Elizabeth breathed a little sigh of relief, though she still worried the camera might be damaged.
“Ski patrollers are on the way,” Anthony said.
Great. She hoped they didn’t include Tom.
***
“Yard sale!” a couple of skiers yelled out from the lift. Tom skied down the slope and saw an unfamiliar woman wipe out, losing her ski poles and skis all over the place.
Tom retrieved the two lost skis when pack members Cantrell and his brother, Robert, joined him, carrying the woman’s ski poles.
“She’s hot, man,” Cantrell said to Tom. The two of them grinned at him as they skied down to the lady getting to her feet and brushing the snow off her goggles.
He raised his brows at them, asking in a silent way who they were referring to.
“Not the woman that just rag-dolled down the slope,” Cantrell said. “You know. Elizabeth.”
They reached the lady who had fallen, and Tom asked, “You all right, ma’am?” He handed her the skis, and Robert gave her the ski poles.
“Yes, thank you. I’m fine.” Her cheeks were red from the weather or from embarrassment. She seated her boots on her skis and took off.
“I asked her to lunch,” Robert said. He and his brother skied with Tom to the next lift. “Elizabeth. She said she would be busy.”
“With me.” Tom hated to sound so territorial. She wasn’t really with him. But after that kiss, he was rethinking that scenario.
Cantrell laughed. “Yeah, she said so.”
Tom smiled a little at that.
When the pack leaders invited a wolf to their home for dinner, that was usually the ultimate boon to any wolf’s ego. Except Elizabeth’s. Tom wondered why she seemed reluctant.
“Man, you guys get all the good ones,” Cantrell said.
The trouble was that fewer female werewolves were born, so there seemed to always be a shortage. Not that he expected to set up housekeeping anytime soon.
“How did you learn about her?” Robert asked.
As if the Silver brothers had a pipeline to learning about available females. Although he supposed Bertha was that for him this time.
Tom got a call on his radio from ski patroller Kemp. “Gotta come quick. Devil Man’s Switchback.”
“Whatcha got?” Tom got ahead of those waiting in the ski line and was promptly seated on a chair.
“The lady you brought to the resort?” Kemp said.
Tom’s mouth went dry, and he tightened his hand around the radio. Elizabeth was probably not injured that badly, but since she had been with Tom, Kemp had most likely taken the situation more seriously than warranted.
At least Tom prayed it was so. “Yeah, what happened?”
“She says she’s okay.”
Tom sat on the edge of his chair, unsure whether to be concerned or not. “But?”
Kemp cleared his throat.
“Just spit it out, Kemp,” Tom said. “What’s happened?”
“Vitals look good, but the Woodcroft twins saw her first and called it in. They both say she was knocked out. She denies it, but she probably wouldn’t remember.”
That didn’t sound good. “Is she answering your questions with full clarity?”
“Yeah. I’ve called for my brother to bring up a toboggan. She doesn’t want to use one. You know… she’s all alpha.”
Tom smiled a little at that. Yeah, he already knew that about her.
“You know how it is. Someone can have no memory issues for hours or even days, and suddenly they have a problem. No visible injuries to her head, though.”
“She goes down in the toboggan. Any other possible injuries?” Tom asked.
“Wrist might be sprained—she was still holding on to one of her ski poles. She’ll probably be a little bruised but otherwise fine.”
“What exactly happened? Just take a spill?”
Kemp paused, then said, “She says a guy shoved her down the slope on purpose.”
Tom frowned. More likely an out-of-control skier, though if the guy regularly skied the black slope, maybe not. “Did she get a look at him?”
“She gave me a get-real look, Tom, when I asked her the question. You know, because she was falling down the mountain—in an unglamorous way—her words, not mine. I couldn’t imagine her ever looking unglamorous.”
“Just help me up,” she said in the background, sounding totally pissed.
Tom smiled at hearing her dictatorial tone. “Just keep her down until I get there.”
Chapter 5
When Tom reached the expert slope, he saw Elizabeth’s skis placed in an X several yards above. All he could see down below were three male backsides as they hovered over the injured she-wolf.
Anthony, Cody, and Kemp.