“I can’t wait.” Moments passed before Lena’s voice came back on. “I have to take care of Elyse now. We’ll be ready with food. We’ll be waiting.”
The door banged closed, and Link was gone. Vera hung the radio speaker on the receiver and padded over to the window in time to see Link’s gray wolf lope off into the trees. Just as he made it to the tree line, he turned and laid his bright gray gaze on hers. His breath steamed in front of his muzzle, and he looked so heartbreakingly beautiful, standing there alone in the snow. One McCall against the world. Link turned and trotted off, disappearing like a ghost into the snowfall.
Tobias gripped her shoulders and kissed the back of her hair. “He’ll be back.”
But Vera wasn’t so sure.
She was safe now with Tobias to protect her during the winter. Elyse and Lena would be safe as soon as Vera administered the serum to Ian and Jenner.
Link had clung to his sanity when he had a job to do—when he had friends who needed his protection.
What could possibly tether a half-mad McCall to this world now?
Chapter Twenty
Tobias cut the engine of the snow machine and held out his hand for her to lean on as she dismounted from behind him. Vera took off her sunglasses and pulled her winter hat off her hair as she waited for Tobias to shoulder the backpack he’d tied to the back. He handed Vera one of the two carefully stored jars of blueberry moonshine and pulled his gloves off with his teeth before he led the way to the small homesteader cabin nestled in the clearing.
There were several cattle in a pen, a pair of horses in a coral, and the clucking and flapping of chickens sounded from inside of a massive coop. Such a strange feeling washed over her. She halted in the middle of an undisturbed snowy patch.
“What’s wrong?” Tobias asked with a worried frown.
“I don’t know. I just had déjà vu or something.” Vera huffed a laugh. She’d apparently lost her damned mind. She’d never been to Elyse’s and Ian’s homestead before, so déjà vu didn’t make any sense. “Forget it.”
Tobias lifted his hand to knock, but a dog let off a sharp bark from inside and Elyse threw the door open before he could rap his knuckles against the rough wood. Her eyes were bright green-gold, her cheeks flushed with excitement. A black and white husky with bi-colored eyes bounced around them barking until Elyse shushed him. She pulled Tobias into a hug.
“Oh, I had myself convinced Lena and I misheard you or misunderstood. I thought I dreamed your voice on the radio, but you’re really here. You aren’t hibernating. This is really happening. Tell me it’s happening.”
“I’m really here, and we’re really going to wake up Ian.”
Vera handed Elyse a jar of moonshine. She’d tied a pretty bow on this one for Elyse as a congratulations gift. “No more waiting.”
Elyse nodded her chin and hugged the jar of clear liquor to her chest as if she was nervous. “Ian’s down in the root cellar. He talked about hibernating somewhere farther away, but after last year, I couldn’t stand the thought of not being able to protect his body. I put lots of food down there for him. And warm clothes.”
“You did good.” Vera hugged her tight. “I’ll take care of him. Everything will be all right, but you should wait outside just in case he goes Winter Bear before we get him all the way awake. I’ll come out here and wait with you.”
“The medicine won’t hurt him, will it?”
“Elyse, he’ll be fine,” Tobias said. “Vera figured out a way to suppress the animal. One shot a month, but the side effect is that Ian won’t be able to shift during the winters. He’ll go back off the injections in the warm months so his bear gets time out. Vera has used this type of medicine on herself long term, and she’s fine.”
Elyse inhaled deeply and nodded. “Do it then. I trust you. And Tobias, I want him back.” Her voice squeaked at the end as her eyes rimmed with moisture.
“Give him half an hour to wake up,” Tobias murmured. “I’ll stay with him the whole time.”
“But what about your bear? You can’t be around each other without fighting.”
Tobias smiled sadly. “My bear sleeps now, remember? It’ll be okay.”
Vera followed Tobias into the house and through the living room, then down into the cold root cellar where a giant grizzly took up most of the floor space. Ian was so still, he didn’t even look like he was breathing.
“Our bodies slow down a lot in hibernation,” Tobias whispered. “He’s okay.”
Vera clenched her cold fingers to steady her hands and pulled out the case with the sterile needles, filled with the right dose for each Silver brother, from Tobias’s backpack.
“Ready?” she asked.
Tobias only had eyes for his brother as he nodded. “Give him the injection, and then I want you outside with Elyse.”