When they returned, Blake had some clothes for Luke. “You can change in the guest room over there.” Blake and Nicole had liked Roxie’s home’s layout so well—with a separate guest room on the first floor while the family had their bedrooms on the second floor—that they built their home in a similar configuration. Blake carried the clothes into the guest room, and Luke followed him in there.

  Blake returned to the living room as they heard the guest room door close, and he smiled at the rest of them. “At least you found the boy, if that’s the one we were looking for.”

  “He is. And yeah, I’m so thankful for that. I’m sure you don’t find teens on their own like this that you don’t recognize very often,” Dylan said. “I guess he’ll take care of the rest of your leftovers.”

  Everyone smiled at the comment.

  Landon was still rocking his babies.

  “It’s time for us to get the twins to bed,” Gabrielle said, and she and Nicole began getting Landon and Gabrielle’s baby stuff together to pack up in the van.

  Then Landon stood up from the rocker, cradling the two babies. Everyone said good night to them. Roxie knew Landon and Gabrielle would want to learn what was going on with Luke, but they needed to get their babies to bed, and she suspected they felt that having fewer people there would be easier on Luke. At least Roxie felt that it would be.

  Kayla and Nicole went out to help Landon and Gabrielle with the babies’ diaper bags, baby carrier backpacks, and pet carrier backpacks while the parents strapped the babies into their car seats.

  In the meantime, Roxie was on the phone, calling the sheriff while she watched out the window as the others packed up the van. “Hey, Peter, Luke is here. We howled to let everyone know we found him, but we needed to get him to Blake’s house to feed him and clothe him. He’s getting dressed in some of Blake’s clothes, and then he’s going to have dinner here.”

  “I’ll be over as soon as I take care of an issue with the drunk skiers at the jail.”

  Roxie was wondering what that was all about as she heard shouting and cursing in the background on the phone. Then they ended their call. “The sheriff’s coming to see Luke as soon as he can get here. He said he was having some issues with the drunks he incarcerated.”

  Nicole and Kayla had returned to the house after seeing Landon and Gabrielle off. Nicole started heating up the leftovers for the teen.

  “I’m not surprised,” Dylan said. “They need to sleep it off.”

  Blake said, “While Luke is getting dressed, does anybody want another cocktail like the ones I fixed earlier?”

  “Yeah, I could have one,” Dylan said.

  “Me too,” Roxie said.

  “Not me. I’ll have a glass of milk.” Nicole started bringing the leftover food out of the fridge.

  Blake mixed them up some drinks, and then Luke came out of the guest room and joined them in the dining room. Introductions were made all around.

  “Come, sit here,” Nicole said. “Pot roast? Mashed potatoes? Gravy? Carrots?”

  “Yeah, all of that would be great, thanks.” Luke ran his hands through his long, curly blond hair and then took a seat at the dining room table.

  Nicole began serving the warmed-up food for Luke. “Do you want water, milk, a soda?”

  “Water and milk, thanks.”

  Blake got Nicole and Luke some milk. Everyone joined Luke at the table while Nicole brought him a glass of water. “How…how did you know my name?” Luke asked.

  “We found your ID in your tent,” Dylan said. “I had been searching for the hunters earlier and discovered they’d illegally killed an elk. I’m a special agent with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. So anyone who does illegal stuff like that, I arrest them for it.”

  “They did more than that,” Luke said, scarfing down another forkful of gravy-covered mashed potatoes.

  “We found the hunter’s body. Did one of the men with him shoot him?” Dylan asked.

  “Yeah. I was tenting not that far away. I heard them shoot something farther away than that, and I didn’t know what to do. Remain in my human form and hope they didn’t shoot me accidentally, thinking I was prey? Wear my wolf coat and get out of their sight? But then I heard them arguing with each other, and I went to check it out as a human. Wolf’s curiosity. I heard one of the men accusing the other of seeing his girlfriend behind his back. Then the one guy said, ‘Don’t do it, Jim.’ Then Jim shot the other guy, and I ran away so I didn’t see what happened after that. I was so afraid they’d hear me running through the snow. You know with our enhanced hearing, it sounds so much louder. They might not have heard me at all.

