“You rejected her. Women don’t like to be rejected,” Kyros said sagely. “What I don’t understand is why she’s coming back.”

Pappy bit down on his lip and looked away. “She’s bringing Alpha back. Not because she wants to, but the dog is unhappy. She thinks he belongs here. She wouldn’t take the risk of calling me to ask if she could come here. I would have said yes, but she wouldn’t take the chance that I might say no. She has to do it this way for herself. Depending on how long she sleeps, she should be here by morning. In a million years, I never would have believed she’d climb at night. Shows determination, Pop.”

Ever practical, Kyros said, “Find some clean clothes for her and lay them out. Do you have any pretty stuff for her? Women like pretty things, soaps, shampoos, and that froufrou underwear.”

Pappy looked at his father in disgust. “I’m not even going to bother to answer that. Where in the hell am I going to get pretty things?”

“Well, maybe you could pick some flowers or something.”

Pappy shot his father another look of disgust. He went back to watching Sam sleep in her bed of pine needles, his heart thumping in his chest at her nearness.

Sam bolted upright when Alpha tugged at her shirtsleeve and a bolt of thunder roared overhead. She felt disoriented, unable to focus for several seconds. It was going to storm, that was her final thought as she started to trudge behind Alpha, who now seemed to want to run. Stamina. It was all about stamina. Go beyond the pain and move. Every bone in her body was protesting, wanting her to stay put, but the wolf-dog had other ideas. They must be close to the top for the dog to run. If only it was true. She worried that lightning would follow the thunder. She’d seen hundreds of downed limbs, and lightning gouges on the trees during her climb. It was a crap-shoot if she should stay put or move. Unsure of her own instincts at that moment she opted to go with Alpha’s.

Sam did her best to breathe deeply and evenly as she forced her legs to move to keep up with the wolf-dog. Head down, she grunted and groaned, but she didn’t stop. She’d get to the top of the damn mountain or she’d die trying. Move! Move! Move! Thunder continued to beat at her eardrums as she made her way through the carpet of wet pine needles. She saw lightning, but it seemed off in the distance, not overhead.

It was a hard, driving rain, slicing down through the thick pines, soaking her. Alpha was barking, louder, her signal to hurry. Why, she didn’t know, but she picked up on his fear and forced her legs to pump faster.