Page 9 of The Reluctant Wolf and His Fated Mate
Once she exited the fringe of the forest, she trekked forward onto the trail and glanced around. It didn’t appear to be a ski trail. No ski lodge below. No chair lift over the trail. She searched for cables. None.
Where the hell was she?
She whimpered. All the anticipation of finding her way out plummeted.
She attempted to shake off the despair. No. Feeling overwhelmed wouldn’t help. At least, she was no longer in the woods. She was closer to getting back. She just needed to get her bearings and figure out the best direction to walk from here.
Movement in the trees on the opposite side from where she’d emerged caught her eye. What was that? Her heartbeat quickened. It was larger than a deer.
The shadowy creature then stepped out from the forest. A wolf as white as the snow but with piercing blue eyes. Only it was massive, much more so than any wolf she’d ever seen.
Any? It was the only one she’d ever seen.
But she never imagined they could be this massive, dwarfing her. It stared at her, eyes flashing as bright as a warning.
What the hell should she do? She was a city girl. Dealing with the insanity of driving in Boston traffic, fine. But surviving in the woods with a wolf staring her down?
Nope. No freaking clue!
The wolf took a few steps closer to her. She dropped her skis into the snow and clutched the poles like a weapon as she stepped backwards.
Although every cell in her body screamed not to go back into the deep, dark, dangerous forest, she had to get away from this predator.
The wolf curled its lip and growled, and the vibrating sound made the hair at the back of her neck rise.
Not good.
It leapt at her and she screamed.
She turned backwards, desperate to escape, but stumbled in her ski boots into the snow. As the wolf approached, she covered her throat.
It lunged past her.
What?
She turned and looked over her shoulder, following the direction of growls.
Another wolf. Shit.
The white one clashed with the newcomer, a gray one, in a vicious flash of fangs and claws. They barked and then growled before circling each other in the snow. While they were distracted, she stole back into the forest to get the hell away from them.
She spotted her tracks and followed them back up. Despite how hellish the climb would be in ski boots, at least it would bring her back to the ski trail. To people.
If the wolves didn’t follow her and hunt her down.
Her heart sped and lungs burned. Her entire body burned with sweat.
She spotted the wolf’s footprints along hers and gasped. How long had that gray wolf been tracking her?
Wait, the prints disappeared. She couldn’t stop to investigate and continued to trek up the mountain.
More footprints. This time they were similar to hers, but a larger size. Had a person been following her? But where did the footprints disappear to?
The wolf. She couldn’t think it. She covered her mouth and kept going.
Still the terrifying thought twisted her mind. Maybe it had taken the other person and would be happy to have her for dessert. She laughed to herself, as if she were losing her mind.
She rushed, breaking into as much of a run as she could manage with the encumbering ski boots.
