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?

Chapter 11

Leidolf kissed a sleeping Cassie on the shoulder, her copper curls spread out over her naked ivory skin. She’d just fallen asleep after having nursed their twin boys a few minutes ago, and he didn’t want to disturb her. His second-in-command, Elgin, was already gathering men from their ranch jobs. A gray teen wolf was spotted in Forest Park, having kidnapped a teen she-wolf from her house. There would be hell to pay for it if the girl’s father had any hand in it.

Leidolf only hoped he could get Carver to stand down until he got there and determined what was going on. He was grateful the father had sense enough to call him before he took action, which had to mean something else had happened that stopped Carver from going totally ballistic.

Leidolf glanced at his sons sleeping in the bassinet near the bed, the white eyelet ruffles reaching the carpeted floor. Up above, a white lace-trimmed canopy decorated in bows of red and green plaid etched with sparkling gold thread had been added for the holidays. His sons’ hands were curled into fists, their mouths making sucking motions while their backs were touching as if they were still in the womb, listening to each other’s heart beating, feeling the warmth of the other. He wondered how he could have ever gotten so lucky.

Leidolf had joined his men outside when he got the second warning call from Carver. A couple of adult gray wolves had showed up in Carver’s backyard, undoubtedly searching for their wayward teen.

“More bad news,” Leidolf alerted his men as they pulled on coats and hats. “Not only has a gray teen wolf taken Carver’s daughter, Sarah, from her home, but now it appears the parents have just arrived in their wolf forms, trying to track him down.”

Fergus and Elgin, Leidolf’s pack sub-leaders; and Quincy and Pierce, twin brothers; and four other reds had gathered to help with finding the teens. Ogden, a gray from Hunter’s pack who had mated one of Leidolf’s reds, also offered to locate the kids.

Rubbing sleep from his eyes, seventeen-year-old Evan walked out of the bunkhouse, his brown hair uncombed, strands dangling over his dark eyebrows. Despite the cold, his flannel shirt was unbuttoned and hanging open, revealing a well-muscled chest from all the work he did on the ranch—some of it extra duty for all the shenanigans he’d pulled. “What’s going on?”

“Trouble with a teen,” his father, Fergus, said, his amber eyes pinning his son with accusation. “You know how much difficulty they can be.” His father folded his arms across his broad chest, peeved with his own son for all the problems he’d caused this past year. “And you know how Carver is about his girls.”

The mention of Carver’s girls got the boy’s attention. Immediately, Evan’s eyes grew wide, and he hastily buttoned his shirt. “I’m going.”

“You’re staying,” his father countered, both of their gazes locked in confrontation. “Carver is angry enough about you and his daughter Alice. An uneasy truce exists between the two of you right now, and I want to keep it that way.”

“I’m going,” Evan said again, this time looking at Leidolf for his approval.

Despite not wanting to go against the father’s decision, Leidolf slapped Fergus on the back. “Your son could be a help this time.”

Fergus was a good sub-leader, but he had been thinking of his son’s welfare, not how the boy could aid the pack. He studied his son, then seemed to come to the same conclusion as Leidolf had and nodded. “Maybe you could talk some sense into the kid before Carver kills him, Evan.”

Evan headed for his father’s black pickup truck. “If the guy’s laid a hand on Alice, I’ll kill him.”

The boy took off with Alice’s twin sister, Sarah. He doesn’t seem to be interested in Alice. Leidolf shook his head, got into the Suburban with Elgin, who was driving, and called Hunter Greymere, the only gray-wolf pack leader he knew of in Oregon. If the teen didn’t belong to him, Leidolf wasn’t sure where he’d come from. He might have thought the teen was a runaway, but not once the female and male adult wolves had come looking for him.

“Yeah,” Hunter answered on the first ring, sounding grumpy.

Leidolf smiled. “This is Leidolf. Sorry to disturb you. I’d ask if your mate has had the babies yet, but it’s probably a little too early. Bad night?”

Hunter grunted. Leidolf heard the sound of a coffee mug being set on a surface with a ceramic clunk, and then liquid, probably coffee, pouring into it.

