Randall dutifully waited as they passed him by and continued their trek to the house.

  It would take them at least another half hour to get there, and when they finally reached the porch, Randall pulled up next to it and parked.

  Gina pushed through the wolf door, and Maverick barked at Randall, thanking him. Then he went through the wolf door, shifted, opened it, and Randall was already at the door with the bag of Gina’s clothes.

  “Thanks,” Maverick said again.

  Randall smiled. “A newly turned wolf can be a handful, but I wouldn’t mind her being my handful.”

  Maverick chuckled. “I hear you.” Then they said goodnight, and he shut and locked the front door. When he turned, he expected to see Gina as a wolf, waiting for him, but she’d left wet paw prints behind on her way to the bedroom.

  He hoped she hadn’t climbed into bed with wet paws and instead had turned into her human self. But when he reached the bedroom, he found her lying on top of the comforter sound asleep, a beautiful red wolf with a black-tipped tail like his, wet paw prints and a little dirt all over the bed where she had circled a few times before she had settled.

  ***

  Later that morning, Gina woke in Maverick’s arms under the comforter, feeling like she’d run for miles. Happily tired. Maverick leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Are you hungry?”

  “Starving. I felt like I went on a marathon run last night.”

  “We did run a long distance.”

  She frowned at him. “What?”

  “Last night. When we ran as wolves. I loved hearing you howl.”

  “No way.”

  “Yeah, I loved your howl.”

  “No.” She sighed and caressed his chest with her fingertips. “I didn’t howl.” Then she looked up at him. “Did I shift?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Maverick was looking really puzzled at her now.

  “Oh, sorry about that.” She figured she was probably kicking him with her wolf feet in her sleep as she ran through the snowy grass in her dream.

  “Nothing to be sorry for. I was just glad we could run together as wolves.”

  She pulled back from him and stared at him. “We ran together? Outside?”

  “Yeah.” He frowned at her. “You don’t remember it? I found you missing from bed, investigated, and discovered you in your wolf coat watching a great horned owl take flight near Josh and Brooke’s house.”

  “Great horned owl.” She tried to think, but, well, she vaguely remembered seeing a great horned owl in a dream and that was it.

  “We ran, returned home, and you went straight to bed.”

  “As a human.”

  “No. As a wolf. You were lying on top of the comforter, dead to the world, and I had to wash your paws.”

  “Muddy paws?” She was horrified and looked down at the comforter.

  “They were wet mostly. A little dirt. I cleaned the comforter before I lay down with you. You finally shifted about a half hour later, and I resettled the comforter over you, pulled you into my arms, and we slept the rest of the night. You don’t remember any of that?” Maverick sounded a little shook up.

  “I guess I need to warn you that I sometimes sleepwalk.”

  Maverick’s lips parted, and then he smiled and kissed her forehead. “Okay, I heard your brother mention that when you were at the campfire. That you might have unzipped your tent and that’s how I got out.”

  “You heard us? You were there spying on us?”

  “Yeah, I was trying to catch wind of you to see if you smelled like a wolf. You didn’t when I was lying next to your sleeping bag. I had to know if you were one or not, but I couldn’t catch your scent. Okay, so if you sleepwalk, I mean, since you do, we’ll need to lock the wolf door so you don’t slip out on your own. In the summer, it wouldn’t be so bad, though I would still worry about you getting lost. But in the winter, if you had shifted back into your human form somewhere far away from the ranch and I hadn’t awakened and found you gone, you could have gotten frostbite.”

  She couldn’t believe she’d sleepwalked as a wolf! That was a new one for the books. “I’m so sorry. This really adds to the trouble I’ll be having with my control over shifting, doesn’t it?”

  He smiled again and tightened his arms around her. “No way. I had a lovely time running with you and enjoyed hearing your wolf howl. We’ll just have to do it again when you’re fully awake.”

