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  Books. Change. Lives.

  Copyright © 2022 by Terry Spear

  Cover and internal design © 2022 by Sourcebooks

  Cover art by Craig White/Lott Reps

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.

  Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  sourcebooks.com

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Flight of the White Wolf

  Chapter 1

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  Patty Cieplinski—thanks so much for enjoying my books

  and always being eager to try the new series!

  I hope that they take you into new worlds of wonder!

  Chapter 1

  Eager to get their clandestine meeting started, David Davis got ready for his weekly Skype session with Elizabeth Alpine. It was their only opportunity to visit face-to-face since she lived in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, and he was located near Ely, Minnesota, the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

  They had to do this in secret because her Arctic wolf-pack leader, Kintail, would have done something drastic had he known they were still in touch. To say Kintail had issues with his pack members trying to break free was an understatement.

  Not that David would ever consider himself one of their pack, even if they did, technically, save his life. It was either be turned or die of a heart attack during a bear hunt gone terribly wrong in Maine. And he was glad he wasn’t dead, no complaints there. But once he was turned, Kintail and his pack thought they owned him.

  David had other ideas. And so did Elizabeth, which was why she’d helped him to escape.

  She’d meant to escape with him so they could make a home together in Seattle, Washington, where he was a PI, and be free of Kintail and the pack, but Elizabeth’s grandmother, Ada, had gotten sick. Elizabeth couldn’t abandon her only family; she would forever have regretted it. Ada had often told David that Elizabeth just needed to leave to be with him and get on with her life, and the pack would take care of Ada just fine.

  But Elizabeth wouldn’t have been just fine if she had left her grandmother in other wolves’ care. Especially with the way Kintail treated his pack. The other wolves might really want to help Ada but be prevented from doing so by Kintail.

  David drummed his fingers on the table as he placed the Skype call and waited for Ada to pick up. She was always trying to sneak in some “before time” with him. And sure enough:

  “Oh, David, you’re looking more handsome every time I see you.” Ada smiled. “I want you to come and take Elizabeth away from here before I’m gone. Kintail and his men are bound to be watching her to ensure she doesn’t leave as soon as I’ve passed on to join my dearly beloved mate.”

  They’d been over this a dozen times before. David smiled gently. “Elizabeth needs to be there for you for her own peace of mind and for yours. But as soon as—”

  “No. Now. I feel it in my bones that I could go any minute now. Oh, scratch that. You smile at me and look at me with those big, adoring brown eyes, and I almost forget I’m as old as an ancient oak tree. If Elizabeth and I could trade places, I would be racing out of here to be with you. She’s a silly goose to waste her life away here without you.”

  Sometimes, Ada’s curly white hair was piled high on top of her head in a chic coiffure, as if she were getting ready to go to a dance. Other times, like today, her hair was long and silky and down around her shoulders as she lay in her big bed. She did seem more tired than usual, but she still had good days too. Besides, David was used to this line of conversation. Ada had been saying she could go any minute now ever since Elizabeth had returned home to take care of her. He smiled wider and gave her a wink for good measure. “You’re not going anywhere and good thing too. Who would sing my praises if you weren’t around?”

  “Are you on Skype already?” Elizabeth asked, hurrying into her grandmother’s room with a couple bottles of water. She sounded mildly accusative, but David knew it was a game the two women played, Elizabeth pretending to be late to the session, David and her grandmother getting on just a little early so she could chat privately with him.

  “Grandma, you know you’re not supposed to be on Skype without me. I never know what the two of you are plotting.” Elizabeth’s beautiful brown curls were partly up and partly down. She looked like she’d been working in her grandmother’s garden again.

  He hoped Elizabeth would love gardening in the plot at his cabin. He hadn’t planted anything there yet. He wanted it to be her garden. Every summer he kept it weeded, just in case he had to go rescue her and bring her home. In the winter, it lay dormant waiting for the spring. Waiting for her.

  “What am I plotting?” Ada said. “Running away with this handsome wolf since you won’t? We would make a lovely pair, wouldn’t we?” She sighed dramatically. “But alas, he only has eyes for you. You need to go to him.”

  “I can wait,” David said, like he’d said so many times before, because there had never been anyone like Elizabeth and he knew there never would be. “I’ll wait forever for you, Elizabeth, honey.” And he would. He would wait as long as he had to. But being together like this wasn’t the same as being together. The last time they’d actually been together, they’d been on the run from her pack leader. But staying in hotels and having unconsummated relations because wolves mated for life hadn’t really counted.

