Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,86

a good way to ruin the courtship right off the bat?

Then he raced off to reciprocate, her turn to find him. Except she never let him out of her sight, and he wanted to laugh about that too. She was cute, and he knew without a doubt he loved her. She was the one for him—if she felt the same way about him. They ran for several minutes, then heard movement and both paused.

Adam came out of the shrubs, panting. But where was Lucas? Hell, he’d better not have gotten himself lost. All they’d need would be to spend half the night looking for him.

Adam shifted. “I lost sight of him. I’ve been searching for him. Maybe he backtracked to Carver’s house.”

Josh shifted. “Why don’t we go there first.” Then he shifted back. He didn’t want to waste time looking for Lucas if he was already back at Carver’s house. Howling wasn’t something they would normally do because it would alert anyone living in the homes bordering the park to their presence.

Then they heard a howl coming from the direction of Carver’s house. That was another thing they needed to discuss with him. At least Lucas had enough sense to return to the house when he’d lost Adam.

Josh was dying to know how Adam had lost him. Then again, he didn’t want to say how Brooke had turned the tables on him while playing hide-and-seek either.

The three wolves ran for Carver’s house, and when they went through the wolf door in the fence, they found Lucas sitting on a chair, reading his text messages on his phone. He immediately rose to his feet, looking like he was in trouble for losing Adam. But Lucas had done the right thing in returning to Carver’s place.

Josh and Brooke quickly shifted inside the shed and dressed. She was smiling at Josh. “You should have seen the look on your face when I was sneaking up behind you.”

“Surprise?” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “You’re a surprise. My kind of surprise.” He sighed. They needed to leave the shed so Adam could shift and dress.

When she and Josh left the storage building, Josh said to Lucas, “Quick thinking about coming here when you lost Adam.”

“I thought of sitting next to a tree. You know, like hugging a tree if I’d been in my human form until someone found me? I figured returning to Carver’s house would be better. I…I figure I’m not supposed to howl, but I knew you’d probably hear me and then you’d find me and wouldn’t be searching for me all night.”

“I lost your trail,” Adam said, leaving the building. “I assumed you’d backtracked to the house, but it all worked out fine.”

“But I shouldn’t have howled.” Lucas was waiting for confirmation.

“One little howl won’t hurt us, and it let us all know where you were,” Adam said.

Lucas glanced at Brooke to see her take on it, as if he were afraid the guys were being easy on him.

She shrugged. “You saved us from having to look for you half the night. What I want to know is how Adam lost you.”

Adam laughed. “I do too. The kid is damn fast.”

Lucas beamed with pride.

“Let’s get you back to Brooke’s house so you can head on home,” Adam said.

When they reached her house and all piled out of Adam’s Hummer, Lucas’s cell phone rang. He saw the caller ID and frowned. “Damn, it’s my dad.”

“Go ahead and answer it,” Josh said. Then he talked to the patrolman near the house and called the one out front of the shop, and everyone else walked inside the house and began removing coats and hats and gloves.

* * *

Brooke wished they’d had time to prompt Lucas on what to say and not to say, but it was too late for that. Josh soon joined them.

“Okay.” Lucas answered the call. “Hey, Dad, before you get mad at me for taking the truck out without asking”—Josh and Adam both shared looks and shook their heads—“a family’s adopting me out at a ranch. I’ll be doing community service at the reindeer ranch for stealing the calf. And I’ve got a job at the antique shop where I dropped the calf off… No, I don’t need your permission to be adopted.” Lucas let out his breath. “Yes. I’ll return the truck. But everything in my room I paid for.” He hung up on him.

In a hurry, Josh was on his phone calling the judge, and Adam