“Okay, sure,” Elizabeth said. “That would be lovely.” She wanted to help at the office, but she figured she might as well get organized here and keep Sheri company.

  It was great having her best friend staying with them, but she wondered what they would do long-term. They’d just gotten there, though, so she wouldn’t worry about it right now.

  “And anytime you want me to take you ladies shopping, just let me know. Both for the garden plants and supplies, but also for clothes or anything else you might need.”

  “That would be great,” Elizabeth said, and Sheri agreed. “Oh,” Elizabeth added, “I’ll need to open a bank account here. I’ll be closing out my checking and savings accounts in Yellowknife.”

  “Me too,” Sheri said. “I’ve been anticipating this for a long time. I’ve pinched every penny I could, getting ready for when we were on the run.” She laughed. “Guess I didn’t need to after all. Here I thought we’d need to rent cars, stay in hotels, be the on lam for a while, you know? I never planned to go high class in David’s own private plane.”

  Elizabeth laughed with her, though it was tinged with a sense of deep gratitude. So many things could have gone sideways, but they didn’t. Thanks to David and the pack.

  David chuckled. “Only the best for you both.”

  Shopping, swimming, hiking. What a life. And Elizabeth was perfectly willing to take care of things around the cabin while David was working, if he really didn’t need a lot of help at the office. She didn’t want to force herself on him there. Maybe if they only needed one person to help out, Sheri could, because no matter what, Elizabeth didn’t want her to feel like the odd man out.

  “You ready to go?” David asked, getting enthusiastic nods in reply. It turned out to be only a short walk through a wooded area to reach the building. Elizabeth remembered the scent of it from their run: a specific mix of different pack members, all blended together, that was both comforting and new.

  A hand-carved wooden sign with the logo of Arctic wolves and the name WHITE WOLF INVESTIGATIVE SERVICES hung over the front door.

  Elizabeth pointed at it. “Do you ever have shifters contact you to do investigations for them because they think you’re shifters like them?”

  “A couple of times. But we don’t have that many wolves in the area. No wolf packs but ours. Still, we’ve had a couple of cases like that. It’s interesting because they have to come in and actually see us to learn by scent if we’re wolves or not. Once, we had a red wolf shifter family drop by who were moving from North Carolina, visiting this area, and they wanted to know if we knew where any red wolf packs were located. They were thrilled we knew about the pack out of Portland, Oregon.”

  “Leidolf’s pack,” Elizabeth said. “I remember when he aided you against the werewolf hunters and my pack.”

  “Yeah. Once they confirmed we were who they thought we were, we met the whole family. We ended up having a feast for them before they left the area.”

  “Oh, how nice,” Sheri said. “I doubt Kintail would have done that for a wolf family passing through. In fact, I know he wouldn’t have done that.”

  “I agree,” Elizabeth said.

  “It never hurts to make friends with other wolves. You never know when it can come back to you in a good way,” David said. “But we get cases from nonwolves all the time too.

  “There was a man who asked us to help him locate his wolf dog that kept digging out or jumping his fence. He figured since we ‘loved’ wolves, as evidenced by the name of our company, we would be sympathetic to his cause. Or that we even had some wolf dogs we were raising of our own.”

  “And you found the dog?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Yeah, easily. We took one of our ‘wolf dogs’ and tracked him down in the country. It’s easier as a wolf to track a missing dog.”

  Inside he showed them around a spacious reception area surrounded by individual offices for each of the PIs. The rooms had windows looking into the reception area, but with blinds they could close for privacy. There was also a bathroom and a kitchen, a couple of supply closets, and an empty room that looked like it could be office space if someone else joined them.

  It really was a nice setup.

  David took some stairs leading down, talking over his shoulder. “And here’s the basement. It’s full size and furnished for guests who come to visit, families, and for us when we want a big indoor room for parties, especially in the winter. Most of the time in the summer, we just all meet outdoors. But it has a full bathroom, and we’ve even been known to come down here if we turn into our wolf halves when we least expect it.”

  The lights switched on, showcasing a lodge-like recreation room. The walls were white paneling, the sofas all in light blues, making the huge expanse airy and light, even though the basement had no windows. But a couple of framed paintings of views of the lake made it appear as though they were looking out at a shimmering expanse of water.

  “Oh, wow,” Elizabeth said. “This is beautiful.”

  A table for eight and a kitchen was down here, too, as well as a big-screen TV on one wall. They checked out the bathroom, which was standard-sized with a shower and tub combo, a single pedestal sink, and a toilet.

  “This is a really lovely space for guests and family,” Sheri said.

  “We have a separate entrance through there, and a wolf door too. We also have one upstairs on the side door I forgot to show you, just in case one of us needs to come and go as a wolf,” David said.

  Elizabeth was thinking that if Sheri got tired of staying with her and David, she could come here, maybe, unless they wanted to keep it available for other emergencies.

  On the way back up the stairs, David explained that Gavin and Owen were out on a couple of jobs but were expected back soon. Cameron was on the phone in his office, and David checked his messages. “It looks like the guys are handling everything, but with only one person in the office, I’ll stay here for a bit.”

