Jingle Bell Wolf by Terry Spear

Chapter 3

After Landon and Gabrielle took their seats in a booth in the restaurant, they ordered hot chocolates and then Landon called Roxie to ensure he wasn’t needed. “Is everything going okay without me?”

“Yeah,” Roxie said. “We don’t need you, really.”

Their mugs of hot chocolate arrived and Landon thanked the server.

“Okay, good, Roxie. You know to call me if you have any need of me.”

“We will.”

Then they ended the call.

“This is great hot chocolate,” Gabrielle said, then took another sip, the whipped cream coating her lips. Landon wanted to lean over and lick the whipped cream off before she did.

“It’s got extra chocolate to make it just right.” He smiled at Gabrielle. “So when are your friends getting here?”

Gabrielle got a text message and read it. “Speaking of my friends, they said they’re not going to be arriving until later tonight.” She texted them back.

“It’s a good thing we were able to go skiing, then. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s waiting on people who don’t show up and then I’ve wasted all my time just sitting around and doing nothing fun,” Landon said.

“I agree. I mean, honestly, I did think of just sitting on the sidelines for the day, but I’m so glad I won’t be a total neophyte at skiing when they get here. By the time I have lessons with you after our hot chocolate break and then more after lunch, I’ll be ready to go up on the slopes with my friends tomorrow. They’re both experts. Not that I’ll be able to ski at that level.”

Landon gave an exaggerated sigh. “Looks like that will be the end of a blossoming relationship between the two of us, then.”

She laughed. “It’s supposed to work the other way around. The girl dumps her girlfriends for the hot guy.”

“That definitely works for me.” Not that he wanted her to ditch her girlfriends, but he would love to keep seeing her while she was here, if she could spare the time.

She smiled. “I’m sure they would be shocked.”

“You don’t date much?”

“No. I’ve been too busy with work, and there haven’t been enough wolves around to go out with. I would see some wolves come through Daytona Beach on a vacation—some single, date one every once in a while, but nothing that would ever amount to anything.”

“Ahh.” That was good news. Enticing the she-wolf to join the pack would sure work for him. “So do you have any family back in Daytona Beach?”

“No.” She looked down at her mug. “We were in a car accident while headed to a ski resort in Montana, first time ever for us to ski. It was ten years ago, but sometimes it still haunts me. In a blinding snowstorm, we met a moose on the road. Dad swerved to miss it and we ended up in a frozen lake. They didn’t survive. I–I haven’t ever been back to snow country since.”

“I’m so sorry.” He felt awful for bringing it up.

She took a deep breath and let it out. “I kept wishing I could have saved them. I did everything I could. It was a long time ago, but you know how it is when you lose someone you love. You always wonder what you could have done to prevent it. And I have to admit I really had a lot of qualms about coming to a ski resort at all.” She gave him a sad smile. “What about your parents? Do they live here?”

“They’re gone too. A hunter killed our mom, and our dad killed the man. He didn’t have a choice. The hunter had seen her shift in death.”

“Oh, that’s so awful. He had to have felt terrible about losing your mother like that.”

“Yeah, he died of a broken heart. He just wouldn’t eat. You know how wolves can be. They mate for life. Sometimes they can move on. Sometimes they can’t. He just couldn’t. We were all grown, running the old lodge in Vermont on our own by then, my parents having retired. But we were all profoundly shaken by it. We tried and tried to bring him out of his depression, but nothing worked. It’s another reason we moved here. It’s safe to run as wolves, no hunters allowed on our properties.”

“That’s true.”

Then Landon got a call from Blake and he figured there was trouble or his brother would have just texted him. “Yeah, Blake?”

“Hey, Rosco’s not in the lodge. At least I’ve made a good search for him. You know him. He usually just chills by the fireplace, and if he needs to go outside to relieve himself, he comes to one of us. I went to our homes to see if he slipped back inside the houses through the wolf doors for some reason, but he’s not there. He’s been really good about not leaving the lodge without us.”

“Okay, I’ll look for him.” Landon sighed. That would curtail his skiing for a while, and he hated to give up spending the rest of the day with Gabrielle. “I’ll let you know if I find him or not.” When he ended the call, he said to Gabrielle, “Blake called to say he couldn’t find Rosco. He never leaves the lodge without us, but I need to search for him and make sure he’s still here.”

“I’ll help you.”

“But you wanted to ski. I don’t want you to waste your vacation time on this. I could set you up with a ski instructor who can give you some more training while I look for Rosco and join you later for lunch. Or I could join you back on the slopes right after I locate him. I don’t want you to miss out on skiing.” Of course, he would only have asked someone in the pack who was mated to teach her to ski.

