Page 50 of A Lady's Heart
The room they entered was strangely quiet, and Mandy turned to Nadia in confusion. “Did Cole and Danielle go somewhere?”
Justin lifted his hand and pointed. “Damn.”
Danielle was missing, but Cole was there, trussed up from head to foot, duct-taped to a chair with a piece of tape over his mouth.
Justin slid a knife through the mess holding him in place, but it was Nadia who reached out and ripped the covering from his mouth.
A wolfish roar of pain turned into a loud shout of anger as Cole took to his feet and whirled on them. “She’s gone. She’s been gone for half an hour, and now I’ll have to track her down all over again.”
“Good luck on that,” Mandy uttered, ducking closer to Justin’s side as the wolf offered her a nasty snarl.
“Back off,” Justin warned. “It’s hard to eat without teeth, and it’s even harder to track someone with a broken sniffer.”
Cole snapped at Nadia. “Why didn’t you stop her?”
“Because I only stop things from happening that shouldn’t.” She smirked at him.
He glared. “I didnotwant to be tied up.”
Nadia raised a brow. “You sure, sweetheart? But wait—it’s not me who needs to know all your kinky secrets. You’d better discuss that with Danielle when you catch her.”
Loud growl.Loud.
“If you catch her.”
He didn’t bother responding, just turned his back and left at a full sprint, headed after his target again.
Mandy turned to Nadia. “We’re going back to Whitehorse. I need to get in touch with my family, at least the part of it who isn’t trying to evade a wolf, and figure out what comes next. Thank you for everything you did to make me comfortable during my time here.”
Nadia gave her a hug. “I’m going to miss your happy smile. It was nice having a new girlfriend all of my own. You’re welcome back anytime.”
Mandy pressed closer to Justin’s side as he tugged her against his body. “I think we’ll be able to come visit.”
“Of course we can,” Justin agreed.
Saying farewell took a lot longer than she expected…but then again, maybe her expectations all needed to be revised. She’d made a lot of friends who all dropped by to say goodbye while she and Justin were packing, and with one thing and the other, it was a day later before they were ready to hit the road.
She stroked a hand over the dash of the camper. “Dale’s going to want this back sometime.”
“Yup,” Justin agreed before flashing her a grin. “But for now, it’s ours, and we could check off an item from your list. You mind if we take a shortcut to get home? There’s supposed to be a fabulous Aurora Borealis show over the next few nights…”
Mandy hesitated. “You don’t think we should go straight home so I can decide?”
“Deciding will take some long walks and lazy mornings to think it all through. It’s been eight years. You deserve a few more days.”
“I suppose that would be okay. Where are the lights expected to be most visible?”
“Tombstone Park Campground on the Dempster highway.”
Holy moly. “That’s nowhere near Whitehorse.”
“Nope.”
She laughed. “That’s probably as far north as we are now, and a lot more to the east. How is that a shortcut?”
“I don’t know. But—” He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and glanced at it. “There we go. This is what I meant to say.”
She took the note from him, their fingers tangling together before she lifted the paper to the light to read out loud.
Make love under the Northern Lights.
Laughter bubbled up, and she was glad they were still motionless in the parking lot because that meant she could throw herself into his arms. “Funny, I don’t remember that being on the list.”
“Are you sure? It looks an awful lot like your handwriting—”
Whatever else he intended to say was lost. She was too busy kissing him. Holding him.
Claiming the bear who was her heart.
