He finished dressing as she pulled on her sandals.

  “One thing you should know about me, though. I don’t like making grand entrances.” She seized his hand and pulled him through the house.

  He chuckled. “I already knew that about you. But you’ve been making grand entrances in my life since the first time I met you. And I love it.”

  They headed outside and everyone paused to watch them and then cheered. “Congratulations!”

  Even the kids stopped chasing each other around and joined in the cheer.

  A blush stained Elizabeth’s cheeks. “Thank you,” she said, while David beamed beside her.

  Then he pulled her into his embrace and dramatically swept her back, kissing her until she was breathless, and everyone cheered again. Well, except the kids. She heard one “eww” coming from Corey; Angie and Nick were quiet, smiling. They would all have their day when they were older, Elizabeth thought, if they were lucky.

  Sheri came up and took both her friend’s hands in hers, turning Elizabeth this way and that.

  “It agrees with you,” she finally said, pulling her in for a tight squeeze. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered against her ear, and Elizabeth had to blink away tears.

  “Sorry for disturbing you, but in case David didn’t tell you, this has just become a tradition,” Faith said.

  David’s ears tinged a bit red. “I have to admit my mind was on other things.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “We don’t plan to keep you all day, but after breakfast we have a pack wolf run, just to celebrate having a new mated pair in the pack,” Faith said.

  Slade offered Sheri a cup of tea.

  At least Sheri was learning the traditions if she ended up mating Slade, Elizabeth thought.

  And from the looks between the two, Elizabeth wondered if the pack would be serving breakfast again before they knew it.

  Chapter 22

  Sunday night, Elizabeth and David went to the fairgrounds, and so did the others. They went every year with the kids, but this time, for the first time, David wasn’t alone. They all went their own ways, but David and Elizabeth ended up in line at some of the same rides with them.

  At the Ferris wheel they got on and saw Sheri setting two of the kids on a seat while Cameron and Faith took the other. Then Owen and Candice climbed aboard, and right after them, Gavin and Amelia. The whole pack was together in all things, it seemed.

  David smiled and kissed Elizabeth.

  “I love how your pack sticks together. It’s like half of the fair is made up of wolves,” Elizabeth said. “I feel on top of the world with you.”

  Once they were done with their ride, they all gathered at the base.

  “What’s next?” Cameron asked.

  Owen said, “We have to try for prizes at the shooting gallery and the strongman game.”

  “The strongman game first,” Gavin said. “I can beat all three of you.”

  Amelia’s brother came up to join them. Slade smiled at Sheri. “Sorry I’m late. Flight was delayed.”

  “You’re just in time to prove to these guys you can hit the hardest,” Sheri said, smiling at him.

  “No way,” Gavin said. “I’m winning this one.”

  They had always been competitive with each other in that way. They were used to it and the women in their lives were amused by it, glad they always did it in good humor.

  Gavin went first and struck the lever with such force, the puck soared to the top and rang the bell. Amelia chose Winnie the Pooh as her prize.

  Then Owen went next and also won. Candice picked a wolf. “Because it looks like you, Corey.” She ruffled his hair and he ducked away, but he couldn’t stop a pleased grin from sneaking across his face.

  Cameron had to hit it several times to win for all the kids and his mate.

  The guy in charge of the game was just shaking his head as Cameron swung the hammer, then swung again, and again, and once more, the bell ringing gaily each time. The kids ended up with a wolf, a tiger, a leopard, and a jaguar. Faith picked out a lion, and Cameron ended up looking a tiny bit sweaty, not that he would ever admit it.

  It came down to David and Slade. David let Slade go first.

  Slade stepped up to the plate. He had a lot to win for—pack acceptance, playing with the guys when he had never been in competition with them before, and proving to Sheri, even if they didn’t end up being together, that he could win her a prize too. Which he did. All the pack and other fairgoers around them were watching how well the men had done and cheered for Slade too.

  “You must eat your Wheaties,” David said, taking hold of the hammer.

  “Oatmeal. It gives me strength.” Slade winked at Sheri, who was cuddling her new stuffed jaguar.

  With everyone else winning a prize, David couldn’t fail. How would that look to Elizabeth? With all his might, he slammed the hammer down on the lever, sending the puck flying. The bell pealed and the crowd set up another roar of approval.

  Elizabeth picked out a giant stuffed Winnie the Pooh, saying, “I always wanted one of these.” And he felt like a hero.

  Then it was off to the shooting gallery. Law-enforcement training and wolf eyesight gave them an edge and they weren’t afraid to use it.

  Another round of prizes for all filled the pack’s arms to overflowing.

  They ate turkey legs and caramelized popcorn and went through the house of mirrors. Corey had a blast the whole way through. Angie and Nick weren’t as adventurous.

  Toward the end of the night, the kids began dragging, and David was ready to take Elizabeth home.

  “Is everyone about ready to pack it up?” Cameron asked.

  There was a resounding yes, and they headed to their vehicles in the parking lot. Sheri was going home with Faith and Cameron to get some tired kids ready for bed. David wondered if Slade had offered his place and she turned him down, or if she just wanted to help out with the kids. He hoped everything was okay there.