  “When I reached my tent, I was afraid I couldn’t pack it up fast enough to get away from there. But for a moment, I just stared at it, not knowing what to do. Everything I had was in the tent, and I didn’t want to lose it. But I figured they’d catch me too easily, shoot me if they thought I’d seen the murder of the other hunter, if I tried to run off as a human. I got inside my tent to strip off my clothes since I was also scared they’d see me shift. I stripped off my clothes as fast as I could. I shifted, tore out of my tent, hating to leave it behind, and ran off as a wolf.”

  “Did you hear us calling for you earlier? We were searching for you, trying to locate you and put you in protective custody,” Dylan said.

  “Sure. I heard men shouting my name way off in the distance. The thing of it was I didn’t know if it was the guys who killed the other man and they found my ID in my tent. They could have been calling my name, acting as though they wanted to help me. I mean, I had no idea anyone had found the dead man and was searching for me.” Luke cut off another slice of roast. He was eating like he hadn’t eaten in years. Poor kid.

  “Okay, that’s totally understandable. I would have worried about the same thing if I’d been in your shoes.” Dylan sipped from his drink. “What made you take a chance with us?”

  “I smelled your scent from before. I knew you were a shifter. So I figured you would be one of the good guys. The hunters were all human.”

  Roxie cleared her throat. “Why were you out there on your own? You’re from Denver, your instruction permit said.”

  “Uh…” Luke didn’t say anything. He drank some of his milk.

  “Your parents. Aren’t they worried about you?” Dylan asked.

  Tears filled Luke’s eyes and he shook his head.

  “Okay, look, I lost my parents when I was sixteen,” Dylan said. “If something like that has happened to you—”

  Luke’s eyes widened.

  Dylan explained, “Yeah, so I didn’t want to end up in human foster care. I didn’t have any other family to take me in.”

  “Oh.”

  “So I lived as a mountain man until I was old enough to claim my inheritance.”

  Luke smiled, appearing to like the idea. But it hadn’t been safe or fun—all the time—to live that kind of existence.

  “Anyway, if that’s the situation with you, it doesn’t have to be. I’m sure lots of wolf families here would love to take you in,” Dylan said.

  “We sure would. You can stay with us tonight,” Kayla said. “Or you could stay here with Blake and Nicole, but you would probably hear the babies waking my brother and sister-in-law up all night.”

  Luke smiled again.

  “You could stay with me,” Roxie said. “I live in the house next door in that direction. We’re all family.”

  Her family didn’t look happy that she was offering for the teen to stay with her by herself.

  “I could stay with you both,” Dylan said. “With Roxie and you.”

  Blake raised his brows.

  “I’m a special agent with a license to carry. I can protect them both,” Dylan said, defending his offer.

  “Jim tried to kill you,” Blake reminded him. “You’re as much of a target as the boy could be.”

  “The hunter tried to kill you?” Luke asked, his eyes huge.

  Dylan couldn’t argue with Roxie’s brother about that. “Yeah, Luke, but I’m hard to kill.”

  Roxie rolled her eyes.

  Chapter 7

  Dylan realized as soon as he said he’d stay with the boy and Roxie that he was in for a negative reaction. Roxie looked surprised he’d say he’d stay with her when she hadn’t invited him, and it was true he was a target, should Jim still be out to silence him. Or maybe even one of Jim’s friends would make the attempt this time.

  “That’s true, Blake. Sorry, I should haven’t invited myself to stay at Roxie’s house anyway without her invitation,” Dylan said.

  “You’re welcome to stay with me,” Roxie quickly said, throwing him a lifeline when he felt he was quickly sinking in quicksand. “I can also take care of trouble if we should have any at the house, since I was in the army.”

  Dylan figured she’d mentioned it for Luke’s benefit, and he guessed that was how she was able to take down one of the big men in the lodge’s lobby who’d had too much to drink.