  Grateful he didn’t mind, she snuggled against his sexy, muscular chest, loving how protective he felt. She was glad he wasn’t disturbed by her sleepwalking and amused he’d thought she’d been “all there” with him in the middle of the night. She kissed his chest. “I’m still hungry.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll get us some breakfast.”

  “I’ll help you.”

  And then they were both out of bed, grabbing fresh clothes, dressing, and heading down the hall where she saw telltale wolf prints on the wood floor, verifying what Maverick had told her was true. No matter how hard she tried to recall any of what had happened, she couldn’t remember any of it, except vaguely seeing an owl fly off in her dreams.

  She really hoped Maverick was being sincere about not minding her sleepwalking. One guy she’d dated had sworn she faked it to get attention—as if!

  Maverick seemed in good spirits this morning, maybe because he’d finally gotten to run with her as a wolf. She sure wished she remembered running with him. And howling. She would love to know how her voice sounded as a wolf. And Maverick’s.

  Then she and Maverick broke eggs in a bowl, both of them having to fish eggshells out of the bowl and laughing about it. Even when they were washing up, he was getting her wet and she was splashing him, both of them smiling and chuckling. Once the baked eggs and Swiss chard with green olives were done, though Maverick added bacon, feta cheese, and chives to the dish too, they sat down to eat. She loved making meals with Maverick. She’d never dated a guy with whom she’d cooked before, and Maverick was just fun, playful. She really enjoyed being with him.

  Then they ate their breakfast, and she figured that since she had shifted in the middle of the night, she would be all right to go with him while he did another reindeer program at a mall.

  “I can go with you, can’t I?” she asked, just to be sure.

  “You sure can. You should be good. I was kind of worried about it until you shifted in the night.”

  She let out her breath with relief. “Good.”

  After they finished eating and cleaned up, they headed out with the reindeer, and Randall came with them. “Did you have a good run last night?” he asked, climbing into the back seat of the pickup while she rode up front with Maverick.

  Frowning, she glanced at Maverick. Had he told everyone on the ranch she was sleep-running as a wolf last night?

  “He rode behind us in the Jeep, bringing your clothes with him in case you suddenly shifted out in the snow.”

  “Ohmigod, I never even thought of that. To answer your question, I have no idea if I had fun. I don’t remember it at all.” There, she said it. She guessed the whole pack would have to be aware of it in case she had trouble with this in the future.

  “Oh, okay. My grandmother used to sleepwalk, so I totally understand. She was staying with me one time and walked, or I guess I should say sleepwalked, into my bedroom, confused as to where she was. Then my mother told me she sleepwalked when she was overly tired, had since she was a child, and being in new surroundings, she couldn’t find her way to her guest room after she’d left it.”

  Gina was relieved at least Randall had experienced having known someone who had that trouble.

  “Yeah, we’ll keep the wolf door locked at night because of it,” Maverick said.

  “At least you should have gotten the wolf run out of your system for a while,” Randall said.

  For that, she was glad. But the next time she ran as a wolf out of doors, she wanted to know about it and experience it so she could remember it.

  They finally arrived at the mall and the location they were supposed to set up but saw Calypso’s Reindeer Ranch was situated already nearby.

  “Was that supposed to happen?” she asked, surprised to see two competing reindeer ranches in virtually the same area.

  “Nope,” Randall said before Maverick could. “They’ve been setting up at all the locations we have this season, knowing we’re doing so well and trying to gain from our publicity and turnout.”

  “And setting up even earlier than us now to get a jump on the publicity. We want our reindeer to be more rested before the event.” Maverick helped Randall carry out the corral fencing.

  She could tell Maverick and the ranch hands were more interested in caring for the animals than being all about the money, the way they interacted with the reindeer, their horses, and the llama. All of the animals were treated like they were family, as if they were part of the wolf pack.

  “I had hoped that Andy, the radio show host who shamed the Calypso Ranch owners for riding our coattails, might have convinced them to stop competing with us, but apparently that’s not going to happen,” Maverick said.

