Page 44 of Wind Valley

“The ermine at Pinky’s place seem fine too, except for the ones that were acting like refugees. Maybe it’s because they don’t roam beyond their own territory unless they have to?”

“Good theory.” He’d been thinking the same thing. Whatever was going on, it was spilling over into Firelight Ridge from somewhere else, possibly Wind Valley, according to the maps they’d consulted. But what? And why there in particular?

“Are you almost done?” Maura asked with a shiver. “I checked the outside temperature gauge and that line was fighting to get above zero.”

“Yep, just about done,” he said absently, scanning the wolfprints below the window.

“What are you looking for?”

“Tufts of hair, forest debris, anything the wolf might have left behind. Ah-ha!” He bent down and carefully scooped up a handful of snow. Atop the pile on his glove was a clump of dirt. He plucked another baggie from his pocket and dumped it in.

“Dirt?” Maura said skeptically.

“Soil sample. The terrain around here varies, and the chemical composition might tell us where the wolf came here from.”

“Maybe that dirt came from the forest he just ran through.”

“With this snow cover and frozen ground? It’s possible, but it’s also possible that it comes from his den.”

She shivered again. “Okay, genius, you make a good point. Can we go inside now?” The rifle was shaking against her shoulder and she kept squinting to keep the cold air away from her eyeballs.

He knew how that felt. Sometimes, on very cold days, he wore two sets of sunglasses to keep the wind off his eyes.

He took the rifle back from her before she accidentally shot the sky, and gestured toward the house. “Go ahead. I’ll be right behind you.”

She waited stubbornly. “We go together. I’ll wait until you’re done.”

His respect for her ticked up another notch. She could have waited inside the warm house for him, but she’d braved the cold and her fear so that they’d face the danger together.

Damn it, hadn’t she already done enough to make him fall for her? Why did she keep doing more? It was verging on unfair.

Back inside, they stripped off their outer gear and left it dripping in the arctic entry. He went to heat up water for hot chocolate—the sugar and chocolate made it the best choice for thawing out, in his opinion. Maura crouched next to the woodstove and added a couple of logs to the fire.

She was getting the hang of this wild Alaska life. Her ability to adapt impressed the hell out of him. Maura was a survivor, but even beyond that, she had an adventurous spirit.

He brought her a mug of hot chocolate and stood next to the fire, warming his toes.

“As soon as the store is open, I’m going to call up my buddy the wolf expert. I don’t want to put these samples in the mail, so I might take them to Fairbanks myself. There’s a lab at the university I can use. I want to take a good look through a microscope, and have them run some tests as well.”

She glanced up at him, the firelight flickering across her black hair. From here, standing above her, he could see the brown roots—a reminder that she was keeping an unknown number of secrets from him. “You’re leaving?”

“Just for a few days.”

“But The Fang…don’t you have to…” She trailed off, biting her lower lip. “Sorry. I’m being such a baby. I don’t want you to leave.”

An idea struck him. “Why don’t you come with me?”

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything.

“They have restaurants there,” he said, enticingly. “Aren’t you tired of the soup of the day at The Fang? In Fairbanks they have hotels with endless hot showers and indoor bathrooms.”

Was that a moan he heard from her direction? He considered it almost a low blow to mention indoor plumbing, which he had, but Pinky didn’t.

“There’s a Thai place I know that serves the most incredible Tom Khat soup, they use Copper River salmon and lemongrass they grow themselves in a greenhouse. We could see the Chena Hot Springs. Imagine soaking in a natural hot spring on a clear night with aurora borealis in full swing overhead. You’ve never seen anything so?—”

“Stop.” She flung up a hand to interrupt his flow. “I can’t go. I can’t leave Firelight Ridge.”

“Why not? Pinky can take care of himself, I promise you. He’ll probably have a list of things for us to pick up for him.”

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