They continued to snarl at him, protecting her, but Eric wouldn’t back off either. He wasn’t leaving until someone took care of her.
Then one of the men shifted. He was maybe in his forties, with black hair and hard amber eyes. “We don’t need your help.” Even so, the man was obviously in a quandary.
Eric took the wolf’s shifting as a good sign. Not of friendship, but the wolf would have remained a wolf if he had felt threatened, especially since he appeared to be in charge. He would have led the wolves into attacking Eric if he was going to do it.
At that point, Eric slowly drew closer to the injured wolf. Then he crouched down to examine her, hoping they would finally let him help.
When he touched her right hind leg, she yipped. “Okay, girl, I’ll be gentle. I just need to check to see if it’s broken or something else.” He carefully ran his hand over her leg, and she pulled it away from his touch.
“Is it broken?” the man asked, sounding worried.
“I don’t feel any break, but it’s obviously tender. It could be a bruised tendon, torn ligament, or even a hairline fracture of the bone.”
“She can’t walk on it. We’re parked about five miles out.”
Eric said again, “I’m parked only a mile from here on one of the official-use-only trails. I can carry her to my—”
“No. We don’t need your help. We’ll take care of it.”
“But—”
“I said we’d take care of her.”
Eric raised his hands in a sign of truce, but he wasn’t leaving until he saw that they could provide her with the care she needed. “How are you going to do it? I’m trained in first aid. I can call in some others from my pack to help get her out of here, or I’ll carry her to your vehicle.” As much as Eric hated offering, he’d carry her the five miles to their vehicle if that was the only way they’d go for it.
“All right. You can carry her to our campsite then.”
Eric let out his breath in exasperation. Every mile he moved her would cause the poor wolf more pain.
The man in charge had already shifted back into his wolf form and was watching for signs of anyone else coming with the other males, while the female stood by the injured she-wolf, looking concerned. Eric made a makeshift splint, and as soon as he bound her leg, she whimpered. He hated that she was in pain and wished he could give her something for it. As gently as he could, he lifted her in his arms. This was going to be the longest hike he’d ever made. He wished the wolf in charge had listened to reason.
As a wolf, this would have been no problem, even though he was feeling some pain of his own. But as a human carrying an injured wolf, the trek was all the more difficult. He stumbled over too many exposed roots to count because he couldn’t see the path, making the she-wolf whimper or yip in pain. He fought groaning himself a time or two.
When they grew closer to a creek, he heard feminine laughter and worried human women would see him carrying a wolf, surrounded by wolves. One of the wolves in the lead ran off. The darkening sky was sprinkled with twinkling heavenly lights, the round moon on full display. Eric loved the wide open spaces in the park, the seventy-degree temps during the day, and fifty-degree temps during the night—even though in the summer things became rather hectic with all the visitors.
He wanted to make a wide berth around the women in the creek to make sure he wasn’t seen.
But the lead wolf made Eric stay to the path closer to the creek.
Despite how chilly it was, the women were splashing around in the creek, which intrigued him. They wouldn’t see him—not when he blended in with the lodgepole pines, oaks, and the shadows—unless the wolf forced him to go to the rocky bank.
Which the wolf did.
When Eric grew near enough, he observed five women in goddess-like semi-sheer dresses. He knew he had to be dreaming. Their silky pastel creations, in blues and pinks and mint green, fluttered about them in the summer breeze. The women were standing in the water up to their calves, the pocket water temperatures higher. Above them, the creek water was mostly gentle with a few small rapids. Down here, the rapids were much more common and significant, which had created the pockets of water. The women were laughing and talking. A petite brunette, her hair short and curly, really caught his eye. She was wearing a robin’s-egg-blue dress, the water plastering the bottom half of the gown to her calves and thighs in a sensual way.
Another woman with her back to him had long brown hair and a mint green dress. She moved in the water, which effectively blocked his view of the woman in the blue dress.
The area was great for fishing, and he was mesmerized by the woman in blue, thinking what a delicious catch she’d make.