“Tea, plain.” She poured hot water into the mugs.

“About your half brother and uncle… we take care of our own, Elizabeth,” he said seriously. If they had been in his pack, her uncle and half brother would have been dead the first time they laid hands on her.

“I could have used a champion.”

He leaned up against the counter, his mug in hand. “Where do they live?”

“You can’t go after them now. I need the evidence to turn over to Hrothgar. He can take care of it.”

“Where do they live?”

She chewed on her lip.

“We’ll find them,” Tom said.

“I don’t want the Silver pack fighting with the red.”

“Okay, fine. We’ll get Sheriff Peter and Deputy Trevor on it when we get back.”

She let out her breath. “Twenty miles west of Bruin’s old home.”

Tom’s face hardened. “Damn it, Elizabeth. You should have told me all of this already.”

“I knew it. Already you’re having second thoughts about us.” She slammed her mug on the countertop, stalked out of the kitchen, and headed for the fireplace.

Taken aback by her response, Tom didn’t react at first. How could she think he’d ever have second thoughts about them? For a moment, he watched her as she stood near his sleeping cousin in front of the fire, rubbing her arms as if she’d suddenly become chilled to the bones. Tom set his mug down with a clink on the counter, then crossed the living room to join her.

She stiffened. He wrapped his arms around her, his chest to her back. Not to be put off, he buried his face in her hair, nuzzling her ear and cheek and neck. She deserved tenderness and loving. “I’m not having second thoughts. I’m just surprised. You told me you weren’t related to the reds,” he said gently.

“I’m not. My uncle and my father joined Bruin’s pack as adults. None of us are blood related. I wasn’t ever part of the red wolf pack—or any other, for that matter.”

“What about North or any of those red wolves? Do you think it’s possible they’re the ones that have been prowling our territory?” He’d much prefer believing it was them and not his cousins.

“I don’t know anything about that, but maybe it could have been the men on the plane, circling the area for a way to get to me.”

“Possible.” Yet Tom had seen a gray wolf near the last set of prints circling a farm. And now he had found CJ out here. Tom had to have been tracking him and his brothers before the storm hit. Why else would they be out here, trespassing in Silver pack territory and wearing hunter’s spray? That had to mean they were up to no good. “I guess we’ll just have to ask CJ after he’s recovered some.”

Tom took her back into the kitchen to warm up the chili, then spooned enough for the two of them into bowls. She took the mugs to the kitchen table. They ate in silence, the only sounds the wind and the fire crackling at the hearth. After they finished eating, she went to clean the dishes.

“I’ll make sure my cousin is secure.” He kissed her on the temple and headed for the living room.

Recalling Elizabeth’s handcuffs, he retrieved them from the floor near the fireplace where he’d left them yesterday.

CJ opened his eyes. “You don’t have to. I’m not going anywhere. I can barely move, and I hurt like hell,” he growled.

Tom smiled. So CJ wasn’t really sleeping after all. “Better safe than sorry.” Tom snapped one of them on CJ’s wrists, then attached the other to the sofa leg. CJ couldn’t lift that heavy sofa bed with his leg paining him so much. “Are you okay? Need anything else?”

“Hell, Tom, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yeah, I know. Sleep. We’ll talk later.” He wanted to give his cousin time to rest up after his ordeal before he questioned him.

Tom returned to the kitchen and helped Elizabeth dry the bowls, silverware, and mugs, and then they retired to the bedroom and shut the door. “Since we have some time to kill, I’ll make love to you. Snowstorms are meant to produce pups.”

“They’ll be mixed,” she said, sounding as if they might be regarded the same way she had been.

He hated the way that some of her family had treated her, but he would prove that he and his family were different.

He scooped her up in his arms and set her gently on the bed. “You, me, and one whole pack of wolves will adore them.”

Chapter 21

Tom had planned to make love to Elizabeth in the living room on the sofa by the warm fire. He’d never expected his cousin to be confined right where she had rested—and suffering from an injury, too.

He wanted to see every inch of her when he made love to her this time, instead of being buried in the blankets. But the bedroom was too cold.

Then again… His gaze skimmed over her in the pale blue sweats as she smiled up at him, took his sweater in her hands, fisted them around the soft wool fabric, and drew him close.

“Hmm, Elizabeth.” Already his blood heated and the room seemed a lot warmer. Even so, he didn’t want her chilled like she’d been yesterday. He slipped his hands up her sweatshirt and caressed her breasts, his mouth moving over hers—soft, pliable, appealing—as she kissed him back.

He moved her slowly backward toward the bed, the covers still thrown aside from earlier in the afternoon. When her legs bumped into the mattress, she smiled. He rubbed her nipples with his thumbs, his mouth still fused to hers. She let go of his sweater and tugged to pull it up.

He quickly shucked his sweater, jeans, socks, and then boxers. Watching her as she slid into bed wearing the sweats, he yanked all the blankets over her. At least the sheets were flannel for this time of year and softer and warmer than cotton. Her eyes feasted on his body, and her interest made his body come to life.

“Hot,” she said, focusing on his erect cock, her mouth and eyes smiling.

“And getting hotter.” He pulled the covers aside so he could join her. He yanked them over him and reached down to pull off her sweatpants, their mouths again kissing. He struggled to keep his mouth on hers, not wanting to break contact as he tried to yank her pants down. She finished the move by kicking them away, burying them in the sheets.

She ran her tongue across his lips as he slid his hand underneath the sweatshirt and cupped a breast again. He loved how her breasts were soft and cushiony and sized just right for his mouth and hands.