To David’s surprise, Elizabeth and Sheri stepped outside, joining David and Hans as a unified force.

  “We’re staying,” Sheri said.

  “She’s right,” Hans said. “We’re staying.”

  David sensed the smallest ripple of surprise run through his pack. He sniffed, searching for a hidden agenda, a ruse, maybe a plan to infiltrate their pack and steal Sheri away when they were least expecting it. A wolf in sheep’s clothing came to mind, so to speak.

  But he smelled no subterfuge.

  Proof of his sincerity came in Kintail’s shocked expression, his lips parting, a scowl spreading across his face. “How do you think your parents will feel about this when they learn both you and your sister have abandoned them?”

  Hans scoffed. “Mom and Dad are showing us their support and intend to join the pack.”

  David glanced at Hans. Hell, he’d better not be saying so if Sheri’s parents weren’t truly making plans like that.

  But Sheri nodded, too, and Cameron said, “Yeah, it’s true. Fred and Georgia asked if they could join the pack, and we are happy to accept them as one of us. Family sticks together.”

  Kintail’s mouth gaped again; then he closed it and turned a hard gaze on Leidolf, who shrugged and said, “It’s your own doing. Sure, we have to be in charge and show who’s boss—especially to upstarts in the pack. But at some point, we have to know when to let go of pack members who are ready to spread their wings and do something new. Wolves in the wild do it all the time. It might not be a perfect situation, but you’ve helped to make this happen.”

  Leidolf spoke the truth. Whenever he had something to say, everyone listened. Even Kintail seemed to respect him.

  Now it was left to see if Kintail would pay attention.

  The fact of the matter was the packs needed to get along. All of them. To fight the rogue wolves together—and most important, to work together to keep their secret from humans. The wolf shifter packs shouldn’t be fighting each other. But it was innate, David had learned, because of their wolf instincts. Especially for the royals. To preserve their territory.

  For regular wolves, it meant having enough food to eat for the mated alpha pair’s offspring and the pack. It meant the pack taking care of the pack leaders’ pups to ensure the continuation of their pack. Lupus garous didn’t have only one alpha pair in the pack, only one alpha couple leading the pack, and only the leaders having offspring. But the wolf shifters were still territorial because of the need to keep control of pack members who might stray from the rules. Someone had to “police” their pack members since they sure didn’t want human law enforcement to get involved in their affairs.

  “Who are you?” Kintail finally asked Uncle Strom, looking like it was killing him not to know why people who smelled like jaguars, not wolves, and one human were in on this too.

  “Jaguar shifters from Texas, and I happen to be Candice’s uncle. Candice is Owen’s mate.”

  “But she’s an Arctic wolf,” Kintail said.

  “Yeah, that’s the way of the world, isn’t it?” Uncle Strom said.

  “What about him?” Kintail jerked a thumb at Rowdy Sanderson, the only human in the bunch.

  “He works with us,” Everett said. “The United Shifter Force. We deal with shifters that cause the jaguars trouble.” Everett gave Kintail a pointed look. “And Rowdy? He’s a homicide detective. But if we have a fight here, I’m sure we could get him to look the other way. A few dead wolves from Yellowknife wouldn’t really be in his jurisdiction, now, would they?” And that was one poignant threat and promise wrapped up with a neat little bow.

  “Do you know what the pounds per square inch bite of a jaguar amounts to? Two hundred. That’s a lot of damage. Believe me, you don’t want to get in the way of their teeth,” Rowdy added.

  Kintail looked to Leidolf like he couldn’t believe he would stand for threats against wolves, regardless of their pack, but Leidolf only smiled.

  David’s shoulders relaxed, tension easing out of him. They had won the match.

  Kintail was still having a difficult time conceding defeat though. But he finally looked at Bentley and said, “Unless you can change Sheri’s mind, she stays here.” Kintail had to have the last word on the matter—at least with his own pack member. He’d played his cards with his wolves, hoping to show he had the power behind him, but he had been outmaneuvered. It appeared Kintail was finally capitulating and no blood had been shed—the best of all situations.

  Bentley glowered at his pack leader, looking mutinous, but he didn’t fight it, ever the loyal wolf.

  “And, Sheri, I promise you that you and your family are welcome to return to the pack at any time, and no one will hold it against you,” Kintail said.

  David didn’t believe it. The pack members would be loyal to the pack leader, and David figured they would treat Sheri’s family—should they return—the same way they had treated Elizabeth: with disdain.

  “Let’s go,” Kintail said. “Unless you have something to say to Sheri before we leave.”

  Bentley looked like he wasn’t sure what to do. His own alpha posturing was taking a hit. He clearly didn’t want to leave things the way they were.

  David imagined his friends would give him a hard time if he didn’t bring her home.

  “Sheri, I want to talk with you.” This time Bentley didn’t sound like he was telling her what to do.

  “Sure,” Sheri said graciously. “In David’s office. Elizabeth can come with me.”

  David and Kintail followed, standing outside the office, making sure Bentley didn’t take his talk with her to violent extremes. It would reflect badly on both Kintail and Bentley if he did, though some of Leidolf’s men were already in the building—and Cameron and Owen went inside too.

