Alaskan Sanctuary (18 page)

“This time.” An angry knot formed in Ethan’s jaw. “Do you have any idea how I felt when Tate got the emergency dispatch on his radio? Think, Piper. Think for a minute about what I thought I’d find by the time I got to you. I was half out of my mind with terror.”

“I’m sorry.” Why did she feel she should apologize? She’d done nothing wrong. Nothing at all. He should be the one apologizing to her. “But are you telling me that if Palmer hadn’t wandered away from home and barged through my front door, you wouldn’t be standing here right now?”

Ethan grew very still, very quiet. Piper knew the answer before he even said it. “Yes, that’s right. But...”

“But nothing.” She held up a hand. She couldn’t listen to this anymore. Not a single word. “You were right. You don’t belong here. You should have never come back. I wish you hadn’t, but not as much as I wish you hadn’t kissed me.”

The knot in Ethan’s jaw hardened. “Don’t say that.”

“Too late. I already did. You should know, better than anyone, that words can never be unsaid.” That’s what had started this entire mess. Words.

She was sick of words. Humans were the only species capable of using language. And what did they do? They used their words to lie and hurt one another. Over and over again. She couldn’t take it anymore. At least wolves were honest.

They communicated with their bodies. They could show how they felt by how they carried their tails, moved their eyes or showed their teeth. To Piper, it seemed far more effective than words.

“Goodbye, Ethan.” She strode past him and shut herself back inside the cabin.

She didn’t know whether he left or stayed to tend to the wolves, and she really didn’t care. Whatever he decided, she knew she could no longer pin her hopes on anything he wrote. His words were meaningless.

But his kiss...

A kiss like that couldn’t lie.

Or could it?

* * *

To: Anna Plum [email protected]

From: Ethan Hale [email protected]

Subject: Travel arrangements

Dear Ms. Plum,

Thank you for making the necessary travel arrangements for my trip to Seattle. I’m in receipt of the itinerary and ticketing information.

I look forward to meeting you tomorrow afternoon and exploring a future with
The Seattle Tribune
.

Best regards,

Ethan Hale

* * *

“Could you have used a less flattering photograph of my backside?” Tate tossed the morning edition of the
Yukon Reporter
on the coffee bar and frowned at the picture splashed across the front page.

“What can I say? Pictures don’t lie.” Ethan swiveled on his bar stool. Another morning at the Northern Lights Inn meant another morning drinking his coffee in the shadow of a grizzly bear. Marvelous. “Besides, the readers aren’t looking at you. They’re looking at Palmer, whose backside is a fair bit larger than yours, I might add.”

“Thanks. I guess.” Tate eyed Ethan over the rim of his coffee cup. “Nice column, by the way. What happened to quitting?”

“I changed my mind.” Ethan fixed his gaze out the window, toward the frozen lake that served as the landing strip for Aurora’s one and only airport. This time tomorrow, he was scheduled to be on a plane to Seattle. He still hadn’t quite worked out how that was going to fit into his schedule, but he’d make it work. He had to. A chance like that didn’t come around more than once.

Still, he wasn’t giving up the wolf column. He’d meant what he’d said to Piper. The decision to quit had been a mistake. He knew that now. Leaving without saying goodbye would have been cruel. She was right. About everything. Well, almost everything.

You don’t belong here. You should have never come back. I wish you hadn’t, but not as much as I wish you hadn’t kissed me.

He might not belong on the wolf sanctuary—in fact, he was certain he didn’t—but that kiss hadn’t been a mistake. He wasn’t kidding himself. Nothing could come of him and Piper. And nothing would. With any luck, he’d be moving to Seattle within ten days.

But kissing her was something he’d never regret.

“What changed your mind?” Tate slid him a sideways glance.

Ethan shrugged. “Not any one thing.”

His friend slammed his coffee cup down on the counter, and a generous portion of Gold Rush blend sloshed over the edge. “That might be the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.”

Ethan gritted his teeth. “Drop it, Tate.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said no. I will not drop it.” He leaned forward, eyes shining with concern. “You’ve been avoiding talking about any of this with me for over a week now. I’m not letting you get away with it again. Every time I bring up the newspaper, moving to Seattle, the wolf sanctuary or the wolf woman—especially the wolf woman—you freeze up on me. Do you honestly think I haven’t noticed?”