  “The army, cool.” Luke asked for seconds of everything but looked at Roxie’s blackened eye.

  “I received that in the line of duty, but the woman and guy who started it are sitting in jail right now.” Roxie smiled at the teen.

  “I…I’ll stay with Roxie and Dylan, if it’s okay with you,” Luke said, addressing Blake as if he was the authority here.

  Dylan would rather stay on Blake’s good side. When he worked around wolves, he preferred to work with them, certainly not against them.

  “Or you could stay with us,” Kayla said, offering her and Nate’s house for lodging again.

  “I’d like to stay with Dylan and Roxie if it’s all right with everyone,” Luke said.

  Blake let out his breath. “Yeah, sure, if Roxie’s fine with it. If you have any trouble at all—”

  “We’ll call you and everyone else in Silver Town, guaranteed,” Roxie said.

  At least here, the wolves would all help each other out as a pack. In Denver, Dylan had to rely on the police for assistance. After Luke finished eating supper, Nicole served him double portions of pie topped with whipped cream. He scarfed up both pieces in record time too.

  “How long have you been living in the woods?” Roxie asked.

  “For a week.”

  Dylan assumed Luke hadn’t been getting enough to eat and running off whatever he managed to eat, as thin as he looked.

  It was getting to be midnight, and they needed to get to bed. Everyone said good night, and then Roxie, Dylan, and Luke put on their parkas and headed out into the snow to walk over to her place.

  “You don’t have your bag at my place,” Roxie reminded Dylan.

  “Uh, yeah. I can run over and get it in the morning.”

  “I don’t have my stuff,” Luke said.

  “Oh, the sheriff had it all packed up and took it in for safekeeping.” Roxie got on her phone and called the sheriff. “Luke’s staying with me. Can someone drop off his clothes at my place, Peter?” She pulled out her keys and unlocked her front door.

  They all headed inside.

  Dylan locked the door after them. He was surprised the sheriff hadn’t already come to talk to Luke.

  “Uh, yeah.” She glanced at Dylan. “Dylan’s staying with me too. All right. Thanks.” She ended the call. “Sheriff Peter Jorgenson will bring your things to the house, Luke.”

  “Oh, great. So you said that you were a mountain man?” Luke asked Dylan, sounding really interested in his story.

  Dylan was amused. Maybe that was why Luke wanted to stay with him for the night. “It was a way for me to have some freedom as a wolf and not have human foster parents take me in who wouldn’t understand a wolf shifter’s needs.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of. So where did you live?” Luke asked.

  “I lived in a tent but turned into my wolf when it was too cold. As a wolf, I could eat what I caught, which meant I did lots of fishing and could drink water wherever I could, unlike humans who would have to filter it or boil it. I ran in the San Isabel National Forest near here so that I couldn’t be hunted—legally, anyway. I hid my tent and backpack in a cave and moved it sometimes, just so I wouldn’t lose my belongings to somebody who might run across them. You know how much of a disaster that could be. Sometimes, I’d bury my things.

  “Living like that wasn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I had to keep out of sight of hunters. I ran into a sow and her cubs once, and she chased me off before I ended up getting killed over it. I ran into a pack of wild wolves another time, and they weren’t really receptive to my being in their territory. I never ran into wolf shifters. No one who could help me like the people of Silver Town can assist you. By the time I was eighteen and could live on my own in Denver again, I had grown a lot. My clothes were a little too small for me.”

  Luke laughed. “I think that is so cool. Can you take me in?” Luke sounded hopeful.

  “Uh, I’m from Denver. After this job, I’ll be taking on another assignment, so I’m not sure where I’ll be exactly.”

  Then there was a knock on the door and Roxie went to answer it. “Peter is here.” She opened the door for him, and he came in, carrying Luke’s tent and all his gear.

  “Hey, good to see you,” Peter said to Luke. “I got held up on a case, or I would have been here earlier. Okay, can you tell me what you saw exactly, Luke?”

  Then they all sat in the living room so they could talk.

