Alaskan Sanctuary (24 page)

She couldn’t believe it. It was over. At last. People were no longer debating the pros and cons of her wolf sanctuary over lattes at the coffee bar. She could flip through the local radio stations on her drive into town and not hear a single word about how she’d forced Ethan to clean out wolf pens. His front-page column had been replaced with coverage of the local mayoral debates. Business as usual. Piper and her wolves were no longer being mocked on a daily basis for the entire world to see. Or the state, at least. Tate had even located the kids who’d vandalized the cabin. They’d sent written apologies and were performing community service at the church.

Piper should have been thrilled.

“Is it crazy that I miss Ethan?” she said, not realizing she’d actually uttered the words aloud until Koko’s ears pricked forward in attention. “Because I sort of do.”

Now who’s the liar?

She didn’t just miss him a little bit. She missed him a lot. More than she’d ever missed anything or anyone in her entire life.

“Are you ready, Piper?” Zoey, whom Posy had appointed stage manager, poked her head through the curtain. “It’s almost time.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Piper pasted on a smile, and her gaze flitted to the small portion of the audience that was visible beyond the curtain. She couldn’t make out anything from back here. She couldn’t even tell how many rows of seats were occupied.

“And how’s our superstar?” Zoey cooed at Koko.

Piper gave him a pat on his side, and noted that his weight seemed back to normal. She could no longer feel his ribs protruding through his thick coat. “As good as new and ready for his close-up.”

“Great. Just stand by. I’ll be directly opposite you in the wings, and I’ll give you the thumbs-up signal once the girls have all moved offstage. Then you’ll walk with Koko to center stage and take a bow. Easy peasy.”

“Easy peasy,” Piper repeated.

“Any questions?”

“Nope, it all seems really straightforward.” She fiddled with Koko’s leash, winding it around her hand, then unwinding it. “Except maybe just one thing.”

“Yes?” Zoey asked. “What is it? Shoot.”

“I was just wondering if, well...” Piper shook her head. This was silly. Of course he wasn’t here. Zoey would have already told her if she’d seen him. Why would he come, anyway?

Piper had said such horrible things to him. Things she’d had no right to say.

You’re the man who tried to get my wolf sanctuary closed down. You’re the man who wanted to run me and my wolves out of town. You, Ethan, are the man who tried to destroy my dream and then lied to my face.

Of course he hadn’t come to the dance recital. He’d probably never speak to her again, and she wouldn’t blame him one bit.

Zoey shook her head. “He’s not here, Piper. I’m sorry.”

And there it was. Her answer. His absence spoke volumes, far more than his column had ever said. “I know. I was just hoping, I guess.”

Maybe he’d moved on. Maybe he’d even gotten the job in Seattle. He’d missed the interview, but maybe somehow he’d had it rescheduled. She honestly had no idea what to think. One thing was sure—he wasn’t writing anymore. At least not here in Alaska.

The music stopped, and the whisper of tiny slippered feet exiting the stage took its place.

“That’s your cue!” Zoey’s face lit up, thoughts of Ethan forgotten. For one of them, at least. “Get ready.”

Piper took a deep breath, gathered Koko’s leash in her hands and led him into the spotlight. Just the two of them. Just like always.

The roar of applause from the audience was so loud that it was a wall of noise. Koko blinked into the light with his cool copper eyes and leaned against her side. She was so proud of him then, so amazed at all that he’d overcome in order to be able to stand beside her and represent the strength and beauty of his resilient species.

She glanced down at him. Her boy.

He lowered his head, narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze on something just behind her. Before she could stop him, he gathered his legs beneath him and sprang. The audience gasped as he landed on his intended prey with a thud and bit down hard.

There was a sound of paper tearing. Koko tossed his head, and green tissue paper leaves from the closest prop tree flew through the air like confetti.

“Really, Koko? Attacking the props?”

He pawed at the tree trunk he’d knocked over, and a few chuckles skittered through the seated crowd. Feeding off their energy, Koko’s paws gained speed and soon he was shredding the tree. He looked like a dog—a very big, very goofy dog—trying to bury a bone.

