by Bethany Shaw
Enid breathed in the icy night air and let it out, watching as her breath misted. “I’m going over here,” she commented, pointing to the trees to the right.
Alex, Parker, and Martin nodded at her as they veered to the left. It was a twelve-mile trip to the city. As humans, it would take them hours to hike across the terrain, but as wolves they could run the distance in about an hour if they pushed themselves. Considering their time constraints, the sooner they reached their checkpoint for the night, the better.
She skidded down the slope and set her pack on the ground. Her fingers shook as she unzipped her jacket and stepped out of her clothing. Shivering, she folded her clothes and stuffed them into her bag before settling on all fours.
The cold snow bit into her bare skin and she gritted her teeth, willing the change. Her back lurched up, snapping as her joints realigned. The bones crackled in her legs and arms as hair sprouted all over her body. Her eyes narrowed and blinked, shifting into those of a wolf.
Enid drew in a deep breath as the transition completed and let it out. Her thick coat shielded her against the wintry conditions and she leaned forward, stretching. She shook out her coat and bowed her head down, lifting her pack with her muzzle so it fell over her shoulder blades and lay securely around her middle.
She trotted back to the clearing, emerging from the trees at the same time as her partners. Parker and Martin bowed their heads as she trotted toward them. Their inner beasts recognized both she and Alex for the true alphas they were.
Her and Alex’s coats were white and gray—alpha colors. All other wolves had browns and blacks mixed in with white.
Alex yipped at her and she chuffed in response. If it were just the two of them, she’d nuzzle his neck and inhale his scent, but their two companions didn’t need to see that. Besides, wasn’t she supposed to be avoiding her feelings for him? The more time she spent with him the harder it was getting to keep her heart locked away. I’m falling for you. She eyed him for a moment longer before barking and zipping down through the snow.
White spray kicked up around her and she narrowed her eyes as she darted through the darkened woods. The frozen ground thumped beneath her paws and she relished in the way the frozen snow crunched and broke with each step.
It had been too long since she’d been able to stretch her legs. The icy air cooled her burning lungs as she pushed her legs to move faster.
Home. They were going to her home for the night. It was much too cold to stay outside in the elements. She hadn’t been to the homestead in years. Her heart raced faster, eager to see the large two-story house again.
The aroma of apple blossoms flitted through her mind. It was her imagination, there was no way they were in bloom now, but she inhaled it anyway. She pressed herself faster, hopping over logs and zigzagging around the trees that littered their path.
Enid slowed her stride, panting as she came to a slope that overlooked the homestead. The house was still there, but no smoke billowed from the chimney as it usually did this time of year. No one was there to start a fire. Siding hung from the house and the porch swing hung by one rung on the large front deck.
Her heart sank at the sight. The home was in shambles. Alex joined her steady trot as his gaze flicked over the home.
She blew out a breath and increased her pace. It would always be home no matter what. The three other wolves’ paws crunched against the ground as they fought to keep up with her. She leapt over the pasture fence and sprinted for the door.
The front door was closed and all the windows appeared to be intact with the large drapes drawn shut. She strode to the bushes to the right of the house and flexed her body as she shifted back. The crackle of bones nearby told her the others were doing the same.
Once shifted, she dressed and jogged to the front door. She twisted the knob, but it was locked.
Enid chuckled at the irony. In their rapid departure someone had actually taken the time to lock the front door. Maybe the action had kept looters out. It wasn’t likely. Desperate people would’ve broken the door down or busted out the windows. The house was far enough out of the city that no one would stumble upon it. That was the only explanation she could think of for the lack of vandalism.
She twisted the frigid knob, breaking the lock. The door creaked as it opened and she led the way inside. Someone shut the door behind her.
Her eyes darted over the beige walls. A thick layer of dust coated the furniture, but everything was where it belonged.
“We should see if we can salvage anything while we are here,” Parker said from behind her.
Enid turned and shot him a lethal glare. It was silly to want to leave everything as it was. They needed things inside the mountain and could bring back quite a bit. Darren must have told the scavengers they’d sent out in the beginning to steer clear of the homestead. It was the only explanation for why it was untouched.
“There are some guest quarters down that way.” Enid pointed straight ahead to the long hallway.
Parker and Martin mumbled a good night and made their way down the corridor, slipping into two of the guestrooms on the right side of the hall.
“I don’t suppose you mind sneaking me up to your room,” Alex flirted with a grin.
“What makes you think you’re welcome in my room?” she questioned with a straight face.
Alex pouted and met her eyes as he took a step forward. “I don’t know why I’d have that idea.”
“Do you want to take a walk?” Enid suggested instead.
Alex frowned, but nodded. She beamed and motioned for him to follow her with her pointer finger.
She strutted ahead, leading him back out the front door and into the solitude of the trees. Alex’s footsteps padded behind her and she swayed her hips, feeling his eyes on her.
“So, where are you taking me? You know I’m not big on surprises.”
“It’s not much further,” she commented as she looked at him from over her shoulder. Their destination was just ahead she could already see it.