  The cars made a parade home. Then they piled out in twos and threes, waving a sleepy good-night all around.

  David and Elizabeth entered their house and turned on some lights. “Nightcap or…” David said, already anticipating her answer.

  “Or,” she said with a wicked grin and raced him to the bedroom.

  ***

  The next morning, David knew he had to get out of bed and get in to work, but this was so nice, cuddling with Elizabeth. She finally stirred, as if she realized he was awake, and smiled at him.

  “We have to get in to the office. Our furniture is being delivered today!” Elizabeth sounded like a little kid on Christmas morning.

  “All right, honey.” He smiled at her and kissed her. “I can’t believe we are mated.”

  “Me either, and it was high time.” She tossed the covers aside and began getting ready to go to work.

  He watched her for a few minutes, then finally dragged himself out of bed, thinking if it were a slow day, maybe they could slip back over to the house for a few minutes.

  She hurried off to the kitchen. “I’ll fix breakfast.”

  He still wasn’t ready to roll out of bed, but he smiled, glad she was at least awake and with it.

  “And I’ll put some coffee on for you,” she called.

  He finally joined her, had a cup of coffee, and she served up waffles and bacon.

  “Easy and quick.” She sat down to eat her breakfast with a cup of lavender tea.

  “If it’s a slow day,” he said, “we could slip away back to the house.”

  “To have lunch?” She smiled knowingly at him.

  He smiled. “Yeah. Lunch.” He picked up a piece of bacon and bit off a chunk, chewing slowly.

  She kissed him on the cheek but was all business after that, rushing through her waffle, cleaning up before he was barely though, then tugging him out the door to get going.

  “Are you always going to be this excited about going to work?” he asked, letting her pull him wherever she wanted to go.

  “Hopefully, but today the furniture is arriving.”

  He chuckled and let her excitement wash over him. When they got to the office, Sheri was already working on more new-hire background investigations, and everyone else was getting coffee and sorting through their cases.

  The office furniture came in right after they arrived, and Elizabeth and Sheri got to work setting everything up just the way they wanted. He hoped they could make it their own and feel like a real part of the agency.

  Sheri had to have a stash of chocolate—candy bars, cookies, whatever—in her desk. Not that she ate chocolate all day long, but she said she just liked having it for a quick pick-me-up later in the day. And she also had a picture of her with her family in a brass frame sitting on her desk. Add her new wolf mouse pad and calendar, and she was all set to go.

  Elizabeth was still getting her desk set up when more furniture arrived from another company. This was comfortable seating for adults waiting for one of the investigators to speak with them.

  Then David came over to see if he could help either of them with anything, but they had a plan. A more comfortable waiting area was taking shape under their direction, with a couple of puzzle games and books for kids and magazines for adults.

  “We want to get a large aquarium, and Sheri and I promise to take care of it,” Elizabeth said. “It will make working in the office even more pleasurable. And when Faith has to bring the kids over here for one reason or another, they can see the fish or help feed them, and read the books or play with the puzzles.”

  “Okay, sure,” David said. “And I’m sure the rest of us will be happy to help with the fish, once we learn what we’re supposed to do.” After the ladies had set things up, he realized that the office really was much nicer and less austere. He guessed he and his partners had been so busy with work that they hadn’t really considered doing anything like this—just for themselves and for their mates for when they dropped by.

  “David, do you think you can do without Sheri and me for a little bit?” Elizabeth grabbed her purse.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Okay, we’re going to a nursery to pick up some plants for the office. And then I’ll look at some for the garden, but I’ll take you with me when we pick those out. Maybe tonight after work?”

  “Yeah, we can do that.” He suggested Friday night so they could have the weekend to plant them, and she agreed, waving on her way out the door. He thought of all the time he’d spent weeding those garden beds, envisioning his nights with her, planning and digging and planting, and a deep sense of contentment stole over him.

  Cameron came out of his office and smiled. “Wow, what a difference,” he said, admiring the new layout. “This looks so much better.”

  Gavin and Owen popped their heads out to see the final product.

  “They could be professional interior decorators,” Owen said.

  “Yeah, but maybe don’t tell them that,” David joked. “We don’t want to lose them.”

  ***

  In Yellowknife, Bentley arrived at Kintail’s house, finally looking like he had good news, and Kintail was ready for it. “What did you learn?”

  “They’re living in a place south of Ely, Minnesota. I mentioned to the PI who was trying to track down their agency that they were fond of white wolves, just thinking maybe that would help him narrow his focus. And he discovered an office named White Wolf Investigative Services. When he checked the website, it showed Cameron as one of their investigators.”

  “And David is still with the agency?”

  “He is.”

  “Get flights for us out now. You and Hans are coming with me, and pick two others to accompany us.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Now they were getting somewhere with this. Kintail hoped they weren’t too late.

  Chapter 23

  At a garden center, Elizabeth and Sheri bought a couple of ficus trees to liven up the office foyer and some pots of ivy to give the bookshelves a nice warm outdoor appeal.