“You are the world’s biggest ham.” Piper shook her head.

Laugher filled the auditorium as the curtain swished closed, and once again it was just the two of them. Center stage. It had all happened so fast.

Of course, that had been the plan all along, but it felt so strange now. Less than a minute onstage, when this appearance had caused such grief between her and Ethan.

She had to stop thinking about him. She couldn’t go on like this. Missing him. Loving him.

Seeing
him.

She blinked. Was she hallucinating, or was that really Ethan walking toward her from the wings?

“Nice job,” he said, in that familiar voice that she still heard late at night when she closed her eyes and let herself remember.
I’m in love with you, Piper.

It was him. In the flesh. “You came.”

“I wouldn’t have missed this, lovely.” His lips curved into a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I hope you don’t mind.”

She shook her head. “Of course I don’t.”

“Nice touch, terrifying everyone like that.” He reached out and gave Koko a pat on the head.

Piper cleared her throat. “He was only playing.”

“I was kidding, Piper. It was a joke.” There was that sad smile again.

She swallowed. “I knew that.”

“No, you didn’t, but that’s my fault.” He nodded toward the green papier-mâché at Koko’s feet. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that tree was made entirely out of my column. I think what we just witnessed was simply Koko’s commentary on my work.”

The hum of the audience had faded to silence. Lights flickered and dimmed. It was time to leave. Posy and Zoey would come looking for her any second.

Not yet.
She wasn’t ready. There was so much left to say. “I looked for your column in the paper and couldn’t find it.”

He shook his head. “I don’t work for the
Yukon Reporter
anymore. I’ve been out of town.”

“Oh, so you got the job in Seattle. Congratulations.” She should be happy for him. She knew she should, but all she wanted to do was cry.

To her horror, she did.

A tear slid down her face, and Ethan brushed it away with the pad of his thumb. “No. I changed my mind about that, remember? I’ve been in Denali. I needed to go back there. I needed to make peace with what happened. It was time.”

“And did you?”

“Yes, thanks to you.” His gaze dropped to Koko standing calmly at her side. “You and your pack, that is.”

“I’ve missed you, Ethan. I’ve missed you so much.” She took a shuddering breath. She was crying in earnest now. She wouldn’t have thought she’d have any tears left after the past week, but they were falling from her eyes faster than Ethan could wipe them away.

“Don’t cry, lovely. I’m here.” He pulled her close and whispered into her hair, “It’s okay.”

Koko whined. She tried to collect herself, but Ethan was here. And he was touching her and saying such nice things. Things she didn’t deserve to hear. “But it’s not, Ethan. I said such awful things to you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He held her even tighter against him. “We’ve both said things we wish we could retract.”

She pulled back so she could look him in the eyes. “But you were there. You were always there, even when you wanted to leave. Even when I tried to push you away...you were there. No one’s ever been there for me like that. No one.”

He kissed her forehead and smiled. This time, it lit up his entire face. “Well, what kind of stalker would I be if I gave up so easily?”

His smile, his gentle laughter, was all the encouragement she needed to say the thing she most wanted to articulate. “Come back, Ethan. Come back to the sanctuary. Please. I need you there.”

He shook his head. “No you don’t. The tip jar out there is overflowing, thanks to Koko. I have a feeling you’ll soon have more visitors at the sanctuary than you’ll know what to do with. You and I both know you could handle things just fine without me.” His voice was so tender that it almost made his refusal bearable.

“Oh.” She nodded. Woodenly. “Okay.”

He tipped her chin up so that her gaze was fixed with his, and in his eyes she saw the answer she’d been hoping for.
Yes.
“But I’d like to come back to the sanctuary anyway, if you’ll have me.”

“You would?”

“I would, but first I want you to take a look at something I’ve been working on the past few days.” He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a thick envelope and offered it to her.

She handed him Koko’s leash and opened the envelope. Inside she found a packet of papers with the NNC seal at the top. She recognized it at once, especially since she’d just received her rejection letter from their grant committee two days before. “What is this?”

