Page 18 of Wolf Forgotten

I fumbled with the latch on the sliding glass door at first, but was able to get it open and stumble out onto a deck before Cole had made it across the kitchen.

I bounded down the few steps and my bare feet hit the ground still frosted from the dew. I ran toward the trees not too far away. If I could just get there, I could hide.

My lungs burned as I sprinted across the side yard, past an outbuilding, and to the line of trees. There was no way we had crashed in a high-speed chase the night before. My lung function was better than when I played volleyball in high school and college.

I looked over my shoulder as I entered the trees to see nothing but the large cabin-style house. It was all dark wood, glass, and stone. It was breathtaking.

Where had he gone? Dread settled in at how alone I was in this fight for my life, and I continued running into the trees.

My feet were frozen from the cold temperature and the moisture on the ground. I slowed to a fast walk and the adrenaline suddenly left me in a rush, almost dropping me to my knees.

Reality hit me like a ton of bricks; I had nowhere to run and no one would know I was missing for a few days.

I had to keep moving, but instead, I stumbled behind a thick tree trunk and slid to the ground. The bushes surrounding it that gave some cover from the direction I had come.

Even if I did manage to escape, I was in a forest with no shoes or jacket. It was better than being stranded in the middle of the ocean.

I let the tears stream down my cheeks, the warm moisture sending small needles of feeling back into my frozen skin. I was so fucked.

Movement in my periphery drew my attention, and I pressed myself back into the tree as if that would hide me from the gray wolf prowling in my direction. It came slowly, with its head slightly down, its amber eyes locked on mine. I wanted to look away but was frozen, literally and figuratively. Twenty-six was shaping up to be a great year.

He stopped about five feet from me, cocking his head to the side while sniffing. The two wolves I'd seen up close on Monday were enough to last me a lifetime, but this one seemed to be more like a dog than a wolf.

People did have wolf dogs. Maybe he was Cole's pet or belonged to the neighbors. He was beautiful, with gray hair covering most of his body and lighter hair around his muzzle.

He chuffed and trotted forward a few more steps. Why wasn’t he attacking me? Did wolves attack if unprovoked? I knew you have to be careful with bears, but what about wolves? My college degrees did nothing to prepare me for this situation.

I tentatively reached my hand out. I was screwed anyway. If attempting to befriend a wolf was the last thing I got to do in my life, so be it.

The wolf ducked his head under my hand and let me pet the top of his head. He was soft and smelled faintly of fabric softener, which was odd considering he was a freaking wolf. Maybe he was a pet after all.

A growl came from my right, and I tensed as the wolf in front of me turned and let his own growl out. There was another, larger gray wolf stalking closer, and hewasready to attack.Definitely not dogs.

I pushed myself up and stepped away from them as they began to circle each other, their teeth showing. They were about to rip each other's throats out, and I wasn't about to watch that happen.

A small part of me urged me to stay, to do what, I didn't know. It wasn’t like I was about to jump in the middle of two feral animals.

As soon as they lunged for each other, I ran back in the direction I'd come. If there was a house, that meant there had to be a road leading away from the place. Maybe I could make it to the highway and flag down a motorist.

The house came into view, and I ran across the side yard. It was such a big house, and had I not been trying to save myself, I would have stopped to appreciate how gorgeous it was.

As I rounded the side of the house, I stopped in my tracks. The car we'd been riding in the night before was sitting on a flatbed truck in the driveway. Well, what was left of it. It looked like an accordion. What the hell?

I should be dead.

I looked down at my body and then back at the car. It was so scrunched I couldn't wrap my head around how I'd survived it without a scratch. Had I been in the basement longer than a day? Even then, I should have been in a hospital, not able to run around.

One of the garage doors was wide open, and I looked inside. It was massive with five vehicles. My best bet was stealing one, so I snuck in. Of course, none of them had the keys in them, even though we were in the middle of nowhere.

I could have gone into the house and tried to find the keys, but I had no idea where Cole might be or if there were others. There was a shoe rack by the door leading into the house, but everything was men's sizes and would have just slowed me down. I'd just have to rip my feet up and deal with the pain and consequences.

The other side of the garage had a long workbench with tools hanging organized on pegs on the wall. I grabbed a hammer and exited the garage.

The house sat at the end of a gravel road that went on for what looked like forever. I darted across the open area to the trees on the other side, hoping no one saw me.

I can do this.

Once I was far enough in the trees to be out of sight from the road, I jogged in the direction the road led. My feet hurt and my head pounded from lack of water and food. The few bites of sandwich didn't go far.

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