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Unable to catch her breath, she tried to calm her racing heart.
She wished she could have gotten up quickly on her own, somehow managed to make it the rest of the way down the slope, and none would be the wiser.
Now she was afraid that whoever had discovered her would make a big deal of this.
“Minx, you can’t go down this way,” the kid hollered.
“I’ve been skiing since I was three. I’ll get her camera. You guys go see to her.”
Her camera. Elizabeth tried to turn her head, but her back hurt.
“Come on, Anthony. You know Minx never listens to us. If she breaks her neck, we can say we told her so.”
“Ha, ha, very funny,” Minx said.
The ground vibrated slightly beneath Elizabeth as the boys’ skis swished on the snow, then one stopped way above her, and the other came into view.
“I’m just getting her skis to warn others of danger down the slope, Cody.” Anthony quickly joined Cody, yanked a cell phone out of a bag, and called ski patrol.
They were as tall as grown men, so she figured they were older teens.
Elizabeth closed her eyes, knowing full well Tom would soon get word of this.
“I’m okay,” she said, even though she felt terribly winded. She didn’t feel she’d broken anything, but her wrist hurt. And she couldn’t seem to catch her breath so she could rise to a sitting position.
She wanted to lie here, soak up the sun that the two boys now blocked, and get her bearings. Their faces wore frowns as they looked her over.
“Doesn’t look like she’s got any visible broken bones,” Cody said.
“I secured the area,” Anthony said on the phone. He’d crossed her skis upright in the snow to warn skiers above that a safety issue existed below them.
The boys were gray wolves. She hadn’t seen or scented the girl yet and hoped she wouldn’t get hurt on the slope while looking for Elizabeth’s camera. But she was glad the girl was searching for it and hoped it was all right. At least no one else was on the trail. Thank God.
“I’m all right,” Elizabeth said. “I… just need a moment.”
“Hot damn, she’s a wolf,” Anthony said.
She frowned at him. No one mentioned the wolf word. Or in her case, coyote, either. Not in public.
As if he read her mind, he grinned. “No one around to hear me but us wolves.”
And one part coyote.
“She’s the one Tom must have brought up to the ski resort. All the guys are talking about her,” Cody said. “And the kiss.” He grinned big time. “Cantrell said he caught them on his phone video recorder, but he won’t share unless you pay for it. A few other guys took shots with their cell phones, too. They’re sharing for free, sending emails to the pack.”
Her whole body warmed, and she suddenly felt feverish. She couldn’t believe the word had spread that fast. Or that anyone had bothered to catch their actions on camera. Sure, she knew that a pack shared information to protect themselves, but still… She thought Tom had been exaggerating.
“Where do you hurt?” Cody asked, crouching down in front of her.
Everywhere. She would be fine once she got off this black slope, if trying to ski downhill didn’t kill her.
“She’s having trouble concentrating, unable to answer questions,” Anthony said into his cell when Elizabeth didn’t answer right away. “She’s the one Tom brought up here.” Anthony grinned, put his hand over the phone, and said, “You’re a celebrity. You’ll have the entire ski patrol checking you out.”
With mortification, she felt like she was having a hot flash, and she was sure she could melt the mogul she rested against into a puddle of water.
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to sit up. “I’m not having trouble concentrating. Just breathing.”
“No, just lie still,” Cody said, his hand on her shoulder. “You might have a spinal injury.” He turned to the other boy. “And tell them she has shortness of breath.”
“I hurt my wrist a little, and I feel a little sore. I’ll be fine if I can just get down the slope.” Actually, at this point, if she could just get up. “I’m not having any trouble breathing,” she amended. She shouldn’t have said she hurt anywhere.
“Did you get all that?” Anthony asked, and she realized that as she spoke to Cody, Anthony must have held the phone nearer to her so that she would give the information directly to the ski patrol. “Okay,” Anthony said to Cody. “Don’t let her move an inch.”
She rolled her eyes.
Cody smiled at her.
“I found her camera!” Minx called out from the woods.
Elizabeth breathed a little sigh of relief, though she still worried the camera might be damaged.
“Ski patrollers are on the way,” Anthony said.
Great. She hoped they didn’t include Tom.
***
“Yard sale!” a couple of skiers yelled out from the lift. Tom skied down the slope and saw an unfamiliar woman wipe out, losing her ski poles and skis all over the place.
Tom retrieved the two lost skis when pack members Cantrell and his brother, Robert, joined him, carrying the woman’s ski poles.
“She’s hot, man,” Cantrell said to Tom. The two of them grinned at him as they skied down to the lady getting to her feet and brushing the snow off her goggles.
He raised his brows at them, asking in a silent way who they were referring to.
“Not the woman that just rag-dolled down the slope,” Cantrell said. “You know. Elizabeth.”
They reached the lady who had fallen, and Tom asked, “You all right, ma’am?” He handed her the skis, and Robert gave her the ski poles.
“Yes, thank you. I’m fine.” Her cheeks were red from the weather or from embarrassment. She seated her boots on her skis and took off.
“I asked her to lunch,” Robert said. He and his brother skied with Tom to the next lift. “Elizabeth. She said she would be busy.”
“With me.” Tom hated to sound so territorial. She wasn’t really with him. But after that kiss, he was rethinking that scenario.
Cantrell laughed. “Yeah, she said so.”
Tom smiled a little at that.
When the pack leaders invited a wolf to their home for dinner, that was usually the ultimate boon to any wolf’s ego. Except Elizabeth’s. Tom wondered why she seemed reluctant.
