“I’ll try not to,” she said.
He wanted to get her to town, to the hospital, but traveling was too risky in this blizzard. After she had been so cold, he couldn’t expose her to that again right away.
He stirred the chili. “So what was the deal with these guys?”
“At first, I thought they had grabbed the wrong woman.” Her voice sounded more even now, her teeth not chattering as much. Good.
“Do you know who they were?”
“They were the men who made a scene in the Silver Town Tavern, the ones Darien told to leave.”
“I thought I recognized them, even though they were pretty battered.”
“One of them had ridden next to me on the ski lift. Another pushed me down the slope. The third broke into my room at the B and B. They said two men paid for the job, but they didn’t know who.”
“So why did you leave Silver Town instead of staying and letting us deal with this?”
“It was getting too dangerous,” Elizabeth said.
Was she serious? She hadn’t seemed scared. Upset, yes. But not fearful. Even Darien said she hadn’t seemed afraid. In denial that she was running away from forming a relationship with a gray wolf? Maybe.
She had shut her eyes, and he couldn’t tell if she was being earnest or not. “Don’t go to sleep,” he warned her.
Her eyes still closed, she wrinkled her nose at him in an annoyed way.
He smiled. “The picture you put on my desktop, the one of me crouching in front of the injured little girl, did you know the man who sat on the lift chair behind you had been watching you take the picture?”
She opened her eyes and frowned at him. “No, I didn’t. Are you sure?” She sounded winded, sleepy.
“Yeah, we compared it to the photo in which he had his back to you right before you were pushed down the slope.” Tom paused and looked in her eyes. “You suspect who’s behind this, don’t you?”
“I don’t want you or your family involved.”
“Damn it, Elizabeth, we are involved. Anyone who attacks a wolf in our territory—”
“I wasn’t in your territory when they grabbed me.”
He shook his head. “You were when they pushed you down the slope, and you were a hostage when they dropped out of the sky here.”
She hesitated. “I think my half brother or uncle might be behind it.”
Her words sent alarm bells ringing through him. She’d never mentioned she had family.
Processing this new information, he set the tray with a bowl of chili and a mug of tea on the coffee table. He pulled a couple of cushions off the couch and propped her carefully into a sitting position on the floor, still wanting to keep her close to the fire.
“Can you manage it all right? Or do you need my help?”
Her hands shook, so he steadied them with his own.
“I’ll be all right.”
He took one of her hands and inspected her fingers. “Make a fist for me.”
She did, but her grip was weak.
“Grasp the spoon.”
“I can do this.” But her hand trembled as she took the spoon from him.
“Here, let me. By tomorrow morning, you’ll be fine. Tonight, I’ll take care of you.” He held out a spoon of the chili to her.
She frowned at him.
“Humor me,” he said, smiling. He could tell she really didn’t like being waited on. But he was used to helping others—the pack, guests at the ski resort, or wherever wolves or humans needed him.
She took a bite of the chili. Once she’d swallowed, she said again, “I can eat on my own.”
“I’m used to it. I help feed my brother’s triplets. They don’t hold still, though, and we make more of a mess than anything. Darien usually has to wash the kids right afterward.”
He noticed then that Elizabeth’s expression was one of surprise. When she’d mentioned her half brother and uncle, he’d assumed Elizabeth was part of a pack, even though he thought she seemed too independent to have grown up in one.
Didn’t her pack members all take care of the little ones? Built-in babysitters who loved their jobs? But maybe all packs weren’t as close-knit as his. He wondered why Elizabeth thought her brother and uncle were behind all her trouble. What kind of pack would kidnap a member of their own family?
He was considering how to broach the subject when Elizabeth said, “I’m sorry for not saying good-bye. I just thought it would be easier.”
He didn’t want her to know how shook up he’d been, and yet he said just what he’d been feeling. “I was ready to punch the wall.”
She chuckled. He smiled.
“Sorry,” she said, “I just have a hard time seeing you taking your anger out on a wall.”