  “Is there anything you want us to do?” Elizabeth asked, eager to start pitching in.

  ***

  David still couldn’t believe Elizabeth was here with him finally, and having her and Sheri wanting to help with the office was the perfect plan. “Give yourself a minute to breathe,” he said. “You just got here, no one expects you to jump right in. You can come over with me in the morning, and I can show you what you could do. But I don’t want you to feel you have to do anything now. Trust me, there will be plenty of time to work.”

  His phone started ringing.

  David wanted to go overboard to make the two women feel welcome, to choose to stay forever with his pack, to ensure that Elizabeth sought to mate him when she felt the time was right. But he didn’t intend to seem too desperate or make them believe it would always be like that—always playing and just having fun when he had to work. He needed them to feel comfortable with him when things would be more routine.

  “Okay, thanks, David, we will.” Elizabeth kissed him, then she and Sheri headed back to the house, leaving him to it.

  “This is David Davis, White Wolf Investigative Services, how may I help you?”

  “My name is Jimmy Warner and I need help. My dad has gone missing.”

  “Tell me a little about what’s going on.”

  “This is going to sound weird, but my father ran away or something. The police won’t do anything because there’s no evidence of foul play and he’s an adult… You probably know the drill. The thing is, he’s threatened to leave when he’s had fights with my mother before, but he never did. Well, maybe for a couple of hours, but it’s been three days now, and it’s like he vanished into thin air. No one’s seen him, no calls, texts, nothing.”

  “His name?”

  “Mel Warner. He’s a baker at Olson’s Bakery. He hasn’t returned to work, and his boss and coworkers are just as concerned.”

  “Age?” David asked.

  “Seventeen. Oh, you mean my dad’s. He’s forty-two. I tell you, he wouldn’t leave, not like this. I have a fourteen-year-old sister he adores.”

  “And you?”

  “Yeah, we get along fine. It’s just Mom he has issues with.”

  A lot of men left their families because they couldn’t get along with their spouses and left their kids behind too. So David could get why the police weren’t concerned.

  “Gut feeling?” David asked. That was something the police didn’t believe in, but if a family member had a gut feeling about the situation, David and his partners always listened. It wasn’t something they did just because they were wolves either. They’d always paid attention to their own instincts and had better results because of it.

  “I think something’s happened to him. I don’t think he’s been kidnapped or anything because wouldn’t there be a ransom asking for his return? We don’t have that much money, so he couldn’t have been taken to, say, open a bank safe or whatever. Or give them secrets they could sell to the Russians or something crazy like that. But something’s definitely not right. I just know it.”

  “Did you notice any changes in his behavior leading up to his disappearance?”

  “You mean was he seeing another woman? I considered it. I love my mom, but if my dad could find someone who he cared about who wasn’t nagging him all the time, then maybe he would leave my mom for another woman. But his mom cheated on his dad and he never forgave her for it. So I just don’t see him doing that to my mom. Besides, he wouldn’t just disappear like that. He’d file for divorce. I’m sure of it.”

  David grabbed a pen and legal pad off his desk. “Can you give me a quick description of him? What he might have been wearing the last time anyone saw him? Your address and your dad’s cell, if he had one?”

  Jimmy rattled off a description, David writing as he went.

  “Okay. Got it.”

  The next topic, he already knew, would be a challenging one: payment. David was afraid money would be an issue. But they had taken cases where they cut their fees just to help someone out who couldn’t afford it.

  The kid answered the unasked question in his next breath: “About the money… My mom won’t pay for it.”

  Even worse that his mother, who was the adult, hadn’t been the one to contract with them to conduct the investigation. David created a mental list of to-dos in this mind. One of the first items on the list? Having a little conversation with the mom.

  “But I have a job in a hardware store after school,” Jimmy continued. “I’ll hire your services and pay you back as soon as I can.”

  “We’ll talk about the financial aspect later.” If David could find the boy’s father and put his mind at rest, he would do it, even if they didn’t ever get paid. They had to be careful they didn’t take on too many free cases, or word would get out and that’s all they would get. But in a situation like this, he felt compelled to take the case and learn what he could.

  “But I want to do this, and if I have to, I’ll try to get crowdfunding for it. But I have to do it,” he repeated.

  David could hear the anguish in his voice. “If we find your dad and he’s perfectly fine, we can have him pay for our services to locate him. How does that sound?” Not that the dad would have to pay their agency anything, because technically he hadn’t contracted them to find him, but David wanted to set the son’s mind at ease.

  “Oh, yeah, okay, sure. That would work.” Then Jimmy was quiet for a moment. “And if he’s not okay?”

  “Then we’ll do this for free. How does that sound?”

  “Uh, well, I’ll still pay you for your help. If you find him, no matter what the deal is, you need to pay for expenses. So you just let me know what they are when the time comes.”

  “I will, Jimmy. You said he works at Olson’s Bakery?”

