“We will, thanks,” Kayla said, squeezing Nate’s hand, and glanced at Nate as if they were in trouble for not mentioning this to the pack leaders.

  “Uh, yeah, we meant to tell Darien and Lelandi,” Nate said.

  Jake and Brett laughed.

  Jake said, “They know you’re busy. The word is spreading throughout the pack that you’re both mated. Your parents are thrilled and have told everyone. You know how it is. Lelandi and Darien both are delighted and wish you well.”

  Brett smiled. “Yeah, though there were still some others who were sure hoping the two of you wouldn’t mate.”

  Nate and Kayla smiled.

  “But we knew it was to be,” Jake said.

  Then he and Brett said their goodbyes and left.

  “Well, the news of the other men telling the press you saved them was unexpected. Not to mention that your parents have told the whole pack about our mating. They’re so cute,” Kayla said.

  “I agree about the other news. We will be hearing more about this, I’m afraid. As to my parents, they loved you from the moment they met you, so I’m not surprised they wanted to share the good news with the whole pack right away.” Nate smiled and hugged and kissed her.

  “Well, I love them too. They already treat me like a daughter. So…are you ready to fish?” Kayla asked.

  “I sure am.”

  They put their damp bathing suits and beach towels out on the back patio to dry out, then retrieved fishing poles from the storage shed and filled a cooler with ice. After grabbing their backpacks and water, they headed out to the river with their gear in hand. Then they baited their hooks, stepped into the shallower water, and cast out their lines.

  It wasn’t long before Nate was reeling in a 15-inch rainbow trout and glad he’d caught at least one of the fish they’d need for dinner.

  “Wow, that looks great,” Kayla said. “I didn’t know you were such a lucky fisherman.”

  He chuckled. “It has nothing to do with luck. It’s all in the wrist, and it’s all skill.” He put the trout in the ice chest, rebaited his hook, and cast the line out and got a nibble, his bobber bobbing.

  “No,” Kayla whispered as the river rushed on by and the sun glinted off the water. “Not another one. Luck, I tell you.”

  He laughed. He felt another tug, and then he began reeling in another rainbow trout. This one was a couple of inches smaller. He pulled it off the hook and put the fish into the ice chest.

  “Do not toss your line back in the water. The next one is all mine,” Kayla said.

  He smiled. “It sure is.”

  Then he sat back on the bank and watched her. He loved her.

  She waited and waited and waited. Then she turned to him. “Did you use different bait than I’m using?”

  He laughed. “No.”

  “Okay, I figured you might have sneaked something else on your hook when I wasn’t looking that’s really getting the trouts’ attention.”

  He chuckled and got up and joined her in the water and wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her cheek.

  “Hmm, this is an awfully nice way to fish. I like it. I’m not sure I’ll catch anything, but—”

  “You already caught me.”

  She turned her head and kissed him. “Yeah, I did. And you’re the best catch of all.”

  After a half hour, he didn’t think she’d catch anything, but then her bobber moved, and she startled. “Oh, oh, I’ve got one.”

  Then she began reeling in the trout. “Oh, my, it’s bigger than yours.”

  He chuckled. Size-wise it was in between the two he’d caught, and it was a good size. “You did it. The perfect number of fish for dinner. You got lucky.”

  “Ha! It was strictly skill. You were fishing upriver from me, and you kept catching the fish before they could see my bait,” she said.

  “You are precious.”

  “So are you. Let’s take these back to the cabin and cook them. My favorite recipe is lemon-butter herb-baked trout. In less than twenty minutes it’s done. Succulent, melts in your mouth. We can add asparagus, chopped cauliflower, or broccoli to the same pan and just cook it all together.”

  “Broccoli sounds good.” He carried the ice chest while she carried their fishing poles back. He knew she was thrilled she’d managed to catch a fish for dinner. He was glad too.

  They made a good team.