“It’s a revised NNC application for the sanctuary,” he said quietly.

She flipped through the pages, which represented hours upon hours of work. How had he found time to put this together and also drive to Denali? He must have worked nonstop. “You did this? This is what you’ve been busy writing instead of your column?”

He nodded. “In order to reapply, the facility must show proof of a significant change in management. I want to be that change. I haven’t filed the papers because this is your call. Your dream. No more secrets, Piper. You have my word on that. If the answer is no, I’ll understand. I’ve been offered a job in Denali. At the park, like before. But I want to be here. I belong here. With you and the wolves.”

Her tremulous orchid heart that had closed so quietly when she’d seen those photographs in the police file bloomed as if kissed by the sun itself. “You want to help me run the sanctuary? Full-time?”

It was more than she could have hoped for. More than she dreamed possible.

“I want to do more than that, lovely. I want to be part of your pack, if you’ll have me. I love you, Piper. I always have, and I always will. I want to marry you. I want that more than I want my next breath.”

This time, there was no stopping her response. The words rose from the very bottom of her soul, where they’d been waiting for the perfect time, the perfect man. That man was Ethan. “I love you, too. It would be an honor to marry you.”

Koko pressed the weight of his wolfish frame against their legs. Ethan looked down at him and grinned. “I think I’m in.”

“You are, my love. You are.” All this time, Ethan had been the missing piece. But he’d come back, and she was going to be his wife.

Her pack was complete.

At last.

Epilogue

YUKON REPORTER

News from the Last Frontier

Aurora Wolf and Wildlife Center Extends a Warm Welcome to New Resident from South of the Border

by reporter Ben Grayson

The Aurora Wolf and Wildlife Center welcomed a new member to its growing wolf pack yesterday. The sanctuary’s most recent acquisition comes all the way from central Mexico and is a
Canis lupus baileyi
, more commonly known as a Mexican gray wolf. Mexican gray wolves are a critically endangered subspecies of the more common gray wolf, indigenous to the Southwest United States.

The new wolf, which the sanctuary staff has named Caleb in honor of its youngest employee, who was recently awarded a full scholarship to the University of Alaska, where he plans to study wildlife management, is expected to draw crowds from as far away as Denali and the remote northern city of Barrow. He is the sole Mexican gray wolf living in captivity in the state of Alaska, and one of only an estimated fifty of his species left in the world.

Said Aurora Wolf and Wildlife Center’s founder and president, Piper Quinn, “It is an honor to provide sanctuary to a magnificent and treasured animal such as our newest boy, Caleb. Our ability to care for critically endangered species like the Mexican gray wolf is due to our recent accreditation from the National Nature Conservatory. I’m happy to announce that we’ve also been approved as one of only five facilities in the country to initiate a breeding program designed to save endangered species. So Caleb will be getting a girlfriend in the near future, and if all goes well, our wildlife center should see our first litter of pups by the end of the year.”

Perfect timing. Piper and her husband, Ethan Hale, the sanctuary’s operations manager, are expecting their first child on Christmas Day. Our sources say it’s a girl!

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REUNION
by Tina Radcliffe.

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to the wintry, romantic world of Aurora, Alaska!

As you’ll see, Aurora is now home to a wolf sanctuary, which I know is a bit of an unusual setting. Last summer, I visited a wolf and wildlife refuge in Divide, Colorado. It was a wonderful experience. The refuge was nestled in a lovely, serene forest, and getting to experience hands-on interaction with the rescued wolves is something I’ll never forget. I left the wolf sanctuary that day knowing I simply had to write about it. So that’s the story of how this book came about.

I love writing about animals. You may have noticed there are pets of some kind in every book I write. I have three dogs of my own, and every one of them is spoiled rotten. (In the sweetest of ways. I promise!) As much as I love animals, they can’t take the place of the love and affection of another human being. People need each other. That need is what
Alaskan Sanctuary
is about at its core. It’s about love and family. It’s about trust and healing.