Steam billowed out of the hot springs and she unzipped her jacket, glad that the pool was still here. She slipped her coat off as she continued to walk and dropped it on a boulder.
“Is that what I think it is?” Alex questioned.
Enid bit her lip as Alex’s clothes rustled and landed with a thwack against the rock she’d left her coat.
“I assume you’re talking about the hot spring?” she inquired as she lifted her shirt up and over her head.
“I noticed you had one in your room. I was meaning to ask you about it,” he replied.
Enid unzipped her pants and slid them down her legs as she stepped out of her sneakers. She set the garments on the rock and peeled off her panties. Naked, she sauntered to the hot springs and dunked her toe into the steamy water.
Perfect!
“I find them relaxing,” she told him as she sank into the clear water and found a rock to sit on.
Alex followed her, taking a seat opposite from her. “You always did like to rent the hotel rooms with the hot tubs.”
Enid giggled as she ran her hands through the water. “Why didn’t we get those rooms more often?”
“We were both broke and we didn’t want to charge those rooms to one of our father’s credit cards. They were a lot pricier than the cheap-o motels we stayed in,” Alex supplied. “Do you think they ever wondered why there were always so many charges from different pizza companies?”
Enid shook her head with a laugh. “Probably not. My dad knew I loved pizza.” She groaned and licked her lips as her belly rumbled. “I haven’t had a slice of pizza in forever.”
“Me either. Do you remember Benito’s Pizzeria? They had the best wings,” Alex said as he leaned his head back.
“Do you think they still have pizza and wings in the cities they’ve rebuilt?” Enid wondered.
Alex let out a breath. “Maybe. They have power in some areas.”
“It must be nice,” Enid snapped.
“How can you be so optimistic?” Enid questioned as she arched her brow at him. “Things have only gotten worse for the werewolves.”
“The moment we stop believing and hoping for a better future we lose everything. It’s bad enough the Wolf Flu took so much from us, I’m not going to lose anything else,” he commented as he stood and waded through the waist-deep water toward her.
Alex clasped her hand beneath the water. “You used to see the glass half full,” he reminded her.
“How am I supposed to do that when I’ve lost everything?” Enid whispered as she bit her trembling lip.
Alex grasped her chin and turned her toward him. “We still have each other and nothing on this Earth is going to separate us again. I’m not going anywhere, Enid,” Alex promised as he pressed his lips against hers.
Enid inhaled his scent, closing her eyes as his lips moved against hers. “What about Cori?” she questioned between kisses.
Alex pulled back, narrowing his eyes. “What about her?”
“She’s your daughter,” she pointed out.
“Cori is quite taken with you,” Alex grinned as he pushed loose strands of her hair behind her ear. “I don’t think she’d mind at all. She has my good sense of character,” he teased with a chuckle before turning sober. “Let me in, Enid.”
Enid blinked as tears pricked her eyes. If she didn’t feel anything she couldn’t be hurt again, but Alex was already wiggling his way into her heart again. The past eight years she’d been shrouded in darkness, consumed with the pain of losing her boys, father, husband, and brother.
Alex’s reemergence in her life had brought specks of light—shimmers in the dark, giving her a reason to hope again. All she had to do was reach out and grab onto one.
Enid cupped his face with her fingers as she met his eyes. “I can’t lose anyone else,” she told him.
“You won’t.” He didn’t give her a chance to say anything else as his lips found hers again.
Enid pushed him back, meeting his eyes as she beamed. She stood up and straddled him as she combed her fingers through his matted hair.
His pert member pushed against her belly. Her fingers tiptoed down his body, grabbing his shaft as she began to pump it. Alex growled and she nipped at his bottom lip as she rolled her thumb over the tip of his cock.
Alex thrust up and she continued her movements, loving how his length grew harder in her hands.
“Enid,” he breathed.
She lifted up onto her knees and guided him to her entrance. “Look at me,” she demanded.
Alex’s eyes met hers and she sank down on his shaft, crying out as his cock stretched her. He fit inside her perfectly like he was made for her and she him. They were mates—true mates. Most alphas were forced into a relationship with a neighboring pack’s son or daughter. Fourteen years ago she’d have given anything to mate with Alex.
It hadn’t been in the cards for them then, but now, now they could be together.
Enid rocked back and forth, setting a slow and steady motion, pulling out to the tip and then sliding back down.
Alex’s hands went to her breasts, squeezing them as he leaned in and captured her lips. His thumbs rolled over her nipples and she cried out against his mouth. The man always knew how to touch her.
She increased her rhythm, loving the way his engorged cock slid in and out of her, hitting just the right spots.
“I want you to make yourself come,” Alex instructed as his tongue dipped into her mouth.
Enid grunted against his mouth as she moved her hips faster, enjoying the friction building in her core. Her muscles tensed and she gripped Alex’s shoulders harder, giving herself more leverage.
“That’s it, Enid, keep going,” Alex encouraged with a growl as he thrust his hips up.
Enid cried out as he went deeper. She was on the verge of falling over the edge. Alex pumped into her one last time and she called out his name as sweet release cascaded over her. Dots blurred her vision. Alex gripped her hips and continued their frenzied pace.