“No, no, that’s all right. I would rather go skiing again with you, after we find Rosco.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I would feel terrible if I were out there skiing and you couldn’t find him, when I might have been able to help locate him. And if he has suffered an injury, I can take care of him.”

“Okay, good.”

They grabbed their skis and poles from the ski rack outside and put them in the storage room, then switched out their ski boots for their snow boots.

“We might as well go in separate directions to cover more area, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, if you can stay in this half of the lodge, I’ll check out the other half,” he said, and then they took off in different directions. But after half an hour of searching for the dog and finding no scent for him on the elevators, but a more distinctive scent for him near one of the doors, Landon suspected Rosco had gone outside. Landon saw Gabrielle coming out of the pool area, and when she noticed him, she shook her head.

They got together and he said, “I think he went out to the ski slope. He’s never done that on his own before, but there’s always a first time. I can walk through some of the snow in snow boots, but depending on how far he went into the unpacked snow, I might have to use snowshoes.”

“Do you have a pair for me?”

He couldn’t believe she wanted to come with him to continue to look for Rosco. “Yeah, I’ll ask Kayla or Roxie if you can borrow a pair of theirs. Have you ever… Scratch that. You aren’t from snow country, so you’ve probably never worn them.”

“Nope, so you might need to give me lessons.”

He smiled, and after he asked his sisters who could loan snowshoes to Gabrielle, Roxie quickly offered hers before Kayla could.

“I can’t believe Rosco took off like that. If you don’t find him, let us know and we can contact Darien to see if he can call up more of the pack members to help us find him,” Roxie said, getting the snowshoes from the storage closet in their office.

“That’s just what I was thinking,” Landon said.

“I never imagined a wolf pack would go looking for a pack member’s missing pet.” Gabrielle thanked Roxie for the snowshoes.

“Yeah, there are all kinds of good things to be said about a wolf pack.” Landon grabbed a prepacked backpack with a first aid kit and warming blanket out of the storage room, just in case Rosco was injured. He also grabbed three bottles of water and slipped them into the backpack.

Landon led Gabrielle outside, and they crunched through the snow in the direction they both smelled Rosco had gone. They called out for Rosco the whole while.

“Rosco, here, boy!” Landon said.

“Rosco!” Gabrielle called out.

They walked past the bunny ski slope, past the bottom of a green slope, then beyond a blue slope, all easy walking since the slopes were groomed. But when they came to the expert slope, the snow beyond it was soft, powdery, and deep.

“Time for snowshoes,” Landon said, and helped Gabrielle on with hers, then put on his own.

Then they began calling for Rosco again.

“He definitely came this way.” Landon pointed out the imprint of the dog plowing through the snow.

“Why this way?”

“Maybe he was chasing a rabbit or a squirrel. He’s known to do that, though only when he’s on leash.”

* * *

Gabrielle hoped they’d find Rosco soon. She was getting colder and colder, walking in the deep snow, and wearing snowshoes was a whole new experience too. Still, she was worried about the Saint Bernard. What if he had gotten lost? She didn’t think Rosco would, but she’d known of cases where her clients’ dogs had chased off after something and gotten horribly lost. She would think they would be able to trace their scent back to the owner’s home, but nope.

She hoped the dog wasn’t injured, but if he was, that’s where she could really help. If she didn’t freeze to death first. “Rosco!”

“Rosco!” Landon called out. He glanced back at Gabrielle, who was falling behind…again.

She couldn’t help it. She felt the snowshoes were cumbersome and unwieldly, but at least they were probably keeping her from sinking too deeply into the snow. She still sank a couple of inches. She caught the tip of her snowshoe on a low-hanging tree branch and tripped. The snowshoe came unclipped from her boot, and her foot sank three or four feet into the snow. Man, she would never have believed the snow was that deep here.

Landon saw her leg buried in snow and came back to help her.

“Sorry,” she said, apologizing for holding them up.

“You’re fine. Rosco’s the one in trouble for leading us on this wild-goose chase. Are you okay? I mean, cold-wise?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m cold, but hopefully we can find him soon.”

“If you get too cold, let me know. I don’t want you getting frostbite.” He picked up his phone and called someone. “Hey, Blake, we’re on Rosco’s trail beyond the last expert slope. We can smell his scent, but he hasn’t stopped running through the deep snow. I might have to send Gabrielle back to the lodge. She’s getting cold.”

“I’m fine. Wait, I hear something. A scratching sound, maybe?” She got her snowshoe on and started to move again.

