themselves, their coats had great waterproof abilities. I quickly grew warmer, sandwiched between two fur coats. I buried my face into the alpha’s shoulder and sighed. He didn’t smell like my Wolf, just the familiar scent of regular wolves. Pain tweaked in my chest for a moment. I groaned faintly. The alpha male nuzzled his head against the top of mine.
“Do you have a name?” I said, not knowing how to ask since I couldn’t do any more body language.
He shifted ever so slightly. No.
Of course not, I thought, and drifted off to sleep surrounded by wolves.
Chapter 20
I awoke still tired, in a strange place between cold and warm. Areas of exposed skin were damp and clammy, the rest of my body cozy from the wolves’ body heat and fur. On the whole, I felt rather like the thing the cat dragged in. A soft snort outside the hollow alerted me to Alex’s wakefulness. I pushed myself up with one arm, groaning. Amazing how just a few days ago I’d felt clean and delicious and loved. Now I was soggy, gross, and wanting to kill something, preferably in the near future.
The male alpha was already awake and watching me. My movements caused a domino effect, letting all the other wolves know they could now get up and leave. The rain had stopped sometime during the night, but the clouds remained, bringing in a dreary spring day. Yuck. I’d hoped for the sun so I could warm up and dry Wolf’s jacket while we walked. No such luck. I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to loosen some of the snarls.
The alpha licked my cheek. The action was so abrupt, I was too surprised to do much more than give him a blank stare. He cocked his head.
He is lucky he got to you first.
“Hardly,” I muttered with a scowl.
We must leave now. He touched his nose to mine. I am sorry your mate hurt you.
I swept a hand down his side. It might be the last time I touched a wild wolf. I’ll live. Take care.
I crawled out of the thicket with them, and within moments they disappeared into the forest, running silently through the trees. Just before the alpha vanished, a thought struck me.
“Wait!”
He stopped atop a ridge, standing between two trees, strong and proud. No matter what this place had done to me and its wolves, he was still beautiful; a powerful, intelligent creature, one that had saved our lives at the risk of his own and his pack.
“What direction is the castle?” I called.
He shifted his stance a little, facing slightly away from me.
Go straight this way. He glanced back. I hope you succeed.
Then he was gone.
I rubbed my eyes until Alex nudged me with his nose.
“Yeah,” I said wearily and slung Wolf’s damp coat over my shoulder. I checked to make sure that Marianne was still around my neck. Then we started walking.
The day was another long one of nothing but hiking. I kept praying to the sun, asking it to burn through the clouds and wash us in its light, but it refused. The day remained dull and tired. Funny. Just like me.
Sometimes Alex insisted upon carrying me, much stronger and faster in his stag form than his human one. Not being on my feet was a massive reprieve. My boots weren’t prone to giving me blisters, but any more time in them and they threatened to. At least my feet were still dry. I ate the last little sad bit of jerky I found in one of the coat pockets. Thoughts of carrots and steamed veggies and bread danced through my mind. We passed through the forest in silence. No birds sang. Small animals huddled away in their burrows. Alex smelled nothing to startle him.
I remembered at one time I used to like hiking. How long had it been? A week? Two weeks? It felt like a month. Were mom and dad and my stepmother freaking out? Had they called the police? Were my sisters talking to newscasters about the disappearance of their stepbrother and sister in the woods? Had the weather held up long enough for them to find our prints at the pond? Not like it would do any good. They’d never find us. And they’d certainly never believe Alex was no longer human.
As we traveled, an increasing sense of foreboding gnawed at me. I gazed at the trees around us, looking through the gloom of the day for