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The biting cold whipped at his face as he trudged through the Rockies, rifle slung over his shoulder He suspected the rest of his gray-wolf packhot showers, hot food, and if they were le up to, hot sex Which made him think of Elizabeth He wished she were here
Snowflakes dusted the evergreens with a sprinkling of white powder as fat flakes slanted sideways and were captured on the wind The snow crystals covered his white parka andwith the search had run as wolves With the approaching storlad to have his rifle with him, and if he had to, he’d slip off to the fah the trees, a ghostly, haunting tune, as he tried to listen for any other sounds--a howl fro the far to say they had given up the search before it was too late
The sun that had sparkled off the creeks and shone through the branches of the trees this ray clouds that shadowed everything,that the weather would worsen
Alhts on the storan to drift down upon his upturned face The sudden snowfall got heavier with alarive up the chase for theabout him, Tom loved the chilled air, the snow, the wind, and the sound of it as it shook the hty firs Yet he wished he were curled up so him--very much alpha--while she’d pretended to be a beta He couldn’t quit thinking about the way she had kissed hiered for more He damn anted one wrong? He should have sat down on the bed, gathered her in his arms, and flat out asked what thethat it was nothing
She hadn’t returned one of his calls He couldn’t figure her out Maybe that’s why he was so hung up on her
After a little while, the cabin he and his brothers kept in the h they were a close-knit fa a little more privacy in a remote cabin appealed Especially in a town like theirs, where no secrets stayed secrets for long
Toer woodpile, when the distant sound of an aircraft engine in trouble caught his ear A sputtering, and then the engine completely cut out Silence for a heartbeat Thenfollowed He stared in the direction of thesnow
No explosion, no fla up through the forest that he could see Just silence
He swore under his breath and charged into the cabin, slaainst the blizzard He couldn’t search for survivors in the middle of a blizzard as a human But he hated to think ould happen if he found someone still alive and they panicked when they saw him as a wolf Still, he had no other choice if he was to locate anyone still alive
After ditching his clothes in a rush, he stretched his are, accepting the transfor it His muscles and bones reshaped Fur covered his skin in a warid eleh the wolf door
Outside, the white bleakness obscured everything in a ghostly way Whoever had chosen to be foolhardy enough to fly in this weather was out of theirabout in expensive private jets to see the spectacular Rockies, perhaps? Probably decided on a whim to witness the snow-covered peaks Or maybe they didn’t understand the air density at this altitude, es, the problems with radio communications, or even hypoxia, which could lead to altitude sickness up there Or how suddenly a storround on his nerves A number of people had survived airplane crashes in the mountains But without a way to keep warm, the cold would kill them if the crash hadn’t
If he found survivors ere near death, the only way he could save theenetics Darien would have a fit if Tom took it upon himself to make a life-or-death decision and turn a severely injured person or persons they knew nothing about
Changing so turned What if Darien told Tom that the neas his problem if the wolf became real trouble? Tom didn’t want to save someone’s life only to have to eliue Not only that, but the human’s family had to be considered
To to discern if he could hear anything in the direction that the plane had gone down If the plane trans the area, bringing more aircraft, people, h the snooods in his wolf forate, but he sniffed the air, listening for any sounds that could direct him more precisely toward the crash site
A sweep ofway off He bounded toward the sound
Gouges in tree trunks, broken branches, and needled twigs littering pristine snoarned of the plane’s fatal path as he continued north
No sign of bodies or--A fresh depression in the snowbank caught his attention He loped to the spot and peered into the indent in the snow A gun
The notion that the flight ay off course, carrying the crew and pleasure-seeking passengers to their deaths, becaun aboard a flight? Even a private flight?
If they were govern with rescue tea the air, he didn’t sh the trees The piles of snoere stacked so high on branches that they blew over and landed with a plop A brown hare bolted out of a pocket of snow, startling him Then Tom spied a section of plane: the tail ripped from the body, probably by force of impact with the trees It was tilted on its side and stuck between two partially shattered trees, grounded in the forest floor forever