Cassie shook her head and narrowed her eyes at Leidolf.
Elgin smiled broadly. "Yeah, I'll be best man at the wedding."
Motioning to the other men, Carver spoke up, "We're all Leidolf's groomsmen."
Alex closed his gaping mouth. Poor bastard was outnumbered and outmaneuvered. It paid at times like this to be a member of a werewolf pack.
"Cassie's at home in bed where she ought to be, safe and sound. But now I need to get Red to the vet to take care of her injury. And lock her up so that she doesn't get loose and hurt herself further." Leidolf gave her a pointed look. "Fergus, take Alex to his truck, will you?"
Alex looked back at Cassie. "I'd like to drop by and tell Cassie congratulations on her upcoming marriage and see Red when she's healed up. Where did you say they'd be staying?"
"Fergus?" Leidolf said, not about to let this guy get anywhere near Cassie again, if he could help it.
"Come on," Fergus said, leading the way with his small penlight.
Alex walked behind him in the direction of the turnout, muttering under his breath, "I don't know how you could see anything in this dark. Your light is even smaller than mine." Suddenly he stopped and turned. "What about the other wolves?"
Leidolf felt the tension in the air renew among his pack members. "What other wolves?" He tried to curb his agitation that the guy would continue to question him.
Alex stiffened and gave Leidolf a look like he wasn't that dumb. "I'm a wolf biologist by trade. At least two other wolves were in the vicinity where the men from the zoo were tranquilized. As evidenced by the tracks they left behind, the wolves ran beside the men, who most likely drugged the guys from the zoo. So where are the other wolves?"
"Take him back to his vehicle, Fergus." Hell, what else could Leidolf say? He had a pack of wolves at the ranch--but he didn't have a license to keep wild animals on the premises? He didn't have any other wolves--and Alex would know he was lying? At least he assumed the man would know the difference between wolf tracks and dog's or even hybrid wolf-dog tracks. Unless the animals were more wolf than dog.
Besides, he would be damned if he'd explain anything to a wannabe lover of Cassie's.
Alex snorted. "All right." He turned and headed off with Fergus in the direction of his truck.
Once they were beyond earshot, Elgin warned, "He believes we have a whole pack of wolves back at the ranch."
Leidolf frowned at Elgin. "I'm not changing another damn human and taking him into the pack. Sure as hell not when the guy has the hots for Cassie."
"You don't think he'll learn too much, do you?" Carver asked, and the dark expression on his face said he'd take care of the guy one way or another.
"Tell everyone to be on the alert for a black pickup truck with California license plates. If he comes to the ranch, make sure no one is in their wolf coats and direct him to me."
"He knows we tranquilized the zoo men. He seemed to approve, most likely because he wants to study wolves in the wild and not have them penned up in the zoo, but he could still tell the authorities we were the ones who knocked out Thompson and his buddy," Elgin said.
Leidolf gave Cassie a stern look. This was what happened when werewolves got involved in human affairs. "We'll cross that bridge when we have to. Call Quincy and Pierce, if you can get hold of them on their cell phones. If not, send someone to run ahead and warn them to vacate Alex and Cassie's vehicles and lie low. Once Alex has driven off, have them take Cassie's truck to the ranch."
He turned to Cassie. "And you are returning with me to the ranch now." He stalked toward her. "You're welcome to shape-shift." He smiled a little. "Easier to carry that way." More than that, he wanted to claim her as a woman, hold her tight, enjoy the feel of her close all over again, but he figured she already knew how he felt about her. Although he did want to know if she was keen on mating with a human and turning him. He had every intention of setting her straight on that matter.
Carver pointed to the river. "Hell, Leidolf, it's another one of them."
Leidolf stopped next to Cassie and looked across the river. A red wolf watched them. Smaller than a male, it had to be a female. Cassie was on her feet in an instant, as if she'd drawn on a pocket of energy. Before he could stop what she was about to do, she dove into the river.
"Hell and damnation, woman!"
Chapter 18
"You can't follow her dressed like you are," Carver warned Leidolf. Carver looked as if he was ready to dive into the river himself to go after Cassie.
Leidolf was already stripping out of his clothes while he kept Cassie in sight. The water had swiftly swept her downstream as he was having a hell of a time fumbling to untie his wet bootlaces. "Tell the rest of the men where I've gone. Elgin, you're in charge while I'm away. I'll take her to the cabin until she's well enough to return. Just leave my clothes hidden nearby."
Carver frowned at him. "You sure you don't want me to come with you?"