  “Yeah, but you’re going to have to keep them alive,” Sheri warned her. “I overwater them or underwater them.”

  “I’ll take care of them.” Then they headed outside to look at the plants Elizabeth might want to put in her garden.

  “Red roses for your grandmother for sure,” Sheri said. “She loved them.”

  “I agree.”

  Sheri got a text message. She glanced down at it and ignored it, like she’d ignored a couple of others already.

  Had she had a fight with Slade? Or was it someone from the pack back home? “What’s up?”

  “It’s my brother. He kept texting when we first left Yellowknife, but then he stopped. I kind of figured he’d just given up when I didn’t respond. But he’s back at it now.”

  “So what did he say?” Elizabeth held her breath, hoping against hope it had nothing to do with Kintail.

  “He said that Mom and Dad had disowned me.” Tears sprang up in Sheri’s eyes, and Elizabeth quickly hugged her.

  “Don’t believe him. You talked to your dad yourself. They understood, right? At least a little. If they disowned you, it was probably Kintail’s doing. And that’s a big if.”

  “I don’t know. They might have changed their minds. I figured they would be happy for me if I was happy. But maybe with me leaving, I’ve only caused trouble for them.”

  “They’re in Cancun for two weeks.”

  “Right, so Kintail can’t be doing too much to them, yet. But he could very well have told them to disown me or else they could be kicked out of the pack.”

  “But he wants more pack members, not fewer,” Elizabeth said.

  “Still, he has to make an example of someone. You know how he is about having to at least look like he’s in complete control. Besides, you and I are of pup-bearing age, and that’s another reason he would be furious we both left.” Sheri wiped away her tears and stuck her phone in her pocket.

  “And you haven’t talked to your parents since the last time?”

  “No. I’m trying to get settled in here, work a job, and enjoy being with the pack. I’m not going back no matter what. If they want to disown me, I can’t do anything about it. If it helps them in dealing with Kintail, then it’s really okay.” Sheri frowned at Elizabeth. “Did you put your home on the market?”

  “I’m calling the real estate agent when we get back to the office. And we need to get new phone numbers.”

  “Why?” Sheri asked as they got into the car and headed back to the agency.

  “We need local numbers, and…it might be better if we can get in touch with people in Yellowknife but they can’t get in touch with us. At least for now.” Which meant Bentley, Sheri’s brother, and Kintail. None of them would know the new numbers. At least for a while.

  ***

  When Elizabeth and Sheri arrived back at the office, Sheri was noticeably quiet. David hoped it didn’t have anything to do with Slade. On the other hand, maybe that would be better. If it was something to do with Kintail, that was definitely worse. Not just for Sheri but for all of them.

  David put it out of his mind for the time being, concentrating on helping Gavin with the Ms. Moore case. “Hey, Gavin, I found another instance of that business partner being accused of skimming off a company, but the charges went nowhere. Claimed it was a mistake in the accounting department and the feds weren’t able to convict him. Either this guy falls face-first into a whole lot of bad luck or he’s really good at covering up his tracks.”

  “Let me see that.” David handed him what he’d found. Gavin looked it over and nodded. “It’s looking more and more like this guy is dirty. I instructed Ms. Moore to have a forensic CPA go over everything. This guy might be good, but so are we.” Gavin rubbed the back of his neck, his mouth tight. “What really sucks is the husband, he was dying of cancer, right? On all sorts of pain medication toward the end. And this guy, we know he borrowed heavily against the business, presumably getting Mr. Moore to sign off on it. What kind of person takes advantage of someone like that?”

  “We’ll get him,” David said grimly.

  Gavin nodded. “Hell yeah we will.”

  ***

  Elizabeth and Sheri continued to get their new life in order, working toward making Minnesota their official place of residence. That included taking a driver’s test to get a new license. Using David’s forged documents, they did the whole stand-in-line, deal-with-bureaucracy thing necessary to be official Minnesota drivers. After passing their tests with flying colors, they took care of getting new phone numbers. When they returned to the office, they shared them with the rest of the pack. Elizabeth felt free in that moment, like she’d finally truly cut ties with Kintail and the others. She should have done that right away, though no one had bothered to try to contact her.

  The same wasn’t true for Sheri.

  “I’m glad we got that done,” Sheri said as they settled back behind their desks, looking a little more at ease than she had earlier.

  The phone rang, and Sheri immediately answered it. Her face went pale.

  “What is it?” Elizabeth asked, her stomach clenching.

  Sheri put the call on speakerphone, waving frantically for the others to come listen.

  A low voice echoed through the reception area: “Imagine my surprise to learn you’re answering Cameron’s phone at the office.”

  Kintail. The office was deadly silent, every single PI focused on the voice none of them ever wanted to hear again.

  “What do you want?” Sheri managed to say.

  “You to return home. Your family loves and misses you. So does Bentley. Elizabeth has her own life to live,” Kintail said. The line went dead.

  Before a word could be uttered, two cars pulled up into the parking lot. Elizabeth didn’t need to look to know who it would be. She’d smelled him even before she saw him.