  Once they returned, they both cleaned the fish. He had planned to clean them all himself, but she wanted to clean her own, which had amused him. He suspected she wanted to eat her own too.

  The meal was delicious, and they cleaned up, then sat on the back patio watching the sun set over the lake, having glasses of wine.

  “This is so wonderful,” Kayla said, clinking her glass with his.

  “I so agree.” He took a sip of his wine and leaned over and kissed her.

  Once the sun went down, they went inside the house, set their glasses on the kitchen counter and stripped out of their clothes, then shifted into wolves and ran for the wolf door. She went out first, and then he followed her.

  They raced each other through the woods, not on any path used by humans or wolves in human form. But as wild animals would make their own trails. The deer had made several trails through the woods, and the wolves would use them too.

  Nate and Kayla were chasing each other—it just was part of being wolves—and for now, he was glad she had control over when she could shift or not. That meant they could run as far as they wanted, and she wouldn’t suddenly have the urge to shift and have to walk back through the woods naked as a human.

  She nipped at him as he came up toward her, and he nipped her back. He adored her. He bumped her, and she bit at his neck in playful fun. He was glad they could just play after all that had gone on today. Tomorrow, they were sleeping in, as long as she wanted to. She’d always made herself scarce when it was the week of the full moon, and he knew she had felt insecure about him seeing her when she had less control over her shifting. Now, she was his and he was hers, and he would prove to her that he loved her just the way she was.

  Then she tackled him, and he wasn’t expecting it. He loved it. He tackled her back, both of them growling at each other in playful fun, though to humans, they probably sounded rather vicious.

  Then they ran off again. He hadn’t expected her to run this long or this far after all the other exercise they’d had, but she kept running and running. He stayed with her, letting her decide how far she wanted to go until she finally made her way to the river and took a drink from the water.

  He drank from the river next to her, and for a moment, they just stayed there, panting in the cool, sixty-degree temperature, their fur keeping them warm.

  And then she licked his muzzle, and he licked hers. She nuzzled his face and appeared not to want to leave this spot. Was she all worn out? He didn’t think so. He thought she was just enjoying the wilderness as a wolf, like he was. With him. And he was happy to do anything that she wanted.

  Then she stood, turned to leave, and he was right next to her the whole way back. He figured she was ready to finally get back to the cabin and call it a night. He was glad, though he didn’t want to admit he was worn out. But he wanted to climb into bed with his mate and love on her the rest of the night.

  Chapter 19

  In the middle of the night, Nate was dreaming he was chasing Kayla as a wolf. She was keeping out of his reach for a while, but then he caught up to her, pounced on her, and she rounded on him. He was having so much fun with her, growling and nipping at her, and she was doing the same with him. He licked her face, and she licked his, play sneezing as a sign of happiness. But then something pulled him out from his dream, and he listened. What had disturbed his sleep? The wind blowing a shutter and banging or scraping it against the log cabin?

  Still asleep, Kayla had her head and hand resting against his chest, but then she moved, opened her eyes, and looked up at him and saw that he was awake. Frowning, she whispered, “Did you hear something too?”

  “Yeah, something woke me from a dream, but since I began listening, I haven’t heard anything more.”

  They both were quiet, listening for anything further, their hearts beating hard, their soft breaths exhaled, and that’s when he heard the same metallic sound again—a clicking sound as if someone was using a lockpick.

  “Someone’s trying to break into the cabin. Our phones are charging in the living room,” Nate whispered to her, hurrying to get out of bed and wishing they were charging their phones in the bedroom now.

  “I guess you don’t want to chase them off as wolves.” She carefully climbed off the bed, though if the housebreaker was human, he wouldn’t be able to hear them. Not while he was still outside the cabin.

  “Not if he is armed with a gun. We’ll run off through the woods as wolves though.” He rushed across the floor and shut and locked the bedroom door just as he heard the front door open.

  Kayla was struggling to open the window. “It’s stuck.”

