Page 33 of Valentine's Day Treasure

Trent and Troy left the cover of the trees and went out to the snowmobiles. Beckett knew the road was out there somewhere, but the snow was so deep he couldn’t see it. Across the way, Ella was putting ‘police dog’ vests on Trent and Troy, and in a few minutes, the snowmobilers were back on the move, but now with two ‘police dog’ escorts.

The three wolves paced just inside the tree line and when Beckett lost sight of the snowmobilers, he lay down to wait. Crew did the same, while Trevor stood, staring at the road.

***

Dahlia smiled, enjoying herself as they snowmobiled down the road. She really liked catching glimpses of the wolves running through the forest as they kept pace with the snowmobiles, and now that Trent and Troy were running with them, it felt like they had wolf escorts. She loved it—she’d felt a deep connection to wolves her entire life, and now that she was mated to awolven, she knew why.

They rounded a bend, and there was the Serenity Falls Resort, looking like any other roadside motel you could see on the side of any highway in the U.S., making Dahlia wonder if it was just a motel that called itself a resort. There were several large mounds of snow in front of the building that were probably cars, and the light was on inside the office, but those were the only signs of life.

Ella parked her snowmobile and so did Cerise, while Mac and Bruin kept going, around the back of the place. They took their helmets off and stood up.

“So much fun!” Ella said. Her color was high and her eyes were flashing.

They stomped snow off their boots, then the three of them went inside while Ella held the door open for Trent and Troy. A young man sat behind the front desk, his feet up on it, watching a movie on a laptop. When he saw them, he paused the movie and faced them. He looked bored as hell, until he saw Trent and Troy.

“Whoa,” he said, eyes wide. “Is this a raid?” His nametag said he was ‘Brent’.

“Not a raid,” Ella said, grinning. “We’re checking in. We called ahead about our dogs and were told it was no problem.”

“You a cop?”

Ella pulled something out of her snowsuit, like maybe she might be, and Brent’s eyes went wide, but it was just a wallet. She slapped it on the counter.

“Not me,” she said. “I just want a room.”

“Rooms we got,” Brent said. “Name?”

“Burbank.”

Brent tapped away at his keyboard until he found the reservation. Within five minutes, they all had room keys, and they were back outside. Dahlia had room 10B and Cerise had room 11B, while Ella had the Presidential Suite.

They walked down the row of rooms until they found 10B. Before Dahlia could put her key in the door, Crew and Beckett walked around the corner of the building, both wearing jeans, jackets, and snow boots.

Dahlia grinned and kissed her male. “Where’d you come from? How’d you get dressed?”

“Mac brought our clothes and we walked in.”

“Perfect timing.”

Beckett waved Ella around the building in the direction they’d come from. “Trevor’s waiting for you at your suite.”

Ella smiled and headed that way with the two wolves.

Dahlia opened 10B, Cerise opened 11B, and they went in their respective rooms. Dahlia flipped on all the lights and… was not impressed.

The place was small and dark, even with the lights on, and it was old and maybe a little dingy.

“It looked bigger in the pictures,” she said.

“Sure did,” Crew said, flopping down on the bed, which squeaked and creaked. He frowned and checked the pillow. “Smells alright,” he said, his boots hanging off the end of the bed.

“Well, at least it’s clean,” Dahlia said, making the best of it. “Let’s see what Cerise and Beckett’s room looks like.” But before they could leave, there was a knock on the door. It was Beckett and Cerise, who came inside.

“Our room’s a cracker box,” Beckett said.

“It’s nice, though. Cozy…” Cerise said.

Beckett snorted, then hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. “If by ‘cozy’ you mean ‘teeny tiny’, well that’s fine, darlin’. If you like it, I love it.”

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