"You have your girls to look after." But Leidolf thought Carver was interested in the other red wolf, in the event she was a lupus garou also, and wanted to have first chance at her before the other bachelor males did.
"What are you going to do about this Alex character?" Carver asked, staring off in the direction Cassie was headed farther downstream and struggling against the current to reach the opposite shore.
Leidolf let out his breath and ditched his jeans and then his shirt. "He can see Cassie once I've returned her to the ranch and she's feeling better. And then she can tell him to take a hike."
He quickly shape-shifted and, as a wolf, raced down the rocky riverbank to reach the location where Cassie had drifted. Then he dove into the cold river, sending the water flying, and swam toward her. By then, she'd reached the halfway point across the river.
Was the other wolf Cassie's sister, which would explain why Cassie had been so hell-bent on returning here? But why hadn't she just told him the truth? All of his men would have been searching for the woman. Which maybe was the reason she hadn't told him the truth.
As a wolf, Leidolf paddled across the river, swearing it was growing wider as he traversed it. He sure as hell could run faster as a wolf than he could swim as one. Even with her having a head start, he was catching up to Cassie as she fought against the current to reach the other side. Then, she suddenly went under. His heart flipped.
His men shouted on the beach near where he had jumped into the water. "Hell, Leidolf!" Elgin said, his voice rife with concern.
"Do you want us to come in?" Carver shouted.
But Leidolf kept swimming to reach the last place he'd seen her, his gaze searching for any sign of her, his heart beating spastically. God, Cassie, I can't lose you now.
Then Cassie's head bobbed up, her ears perked high, her swim slow and plodding. She was getting closer to shore. Hell, he wished he could wolf paddle faster. If he could reach her in time, he'd grab her by the scruff of the neck and pull her in. Or swiftly shape-shift to his human form and carry her the rest of the way to the shore.
She finally reached the beach and stumbled, landing on her stomach. Cassie.
Stay! Just stay there! he wanted to shout at her. He wanted to pin her down, like a wolf in charge would another, to make her obey.
Her chest heaving, she sat on the shore. He thought he might reach her in time before she could run off. Until she looked back and saw how close to shore he was. Damn. Her ears twitched, her eyes widened, and she closed her panting mouth.
He gave her the best steely-eyed, you'd-better-obey-me look that an alpha pack leader could convey. And hell, she took off running for the woods with a heavy limp.
When he reached the other side of the river, he glanced back at Carver and the rest of his men, all watching him to see that he made it. Then he bowed his head to them to acknowledge he was fine and to ask them to abide his wishes. After shaking off the excess water dripping from his coat, he whipped around, and took off in the direction the little red wolf had gone--his little red wolf. The other... well, if one of his men could convince her to stay with the pack also, so much the better. But Cassie was his. Like Alex had stated, Leidolf just had to convince her of that fact. Only he'd be the winner, not some lame human wolf biologist.
After racing through the forest for about a mile, Leidolf came upon Cassie sitting in ferns shielded by Douglas firs, panting and staring off into the distance, her energy totally spent. As soon as she smelled him coming, she whipped her head around, her gaze riveting to his. Yeah, here's the big, bad wolf coming to take you safely home, young lady.
Cassie's face looked ragged with pain. Warily, he approached her, not wanting to chase her off and cause her any more pain, but wanting to ensure she didn't run away again, either. He saw no sign of the other female and assumed Cassie just couldn't go any further with her shoulder so injured.
She didn't make any move to leave. In fact, she lay down on her side, taking the pressure off her injured shoulder.
He drew close and nuzzled her face. She didn't growl at him, like she would have if she hadn't wanted his attention. She didn't lick him back either, though, as if she was too tired to make the effort or had given up and wasn't happy about it. Deciding she was just too worn out, he planned to carry her to his cabin by the creek where she could rest until she was able to return with him.
Leidolf nudged Cassie's nose, trying to get her to stir, but she'd closed her eyes and appeared to be sleeping or just ignoring him. He hoped they could reach the cabin without running into anyone in the woods--and soon.
Not liking what he had to do next, he shape-shifted, and in his naked, chilled form, he leaned down and lifted Cassie as gently as he could. She yelped. "I'm so sorry, Cassie."
He figured his apology would have garnered a couple of chuckles from his men, had they witnessed it. He hated hearing the pain in her yelp, and he tried to carry her as carefully as he could. At least it would be dark for several more hours, and if all went as planned, she could heal while she rested. Then again, without clothing, they would have to remain there until darkness fell again so they could return to his Humvee in their wolf suits.