Page 33 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

“She didn’t inform you of her state of chastity. That’s not on you. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Once we get off this mountain, she’ll go back to her life and you’ll go back to yours.”

“I reckon so,” Sean agreed, although there was something about never seeing her again that bugged him.

Even though they had stashed the bag with their clothes in a tree, it was still almost completely covered with snow by the time they got back. The storm was picking up again and the wind made it impossible to see more than a couple inches in front of their faces.

“It’s a good thing we have such a good sense of smell or we’d be lost out here forever,” Sawyer said.

“No kidding. Of all the ways to die, freezing to death is on my top ten list of nope.”

“You have a list of ways you don’t want to die?” Sawyer asked incredulously.

Sean looked at him and smirked. “Yeah. Don’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess so, although I don’t really think about it and it’s not like I have them numbered.”

Sean laughed. “Now you have something to think about when you’re bored. I bet that when you get back, you’ll be sitting at your desk, and you’ll start making a list. You’re welcome for putting the thought in your head.”

Howard opened the door as they arrived. “Glad you’re back. We were starting to get a little worried about you fellers.”

Sean patted him on the back. “No need to worry about us. We have a great sense of direction.”

The wind started to pick up and Sean grabbed onto one of the pillars so he wasn’t blown down. Darren and Tristan stepped onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind them.

Howard held up a couple of hammers. “We are going to board up the windows from the outside. That wind is gettingpretty strong again, and we don’t need any broken glass. Feel like lending a hand?”

Sawyer took one of the hammers. “Lead the way.”

Sean and Sawyer worked together, and Darren and Tristan paired up to nail plywood over the windows. Howard ran back and forth between the two teams, carrying the wood they needed. The wind blew against the large boards, kiting them, making it almost impossible to get them up.

Sean held a board to the wall, while Sawyer hammered. When the board was up and they were sure it wasn’t going anywhere, they stepped back to move on to the next window. A loud crack exploded in the air. Sean looked up to see a huge tree falling toward him.

“Holy crap.” He jumped out of the way, just as the tree landed right where he had been standing.

Howard was just coming to them with another board while Tristan and Darren had finished covering the window next to Sean and Sawyer. All four men stared at Sean and then at the four-foot tree trunk that lay right next to him.

Dropping the board, Howard rushed up to Sean. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I think a couple of twigs might have broken on my head and back, but it didn’t knock me down. The trunk missed me.”

“Barely.” Sawyer’s eyes were wide and his face was pale. He seemed more terrified than Sean. “If you hadn’t jumped, you would be dead.”

Sean laughed, although his heart was beating a million miles an hour and his hands shook. “And that’s not even on my top ten list of ways I don’t want to die. I guess the Fates were looking out for me today.”

Sawyer shook his head. “It’s your guardian angel, who is likely perpetually drunk.”

They all laughed uneasily, and then the icy wind that felt like blades against their faces reminded them that they had a job to do.

Sean pounded in the nails and said, “You know, my guardian angel has it easy. I’m a good boy, and I rarely get into trouble.”

“Yeah, right. That’s why you are always the first one in the pack to go on search and rescue missions or in any other dangerous situations in and around Angel’s Creek.”

Sean shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say? I’m trying to be just like Bruce Wayne, although I’m not a millionaire, I don’t have an Alfred, or a basement full of outfits and cool cars.” He finished pounding in the last nail on that board. “However, I do have a Jade and the portal to the shifter world in the basement of my bar. That’s got to count for something.”

“It’s a start,” Sawyer said, taking the hammer from Sean.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, all of the windows were boarded up.

The five men brushed off as much snow as they possibly could before going inside the house. Howard had to push hard against the door to get it shut.

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