SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(91)
Susan laughed and hobbled off to bed, saying good night.
Pepper retired to her bedroom, hoping she could figure out a means to keep Waldron away from her pack and her lands without having to take more drastic measures. He’d been scent-marking all over her territory, and so had some of the males of his pack. She’d taken him to task for it, but what else could she do? They outnumbered her more than two to one, from what he’d said. She couldn’t complain to human law enforcement that Waldron and his men were peeing all over her property. She still wouldn’t give in to him no matter what. But it could be a real problem for a wolf pack if they ignored it.
She tucked herself into bed, thinking about Waldron attacking Eric and drawing blood. She should have told Susan to call her when she learned how he was, if he was willing to tell her the truth.
*
His injuries throbbing, Eric answered Sarandon’s call while he got on the road to return to Silver Town. “Hey, what’s up?” Like Eric, his brother loved the outdoors. He was a guide for anyone who needed one—photographers, nature lovers, hikers, and rock climbers. He loved doing it all.
“Just a heads-up; I might be a little late to the forestry careers talk tomorrow,” Sarandon said. “I’ve got a Lepidopterist Society meeting first thing in the morning so the members can count butterflies and identify different varieties. If we have a big showing, we’ll be there a while. So I might have to talk after you do.”
“I’ll let the Scout leaders know,” Eric replied. “I’ve got other business to attend to after I speak, so if I’m not there, just give your lecture and I’ll meet up with you after lunch at the next Boy Scout campground. They’ll love hearing what you do. I have something I have to do afterward, and I’ll take care of it during lunchtime.”
“I thought you said you had the whole day scheduled to talk to troops.”
“I do. We have two other Scout troops camping in other areas to meet, but when everyone’s busy with lunch, I have other business to take care of.”
“I thought we could get lunch together. We don’t often see each other during the duty day.”
Eric suspected his brother sensed something was up. He couldn’t get anything past Sarandon. His younger brothers, sometimes, yes, but not Sarandon. Even though the quadruplet brothers were only minutes apart, he and Sarandon were the closet to each other, just like Brett and CJ were close.
“Okay, so what are you going to do that’s so important?” Sarandon asked.
“Nothing. Just checking out an area on the nearby creek.” He wanted to learn more about the pack that had rented the cabin, like where they lived. Which meant checking their reservations. Since he worked for the park, it would be easy for him to do. He had to know if they were involved in the illegal cultivation of cannabis.
“For…what?”
Eric couldn’t lie to his brother. After their father had lied to Eric and his brothers, Eric wouldn’t do that to them. But he wasn’t about to tell him he had seen a fantasy in the forest he wanted to know more about, and wanted to prove to himself in the worst way that Pepper was innocent of any wrongdoing. Pepper was the only name he had to go by. And she was just as hot and spicy as her name. “Just checking it out.”
“Okay, well, let me know if you discover anything interesting.”
“Will do.”
“I bet,” Sarandon said, sounding skeptical.
Eric knew he had to get his injuries looked at, and better Sarandon hear about the fight from him rather than pack gossip. “A couple of wolves bit me.”
“Is it bad? It has to be or you wouldn’t have told me. Do you need me to come get you?”
Sarandon knew not to make a big deal of it.
“Not a problem. And I wouldn’t have mentioned it if I hadn’t wanted Doc to look at it.”
“Hell. It is bad or you wouldn’t be seeing Doc.”
“Just to be on the safe side.”
“How bad—”
“Minor.” Though both wounds were still bleeding and hurting like crazy.
“This has to do with the drug wolves?”
“One of them, yeah. CJ and the rest of the sheriff’s department are checking into it.”
“One? What about the other?”
“He was a…guard wolf for another pack, just visiting the park.”
“You’re going after the wolf tomorrow then?”
“No.” Not that wolf. The she-wolf.
“Then—”
“I think he was protecting his pack. Anyway, I was just curious where their pack is from.” Eric pulled onto the main road going to Silver Town.
“Related to the drug business?”
“I don’t believe so.” He sure as hell hoped not.
“Any woman you’re interested in seeing more of in particular?” Sarandon asked, his tone bordering on amused, but he was also curious. “You wouldn’t be interested if there wasn’t more to it than that.”
“As if it’s any of your business, but yeah. There were some women in the pack.”
“Hell, Eric.” Now Sarandon sounded surprised. Which, given Eric’s disinterest in women for the past two years, was understandable.
“They might be mated.” Eric knew Sarandon would assume he was interested in one of the women in particular. He didn’t want to tell him about the possibility that her pack, or some of her pack, could be involved in illegally raising cannabis. Not without proof.