On top of that, Mother Nature had dumped a massive snowfall that didn’t show any signs of letting up. Something was wrong. It had been too long without contact, and they should’ve been back by now.
Fox pushed a growl up her throat. Her animal was right. She was worrying about every worst case scenario. They had probably holed up somewhere safe and warm until this weather passed. She hoped. Still, she couldn’t pull her attention away from the front window of Link’s cabin for long.
Six weeks without her mate had been torture.
Link had allowed her to mourn over Tobias’s goodbye note for three days, and then he’d intervened. He’d dragged her ass into his cabin and got her living again. Got her cooking up the cure again. He slept nights out in the shed, and it wasn’t until about a week in that she realized he’d moved her into the big cabin while he’d moved out to the shed. Sweet, crazy wolf.
Her ears picked up a faint noise, like the buzzing of an insect. Vera bolted for the window but couldn’t see anything past ten feet away in the white-out weather conditions. The noise grew steadily louder until she could identify it. A snow machine!
With a gasp, she shoved her feet into her snow boots and yanked her heaviest jacket off the coat rack. Door thrown open, she bolted across the porch and down the stairs. A sob wrenched its way up her throat as she saw him through the snow, standing up on a snow machine so he could better see the trail.
Her shoulders sagged as she cried. It was him. Her Tobias was pulling the snow machine to a stop. He cut the engine and sprinted for her.
His body was hard as steel as it crashed against hers. When Tobias lifted her off her feet, Vera closed her eyes in overwhelming relief to be in his arms again.
“You did it, baby,” he said, voice thick. “Vera, you did it.”
“Where’s Link? Where are the Dawsons? Are they okay?”
“They’re fine, woman. The Dawsons are already back at the lodge and Link is a few minutes behind me. I just couldn’t wait to see you.” He cupped her cheek and thumbed away a tear. “Fuck, woman, it’s good to lay eyes on you.”
“In winter.”
Tobias’s lips collided with hers, and for the first time since she’d met him, there was no growl in his throat. There was no scent of fur or feeling of dominance. That was the con to the medicine—she refused to call it a cure anymore. She would miss his bear, and Tobias would struggle to be just a man in the winters. It would be hard on both of them, and they would feel incomplete until spring when he could stop taking the monthly injections and let his bear out again. But this right here—holding him and basking in his smile instead of mourning his hibernation—this was the pro. This made all of the work, frustration, sleepless nights, and worry worth it.
She bit his bottom lip gently, then gave him tiny smacking kisses all over his face as he chuckled deep in his throat. Then suddenly remembering how he’d left her, she reared back and punched him in the chest. He didn’t budge or wince. “You monster! You left me without a goodbye.”
“I wrote a note,” he said, ducking another pathetic blow.
She leveled him with a pissed-off look. “You should never do that again. Your goodbye note made me want to set all your belongings on fire.”
“Okay. I won’t do it ever again.”
“Swear!”
“I swear. Stop swingin’ at me, woman.” He gripped her little fist of fury in his oversize hand and looked her square in the eyes. “I swear.”
A forgiving smile cracked her face. “Lena and Elyse will be so happy. I made enough for all three of you Silver boys to last until April.”
Link pulled his snow machine next to Tobias’s and hopped off. “Are we telling them?” he asked in an excited voice.
“I don’t know,” Tobias drawled, settling Vera on her feet. “Maybe I should test it for a few weeks to see if it’ll hold.”
“Aw, come on, man!” Link said.
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
Without hesitation, Tobias said, “With my life.”
“I made sure to get it perfect before I sent those wolves out there after you, McBeefcake. It’ll hold.”
Tobias nodded slowly, his gaze locked on hers. “Let’s get Elyse and Lena on the radio. I won’t take you out to the homestead until this weather clears, but we can tell them what’s happening and get them preparing food for their mates. Ian and Jenner will wake up hungry.”
Inside Link’s cabin, Tobias radioed Elyse and told her to go to Lena’s house where he would call and talk to them at the same time. Elyse sounded panicked and asked over and over again why Tobias was awake.
“I’m not telling you anything until you’re with Lena.”
“Tobias, I’m running there right now. Call her! I’m going now!”
The radio went silent, and Tobias shot Vera a wide-eyed glance. “This will change everything. All the pain of separation…”
“I know.”
Link was pacing, scrubbing his hand down his face. “How long?”
“Lena’s cabin is a mile from Elyse’s.”
“The weather’s shitty!” Link said, panicked.