“I have a situation.”

Hunter grew quiet and listened to Leidolf.

Hating to bring it up when they’d made a friendship of sorts, Leidolf took a deep breath. “Three gray wolves are here stirring up trouble.”

“Three gray wolves,” Hunter murmured, as if he was trying to figure out which members of his pack would be traipsing through Leidolf’s territory.

Leidolf quickly added, “It’s a teen and his parents.”

“A teen and…” Hunter paused, then said, “Hell. I’ll call you right back. Wait… let me explain who I think they are. I have a teen who has run away a couple of times since his parents died last year. He’s been working at a Christmas tree farm near here and suspects a couple of wolves died there.”

“Gray or red?” Leidolf asked, frowning.

“Gray. Not from my pack, either. I’ve got a SEAL, Bjornolf Jorgenson, and Anna Johnson, one of my covert operatives, helping to uncover the mystery while taking care of the teen. If they’re the ones in your territory, they’ve tried to track Nathan down. He’s been having trouble coping with his parents’ recent deaths.”

“I’ll let my people know,” Leidolf said, sympathizing with the teen and with what Hunter had to deal with. “We’re headed to the safe house that borders Forest Park. No need to send any of your pack members here. I’ve got it under control.”

“I don’t understand why he’d venture into your territory,” Hunter said, sounding genuinely perplexed.

“Teen hormones,” Leidolf guessed. “I don’t know how they met, but apparently he knew one of our teen she-wolves from somewhere. I hope we get to him before her father does. If she’s compromised...”

Hunter swore.

Knowing Hunter was ready to go to Portland in protective alpha-leader mode, Leidolf assured him, “I’ll take care of it, Hunter. I’m sure between your SEAL, Anna, and me, we’ll get the boy where he needs to be—home with your pack. Stay with Tessa. She needs you close at hand for now. Believe me. I’ve been there. Got to go. Keep you updated.”

“Make sure your people know what they’re up against,” Hunter warned.

“Yeah, I sure will.”

***

Nathan running off with a girl was exactly what Anna didn’t want to be involved in. How many girls was he chasing after at the same time?

She’d never run off with a boy… well, once, but that was different. No one knew or cared. Was Anna’s lecture the reason Nathan had run off to see the teen she-wolf?

She groaned. Why did Hunter believe she could be a good influence on the kid?

Nathan had to have met the girl before. She couldn’t blame the dad for the way he was reacting, but she didn’t want Carver to hurt Nathan. She felt sick to her stomach.

Anna didn’t shift from the wolf. Carver’s wife directed Bjornolf to a bedroom where he could get some clothes. When he returned, he was dressed and carefully explained the situation to Carver: Nathan’s background, his parents’ recent deaths, and his first holiday without them. Carver’s expression said he didn’t give a damn what Nathan’s situation was, only that he’d stolen his daughter and could be putting her in harm’s way.

Taking the situation in stride, Bjornolf mentioned that the girl had left willingly with Nathan, which hadn’t helped a whole lot. He was trying to say that it wasn’t a coerced situation. If Nathan had forced the girl from her home, the scenario would have been much worse.

“Nathan’s hurting,” Bjornolf said, and for a moment, Anna saw real pain in Carver’s dark eyes. She knew then that Bjornolf had touched some deep-seated chord of sympathy for the boy.

Nathan didn’t have anyone.

Carver had told them that Leidolf and several of his men were on their way to help search for the missing teen. Anna hoped that no one else would find the teens before she and Bjornolf could protect Nathan from his own folly.

***

Henry Thompson sipped a cup of coffee in his living room as his wife, Chrissie, hurried the kids out to their biological dad’s waiting car. Thompson was a self-made millionaire, one of the lucky ones who knew how to play the stock market and didn’t need to work a regular job. Instead, he spent his time with Chrissie and the kids while taking care of situations that arose concerning wild animals as a zoologist for the Oregon Zoo.

The phone rang, and he looked at the ID, noting it was a call from his hunting buddy. “Thompson here.”

“This is just up your alley,” Joe said, his voice eager with excitement. “We’ve got more sightings of wolves running through Forest Park.”