  “Yeah, on Main Street. He’s worked there for years and has never been in any trouble. Everyone really likes him. In fact, he has tons of friends. It’s just Mom who gets on his nerves.”

  Sounded like a match made in heaven. Not.

  “I’ll get right on it.”

  “Okay. My sister and I put up a hundred flyers, but we haven’t had any response. I’ll send you his photo.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be over to talk to your mom and sister soon.”

  “Okay, thanks. I’ve got to get to work. I’ll let you know if anyone gets in touch with me with any information that might help.”

  “Sounds good, Jimmy. Same here.” David hung up the phone, then picked it right back up again.

  In any missing person case, the first call was always to the hospitals. Best-case scenario, Mel Warner was laid up somewhere, already on the mend.

  Worst-case scenario? A follow-up call to the county morgue.

  Chapter 9

  “So, give me the full scoop. How are things going between you and David?” Sheri smiled as she helped Elizabeth hang up more of her clothes.

  “Good.” Elizabeth couldn’t help smiling.

  “Seems like maybe it’s better than good, eh?” Sheri raised her eyebrows a bit. “I’m so happy for you. I really couldn’t imagine how you could feel that way about a man you had only seen for such a short time and then you had left behind. I suspected you’d been keeping in touch, but even then, it’s not the same as truly living with the person. But when I saw you two together, I knew you had something special going on. I think it’s pretty clear to everyone around you that you are meant to be together,” Sheri said.

  “It’s still not a done deal, but I’m hoping it works out between us.” She repeated the same line she’d been telling herself ever since she and David first met. “We just need time to get to know each other better first.”

  “Yeah, right. I mean, I see your point, but man, if some hot wolf like David was that in lust and love with me? I would mate him in a heartbeat. Then again, that’s the difference between the two of us. I started dating Bentley on a lark, and now he thinks I’m his forever, when the feeling’s not mutual in the least bit.” Sheri hung up another of Elizabeth’s shirts. “It’s not the same with you and David. Oh, and I love the wolves we’ve met in the pack already. Everyone is so nice. It just feels so different from the way Kintail would have treated them, had he forced them to remain with the pack.”

  “Yeah, I tried to tell you that, but seeing is believing. I was with them back then. I saw the way they were treated. But you haven’t known any packs other than ours or known any other leader besides Kintail. With this pack, it’s more democratic since they were all turned about the same time and fumbling in the dark about how to manage their lives.”

  “I think we can be a real help to them, don’t you?”

  Elizabeth smiled at her friend. “Yeah, I do.”

  ***

  That evening, David, Elizabeth, and Sheri arrived at Cameron and Faith’s cabin, ready to enjoy the barbecue feast their pack leaders had set out.

  This was the first time they had seen the couple’s three kids—Corey, Nick, and Angie—and both Elizabeth and Sheri were delighted.

  “I bet you enjoy having the kids,” Elizabeth said, realizing just how much she would love to have some too.

  “Oh, yeah,” Faith said. “It’s made for some really interesting times. David has probably told you about some of our adventures.”

  Elizabeth smiled. “He did. But it all seems worth it, even the bad times.”

  Faith gazed affectionately at her offspring. “It really is.”

  Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, welcoming them as if they were already family. Amelia gave both Elizabeth and Sheri big hugs when she saw them, introducing them to her mate, Gavin, and wanting to hear all about their first day. “By the way,” Amelia said, “Slade should be joining us soon. He got held up with some bad weather and had to circle before he could finally get back on his route.” Amelia made room for a big Saint Bernard, who was checking Elizabeth and Sheri out. “This is Winston. I was taking him on a flight to drop him off with a new family, but we crashed in a lake.”

  “Oh, no,” Elizabeth said, Sheri looking just as shocked. Especially since Amelia had helped pilot the plane here.

  “Anyway, he lost out on his new home and made it with us instead, which we were glad for.” She gave him a hearty belly rub. “Everyone loves him and he bounces around from one house to another, getting all kinds of loving.”

  The kids were hugging on him and he appeared good-natured, licking their faces and nipping at them in friendly play.

  Faith handed Elizabeth and Sheri drinks. “We hope you’re staying for good,” she said. “Not only because we care about you for all that you did for us, but because you’re fun to be with and David has been missing you horribly. And Sheri, we’re so glad you’re here too. We want you to be part of our pack.”

  “We love it here already,” Elizabeth said.

  “Oh, I so agree. What a difference all of you make,” Sheri said.

  “David tells us you’d like to help out at the agency,” Cameron said. “We couldn’t be happier. When we have our shifting issues, with all of us taking turns, man, we would have it covered. Right now, we’re losing some business because of our erratic schedule during the full-moon phase. You wouldn’t believe the number of calls we get during those few days.”

  Elizabeth was so glad she and Sheri could actually help them, especially with shifting problems—and really anything they might still be learning to control with their wolf halves.

  “And we’ll help you in any way we can to ensure you have all the credentialing you need to work as full-time PIs,” Cameron said.

  Elizabeth’s jaw dropped. Her gaze collided with Sheri’s, and her friend’s entire face glowed. They wanted them to be actual PIs?