  Yet they’d known then and they knew now they only wanted each other.

  Still, he couldn’t help the doubts that crept in. When they were finally able to physically be together, safe from danger, would they still feel the same way about each other? When they finally lived in his cabin on the lake, and he was off working as a PI and she was… She was what? He didn’t even know what she would do when he was away on missions. Would the magic still be there?

  “She’s treated like an omega wolf here,” Ada was saying. “I’m not just crying wolf. She needs you and your pack’s protection. And she needs it now.”

  “Grandma, shush. I’m fine. I’m happy to be here with you, and I won’t leave until it’s…” Elizabeth took a deep breath, but the tears in her eyes said it all.

  David hated that Kintail was such an ass. He wanted nothing more than to swoop in and take Elizabeth away from her pack, get her out from under his control. David had been glad Elizabeth had more time with her grandmother before the end came, but he hated that Kintail and the other pack members were still giving Elizabeth grief for having freed David and his friend Owen. It’d been years since then, but Kintail knew how to hold a grudge; losing new wolves wasn’t something he would ever get over.

  Losing yet another wolf wasn’t something Kintail would stand for either. And Elizabeth would leave, the first moment she could. It might have been a different story with a different leader. If Elizabeth had been met with kindness, with understanding, maybe she would have stayed. But Kintail was who he was: Controlling. Demanding. Greedy for power. Kindness was weakness, and weakness was death.

  That’s why Elizabeth needed to be free.

  “Okay, so let’s go over the new plan of rescue and evasion, shall we?” That was
Ada’s favorite topic of discussion when they had their weekly Skype sessions.

  “If I drove long days and didn’t stop for much, I could make it in three days going up and we could make it in three days coming back,” David said.

  “Right,” Ada said, as if she were making the trip herself.

  Elizabeth let her grandmother dominate the calls with David because her grandmother loved them, and it always gave her something to look forward to for the next week. David enjoyed talking with her too. He’d loved his own grandparents, but they were gone now, and Elizabeth’s grandmother had adopted him, whether he ended up mated to Elizabeth or not. He loved Ada just as much as Elizabeth did.

  David continued going over their plans. “And flights are around twenty-two hours, depending on layovers. Some are longer. Layovers are two hours in Calgary and seven hours in Edmonton.”

  “I don’t like that plan. While I want the two of you out of Canada as soon as possible, Kintail and his men will be watching Elizabeth after I’m gone, and they’ll be watching the airport to see if you turn up.”

  Elizabeth’s grandmother had never liked the idea of them escaping by plane, but David didn’t want to discount it either. Driving would mean a delay in reaching Yellowknife to pull Elizabeth out after Ada’s funeral. It was risky to wait.

  “True. But I was thinking I could solicit Amelia—Gavin Summerfield’s mate—to help us,” David said. “He’s another PI partner and long-time friend, and she’s a pilot. Then we wouldn’t have long layovers because we can take a more direct flight instead of having to fly their scheduled routes.”

  “Oh, yes, that sounds much better. Also, I don’t want a funeral,” Ada said. “I’m being cremated, and Elizabeth has instructions to scatter my ashes over the roses in the backyard. Well, if the yard isn’t covered in snow. I’ll try not to leave when it’s snowing out.” She always said “leave,” like she was just planning on taking a trip—which, in a way, was exactly how she thought of it. “Oh, and I’ll try to leave when it isn’t the full-moon phase.”

  The phase of the full moon could be an issue for David. Not for Elizabeth. She and her family were royals, having very few purely human roots in their genetic makeup. But David had been turned by one of her pack members, so he’d been born as a human and dealing with a full moon was harder for him. It tugged on his need to shift, though he was better at controlling it than he used to be. He still couldn’t entertain the thought of flying during that phase, though, unless either Amelia or her brother, Slade, piloted him. Their father, Henry, flew planes too, but, David figured, as a royal like Elizabeth, Henry would be holding down the fort while either Amelia or Slade helped David and Elizabeth get out.

  “If it’s winter, you could sneak in at a rendezvous point and snowmobile out of here,” Ada mused.

  That was the thing of it. They had so many things to take into consideration—time of year, the moon phases, getting to and out of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, whether extra help was needed or not.

  His three partners wanted to help him, not to mention their mates too. They all knew Elizabeth from Maine, whether personally or through stories of her bravery, and were ready to jump in whenever David needed them.

