A SEAL Wolf Christmas

Chapter 10

Nathan had left the house as a wolf and headed through the forest. For wolves like Bjornolf and Anna, Nathan’s trail wasn’t hard to find. He left paw prints in the half-frozen snow, and scruffs of his black fur snagged on tree branches. He wasn’t trying to hide his trail, which made Bjornolf suspect that the boy wanted to be followed.

He hoped that Nathan hadn’t gotten some clue concerning the murders and charged off to investigate on his own.

Bjornolf should have wanted Anna to stay back at the house so she would be safe from hunters and so he could work alone like he normally did. But he found he didn’t want to work alone and realized he was making up a hell of a lot more reasons why she should be with him. And that was a real change for him. He’d never needed anyone.

Having never seen Anna in her wolf form, Bjornolf took his fill of her as they paused to catch the trail again. Even as a wolf, she was petite, almost like a red wolf. Her face was more beige than gray, with a little white under her chin and a golden color framing her face. A small amount of gray dusted her cheeks, giving her a distinctive appearance.

Her ears were perked, listening for any sounds as the breeze stirred the pine branches. Peering into the woods, her amber eyes were soft with concern, but her tail was straight out behind her in alpha mode. Her slight body tense, she was ready to spring into action as soon as she caught Nathan’s scent again.

She suddenly lifted her chin and howled for Nathan. Bjornolf knew she was howling for the boy, but he envisioned her howling for him—calling him to her in the snowy woods.

Bjornolf also let loose a howl. His howl was deeper, not as musical as Anna’s, a command to come home. Their howls were a way to communicate with other wolves, to declare this was their territory, to gather the pack, or to locate a mate.

They waited for a moment, but when Nathan didn’t respond, Anna dashed off and Bjornolf raced after her. Glad to be running with Anna, panting, zigzagging across the snow-powdered earth, he tried to pick up Nathan’s scent as they moved farther away from the cottage.

Where was the kid off to? Bjornolf thought Nathan might have gone to the Christmas tree farm, but he hadn’t run in that direction.

Worse, it was one in the morning when they started out after him, and they’d been trailing him for two hours. It would be dark for several more hours, but if Nathan continued to run, eventually it would be too late for any of them to return home before it was light out. Anna and Bjornolf would end up having to hide in the surrounding woods or risk the long trek back home in daylight in their wolf skins.

They took a drink at an icy cold stream and then crossed it. The mossy rocks were topped with an inch of snow, and the bare-branch deciduous trees and evergreens were also coated with snow.

Bjornolf glanced at Anna. She was looking in the direction of Portland, her ears twitching back and forth.

A red wolf pack resided in Portland and the surrounding territory, led by a wolf named Leidolf. The city was still a long way off and Bjornolf was certain Hunter had never talked to Leidolf about SEAL business, the team, Anna, or himself. Leidolf would consider them encroaching on his pack’s territory and wouldn’t like it.

The day was gray, with clouds covering every square inch of sky. Dawn was creeping over the landscape, silent, exposing them to danger—hunter danger.

It had been light out for a couple of hours when they reached the relative safety of Forest Park, over five thousand acres of woods within Portland, stretching for more than eight miles over hilly terrain overlooking the Willamette River. Nathan’s scent was getting stronger. Bjornolf smelled the odors from the nearby zoo butted up against the park, heard a lion roar, and wondered if wolves that weren’t shifters were also penned up in there. Anna sniffed the air, her posture alert and eager as she knew they were getting close to their quarry.

The park was already open. Any number of people could be running, hiking, biking, or horseback riding through here so they weren’t without risk.

Anna turned her head, listened for a moment, and then took off running. She was determined to locate the teen before he came to harm, which meant a lot to Bjornolf. As much as she’d intimated that she wasn’t into kid stuff, she wasn’t letting this go.

He took off after her, not liking the path they were moving on… toward a group of stately homes backed up against the park, mostly hidden by huge evergreens. One of them in particular made him frown and sniff the ground.

The scent of wolves was heavy here along the entrance to the path. Male, female, young, old. Bjornolf suspected it was a safe house for wolves who belonged to the pack but lived in the outlying areas and were visiting Portland for the day.

Anna loped down the winding path through the woods, eagerly sniffing the ground. Nathan had been here.

When Bjornolf followed her, he found her standing at a beige stone wall topped with snow. She was studying the wolf door in the redwood gate, calculating the risk of entering another wolf’s backyard. He was going to nudge her face, to let her know that he wanted her to stay here while he investigated the backyard and she watched for Nathan.

But she had already made up her mind.

Nearly making his heart stop, she dashed for the gate, pushed the wolf door open with her nose, then barged in.

Bjornolf shoved his nose through the door, raced around a wall of evergreens, and found Anna stopped at a patio filled with ornate wrought-iron café tables and chairs. The backyard featured a copper statue of two wolves standing together and a fountain displaying a group of wolves frolicking at the base while playing with butterflies in flight. The scents in the yard further indicated that this was a wolf-owned house.

Icicle Christmas lights dangled from the gutters around the house, while a Douglas fir tree inside filled the picture window, showcasing mostly red, green, and white Christmas ornaments and colorful sparkling lights.

He smelled Nathan’s scent and a she-wolf’s scent—both had been here recently. But there was no sign of either of them, unless they were in the house…

Bjornolf spied an auburn-haired man standing at a window, his eyes growing large when he saw Bjornolf join Anna. The man looked angry and was speaking into a cell phone as he stared at them. He was tall and wearing a midnight blue T-shirt, his muscular arms showing that he’d have some power behind his moves. Bjornolf was sizing up his competition, not wanting to fight him, but if it meant protecting Nathan, he would.

The man’s amber eyes darkened. His gaze shifted from Anna, discounting her as a threat (a foolish thing to do in Bjornolf’s estimation), and focused again on Bjornolf.

A teenage girl joined him at the kitchen window, her long curly hair just as auburn, her eyes widening when she saw the two wolves. She quickly spoke to the man. Bjornolf didn’t think that Nathan was in the house, or the man would have greeted them already.

Was he calling Leidolf to warn him that gray wolves were invading their territory?