finally ended the chase when they were far enough away from the kill. Because Paul didn't hear Lori growling at the bear, he figured she was off somewhere safe now. He was glad for it.

The bear must have gone back to his dinner. He would protect it and bury it, while he fed from it for several days, so Paul hoped the hunter realized he'd lost his prize. Hell, he wasn't even supposed to be hunting elk at this time of year. Paul had every intention of reporting the poacher as soon as he was able.

Paul had planned to leave their clothes where they were and return to the cabin, waiting to retrieve their things until the bear had settled down a bit. As long as the wind was still blowing in Paul's favor, he'd be all set. Then he realized he had his cell phone in his pants pocket, and Lori might have had hers with her too. One of his guns and a knife were also with his clothes. Not that he expected anyone to come across their things and grab them when the bear was so close by.

Beyond that, Lori had her necklace with her things, and after finding it in the lake, he didn't want her to lose it again. As much as he didn't want to return to the area where the highly agitated bear would be protecting its prey, Paul needed to.

Keeping low like a wolf on the prowl, Paul finally reached their clothes. Through the cover of the trees and underbrush, he saw the bear behind the elk remains, snorting, clacking his teeth, and then swaying his head. The hunter was gone, not foolhardy enough to believe he could carve up his kill and haul it out of there while Paul and Lori were distracting the bear.

As a wolf, Lori suddenly materialized out of the underbrush and joined Paul. He shifted and remained crouched, then proceeded to put on his clothes as quietly as he could to avoid alerting the bear. Lori stayed in her wolf form to protect him if necessary. He sure as hell would be at a disadvantage if the bear caught sight of him now, half-dressed. Even if Paul could scramble up a tree, some grizzlies could climb them also, and even if this one couldn't, it could reach up to a height of ten feet.

At least Paul and Lori were downwind of the bear. The problem was that bears' senses of smell and hearing were exceptional. Eyesight not as much. So as long as the bear didn't smell or hear them, Lori and Paul should make it all right.

Once Paul was dressed and he had Lori's clothes in hand, he walked at a crouch until they were deeper in the woods. Then he sprinted for the cabin. Lori stuck close to him like a wolf guardian. She would make a damn good SEAL teammate in wolf form, he thought.

He planned to track down the hunter next, but as soon as Lori entered the cabin, she shifted, took her clothes from him, and began to dress. “I picked up his scent trail. I followed him for a while, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Distracted at seeing her naked, Paul barely heard what she was saying. As soon as she slipped into her black, silky panties, his focus turned to her beautiful breasts, with rosy nipples, rigid and mouthwatering. She grabbed her black lace push-up bra and secured her breasts, but when she folded her arms across her naked belly, he finally glanced up from feasting on her beautiful body and saw her raised brows. “Did you hear what I said?”

“I'm still getting over being chased by a bear.” The bear was nothing compared to seeing Lori naked.

“Right.” Then she pulled on her jeans.

He hadn't wanted her anywhere near the bear, but then again, he wouldn't have wanted her anywhere near the hunter either, just in case he decided to shoot a wolf too. A poacher couldn't be trusted.

“I remembered we'd left our cell phones with our clothes and couldn't even call the sheriff about the poacher,” Lori said.

“And you left your necklace behind.”

She pulled her shirt over her head. “And your shirt.”

He did love that shirt. But mostly because she had bought it for him and grinned so broadly when he'd shown the rest of his SEAL team that he had no qualms about wearing it. “I'm going to throw on something a little less noticeable.” He got an olive-green T-shirt from his room. “If we're going to chase after the hunter, maybe we should wear clothes that will blend in more.”

“Agreed.”

“Do you want to go hunting with me?”

She smiled and he realized just how much asking pleased her.

She hurried to her bedroom and replaced the hot-pink shirt with an olive-green one that matched his, only hers dipped low enough to show off the swell of her breasts. “If we're wearing clothes that disguise us, won't he be liable to shoot us and say it was an accident?”

“Only one of us,” Paul said. “A second shooting would be too risky.”

She chuckled.

He pulled her in for a hug. “I don't know, but I think we're going to do some heavy-duty talking once we return.”

She looked up at him with a serious expression. “You mean cutting back the trees and shrubs comes later?”

