“Can you make it to the cabin on your own?” Tom grabbed his rifle.
The wolf stared at Tom, glanced at Elizabeth, then limped on three legs toward the cabin.
Tom tilted his chin down at Elizabeth and shook his head. “You were supposed to stay in the cabin.”
She half expected him to tell her to run back to the cabin, but he didn’t. She wouldn’t have, either. Whether he liked it or not, she would watch his back in case others were with the injured wolf.
CJ used the same trail that he and Elizabeth had made, but because of his injury and the deep snow, he kept falling, yelping, and suffering considerable pain, and he had a devil of a time traveling.
Tom finally gave in. “I’ll carry you. But if your brothers attack… I’ll dump you and shoot the lot of them.”
Brothers. Tom sounded serious, but Elizabeth thought he also was upset that some of his pack mates could be the ones causing trouble for the rest of the pack.
He gathered the wolf in his arms. CJ growled softly, but he didn’t snap or bite. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.
“If you weren’t my cousin…” Tom said under his breath.
Elizabeth stared at the wolf. Cousin?
When they reached the cabin, she dove through the wolf door, sniffed the air, ensuring no one had entered the house while they were gone, and waited for Tom to enter the cabin.
Tom shoved the door open, then kicked it closed and said to her, “Stay here. Don’t shift back.”
Chapter 20
Elizabeth had no intention of shifting right away when they entered the cabin. Her first thought was still that CJ’s brothers could appear at any time. She would protect Tom in case anyone showed up.
Carefully, Tom crouched and set the wolf on the floor next to the fire. “Stay,” he said to CJ, though she was certain he didn’t need to tell his cousin that.
Panting, the wolf laid his head down. Blood matted his fur, and his leg was bent unnaturally. He had to be in a lot of pain, but he bore it stoically.
Tom locked both the wolf door and the human one. He went to the bedroom and then the bathroom. “Place is all clear,” he hollered. “If the guys are wearing hunter’s spray to hide their scents, I had to be certain we had no uninvited visitors hiding in here.”
She’d forgotten all about that. No wonder he’d told her not to shift.
“I’ll get you a robe so you can shift, CJ, and redo the splint,” Tom said from the bedroom.
Before Tom returned, CJ shifted. He shivered on the floor next to the warm fire. He resembled Tom but was more wiry in build, with curly sable hair.
And he looked eerily familiar.
Elizabeth loped over to the sofa, grabbed a blanket with her teeth, and hauled it over to him. He mumbled thanks and tried to pull it over his shoulders, but he accidentally moved his leg and groaned in pain.
She felt for him and wished she could do something more to ease his suffering.
Walking into the living room, Tom gave CJ an annoyed look. Tom might not like that Elizabeth was scrutinizing his naked cousin, but she was serving in guard-duty capacity for the moment.
Tom helped CJ into the robe, then turned to Elizabeth. “You can shift if you want to. He’s not going anywhere. I’ll be right back with something better to splint the leg.” He grabbed the clothes that she’d left near the front door and deposited them in the bedroom for her.
She appreciated that Tom had offered, not commanded her. Especially since she’d do what she thought necessary. Not trusting CJ, she remained where she was while she tried to remember where she’d seen him before.
After a few minutes, Tom returned with a splint and something to wrap CJ’s leg in, saline solution, and towels. He slipped a piece of plastic under CJ’s leg, then poured the solution over the wound. “Trap was new, not rusty,” Tom said, “but you’ll still need a tetanus shot when we get you into town.”
Gritting his teeth, CJ looked pale, but he didn’t say anything.
When Tom straightened the leg a little, CJ swore.
Tom dried the wound, bandaged it, and wrapped the leg in gauze before he splinted it. He cleaned up the saline solution, then elevated CJ’s leg with pillows and gave him a pillow for his head. “Why don’t you lie down?”
CJ nodded.
Tom helped ease him onto his back, then covered him with the blanket. “Will you be all right?”
“Thirsty, nauseated,” CJ finally said, wincing.
He was shaking, too. Tom covered him with two more blankets and got him a glass of water, setting it next to him.
“We’ll talk in a little bit. Just rest.” Tom rose, then said, “Come on,” to Elizabeth as he headed for the bedroom.
She growled at CJ, telling him she wouldn’t hesitate to bite him if he moved an inch.
CJ grumbled, “Tell your wolf-coyote I’m not going any-damn-where.”
“Come on, Elizabeth,” Tom coaxed by the bedroom door.
She growled again at CJ, not about to let him get in the last word, then loped into the bedroom. She saw that Tom had placed the rifle on the dresser. He didn’t shut the door to the bedroom, and she suspected he still didn’t trust the man and was listening to ensure he didn’t move from his spot by the fire. Tom had set her clothes on the bed. Then he headed into the bathroom and washed up.
She shifted and slipped on the sweatshirt while he put the extra medical supplies away.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take so long, Elizabeth. Nice fire, by the way. You’re pretty handy to have around, you know?” He looked around and shook his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have turned my back on you and missed seeing you shift.”
She smiled, loving him. “Yeah, well, you might get other ideas.” The sweatshirt was long but barely covered her buttocks.
“I always get those other ideas when I see you—naked woman, wolf, coyote, or otherwise.” He came to her before she could pull on the sweatpants and wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh, you’re so cold,” she said, trembling in his arms, the chill of the air outside clinging to every inch of him. Her skin was still warm from having been in her wolf coat. She took in deep breaths, smelling the crisp, clean air on him.
She noted she did not smell CJ on him. Hunter’s spray, camouflaging his scent.
“That’s why I came over here to hug you—to get warmed up.”
She curled into him, wanting to rub his arms to warm his icy body, but he chilled her and she folded into him instead. “He’s your cousin?”
“Yeah,” Tom growled. “I figured we’d stay here until someone worried about me being caught in the snowstorm and came looking for me. But now we’ve got to get CJ to the doc. His bones will knit together too quickly but not correctly, and Doc would have to break them again to set them right.”
“Your cousin. I can’t smell him. He’s one of the ones that’s been prowling the territory, then?”
“Looks like it.”
“Great. Do you have something we can haul him in?”
“Yeah. Got a toboggan for emergencies.”
“So when do we leave?”
“Tomorrow, first light. If no one comes for me before then, we’ll head out on our own.” He rubbed her arms, looking into her eyes. “I’m sorry about everything that’s happened. That you’re in the middle of all this.”
She sighed, cuddling with Tom. “We don’t know anything for sure.” She reached up to help him out of his parka.
“You know, if you change roles and start stripping me out of my clothes…” Tom said.
“Just your parka.”
“Aha, then next you’ll want to remove my sweater and jeans, and who knows where it will end.”