  “They have to be in one of the bedrooms sound asleep.” The male housebreaker’s voice was hushed.

  Frustration etched in her brow, Kayla was still struggling to open the window. It probably hadn’t been opened in years. Nate hurried to join her and helped yank it free and pull the window up. Of course it had to creak and groan.

  He helped Kayla onto the windowsill. They were already naked, so there was no sense in trying to get dressed and run through the woods as humans. They could run much more easily, faster, and farther as wolves, and if the people who broke in came after them, they’d be looking for humans, not wolves. Kayla jumped to the ground below the window.

  “You hide in the woods. I’m going to puncture all of the vehicles’ tires, and then I’ll join you.” He quickly followed her through the window.

  “I’ll help you.”

  Someone twisted their bedroom doorknob and found it locked.

  “All right.” Nate didn’t really want her to be exposed to any more danger than she had to be, but he knew when her mind was made up, she wouldn’t change it. Not if she felt she could help him and keep him safe.

  Both of them shifted into their wolves. Then they carefully moved around the cabin to make sure no one was by the strangers’ vehicle—a blue Ford pickup. It was Randy’s truck, the man Nate had interviewed about his friend Phil going missing. Then Nate smelled Randy, Everest, Ann, and Sarah’s scents out here too.

  Nate bit into the driver’s side tire on the pickup, and Kayla attacked the rear tire behind it. They peered around the back of the truck to see if anyone was watching it, but everyone involved in the break-in must have gone inside the cabin.

  Nate and Kayla raced around the truck to bite the other tires, and then Nate went after his own van tires. He hated to do that to his brand-new van’s tires, but his keys were sitting with his phone in the living room, and the housebreakers could very well steal his van, especially once they learned they couldn’t leave here in Randy’s truck. Not without changing out all the tires. Nate began biting his van’s tires, and then Kayla got the rest of them. He was glad she’d helped, and they’d finished the task more quickly.

  Afterward, they tore off into the woods, but both of them glanced back at the cabin and saw a man peer out the window. “Hell, they climbed out the window,” Everest said.

  “Are you sure they’re not just hiding?” Randy sounded irritated with his friend.

  “I checked already. They’re not anywhere in the bedroom, and the window’s open wide enough for them to climb out of it. Come on, let’s get them. We have to stop them before they alert anyone,” Everest said.

  Nate had considered closing the window, but opening it made so much noise and the housebreakers had already gained access to the house, so he hadn’t wanted to alert them to what he and Kayla had been doing at the time.

  “You said we’d have them right where we wanted them,” Randy said.

  What in the hell were Phil’s friends doing here?

  The news. It was on the news that Nate and Kayla were staying at the cabin. But why would Everest and his cohorts be after them? Unless Phil’s friends had something to do with Durham Manning’s murder or Phil’s disappearance and they believed Nate and Kayla knew something about it.

  For now, Nate just needed to get Kayla safely to the closest home he could reach, which was Darien and Lelandi’s place. Then they’d have Peter and a ton of wolves arrest the housebreakers.

  Kayla seemed to have the same notion in mind and kept running with him in the direction of the pack leaders’ house, which was located out of town in the country.

  After a while, she slowed down her run, and Nate did too. The men looking for them would never find them, and Nate and Kayla needed to conserve their energy. But he sure wanted to take the men down himself for coming after him and Kayla and forcing him to ruin his tires.

  He brushed against Kayla, letting her know he wanted to detour to the river. She nuzzled him and turned in that direction. They needed to drink. He was feeling parched, and Kayla had to be too. They finally reached the river and drank their fill.

  For a moment, they just stood there together, sharing the space, and he loved her so much. But he felt awful that he’d dragged her into all this, just because he’d been working on this case and then they found the body and it was reported in the news.

  She nipped his face and turned and headed back into the woods and loped toward the pack leaders’ house again, but then she paused. She lifted her chin and howled.