  Everybody was quiet, shamelessly eavesdropping to hear what they could between Sheri and Bentley. They didn’t want Bentley to say one thing and then say that he hadn’t said it, or to twist Sheri’s words.

  Chapter 27

  Sheri sat behind David’s desk while Elizabeth stood near her, like a silent guard, and Bentley remained standing, not wanting to take a seat on one of the chairs in front of the desk.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t show you how much I cared for you when I first saw you yesterday,” Bentley said, but the effort was belated, and he didn’t sound sincere in the least.

  “If you had truly cared about me, you would have handled this much differently,” Sheri said.

  “What do I need to do to make it up to you?”

  Elizabeth was surprised he would even make the overture, though she didn’t trust that he wouldn’t be angry all over again with Sheri if she returned with him and didn’t have Cameron’s pack to protect her.

  “If I ever decided to return—” she said.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand to stop him.

  “I would hope that we could be friends. But I don’t believe I would ever return, given the way Elizabeth was treated. You were at the top of the list as far as giving Elizabeth grief every chance you had. She’s my best friend, Bentley. How did you think I would feel about that? That it was okay? Well, it wasn’t okay. And being mated to you would have signaled to her that I thought it was fine with me. I know it would be the same for me if I ever returned. Ostracized. I don’t want that. I won’t put up with it. It would be nice to feel that I could return for a visit because I still have some friends there, and I do still love Yellowknife, but I really doubt it would work. So I’m staying here.”

  “Then you’re not changing your mind about us?”

  She shook her head. “You and Kintail share the same beliefs. I love the way Cameron and his pack are so open to us. We can make decisions on our own and the pack agrees. David told us we could join the pack before he even talked to Cameron about it. It’s like an open community here. Yet they’re protective of and loyal to one another too. It’s the best of both worlds. I wish you all the best, Bentley. But I’ve found a home here.”

  Elizabeth watched the play of emotions across his face, mostly irritation.

  “Cameron and the others wouldn’t welcome me to the pack,” Bentley finally said.

  “Maybe not. Maybe you would stir up problems within the pack on behalf of Kintail. Who knows? And even if they did allow you to join, which they might, I wouldn’t date you anyway. It was never a sure thing between us. Once Elizabeth returned home from Maine and you treated her so shabbily, that cemented the deal for me. I didn’t plan to mate you after that.”

  “That’s why you kept putting off a mating? You were waiting for Elizabeth’s grandmother to die and then you were going to leave with her?”

  “I didn’t know I was going to leave until the last minute. I had my own family to take into consideration, not to mention I worried going with Elizabeth could cause trouble if Kintail stirred up the pack members to come after us.”

  “Fine, I’ll start seeing Olive.”

  Elizabeth and Sheri smiled. That would be news to Olive, another she-wolf in the Yellowknife pack, since she was already dating a wolf.

  “Sure, that’s a great idea,” Sheri said. If it made him feel better to say he was going to date Sheri’s friend, who cared.

  Of course, Olive would have something to say about it. And the guy she was seeing would probably put a stop to that notion really quickly.

  ***

  David was glad when it appeared Bentley was going to give up his wolf-driven need to claim Sheri as his mate whether she wanted it or not. He had to realize that unless she really wanted to go with him, he stood no chance of fighting the combined forces here today.

  Bentley came out of the office fuming mad, despite saying he was dating some she-wolf named Olive next. David wondered if he’d been seeing her behind Sheri’s back, or if he’d just made it up to rile her. Bentley went out of his way to bump into David, as if to say he would fight him wolf to wolf if he ever had a chance, but David just shrugged it off. Bentley wasn’t worth his time. He hoped they wouldn’t see the likes of them—Kintail and his men—again, unless it was on better terms. Which, at this point, David didn’t think would ever happen.

  One of Kintail’s men smiled at Sheri in an interested way. David glanced back at Sheri and saw she was smiling back at the man. Who knew where Sheri would end up, but at least in the end it would be her decision.

  A new car pulled into the parking lot, and Cameron hurried to speak to the driver.

  A potential client? David hoped all the men standing about didn’t scare the client off.

  Before heading back outside, Kintail waited for Cameron to finish his business with the driver of the car, then the driver backed up and took off. Any of the PI partners could have concluded things with Kintail, but he seemed to believe Cameron was the only one he could do real business with.

  “Sheri can return to the pack anytime she wants, Elizabeth too, without any repercussions from the pack members,” Kintail said. “I guarantee it. But if they choose to stay here with you and your pack, I give them my blessing.”

  “And Sheri’s brother and their parents?” David was thinking they would have to go home and straighten out their affairs.

  Kintail gave Hans a hard look, but finally conceded. “Them too.”

  David thought it looked like it pained Kintail to say so. David wasn’t sure if Kintail was softening his stance against the situation because he was afraid he might lose more pack members due to his totalitarian rule, or he was really coming around and wanted to effect some change in his pack. David hoped the latter, for his people’s sake.

  Kintail and his men departed, though Bentley cast David a killing look before he got into one of the vehicles and they drove off.

