“We’re almost there,” Tom said to Elizabeth, glancing back. She had closed her eyes, and he worried she might have passed out from a head trauma. “Elizabeth?”
“Elizabeth, are you all right?” Peter asked, getting close.
“Yes,” she said, sounding annoyed. She still didn’t open her eyes.
Peter smiled at Tom. “She doesn’t like the attention.”
She would get it whether she liked it or not, Tom vowed.
When they arrived at the first-aid hut, Tom came around to the right of the toboggan and unstrapped Elizabeth. He and Kemp lifted her onto a gurney that a couple of the staff brought out to them. The teens were waiting for them to give Peter their full statements.
“This is so unnecessary,” Elizabeth griped, her voice still muffled by the oxygen mask.
“Are you always like this when you’re a patient?” Tom asked.
She snorted. He chuckled.
Peter took her skis and poles, and Minx offered to hold her camera. Tom wheeled Elizabeth into the hut.
“I’ll pick up your bag at your locker and follow the ambulance to the hospital in Silver Town.” Tom winked at her.
She rolled her eyes. That earned her another smile.
Jake walked through the door to the hut, his expression dark. “I received updates about the lady as I drove over here to take your place this afternoon. Do you need me to take her to the hospital instead?” Jake sounded damned serious.
His brother had to be kidding!
Chapter 6
As soon as Jake Silver took a deep breath, Elizabeth knew he was sampling her scent, checking out the wolf-coyote.
The natural instinct to do so existed in both wolves and coyotes. She wished she didn’t feel so defensive. It didn’t mean he judged her for what she was. But based on past treatment, she automatically assumed the worst.
She didn’t have any sisters, and her half brother, Sefton, had only used her as the butt of his jokes before he moved in with their uncle. Sefton had never teased her in a lighthearted way, like Jake did Tom. She could tell Jake was pulling Tom’s leg, even though he sounded so serious. He smiled at Tom with a devilish glint in his eye.
“Cantrell sent me a short video of you,” Jake said to Tom.
Tom looked clueless. Thinking it was the pay-for-view video of her and Tom kissing, Elizabeth felt her cheeks heat all over again.
Jake was as rugged looking as Tom, but his eyes and hair were darker brown. He was tall and commanding, equally in control. She wondered if their brother Darien appeared much the same. She could easily imagine humans getting them mixed up.
When Jake turned his full attention on her again, his expression grew wary, like he was looking out for his brother’s best interests. A warning. Don’t mess with the Silver pack unless you want to face down some angry wolves.
Jake didn’t have to worry about her intentions. Joining a gray wolf pack here or anywhere was out of the question because of what she was. She had to admit that she found it refreshing to see a pack run their own town and ski resort, instead of hiding among humans and pretending to be just like them. She also liked how protective Jake was of his brother.
Long ago, she’d learned that she just didn’t fit in anywhere. Men—human or otherwise—were a definite hazard to her health. Case in point: whoever had pushed her down the black-diamond slope had meant to injure her. Why? For taking a few pictures of the mountains? Of a skier in action?
What if the skier hadn’t wanted her to capture him on camera in action or any other way? She frowned at that. She realized that even if her camera was broken, she did have the card with the pictures of the man who had ridden the lift with her, if he was the other guy’s ski buddy.
She had a flash of recall. She had taken a backward shot to capture the interesting vista from the lift, and she was certain the man on the chairlift behind her would be in the picture. Maybe blurred. She couldn’t remember exactly what she’d been focusing on.
“I got pictures of them,” she said.
Tom asked, “Of whom?”
“Of the man who pushed me down, if he rode the lift behind us, and the other who might have been with him. I don’t know how good the photos will be.”
Jake glanced at her camera, his face brightening at once. “You’re a photographer.” As if he suddenly recalled what she was doing up there.
She felt like laughing. Now it didn’t matter who she was or what she intended—if she liked photography, she had an in with Jake. “I write for a newspaper.” She took decent pictures, but she didn’t want him to think she was a professional photographer.
Tom frowned. “We’ll check out the pictures after Doc Weber runs some tests on you.”