  Luke told the sheriff all the details he had given Dylan and the others at Blake and Nicole’s house. Then he described the men as much as he could to the sheriff.

  “Jim was the shooter then,” Dylan said, listening carefully to Luke’s description. Tall, dark-haired, with a beard. Luke hadn’t seen his eyes, but he was wearing the gray knit hat that he always did. Fennel was dark-haired and bearded like Jim. Xander was red-bearded and red-haired. And Eddie was the blond-haired, bearded man—the one in the shallow grave.

  Luke explained how he had left home after learning his parents had died in a car crash and he hadn’t wanted to be taken into foster care. So he might be listed as a missing teen out of Denver.

  “We’ll take care of that. We have ways of updating records and, guess what, you found relatives that you didn’t know about until then and they’re taking you in. We’ll have you adopted so you’re legit, but we can let you live with different families until you find one that you truly enjoy being with,” Peter said.

  “Dylan. That’s who I want to be with. He’s like me. He has the same background as me. He knows what I’m going through,” Luke said.

  “He’s not from here,” Peter said, casting a look in Dylan’s direction as if he was assuring himself that Dylan hadn’t decided to stay here and he didn’t know about it.

  Dylan said, “He’s right.”

  “But you could move here, couldn’t you? And live with her?” Luke motioned to Roxie. “I could live with the two of you then.” He looked so hopeful that Dylan would agree.

  Roxie chuckled. “Hey, it’s late. Peter, if you don’t have any other questions for Luke at this point, he needs to get to bed. So do Dylan and I. Dylan, you can sleep in any of my siblings’ bedrooms. It’s your choice. Luke, you can sleep in the guest room in there.” She motioned to the room on the first floor.

  “Thanks, Roxie.” Luke sounded a little unsettled as if he had hoped they’d go along with his idea that they would adopt him right away and things weren’t working out as he’d planned.

  “Okay, I’ll see you all later. Oh, if you could, I need your phone number so I can call you if something happens or I need any more information from you,” Peter said to Luke. “You too, Dylan.”

  They both shared their phone numbers with Peter and then he frowned at Roxie. “The guy who punched you is up on assault and battery charges. The same with the girl who tried to kick you and the other man who tried to hit you. The other woman also, for striking your brothers for trying to get her drunken friends under control until law enforcement arrived.”

  “Good. So they’re getting some jail time?” Dylan asked.

  “Yep. That’s the thing with our justice system here—defense attorneys, the prosecutor, the judge, they’re all wolves. Humans who create issues in our town don’t stand a chance. These four are also banned from the lodge. Their stuff has been cleared out and they’ll be escorted out of town in three days,” Peter said.

  “Oh, I love it here already,” Luke said.

  “Yeah, we’ll link you up with some other teens so you’ll have some friends here too,” Peter said.

  “That would be great. Maybe someone can go skiing with me? If someone can pay my ski pass and for the ski rentals,” Luke said, suddenly sounding really cheered about being here.

  “Maybe Roxie can help. She’s part owner of a ski lodge.” Dylan was glad Luke wasn’t thinking the life of a mountain man would be even better than staying with a family here in Silver Town. He needed a stable environment, family to take care of him, friends to socialize with, not like Dylan who had missed out on all that when he was on his own for two years.

  “Be talking with you.” Peter left.

  “I’m really tired. I’m going to bed. Thanks for letting me stay here.” Luke picked up his bags.

  “You’re welcome,” Roxie said.

  Luke went into the guest room with his bags. They soon heard him showering while Roxie led Dylan upstairs.

  “My room is the master bedroom at the end of the hall. If you need anything, feel free to help yourself. If you start to feel poorly—the doctor said head injuries could cause trouble days after the injury occurred even—let me know and I’ll get you to the clinic.”

  “Thanks, and, uh, sorry about inviting myself over to your place.”

  She chuckled. “I know you did it because you wanted Luke to feel comfortable and he wanted to stay with you. And you wanted to stay with me, you know, because I can keep an eye on you if you have any medical issues and because I saved your life before.”