“Best interest? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Those issues you mentioned, let me help you with them. That’s my job. As mates we’re better as a couple. I need you, you need me.”
“Arghh, you are so frustrating.”
“I’m your mate.”
The shouting and laughter from the others got louder as they moved closer. This conversation would have to be put on hold. Erik raised a brow at her. “We’ll have to agree to disagree for now. Let’s head back to the campground. We’ll follow you to Whitehorse in the morning. Keil gave me orders to keep you in sight at all times while we’re there.” He stood and held out a hand to her. She took it reluctantly and he squeezed it. “It’s going to be okay, Maggie, really.”
She shook her head. “You just don’t understand.”
They waded to the stairs and he led her out of the pool. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care.”
The bright hope in her eyes calmed his fears. There was obviously something big she wasn’t sharing yet, but they’d deal with it. Together.
“Holy cow, what happened to your neck?” Pam exclaimed as she and the boys crowded around them.
Maggie froze for a second, her face flushing red. Erik stepped in smoothly. “Bug bite.”
One of the boys snorted and Erik elbowed him in the ribs while Pam dug into her bag and pulled out a container of cream. She dabbed some on the mark. “Must have been a hell of a big bug.”
Maggie glared at him and he smiled, turning away to head to the change room. “The biggest around.”
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15
Chapter Three
“I’ve changed my mind about heading home. I’m canceling my flight, Maggie. I’m not letting you head off into the wilds of Alaska with this group of misfits.” Pam folded her arms in front of her.
Maggie sighed. Not again. The entire seven-hour drive from Liard to Whitehorse, Maggie had struggled to answer her friend’s endless nosy questions. It didn’t help that during their couple days of sightseeing in Whitehorse before Pam’s fight home, Erik shadowed them everywhere. He seemed to be trying his best to give them a little space but still refused to leave her alone.
“I’m not headed into the wild with them. I’m simply getting a ride to Haines to rejoin my family.”
“Yeah, right. The family you’ve been soooo thrilled about. It’s been years since your parents’
accident. I thought you told me your sister was involved in some kind of a cult at one point. You never wanted anything to do with her friends when we were at university. There was that one time you even hid from them. Or don’t you remember?”
A shiver ran over her skin at the memory. She wished she could forget. “Damn it, Pam. Of course I remember, but things have changed.”
“Right.”
Maggie hesitated. How was she supposed to convince Pam when she wasn’t sure herself? A wolf pack was supposed to be the safest place on earth. A place to be nurtured and cared for, not a hellish trap. That hadn’t been her sister’s experience, or her own. In defense, she’d rejected the pack of her youth, had even managed to reject the whole idea of being a wolf for a long period of her life. She couldn’t do it anymore.
Her body wouldn’t let her.
But her heart and mind were terrified to take the next step.
She settled into one of the rigid plastic chairs in the airport waiting area. “Pam, I know it seems strange, but you’ve got to trust me on this. My sister and I have always kept in touch and I love her dearly.
Plus she’s married to a wonderful guy now.”
Pam shook her head reluctantly. “I just don’t understand why after all this time you’re deciding to move back to the Yukon. I thought we were going to keep rooming together. I’m…disappointed.” She squatted beside Maggie. “I’m worried about your health. You’ve never shaken off this mono or whatever it is you’ve got. What if you have another attack while you’re on the road?”
Wolf Games
“That’s part of the reason I won’t be driving.” She grabbed Pam’s hands. “I’m going to be fine.
Really. I’m so glad we got to spend this time together. You kick butt when it comes to singing on road trips.” Pam snorted and they grinned at each other.
“I couldn’t sing my way out of a paper bag.” Suddenly Maggie was wrapped in a huge hug, the breath squeezed from her body. Pam let her go only to shake a finger in her face. “I want regular emails. Let me know when you’re settled and if I don’t hear from you often, I’m coming back with a gun.”
Maggie laughed. “I expect you to visit me in Haines when you can. You’ve been an awesome friend.
I’m going to miss you.”