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.
A flash later, they relieved her of their weight. She was airborne.
She’d slipped. Her ski boots flashed in the air before her and then she came crashing back down. Despite the helmet, the impact was strong enough to rattle her.
And then, the world turned black.
Damon
Damon’s gut twisted as he sat in his log cabin and stared out the picture window up at the mountain. He leaned forward, elbows on knees and head resting on one hand. He had to confess to his alpha what he had done. His breach into Sacco territory and fighting one of their wolves broke the peace between the packs.
He tapped his foot and stood. He reached out to communicate telepathically with his alpha. Rafe, I have something to tell you.
Good news or bad?
Damon swallowed. Not good.
His alpha groaned. I’m in my office. Come to me.
Damon glanced at the closed door in his cabin and sighed. I can’t leave right now.
Why not?
I can explain when we talk.
Where are you?
In my cabin.
I’ll be right there, Rafe snapped.
It wasn’t conventional for the enforcer to ask the alpha to come to him, but the gravity of the situation called for it. Damon couldn’t abandon Sophie. If she woke up afraid and confused—and worse, walked out of his life—he’d never forgive himself for letting her get away once more.
Damon stepped outside and paced across the paved road in front of his slope-side log cabin. He inhaled the pine-scented air, but it didn’t clear his head. An inch or two of snow had fallen since the road was last plowed, so he left footprints, which he attempted to walk in on each turn—a useless form of distraction before the unsettling task ahead.
Minutes later, Rafe pulled up and parked his black BMW. “What happened?” he barked.
Damon rubbed his jaw. “I need to start back a bit. Back when we visited that club in Massachusetts, my wolf thought he found our mate.”
Because we did, his wolf challenged.
Rafe’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. “That sounds like great news.” He patted Damon on the back. “Oh.” He narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Now I see why you think it’s bad. You’ve said you don’t want a mate. I know the situation with your parents makes you wary, but that doesn’t mean it will happen to you.”
Wary was an understatement. More like dead set against it. The idea of wolves only having one mate was insane and had destroyed his family. Just because Damon had found her didn’t change any of that. He wanted to make sure she was safe, sure. But that was because protecting others was part of his job, part of his nature.
He exhaled. “It’s more complicated than that.”
Rafe tapped his fingers at his sides. “Go on.”
Damon swallowed. “I found her again today here on the mountain.” He rolled his tense shoulders back. “And I tracked her over to Sacco land.”
“You what?” Rafe’s eyes bulged. He took a step closer to Damon, curling his hands into fists.
“She was in trouble,” Damon quickly explained. “She went off trail into the woods and appeared to be in trouble. I had no choice but to go after her.”
“You had no choice?” Rafe repeated. “Of course you had a choice!” His nostrils flared. “Do you know what this means?”
Damon groaned. “Yes.” His alpha was pissed, and Damon hadn’t even finished the story. “I’m afraid it gets worse. As soon as I found her past the boundary line, one of their enforcers engaged.”
A rumbling growl vibrated from Rafe’s chest. He spun on his heels and rubbed his beard as he paced in his expensive black boots over the plowed asphalt. “Let me get this straight.” He stopped and faced Damon. “You crossed into Sacco territory and fought one of their enforcers?”
Damon gulped, but the shame didn’t dislodge from his throat. “Yes.”
“Shit.” Rafe ground his jaw. “This isn’t good. How did it end?”
“I had the upper hand, but released him.” Damon snorted inside. As if letting the enforcer go would make anything better. A wolf with wounded pride could be erratic and extremely dangerous.
Rafe blew out a low exhale with a whoosh and pinned his gaze on Damon. “You know this breaks the condition of our peace treaty?”
“I do,” Damon admitted with a solemn nod and lowered his head. “And I will do whatever it takes to make amends.”
“I need to think about this before I talk to their alpha.”
Damon kept his head bowed. He’d violated pack law and endangered his fellow wolves’ safety. “I apologize, alpha. I will do whatever you think best.”
Rafe didn’t speak for a few seconds. “Why was she wandering from territory to territory? Is she a lone wolf?”
“No. She’s not a wolf,” Damon admitted. “She’s human.”
Having a human involved in shifter affairs was dangerous. Everything about this situation was dangerous.
No wonder he had wrestled against the idea of a mate his entire life. They were nothing but trouble.
“A human,” Rafe repeated with incredulity. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. That’s