She rode out the waves of pleasure as another orgasm coiled inside her. “Alex,” she panted.
He caught her lips with his own, delving his tongue into her mouth and flicking it across her teeth. Enid gasped for breath between kisses.
She clung to Alex as she began circling her hips, eager to come again. The water sloshed around them, doing little to cool her overheated and exposed skin.
Alex growled and she screamed as he buried himself deep inside her silky folds. His cock spasmed as his seed spilled inside of her. Her release swept over her again and she shuddered from the sheer joy of it.
She collapsed against him, burying her face into his neck as she fought to regain control of her breathing.
“I love you, Enid,” Alex whispered into her ear. “I’ve always loved you and I’m never leaving your side again.”
Enid smiled, placing a tender kiss to his neck. She opened her mouth, but the words got stuck in her throat. He might not intend to leave her, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Her heart clenched in her chest at the thought.
I want to love you, but I don’t know if I can.
Chapter Seven
Alex reached across the bed, fumbling for Enid. The sheets were cool to the touch. He peeked one eye open, then the other. Empty—again. He was going to have to remind her that he didn’t like waking up alone.
He tossed back the covers and grimaced as the cold air assaulted him. The almost too-hot climate of the caves was growing on him. It was freezing in the room, probably only a dozen degrees warmer than the arctic temperatures outside.
Alex opened the door and peered into the hallway. Enid’s scent was fresh on the air and he followed it. Her perfume led further down the hall of bedrooms.
At the end of the hall, a door stood ajar and a slight creaking came from it.
He tiptoed across the chilly hardwood and ducked his head in the opening. Enid sat in a rocking chair, swaying back and forth. Her back was to him and her gaze was focused out the window at the snowy tundra.
“You can come in,” she invited as she twisted in the chair.
Alex stepped into the room and swallowed. It was a nursery. A crib was in the left corner and a changing table to the right. Sheets covered the mattress though it was obvious from the thick layer of dust that no one had slept in it for some time. He took a step forward, looking over Enid’s shoulder and staring down at the photo she had in her hand.
The family smiled back at him; he recognized Enid instantly and Carter next. He licked his lips, placing a hand on her shoulder as he stared at the two boys. One was an infant; the other would’ve been about Cori’s age by now.
“Once the flu started spreading to humans and the witches told them it started here, they marched toward us with guns and weapons. We fled so fast I never got to grab anything.” She trailed her fingers over the edges of the photo. “I guess they left this place alone when they realized no one was here. They probably didn’t want to risk infection by coming inside. By that point, the sickness had run its course through the pack and every one that was alive was also immune. I suppose we could’ve been carriers.”
“How old were your boys?” Alex asked, though he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.
“This is the last photo of all four of us. It was taken a week after I had James.” She trailed her fingers over the infant. “Carter died eight days after this photo was taken. Then not even a year later, Chase got sick and then James too. James never saw his first birthday, and Chase was barely four.”
Alex squeezed her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Enid.”
She swallowed and turned to him as she swiped tears out of her eyes. “We have to stop the witches. No one is safe until we do,” she told him as she cleared her throat.
Alex knelt down next to Enid and clasped her hand. “We will,” he promised. He had no idea what they were looking for b
ut he wouldn’t stop until they found it.
***
Enid stopped a few feet away from Apothecary as she adjusted the pack on her back. The windows were shattered and the door hung open, attached by a single hinge. Shelves were dumped over and their contents strewn all over the floor.
She gulped and pushed her feet forward. The wooden steps creaked beneath her weight as she slipped inside. Shards of glass littered the floor, crunching under her feet as she walked to the counter.
“There’s a lot of damage here,” Alex commented from behind her.
She nodded in agreement. The other stores down the street had been looted, but this place was trashed as if it’d been deliberately torn apart. A woman allegedly died in this store and Enid’s brother was the murderer. It looked like a crime scene, especially with the spray of dried blood across the counter. The spatter was faded from time, but she’d seen enough blood to know what it was.
Enid inched closer to the stain, knelt down and inhaled. The coppery scent was faint, but strong enough to tell her it wasn’t Nik’s. It must belong to the witch.
Nik wouldn’t have hurt an unarmed woman, she reminded herself.
“I don’t see how we are going to find anything in here,” Alex replied as he shoved a shelf, pushing it upright. A few glass bottles rolled off the shelves and crashed to the floor. Broken glass sprinkled all over the floor as liquid oozed out of the bottles.
Chamomile and lavender filled the air and Enid wrinkled her nose at the strong odor.
“For all we know, some random person could’ve picked up what we’re looking for,” he continued as he heaved another shelf out of his way.
Alex did have a point. “Maybe.”
He went to the wall and trailed his fingers across the panels.
“What are you doing?” she questioned as she followed the trail of blood droplets to the back of the counter.
“Looking for a secret compartment. If the book was important they might have hidden it somewhere,” he suggested.
Enid nodded in agreement as she crouched down on the floor and ran her fingers over another patch of dried blood. She gasped and sniffed again.