Alphas in the Wild by Ann Gimpel Read Free Book Online

see very well. It was also a whole lot warmer out of the wind.
    “Mitch and me.”
    “That you, Jake?” she asked, adjusting her light. “Oh, never mind. I can see now.”
    She focused the beam on a barrel-chested, dark-haired man with a full beard sitting on a three-legged stool. Dressed in his usual grease-stained down and Gore-Tex, he looked as rumpled as ever. She’d worked with him several times before. Jake liked his dope, but he was also a dependable operative—at least most of the time.
    “Thought you’d recognize my voice.” Hamming it up, Jake sounded wounded. “After everything we’ve shared—”
    “Can it,” she said brusquely, unsure if Tim would realize Jake was joking. “Who else?”
    “We’re the only ones here. Everyone else is spread between camp and the Muir Trail. Tons of deadfall there. Trail’s completely blocked a bunch of places. They were going to start with the closest snarl. It’s only a couple miles away.”
    A chilly tongue of fear bit deep. The crew should’ve aborted operations when the weather turned. If they had, they’d be getting back right about now. “When did they leave?”
    Jake looked at his watch and mumbled. “About nine.”
    “How come you and Mitch didn’t get on the mules and go round them up when you saw the barometer was dropping? Or did you even bother to check it?” Irritation made it hard to keep her voice cordial.
    “You know the answer to that.”
    She blew out an impatient breath. “Yeah. You wanted to save your own sorry hide.”
    “I could help if there are injured,” Tim said through chattering teeth.
    Shit. Nearly forgot he needs more clothes.
    “You won’t be able to do anything until you get warm. Jake, could you round up something to fit Tim?”
    “Where’d you find him?” Something ran beneath Jake’s words—maybe disapproval she’d brought an outsider into the fold.
    “On the trail. He doesn’t have enough with him. You be nice. He’s an old friend of mine. And he’s a doctor. The way things are looking, we might need one.”
    “Oh.” Jake shuffled to his feet and headed for the door. “Be right back. I think Brandon has spare clothes. Kid brought enough to practically sink the mule. Should be about the right size too.”
    “How many people are out in the storm?” Tim asked. Reflected in the light from her headlamp, his expression was serious—and worried.
    “Seven men and two women.” Moira reached for her pack, unzipped a compartment and pulled out the roster. “Crap. I suppose this means I have to go look for them.”
    “Not by yourself you aren’t.”
    She bristled, and then bit down on a sharp retort. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. No point in getting lost myself. The mules are sure-footed, but I shouldn’t risk any more of them, either.”
    Jake scuttled back through the door with a sleepy-looking Mitch right behind him. Mitch, all emaciated six feet of him, reeked of marijuana.
    Something in Moira snapped. She stomped up to him. “No drugs. What part of that don’t you get? And certainly not during the day when you’re supposed to be working.”
    “What makes you think—?”
    “I’m your superior here. And the law. Don’t insult both of us by lying to me. Go get the dope. All of it. And bring it here.”
    “Oh.” A sly look lit his close-set green eyes. He shoved a shock of red hair out of his face. “Wanting a hit yourself are you?”
    “Just go get it. And I swear, Mitchell, if you don’t bring every bit of it to me, I’ll see you go to jail for violating federal law and the Drug Free Workplace Act.”
    Mitch looked like he wanted to say something, but he clapped his jaws shut, turned, and left.
    She tugged the armload of clothing out of Jake’s hands and gave it to Tim. “Go put more clothes on.”
    He faded into the shadows toward the back of the tent without protest. She could only imagine how chilled he must be.
    “Any extra sleeping bags?” she asked Jake.
    He shook his