SWNOVELS Chapter 23
Chapter 23
The road winds back and forth as we gain elevation. The
mountain is steep enough to ski and it’s heavily wooded. The headlights cast shadows through the pines and fir.
I’ve never been here before.
I wonder if Aaron has.
He brings the vehicle to the mountain top and parks. “Get out,”
he tells me.
slowly unbuckle my belt. It’s significantly colder here than where we’d been and I didn’t think to bring a coat. I don’t have my
medications. My phone’s about to die.
This is the type of deserted stretch of forest where you’d go hunting for the weekend.
Or where you’d bury a body.
After the things I’ve said tonight, I have to wonder why Aaron has brought me here.
n a battle of strength against this wolf, there would be no
contest.
2/4
“Come on,” he says quietly. “It’s this way.”
He grabs a big duffel bag from the back of the SUV and then
walks through the dark to the edge of the mountain top.
I can’t see with the same precision he does. And the gold flash
of his wolf’s eyes tells me his night vision is easily ten times better than mine. I let him lead the way.
An owl calls and there’s a low hum of different insects. Gravel
or stones crunch as we walk, so this roadway is maintained in
some way.
Again I want to ask where we’re going and more importantly, why. But this wolf won’t reveal anything he isn’t ready to and there
is no point in arguing over it.
I just have to hope that I’m not walking to my own grave.
That would be the ultimate coup, though, wouldn’t it?
Aaron kills me, pins it on my father or my pack in some way.
Hmm.
I slide on some uneven stretch of ground and in a flash, he has
my arm and he’s holding me in place.
“I, uh, I’m okay.”
He grunts and keeps walking.
3/4
I glance up as the clouds lift, and moonlight floods this area, showing too many stars overhead to count and a valley below
that’s bisected by a curving stretch of river.
“It’s beautiful.”
“It is,” he agrees.
I hadn’t intended to say that out loud.
Perhaps a mile or so down the trail, there is a flash of reflection. As my eyes adapt more, I see the straight lines of a cabin, and
more glints of the moonlight on glass windows.
“Is that where we’re going?”
Aaron nods and picks up the pace.
He hefts the giant bag a bit higher on his back. There’s a clang and thump, sounds I’d associate with heavy objects.
I gulp.
Bad Love: An Alpha’s Regret
We make it to the cabin without any incident.
Which probably sounds silly, but it’s a win in my book.
I breathe a deep sigh of relief.
“Worried about falling off the trail?” he asks.
“Amongst other things.”
He snickers.
“Wait here,” he tells me. “Let me check out the place first.”
I’m pretty sure if there was some danger, he would’ve sensed
it already. Also, this is Alpha Aaron Rathborn, there isn’t
anything on this earth that he fears. And I know he isn’t going inside to dust the place or freshen up.
But I dutifully stand outside, shivering and waiting.
After a few minutes, he reappears.