  “You can’t get your partners and their mates involved in all this,” Ada said, seemingly reading his mind. “We don’t want a pack war up here. You’ll never beat them, and they’ll bury the lot of you. So don’t even think of it. Come alone… well, except for Amelia or her brother, if they can fly you here all right. When Elizabeth is finally safe back home with you, your pack members can help, if Kintail and his men are foolish enough to follow you.”

  “I like that idea,” Elizabeth said. “If Amelia or Slade fly in, it won’t matter if the full moon is an issue for you. And if I could reach the airport without Kintail being aware of it, we would fly off into the sunset and be gone before they could do anything about it. Hopefully we wouldn’t have to involve your pack at all.”

  David didn’t want a pack war either. The thought of putting his packmates at risk ate at him. But he would—for her.

  He couldn’t understand why Kintail was so adamant about not losing a pack member. If a wolf was unhappy with the pack, let him go. Once her grandmother was gone, Elizabeth had no kin left there, and most of Elizabeth’s friends had turned their backs on her.

  But letting Elizabeth go wasn’t in Kintail’s plans. He couldn’t have anyone “mutinying” and that’s exactly what he would consider it. Mutiny. What if more of his pack members saw that as a sign to leave too?

  Kintail would do anything in his power to stop Elizabeth from leaving. Anything.

  Just as David would do anything to help her break free.

  Ada sighed. “I know she will be in good hands with you and your packmates. I’m going to rest my eyes a bit and let you talk in private with my Elizabeth, but no talking over trip plans without me.”

  He smiled. “I love you, Grandma.” And he meant it.

  “Oh, how I wish I was younger.” Grandma smiled in return and blew him a kiss.

  Elizabeth kissed her grandmother’s cheek. “I’ll come check on you in a little bit.” Then she took her laptop out of the bedroom, closed the door, and went into the living room, settling into her recliner. “She loves making plans to get us together. She says when these calls end, she thinks for hours about how to help us. About the life we could have. She remembers the time when she was a young woman and went with her mate, my grandfather, to see the States. If her memories of my grandfather weren’t so tied to this pack, she would leave with me to join you.”

  “I would welcome her into my home gladly,” David said.

  “I know. And she does too. You’ve done her a world of good. Thanks for including her in our chats.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I miss you though. I can’t say that enough.” He longed to be with Elizabeth, sharing kisses with her, and more. There was so much he wanted to experience with her. She was truly the light of his life.

  “I miss you too,” Elizabeth said.

  Despite the closeness he felt with his own pack, it wasn’t the same as being with a mate. He thought about her constantly. About running with her as wolves and playing chase and tag. About making love with her and having little wolf pups of their own. About being a family, when he’d never thought he would be interested in such a thing. Not until he’d met Elizabeth—and lost her.

  They just had to get her out of Yellowknife and out of her pack’s reach. Until then, nothing else mattered.

  Chapter 2

  Elizabeth loved her grandmother and was grateful she’d had her in her life for so long. She hated her pack leader for vowing to kill David, and any of his pack members, if they dared set foot in their territory.

  Her bond with David went deeper than any bond with her pack, with the exception of her grandmother. Her feelings for him transcended place and time. In the beginning, she’d worried about their relationship. What if he had only really needed her for the comfort he’d craved when he was turned, going from an ordinary human to an extraordinary lupus garou? What if he wasn’t as into her as it seemed? That the newness of being together, or the fact she’d helped him and Owen escape, was the reason he’d been attracted to her?

  If it hadn’t been for Kintail, David could have made the trip to see Elizabeth and her grandmother from time to time. But she knew spies in the pack were always watching, waiting, making sure David didn’t show up. And she was certain they would ensure Elizabeth didn’t slip away from the pack once her grandmother died.

  Only two places offered funeral services in Yellowknife, so it would be hard to keep her grandmother’s death quiet when the time came. The pack would eventually find out; they always did. But Elizabeth promised her grandma she would keep it a secret as long as she could. The longer the pack was in the dark, the better chance Elizabeth had of escaping.

  Her best friend, Sheri Whitmore, had said she would take care of the cremation when the time came and would spread Ada’s ashes in her rose garden, just as she wanted. Elizabeth hadn’t wanted to tell either David or her grandmother of Sheri’s offer because no one in the pack was supposed to be in on their plans. But Elizabeth loved Sheri like a sister, and she was her best shot at buying some time.