Page 77 of Wounded Christmas Wolf

“Not again! She called me twice this morning and didn’t leave a voicemail either time.”

“Speaker?” Jace asked.

“Yeah, go for it. We need to get a hands-free stereo in this truck. Hi, Noelle.”

“Finally! Why weren’t you answering?”

Noelle sounded harassed, but not too panicked. Holly had learned through long experience that for Noelle, anything could be a crisis.

“I was getting ready for work earlier. I’m in the truck with Jace now. You’re on speaker.”

“Hi,” Jace said.

“Oh, well, I guess that’s okay.” Noelle sounded flustered now.

“Did something bad happen?”

“Not bad—exactly—just unexpected. Kaden, uh—oh no! Baby, not there!”

“It sounds like you’re busy. Do you want me to call back?”

“No!” Noelle yelped. “I need help!”

“Well, I can’t exactly do it from here, when I don’t know what the problem is!”

“Kaden’s a shifter!” Noelle blurted out.

Holly squealed with delighted laughter. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Dad’ll be over the moon!”

“It is not wonderful!” Noelle protested. “He’s a bear cub, and I don’t know how to get him to shift back. He’s been a bear for the last two hours! Jace, you’re a shifter! Help!”

“I don’t really know anything that you both don’t know from growing up with your dad,” Jace protested.

“You’re a lot of help,” Noelle grumbled. There was a thump in the background. “Kaden, no, do not eat that.” Holly heard growling.

Once she managed to squash the urge to laugh, she said, “Noelle, call Dad. He can help you better than we can.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to cope with this!” Noelle wailed. “How do shifter parents do it? Dad and Mom are lucky that most of us didn’t shift! I can’t take him to day care. I’m going to have to get a live-in nanny or something. I don’t know how I’m going to do it!”

“We’ll help in any way we can,” Holly told her. “If you need to move back until Kaden gets his shifting under control, there’s plenty of room.” She hesitated. “So he’s a bear, then?”

“Yeah, the cutest little grizzly cub you ever saw.” A sudden surge of joy filled her voice.

“A grizzly? Not a polar bear?”

“Yeah? I don’t think it’s always the same kind of bear, is it?”

“I know you’ve said you don’t know anything about Kaden’s dad,” Holly began.

“Do not go there. It was a one-night stand and I’m nevergoing to see him again.” As always when the topic of Kaden’s dad came up, Noelle sounded uncomfortable, and Holly once again got the impression there was something her sister wasn’t telling her about this one-night stand. Before she could ask, though, there was an abrupt clatter in the background.

“No, honey, don’t chew on that, it’s bad for you!”

More clattering. The line went dead.

Jace and Holly shared a look.

“She sounds like she’s ... dealing,” Jace said.

“Yeah, well,” Holly said, “I guess we’ll be cleaning out Noelle’s old room when we get home.”

“I’ll have to see if the store has any more chew toys,” Jace said, and Holly laughed all the way to Pine Junction.