“Okay, Gabrielle thinks she hears something. We’re going. Yeah, meet us out here. I’m afraid we’re not going to be able to get him through the deep snow all the way back to the lodge when we find him, unless we’ve all packed the snow down enough for him. All right. We’re on the move again. Just follow our tracks.” He tucked his phone in his pocket and followed Gabrielle, listening carefully. “What did you hear?”

“I thought I heard digging. Rosco!” she called out, trying to get to the place she thought he might be. “Oh, Landon! There he is! He’s digging at the snow beyond the stand of trees!”

“What did you find, Rosco?” Landon called out, trying to move as fast as he could to reach the location where Rosco was digging.

“You said he’s an avalanche rescue dog, right?” Gabrielle asked, getting close to Rosco. “I hear someone buried in the snow—a heartbeat, a muffled cry for help.” She began digging with her gloves as fast as she could right beside Rosco. And she could smell the human’s scent: male.

Landon pulled out his cell phone as he joined Gabrielle. “Blake, we found Rosco. He’s found someone buried in the snow. Okay, since you’re already on your way, call ski patrol, will you? I’ve got to help Gabrielle and Rosco dig out the buried victim. Out here.”

Landon quickly ended the call and began digging next to Gabrielle.

“I hear a faint heartbeat.” Gabrielle continued to dig frantically. “I smell he is human.”

“I do too. Man, am I glad you came with me. You and Rosco are a team,” Landon said.

“You would have heard Rosco if you hadn’t been talking on the phone.” She felt something hard. A helmet, she thought. “Hold on, we’re coming for you,” she called to the man buried in the snow. “We almost have you.”

“Emergency personnel are on their way,” Landon said. “You’re going to be just fine.”

Then they uncovered the back of the person’s black-and-white helmet and began to dig around his face so that he could breathe. He was breathing, and Gabrielle couldn’t have been more relieved, but she still worried about any injuries the victim might have suffered. Working on an avalanche victim was definitely a first for her. “I’m glad we brought first aid gear.”

“Yeah, me too. I thought we might be using it on Rosco. But you never know when you might need it, even for us if we’d gotten ourselves into trouble.”

They continued to unbury the young man, Rosco pausing to lick the snow off the man’s face, and Landon chuckled. That was a good sign. They finally removed enough snow that they could gently pull the man the rest of the way out. He groaned in pain, but they had to get him warmed up and hydrated.

Landon gave him some water. “What’s your name?” Landon asked, while Gabrielle checked him over for injuries.

“Mick Johnson.”

At least he was conscious and seemed lucid. The blond-haired guy groaned when Gabrielle touched his right arm. “It might be broken,” Gabrielle said. “Do you have anything to use to stabilize it in the first aid kit, Landon?”

Landon was already pulling out the emergency blanket. “Yeah.” He brought out the splint.

The splint was a moldable piece of aluminum enclosed in foam for comfort. After they splinted Mick’s arm, they gently lifted him onto the emergency blanket and wrapped him in it.

“What happened?” Landon asked.

“I was snowboarding and then the snow buried me. I thought I was never going to make it out alive. I was trying to call out for help, but then gave up on it. I knew I needed to save my breath. Since I was not on a main slope, I was certain no one would be out here looking for me. Then I heard someone digging at the snow. I never would have figured it was a dog.”

“Rosco is an avalanche rescue dog. So you were alone off-trail when it happened?” Landon asked.

Gabrielle realized they might need to look for someone else too.

“Yeah, my friend said he wouldn’t go with me. It was too dangerous.”

She was relieved they didn’t have to search for someone else buried in the snow.

“Maybe he was right.” Landon got on his phone again. “Hey, Blake, we’ve got a snowboarder, possible broken arm. Rosco was digging him out.” Landon smiled and rubbed Gabrielle’s back. “Gabrielle found Mick Johnson and Rosco first. They make a hell of a team.” He laughed. “Okay. We need a pickup.”

“You were there every step of the way.” Gabrielle shook her head at Landon, then asked Mick, “Where are you staying?”

“The ski lodge.”

“How old are you?” Gabrielle asked Mick.

“Twenty. My friend is so going to tell me I told you so.”

Gabrielle started checking Rosco for injuries. She leaned down to check his paws to make sure he wasn’t suffering from frostbite. “Do you have anything to put on his feet, Landon?”

“Yeah, I was just looking for his dog boots in the emergency pack. We added fleece lining to the boots to make them even warmer, but he normally isn’t out this long in the snow.” Landon couldn’t seem to find them. “We can use some of the bandaging if we don’t have them in there.”

That was the good thing about wolves. They had more fur on their feet that protected their pads and toes and kept them from sliding on ice.

“Here they are,” Landon said, sounding glad to have found them.