He didn't answer her right away, thinking about the weather and wanting to finish the tasks on Emma's list.

Lori's eyes sparkled with mirth. “The list comes first.”

“We can talk while we work.”

“Yeah, somehow I knew that list would take priority.”

“Not a priority, but we can do both at the same time.”

Smiling, she shook her head. Then they headed out, Lori with a couple of cans of bear spray repellent, and Paul with his 9 mm semiautomatic Glock pistol and a knife.

For two miles, they tracked the man. He was a typical human, and though he was wearing some hunter spray, both Paul and Lori smelled his sweat and fear and…

Paul wrinkled his nose.

Urine. The bear charging him probably had something to do with it. In any event, they had no trouble tracking the hunter's scent. They heard a truck engine's heavy-duty rumbling. It sounded like it had a performance exhaust upgrade, so Paul would recognize it anywhere if they heard it again. By the time they raced to where the hunter had parked the pickup truck, the vehicle had driven off. He was probably worried that the man who sent the wolves to distract the bear would call the police about him poaching.

Wishing he could have at least gotten a license plate, Paul said, “I guess that's it for now. Ready to do some more of our chores?”

Lori let out her breath on a heavy sigh, looking totally peeved. “Too bad we missed him.”

“Agreed. I'd love to see him get a hefty fine and maybe some jail time to deter him from doing it again.”

“
Lengthy
jail time,” Lori said.

When they reached Lori's place, they still had a couple more hours of light, but Paul wanted to stick close to the cabin. Tomorrow, they could trim more of the tree limbs next to the drive. He called the sheriff, told him where the man had headed, what he looked like, what he was wearing, what he'd killed, and where the elk was, not to mention the bear that was now feasting off it.

Lori removed her boots and socks, and went barefoot onto the deck, where she began clipping back twigs and small branches next to the deck's railing. When he'd ended the call, Paul put on a pair of work gloves and started pruning the branches on the opposite side of the deck so he wouldn't be in Lori's way.

“So what did you want to ask me in the SUV earlier?”

Looking a little surprised, she glanced at him and hesitated to say.

“I want us to talk. I want you to tell me what's bothering you.”

“Okay.” She still hesitated, as if she was either gathering the courage or wanted to be careful about what she said.

She should know she didn't have to tiptoe around him. If he didn't like the question, he just wouldn't bare his soul.

“I wanted to ask about your last mission. About how you feel once you've been on one. Do you keep thinking about it? Do you wish you'd done anything differently? Is it hard to let it go?”

That was it? Hell, the number of questions was almost as long as Emma's honey-do list. “Anything else?”

“Well, for starters, that's it.”

Although he didn't want to discuss this with anyone but Allan, since he'd been there and lived through it with him, Paul knew he couldn't avoid telling Lori the truth. Not when he'd told her they'd talk. He was just as happy to push it out of his mind completely, not wanting Lori to hear how he'd failed to protect the woman he was meant to rescue. In truth, he'd let it go while he'd been busy working or spending time with Lori. Dredging it all up would make him remember what he'd prefer to forget.

“All right,” he said with reluctance. “Do you know anything about this last mission?”

“No.”

He suspected she knew something or she wouldn't be asking.

“Four third-year botany students from a college back east went trekking into the Amazon jungle without anyone to watch their backs. Many of the researchers who venture into the jungle take armed muscle with them for protection. It's just one of those things. Some get by without any trouble, but others don't. It's always better to be safe than risk being taken hostage.” Paul continued to chop away at the overgrown limbs. He felt better talking about it if he could remain physically active.

“The students were all young, between twenty and twenty-two. Three guys and a girl. It took us forever to locate them because their captors had moved the students around a lot. We finally found them tied to trees, starved and dehydrated. Which wasn't good. They were weak and we were going to have problems getting them out of there quickly and safely to a point where we could rally for help.” He paused to exchange a tree-limb lopper for a saw. The trimming had been sorely neglected over the years, and he vowed to help out more around Emma's places when he could.

“What about the guards?”

“We were fortunate that nobody was watching the students. We guessed they figured the students weren't going anywhere, and as isolated as they were from civilization, no one was likely to come across them. If it wasn't for our keen wolf sense of smell, we might not have found them either.”