A SEAL Wolf Christmas

Nearby, a “thwack, thwack” rent the air. Carver was chopping wood with such vigor that Bjornolf figured he was trying to let out some of his pent-up frustration over Nathan and his daughter.

Carrying a couple of logs, Carver came inside, acknowledged Bjornolf with a nod, glanced back at the window to see what he’d been watching—Anna and Alice—then tossed one of the logs on the fire and set the other in a copper wood box. “Sarah said she and Nathan will be here in about twenty minutes. Are you and Anna mated?”

Bjornolf turned his attention from Anna as she swept her hair into a ponytail to Carver, who looked more than curious. “We only first met several months ago.”

Was he mated to her? Bjornolf was definitely thinking along those lines. They’d make one hell of an undercover team.

Aimee frowned at Carver as she set out the silverware on the table in the formal dining room. Carver’s mate was a pretty woman with red gold hair curling about her shoulders and a light smattering of freckles bridging her nose. She looked more sweet than seductive, like his Anna did.

His Anna. That’s the way Bjornolf was already feeling about her.

“You shouldn’t ask such a thing,” Aimee scolded. “That’s personal.”

Carver rubbed his chin as he looked from his mate to Bjornolf, pondering the situation. “What’s holding you back, son?”

Bjornolf couldn’t remember the last time his own father had called him that. He was amused the man was so curious.

“It’s complicated,” Bjornolf answered as he looked out the back window and saw Anna brushing the snow off the nose of a wolf statue while smiling at Alice. He wondered what Anna would be like in a backyard of their own with a teen of their own.

“That’s exactly what I said when I met Aimee. It’s complicated. I wanted her, no doubt about it. She was feeling the same about me.” Carver winked at her and Aimee blushed furiously. “I had two twin daughters and I didn’t want to mate with just any old she-wolf who might treat my girls poorly.”

“The wicked, old she-wolf stepmother syndrome,” Aimee said.

“So what’s your reasoning for holding back? You don’t already have a mate, do you?” Carver asked.

The wily wolf had to know the answer to that, just from the way Bjornolf had such a time keeping his eyes off Anna, as if he was afraid she’d vanish in the blink of an eye.

“No,” Bjornolf said with a half smile.

“Been mated and have offspring already that you’re worried about?”

Bjornolf shook his head.

“Then what? It’s sure as hell not because you don’t want her. And I can tell the woman’s as interested in you. While I was chopping wood, I overheard Alice asking Anna if she was planning to mate you, and when I cast a glance in their direction, the she-wolf was blushing to high heaven. She didn’t laugh at the suggestion or deny it. You’re as good as mated, to my way of thinking. So what are you waiting for?” Carver shook his head and washed his hands at the sink, not giving Bjornolf time to answer. “Seize the moment. You never know when another wolf might come along and snatch your woman right up. Then where will you be?”

Killing the male wolf, Bjornolf thought darkly. The back door shut with a clunk.

The doorbell rang, and from the hurried footsteps moving in that direction, he assumed Alice and Anna were headed for the front door. Bjornolf and Carver hesitated. Both were annoyed with Nathan for running off. They also knew they had to handle the teens carefully or chance having them run off again.

He and Carver went into the living room to greet Nathan and Sarah, but instead they saw Alice and Anna standing at the front door talking to a big blond-haired, bearded man wearing camouflage hunter’s gear. His blue eyes were challenging Anna as he said, “Hi, I’m Henry Thompson and I work in a special capacity with the zoo. Eyewitnesses said they saw wolves enter your backyard.”

Alice turned to her father, looking for his help. Confronting the threat, Carver immediately approached the door, his whole posture stating he was in charge.

“I’m sorry,” Carver said gruffly, not sounding sorry in the least—more like get the hell off my property. “We don’t even own a dog.”

“Are you friends with Leidolf Wildhaven?” Thompson asked, as if he knew something more about the wolves than he should.

Carver narrowed his eyes. His hesitation spoke volumes. Carver finally said, “He’s a wealthy rancher.” Like everyone in Oregon should know that.

“Yeah, but are you friends of his?” Thompson persisted.

“Did you say you’re a police officer?” Carver asked.

Thompson smiled, but the look was not friendly. “Not exactly. I help police wild animals running loose in the area that might come to harm.”

“Okay, so I said we don’t have any dogs here. Or wolves.”

“May I have a look around your backyard? Your neighbors said you have a dog door in your back gate.”

Because of the woodland setting, the neighbors were a long way from each other and a mini-forest surrounded each of the homes in the development. The neighbors couldn’t have seen the dog door in the gate unless they’d come onto Carver’s property.

Carver smiled, his expression dark and threatening. “No, you don’t have permission to traipse around my backyard.”

Thompson turned his attention to Anna and Bjornolf. “Do you know Leidolf?”

Bjornolf thought Thompson would have made a good alpha wolf with his tenacity.

Both he and Anna shook their heads. Bjornolf had never met the red wolf leader.

“I’ll find the wolves. I always do.” Thompson’s threat was a promise. Then he turned to leave, paused, and said over his shoulder as an afterthought, “You can tell Leidolf I said hi.” Then he headed for his pickup truck as Carver shut the door a little too forcefully.

“Lock the back gate, Alice, just in case Thompson decides to snoop around back there and sees wolf prints,” her father said.

“We can sweep the snow,” she said eagerly.

Carver watched out the window. “It’s too late. He’s headed to the cul-de-sac, and then he’ll go through the vacant woods and around the back of the property. He’ll see the tracks leading up to our gate even if he doesn’t try to enter the backyard. Dogged damned bloodhound.”

“I’ll lock it.” Alice grabbed a broom out of a closet and flew toward the back door and outside to sweep the snow anyway.

Thankfully, Leidolf and his men weren’t coming to search for the teens. If Thompson had found them here, what would he have concluded?

A blue sedan pulled up out front, and Carver muttered under his breath, “Finally.”

Nathan and Sarah. Now how would he handle this?

Chapter 13

Aimee joined Carver—along with Bjornolf and Anna—in the living room and took hold of Carver’s arm as if to calm him. Before Nathan and Sarah reached the front door, Aimee said to Bjornolf and Anna, “Thompson’s the one who put Leidolf and Cassie in the zoo when they were running as wolves.”

“Thompson and Leidolf sound like they have a history, and not a good one at that.” Bjornolf wanted to put his arm around Anna, but she was already headed for the door and opened it as Sarah raised her hand to twist the doorknob from outside.

Anna stretched out her hand. “Hi. You must be Sarah. I’m Anna Johnson.”

If Nathan had been in his wolf’s coat, he would have appeared as bowed as he did in human form, and his tail would have been between his legs. He glanced at Anna, avoiding Bjornolf and Carver’s gazes, and looked as