“Okay, thanks, and Rosco will be happier for them.” And she would feel better if he was wearing them. She slipped them on his feet and secured them, and then she checked his nose, tail, and ears for frostbite. Bigger dogs and those that had heavier coats were at less risk than smaller, lightly furred breeds. It only took thirty minutes for a dog to develop frostbite in freezing weather.

“How’s he doing?” Landon asked, concerned.

“He’s good, but it’s important to take preventive measures to make sure he stays that way.”

After taking care of Rosco, Gabrielle rubbed her gloved hands together to warm up her chilled fingers.

“Are you cold?” Landon asked, crouching next to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“Yeah, maybe we can have lunch when we get back to the lodge and I can get warmed up before we ski again.” She was at least glad the snowboarder seemed okay, his memory fine. She was hoping he didn’t have any head injuries or any internal injuries that they couldn’t detect, but he seemed okay.

“We’ll do that.”

“I’m sorry about this,” Mick said, as if he suddenly realized he’d messed up their vacation plans.

“We’ll get you out of here.” Landon gave Rosco a treat from the treat barrel around his neck. “Good dog for rescuing an avalanche victim.”

“Do you always do that?” Mick asked. “Give him a treat?”

“Yeah, it reinforces the idea that if there’s an avalanche, he searches for any victim. If he finds one, he gets a treat. We just didn’t know where Rosco had gotten off to. It’s a good thing he came to help you and we went looking for him when he was missing from the lodge,” Landon said.

“How would he have known about me?” Mick asked, just as surprised as Gabrielle was that the dog was that alert.

“If the door to the lodge was open and he heard the avalanche and you crying out, even from a distance, that could have clued him in,” Landon said.

“Oh, yeah, I cried out for sure, all the way down the mountain as the snow followed me.”

Landon smiled. “That was it, then.”

“He’s a remarkable dog.” Gabrielle scratched Rosco’s head.

Rosco lay down next to the victim to keep him warmer, but when she stopped petting him, he brushed at Gabrielle’s hand with his muzzle to get her to pet him some more. She chuckled and continued to pet him. She was ready for Rosco to warm her up too.

Blake finally reached them, carrying another first aid kit. “How are you doing?” he asked Mick.

“Good, considering that I could be dead.”

“True. You did good, Rosco. Here we thought you were a wayward dog.” Blake rubbed the dog’s head, slapped Landon on the back, and gave Gabrielle a hug. “Hey, you look cold.”

“Yeah, I am.” But hopefully this wouldn’t take much longer.

“Landon, why don’t you take Gabrielle back to the lodge and get her warmed up. I’ll wait with the victim. The ski patrol will be here shortly.” Blake offered them fresh bottles of water.

“No, we’ll all stay together.” Gabrielle wanted to be there if Mick’s condition took a turn for the worse. She might work with animals, but she was still a doctor. She took a sip of the water.

Then they saw the members of the ski patrol coming for them and she was instantly relieved. She was so ready to get warmed up.

“Here they are,” Landon said. “Right on time.”

The guys of the ski patrol told them they had done a good job. They lifted Mick onto a stretcher and got him strapped on.

The ski patrol members smiled at Gabrielle. They were all wolves.

Then they headed back to the first aid hut so that the victim could be transported to the hospital in Green Valley. Poor Rosco was having a hard time getting back to the lodge through the deep snow though. Coming to rescue an avalanche victim? It appeared he could move mountains. But after all the work he’d done, he was worn out.

“Too bad he couldn’t wear some snowshoes,” Gabrielle said.

Rosco kept sitting down as if he wasn’t going to make it. Landon brought out another bottled water and gave Rosco a drink. “Come on, Rosco, you can do this.”

“Yeah, there’s no way we can carry you,” Blake said to Rosco, and then to Landon, “Did you want to get the ski patrol to come back for Rosco?”

“We might have to. That would be one for the record. A Saint Bernard needing a rescue instead of him always doing the rescuing.” Landon petted Rosco’s head. “Come on, buddy. Let’s walk a little farther.”

They continued to walk along the same path that most everyone had trampled, but with Rosco’s weight and no snowshoes and the exercise he’d already had, he was having difficulty making it through the snow a second time.

Landon called the ski patrol. “Hey, if you guys can do it, we need Rosco carried back to the lodge. He can’t make it.” He smiled. “Thanks.” Then Landon pocketed his phone. “Let’s get out the other emergency blanket and get Rosco warmed up until the ski patrol can return with a stretcher for him.”

Since Rosco weighed 160 pounds, similar to a man’s weight, trying to make it through the snow while carrying him would be too much.

“Too bad we don’t have a sled with us,” Blake said. “Then we could just give him a ride on top of the snow.”

“And me too!” Gabrielle really was ready for lunch and a warming up now.