  “Calypso must be making too much money off their shows.” She grabbed some of the garland to decorate the corral.

  Maverick moved another section of corral. “Yeah, exactly, and they feel no moral obligation to do what’s right. Next year, our contracts are going to state that the businesses can’t sign up to show their reindeer in the same vicinity if we already have an agreement.”

  “What if they don’t agree?” Hauling out the battery-operated Christmas lights, she could just imagine Calypso getting all the contracts then.

  “We’ve been doing this for years, and people are used to coming to see us. Hopefully that will make a difference,” Maverick said. “We’ve never had any trouble before, but Calypso’s ranch is under new management. They see our success and want to capitalize on it to promote their own.”

  “Do they go near Brooke’s antiques store when you set up there?” Gina couldn’t imagine they would be that brazen.

  “No. Everyone there has Calypso’s number. Brooke has been supporting the other businesses in her area, and they won’t have anything to do with Calypso. We didn’t even realize the other reindeer ranch was going to pull this until the first time they did it a couple of months ago. We hoped it was just a fluke, but it wasn’t. We usually don’t take reindeer calves,” Maverick said as he and Randall began putting the sections of the corral together, “but after that first case, we’ve been bringing a few, and they’re a real draw. Calypso doesn’t have any this year, but betcha next year, they will.”

  “Maybe we should have brought the llama and her companion too,” Gina said. “We could put a big Christmas collar on her. That would be something new and different.”

  Maverick smiled at her. “That’s exactly what we’ll do.”

  “Should we let Andy know that Calypso is at it again?” she asked.

  “Nah, they’re in a different radio listening area. I’m sure it wouldn’t matter to his listening public.” Maverick and Randall moved the adult reindeer into the corral while Gina was thrilled to bring the calves into a smaller corral where kids could come to pet the younger reindeer. She just loved being involved in all this. Though she was really irritated that the other ranch was pulling this. Then she helped decorate the corrals with the garland and Christmas lights. “One of us ought to turn wolf. Not me, though I’d love to, but I can’t do it at will, and I’d be afraid if I did turn, I’d shift back at the most inopportune of times.”

  Randall looked at Maverick. “You want me to do it, boss?”

  “Wouldn’t we stand out if we had a tame wolf at our show that adored the reindeer?” she asked.

  “The business owners might worry about liability issues,” Maverick said. “But I’m sure it would be true if we had a wolf, we’d get some more interest.”

  “A wolf dog then?” Gina understood about liability issues, though their wolves wouldn’t be a problem. But no one would know that but the lupus garous.

  “Hold that thought.” Maverick got a call. “Yeah, Josh?” He glanced over at the Calypso setup. “Yeah, they arrived even before we got here. Gina proposed that one of us should turn wolf. That could be a draw. No way could they beat that. She also had the idea about bringing the llama. I plan to when we go to the next show… All right. Talk later.” He pocketed his phone. “Josh said we need to definitely bring the llama and her reindeer pal next time. Both seem to be used to crowds, and they’re comfortable with the other reindeer.”

  “What about the wolf?” Gina asked.

  Maverick smiled. “He said he could come as a wolf. Brooke said in the background that she had the day off and she could too. If noncompete agreements don’t work to deter these guys next year, maybe we’ll add wolves to our show.”

  Chapter 13

  Maverick and Gina had been showing off the reindeer and giving kids rides at the mall exhibit. “You might notice the reindeer have deep, rich blue eyes in the winter,” he told a group of onlookers. “That’s so they can see predators more easily in the dark when the nights are longer, especially up north where the days are dark. And in the summer, their eyes are golden or golden-brown because the days are much longer. Also, you’ll notice they have fur covering their noses, all the way to the bottom of their hooves. That way their noses are protected from the cold, and they have a better grip on snow and ice with fur covering their hooves.”