Ethan pinned him with a glare. “First off, what kind of law enforcement officer would you be if you didn’t notice behavior patterns? And apparently, I’ve developed such a pattern. Second, don’t call her the
wolf woman
. She has a name.”

“So this is about Piper.” Tate’s mouth curved into a grin. “I knew it.”

Ethan didn’t bother denying it. Tate obviously wasn’t going to drop it this time.

“Look, I’m not just telling you what I’m about to say as your friend. I’m saying it as someone who’s seen you struggle to keep putting one foot in front of the other for the past five years.” Tate held up every finger of his left hand as a visual. “Five years is a long time. I’ve been by your side, holding my tongue, first when you watched your wife walk out the door, then when you stopped going to church, stopped talking to people and in general stopped
living
.”

“Susan was a mistake.” Ethan shook his head. “From the very beginning.”

“No argument here. I know that.” Tate nodded. “Do you know
how
I know that?”

“How?”

“Because the entire time you were married, I never saw you look at Susan the way you look at Piper.”

Ethan leveled his gaze at Tate. “It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it?” He rolled his eyes. “You’re not fooling anybody. Everyone in the entire state of Alaska can see that you’re crazy about one another.”

“You’re wrong. All of you.”

“I saw the kiss.”

Ethan stared into his coffee.

“I wasn’t spying on you or anything. Zoey and I were right there. Palmer, too. Even the blasted reindeer could see that something special was happening between you and Piper.” Tate let out a chuckle. “It was quite a kiss. I’m guessing it could be seen from space.”

“It was a moment, okay? A rather exceptional moment, but that’s all. Nothing more. It will never be anything more. It can’t.”
Because
I
can’t. And I don’t think she can, either.

“Don’t screw this up, Ethan. If you do, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. And I know you have a healthy respect for regret.” Tate stared pointedly at the stuffed grizzly bear propped in the corner.

Ethan had never hated that monstrosity so much in his life. “It’s not that easy, Tate. I oppose everything she believes in.”

Tate shrugged. “So stop.”

“That’s your advice? Just stop?” Disappointment coursed through him, and he wasn’t even sure why. He’d already spun every possibility round and round in his head, and it kept coming down to the wolves. Every time. The wolves weren’t going anywhere. They were a fundamental part of who Piper was.

And that was a problem.

“Yes, stop fighting with her,” Tate said, as if it were a simple matter of choice. “Let it go, man. It’s time.”

He didn’t understand. How could he? “It’s not that easy.”

Even if it were, even if Ethan could somehow have a change of heart—and he didn’t see how that would ever be in the realm of possibility—Piper had already told him in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t interested. She regretted the kiss. She probably regretted anything and everything to do with him. She’d basically ordered him to stay away from her and her wolves. Romance couldn’t be further from the picture. Ethan was already prepared to do battle with her when he showed up at the sanctuary later this morning to do his job.

But you’re not letting that stop you, are you? You’re still going.

Tate’s radio crackled to life. He was needed at the scene of a minor accident.

“You say it’s not that easy. Things worth fighting for rarely are.” He slid off his bar stool and gave Ethan a final sad smile. “Think about it.”

* * *

When Piper heard a knock on her front door early in the morning the day after Palmer’s fateful visit, she approached the situation with caution. The last thing she needed was another home invasion instigated by a reindeer, followed by a dashing rescue from Ethan and the police. No, thank you.

She opened the door just wide enough to let in a sliver of daylight.

“Don’t worry. I’m not a wild animal.” On the opposite side of the door, Zoey smiled and held up a plate of cinnamon rolls. The sweet smell of sugar and icing wafted inside. “I’ve brought a peace offering. I figured I owed you one for not pressing charges against my renegade reindeer.”

“Come in.” Piper swung the door the rest of the way open and motioned for her to step inside. “A peace offering really wasn’t necessary. But thank you, because goodness, those smell divine.”