  She was right to call on their pack. He howled too. Their howls warned of trouble, and it wasn’t long before they heard howls in return. Some of their pack members had heard them and would be there to help them. Good.

  They kept running until they ran into Darien, Tom, and Jake racing toward them in their wolf coats, and Nate quickly shifted to tell them what was going on. “Men broke into our cabin and were coming after us, maybe because we were on the news for finding the dead body. I recognized a man by the name of Everest, who I had spoken to about another case—a missing man from Green Valley. Another man who was speaking was Randy, and the truck belongs to him. I smelled the scents of their girlfriends Sarah and Ann too.”

  Darien shifted. “Hell. All right. We’ll go to my place, and we’ll call up the forces to take them into custody. Let’s go.”

  They shifted and headed off to the pack leaders’ house, and once they were there, Lelandi got Kayla and Nate something to wear.

  Once everyone was dressed, Tom and Jake began calling Peter and others to rally a group of deputies to arrest the people who had broken into the cabin.

  “Just don’t alert them beforehand that we’re coming to arrest them,” Darien said. “We don’t want them getting away.”

  “We bit their tires and my van’s tires so they will have to be on foot. We can probably track them down without any trouble if they run off through the woods, unless they call for someone to come pick them up,” Nate said.

  “Are you going with us then?” Darien asked.

  “He and Kayla are supposed to be sharing mated bliss,” Lelandi said.

  Kayla smiled. “We will as soon as we can take back our cabin.”

  “You’re going to still stay there?” Lelandi sounded surprised.

  “Yeah. Once the bad guys are rounded up, we won’t have any more trouble, and we’re going to enjoy our stay at the cabin no matter what,” Kayla said.

  “I need to go to identify those who broke into the cabin if they’re not wearing any ID or have a false ID. I know them by scent, while none of you would.” Nate kissed Kayla, glad she was ready to persevere. He felt the same as her, but he would have made other arrangements if she hadn’t wanted to return to the cabin so they could still have fun together for the rest of the week. “But you’ll stay here for now, won’t you?”

  “Yeah. I’m not all army-trained like you. You can come back for me when the place is clear, and we can return to the cabin.”

  “All right, honey.” Nate hugged and kissed her again as they heard other vehicles gathering outside Darien and Lelandi’s house.

  “Be careful,” Kayla said.

  “Yeah, and you stay safe.” Then Nate went with the others to drive to the cabin. He hoped they wouldn’t be chasing down the bad guys all night. He wanted to be snuggling with his mate and spending the rest of the week just enjoying it with her. Though he couldn’t believe he might be able to help the police solve the murder mystery—if that was what this was about—once they captured these men.

  He rode with Darien, Jake, and Tom, as Sheriff Peter and several others led the pack. When they finally arrived at the cabin, Nate really expected to see Randy and the rest of his friends had returned there, but a search of the cabin revealed everyone was gone. He smelled Everest’s scent but also Randy, Ann, and Sarah’s scents. The whole gang, except for Gerald and the missing Phil. Nate was glad he had gone with Darien and the others so he could help catch them.

  “They said they were going after us,” Nate said to Darien and his brothers and Peter. Some of the other men had managed to unlock Randy’s truck and were searching it. “I’m certain they wouldn’t believe we could run through the dark woods and reach help, so they’re still looking for us in the forest. They probably think we’re hiding in the woods.”

  Darien nodded. “Most likely they’re still close by the cabin. They probably don’t know the woods like we do, and as humans in the dark, it will be hard for them to go very far without getting themselves lost. We should be able to find them easily enough.”

  “Unless they had someone pick them up and they’ve left.” Nate didn’t think they’d leave their truck behind though.

  “I also called the auto body shop to get replacement tires for your van,” Jake said.

  “Ah, hell, thanks. It killed me to have to tear up my tires like that when they were brand new.”

  “Yeah, but it was good thinking on your part, or they might have just taken off with your new van,” Darien said.

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking. I wanted them stranded here so we could easily pick them up.”