  Which was the same thing for wolves with fur on the paws to protect them from the cold and to maneuver more easily on snow and ice, he was thinking. Unless the wolf broke through the ice on a lake.

  “And reindeer travel in herds into the wind so they can smell scents. Their sense of smell is excellent for finding food under the snow.”

  “What do they eat besides carrots?” a young boy asked.

  “Moss, ferns, grass, lichen—also called reindeer moss—the shoots and leaves of shrubs and trees. Their favorites are birch and willow trees. They also like apples and carrots.”

  “But they don’t have red noses,” a little girl said.

  “Well, actually, some reindeer do have shiny red noses. It’s the, um, blood vessels in their nose that not only help keep their noses warm in the cold weather but help them find food in the snow. Here, let me show you. This is Mossycoat.” Maverick brought the reindeer closer for the kids to see. “You see? It’s redder than the other reindeer noses. You might even say it glows, in just the right light.”

  Some of the adults laughed.

  Randall was taking pictures for families when Andy and April showed up. Maverick couldn’t have been more surprised.

  “We don’t go on the air for several hours, but we thought we’d come and see if Calypso was trying to steal your audience away again,” April said.

  Maverick was thrilled to see them. “They are.” To his irritation, but he was trying to keep a cheerful expression, and he was thoroughly enjoying spending this time with Gina. She was so expressive and sweet toward the kids, making them smile for the camera, convincing them to touch the reindeer calves for their pictures and telling them how soft and tame they really were.

  Only two little ones were terrified, and it was a wash, but that was understandable. To them, even the reindeer calves were huge. Everyone else was enjoying their time with the reindeer, and when they weren’t visiting with the Wilding Ranch reindeer, they were eating at food vendors, visiting the face-painting booth, or sitting on the mall Santa’s lap. Calypso didn’t have a Santa this time, though they still had the sexy elves, and Maverick noticed a couple of guys had their pictures taken with the elves.

  But the kids were much more interested in the Wilding reindeer calves, and they were the real money draw.

  Even Andy and April had their pictures taken with the reindeer, and when Maverick mentioned they’d bring the llama and her companion to the next showing, they said they’d be there. Then the couple headed for a pizza stand with promises to bring up the situation with Calypso Ranch with their listeners again.

  Maverick smiled. He’d never expected to get continued support from a radio station before. But it seemed to him more people were boycotting the Calypso show this time. And that was good news.

  “You didn’t tell Andy and April about bringing any wolves,” Gina said.

  “That’s only if we have issues with Calypso next year.”

  Then Maverick saw a pickup drive up and park next to their truck and trailer. “Josh and Brooke are here.” But they didn’t climb out of the cab of the truck. “Uh, I think I’m going to check on them.”

  Gina stayed with the calves and helped with the kids while Maverick approached the truck and saw Josh and Brooke in their wolf forms peering out the dark-tinted window at him. He chuckled and opened the cab door and let them out. Brooke barked at a handmade sign on the back seat, and when Maverick retrieved it, he realized she or Josh had made a sign stating: RARE RED WOLVES—$5 FOR A PHOTO WITH THE WOLVES. PROCEEDS GO TO RED WOLF PRESERVATION.

  Hell, why hadn’t he thought of that? Wolves were rare enough at exhibits, but red wolves? Unheard of at an exhibition like this, he imagined.

  Gina quickly hugged Brooke and then Josh, looking like she fit right in with the pack already.

  “Which corral do you want to go into?” Randall asked Josh and Brooke.

  They went to the adult reindeer corral. Once Randall let them in, they greeted all the reindeer, who treated them like they were part of their herd.

  Maverick quickly hung up the sign on the corral about the wolves, vowing to make his own special hand-carved one for future events. Then he took pictures while his brother and sister-in-law posed, sitting next to each other in front of a couple of the adult reindeer. He shared them with their social media sites: VISIT WITH TWO RED WOLVES AND OUR REINDEER, TODAY ONLY.