“It was definitely necessary. You have no idea how many citations Palmer has managed to rack up. He’s quite the criminal.”

“So I’ve heard.” Piper cleared the books and stacks of paper from her kitchen table and made a place for Zoey’s platter. “Sorry about the mess. I’ve been working on an application for a grant from the National Nature Conservatory, and the paperwork has pretty much taken over the cabin.”

“A grant application? That sounds like a lot of work.”

“It was. Believe me. I barely got it in on time.” No thanks to Ethan. “Hopefully, the NNC will be willing to at least send someone out here for an inspection.”

“Best of luck,” Zoey said.

“Thanks. I’m kind of desperate, actually. Now that Ethan’s column has everyone afraid to sign up for a guided tour, all my hopes for funding are pinned on that grant. If it doesn’t come through, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

“There’s always the dance recital. I think the wolf will be a big hit. I’m sure your tours will pick back up once everyone gets a chance to meet Koko.”

Maybe. If Ethan doesn’t somehow ruin that, too.

“I hope so.” If the grant didn’t come through, the recital would be her absolute last resort. “Koko’s a natural charmer. That’s for sure. He was extra cute this morning when I did my rounds, acting like a goof ball and chasing his tail. Wolves don’t typically behave that way. But Koko is special.”

“See? Don’t worry. He’ll charm the pants off everyone at the recital, and you’ll be so busy with tours that you won’t know what to do with yourself.”

Piper hoped so. She really did. She was trying to imagine what such a sway in public sentiment would feel like when Zoey motioned toward the vase of purple blooms in the center of the table. “What gorgeous flowers. Ethan didn’t give those to you, did he?”

“Ha!” The notion was beyond laughable. Although, really, if anyone should be bringing her a peace offering, it was him.
Sorry I humiliated you in the newspaper. Sorry I crushed your dreams. Sorry I kissed you within an inch of your life and then admitted I never planned on seeing you again.
There weren’t enough flowers in all of Alaska to cover those apologies. “Caleb picked those for me. He found them growing in the snow. Can you believe that? He’s such a sweet kid.”

“Is he here today?”

“No, he’s still under the weather.” He’d missed almost a week of school already. “Poor thing.”

“Then, see? It really is a good thing you’ve got Ethan around to help you with things.”

Piper really,
really
didn’t want to talk about Ethan anymore. She nodded at the cinnamon rolls. “Why don’t we dig into those? I have a feeling something sweet and gooey will take my mind off waiting to hear about the grant.” And other things she would rather forget.

Such as Ethan, whose SUV was crawling up the drive to the sanctuary right this minute. Piper frowned at it through the front window.
Great. Just great.

So he’d made good on his promise to keep coming back, even after she’d basically kicked him off the property. She wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or irritated. She settled on the latter.

Then why have you been peeking out the curtains all morning, wondering if he’d show up?

She may have hated the fact that she’d been on the lookout for him all morning, but one thing was certain—if he’d failed to turn up this time, she wouldn’t have called the police. He’d have to fling himself off the mountain right in front of her face before she called Tate Hudson, looking for him again. Even then she still might not do it. Let him crawl back up the mountainside by his fingernails. She wasn’t his baby-sitter. Or his wife. It was time to stop acting like she was anything special to him. Because she wasn’t. He’d made that perfectly clear. More than once.

You can stop looking at me like that. I’m not one of your wolves, Piper.

And then he was going to leave without saying goodbye. He’d thought it was “for the best.” Now he thought it best to stick around and keep trying to stop her from saving homeless wolves. The man was impossible.

She speared a knife through one of the cinnamon rolls with a little too much force. “These look delicious, Zoey. Thank you again.”

“My pleasure.” Her neighbor turned her head at the sound of Ethan’s car door slamming outside. “It seems like you have company.”

“Not company.” Piper shook her head and kept her gaze glued to the plates and napkins she collected and carried to the table. She’d rather die than have Ethan catch her spying through the window. “Labor. He’s only here to get more fodder for that wretched column of his.”

“Right. Somehow I doubt that.” Zoey grinned as she transferred the cinnamon rolls from their platter to the smaller plates. “Not to be nosy, but...”