  “Do you think it’s over?” Uncle Strom asked.

  “Maybe, but I doubt it,” Leidolf said. “Kintail likes being in control. Seeing his people leave him to join another pack? Even the best of us wolf leaders can feel we’re losing our people because we’ve done something wrong in governing them. We can’t all be democratic like Cameron and his pack. They’re unique because they have been friends for years. Cameron is just the emergent leader, but everyone has as much of a say in what goes on with their pack as he does. It works for them. The same isn’t true for other packs. As wolves, the concept of pack leadership is innate but reinforced by pack behavior as the kids grow up. With Cameron and his friends, it’s still a foreign concept.”

  “Well, I for one feel all this is a step in the right direction,” Candice said. “Now that you all are here, it’s time to have a celebratory feast.”

  But more than that. They would run as wolves, and jaguars, renew friendships, and show that sometimes change was good—and having friends was even better.

  Hans lightly grabbed his sister’s arm and said, “I’m truly sorry I sided with Kintail.”

  “You did what you thought was right as far as the pack goes. And maybe”—Sheri shrugged—“you believed I needed rescuing from Elizabeth. I know you. If you thought you could convince me to change my mind about staying here, you would have. Then you would have been in good stead with the pack leader, our parents—”

  “But not with you. I could have made you miserable.” Hans looked like he really regretted having come to force the issue of her returning with him.

  “What about you, with staying here with us now?” Sheri asked, sounding genuinely concerned that he had made the right choice too.

  “I can become a CPA, something I have always wanted to do. I can take care of the agency’s taxes and financial records, maybe even start my own CPA business,” Hans said. “Despite what Kintail says, there’s really no going back to Yellowknife for any of us. I don’t believe he will change overnight like that to accommodate just our family. So I’m going to set up a practice here and make it work.”

  Sheri hugged her brother. “I’m glad. Are Mom and Dad really staying here with us?”

  “They are. They wouldn’t stay in the toxic environment of the Arctic pack now that both of us have left. They’ll be bad-mouthed for sure that they raised such traitorous children. I hope that Kintail is true to his word about allowing his pack members to come and go as he says, and we’ll have to deal with leaving everything we owned behind and see if there’s a way to sell our properties and change bank accounts and all that without returning, because I highly doubt he’ll live by his word.” Hans hugged her back.

  “You can use my real estate agent,” Elizabeth said. “And we know just where you can set up your bank account.”

  “And the pack will get you and Mom and Dad passports, birth certificates, everything you need to be American citizens living near Ely, Minnesota,” Sheri said.

  David was glad to see the sister and brother reunited. “By the way,” David said, “what was the deal with the guy who was smiling so much at you?”

  Sheri sighed. “He was suitor number two if I had dumped Bentley. I’m not in the least bit interested in him, but I figured it would irk Bentley if he noticed. Payback.”

  David hoped she wasn’t really interested in the guy. He could just imagine the wolf coming to join them; they would be at issue with Kintail all over again for losing another pack member. Best to leave things the way they were already.

  Even though the office was still open for the day, Faith was getting everyone to come to their home to have refreshments and go for a swim in the meantime.

  He was glad she was taking charge. Sheri looked like she wanted to go with them. “Go,” David said. “Have fun. You deserve it.”

  “Thanks, David. What about Elizabeth?” Sheri asked.

  “I’m staying here until they shut the office down for the night,” Elizabeth said.

  “Okay. I’ll see you later, then.” Sheri hesitated. “Unless you need me too, David.”

  “No, we’re good.”

  Even though Cameron and Owen had family among those who had arrived, and David knew they wanted to visit with them because no telling when they would see them again, Cameron said, “I’ve got a case I need to start working on.”

  “What is it?”

  “A case of a missing donkey. It was all over the news that you captured the llama and returned it to the farmer the week before you rescued Elizabeth and Sheri. Now a donkey goes on the lam, and the first one they thought of was you and our investigative agency.”

  “Do you want me to handle it?” David asked.

  “No. I need to prove I can find missing farm animals too.”

  Owen and Gavin laughed just as the phone rang; Elizabeth immediately answered it. “A stray donkey was spied at a lake near here,” she relayed. “Can’t imagine there are too many missing donkeys out there, so I’m guessing this is your guy. Or girl.”

  “I’m on it,” Cameron said, getting the location.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Gavin asked.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  David and Elizabeth got to work on the cheating husband case. Elizabeth had taken a different tack and started searching whatever she could concerning the wife. And then she had it. “Hey, can we solicit work from someone who hasn’t hired us to check on a cheating spouse?”

  David smiled at her. “Not normally. Clients come to us, not the other way around. Why?”

  “Okay, well, you couldn’t find anything on the cheating husband, right? Seems like he’s not cheating on her. He’s a stand-up guy. He would make a decent wolf mate if he were a wolf. But his wife, on the other hand, has a lover. So to me, it sounds like she’s either projecting what she’s doing on him, or maybe she’s trying to build a case against him so she can leave him for this other guy,” Elizabeth said.

  David went to her desk to see all the information she’d collected on the wife. “Hot damn, you’re already a hotshot investigator and you just started working here.”