by J. L. Wilder
It was a good area. This cave was a good home.
He wasn’t like Kate. He never would be. He wasn’t the kind of person who could stay in one place for a long time.
But maybe he could stay for a couple of weeks. It would be nice to stop running, to stop looking over his shoulder for bears. He didn’t think there were any in this immediate area. And even if there was a bear nearby, no bear would be able to get inside this cave. This was a safe place.
Yes, he would stay here, at least for a little while.
Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted. Ryker smiled.
The river rushed by outside, just a few yards from the mouth of his cave. The final log in his fire cracked and fell inward on itself, sending up sparks. The dark of the night closed in around him.
This was just the way Ryker liked things. He loved to be alone in the darkness and the silence. It made him feel like he was the only person in the world.
And this was why he had run away from his pack all those years ago. Belonging to such a big group, having to worry about what every member of the pack needed before ever making a decision—it was exhausting. Now that he was on his own, Ryker could do what was right for him. He didn’t have to worry about what anybody else needed. He didn’t have to consider anyone else’s happiness.
If Kate had been here, she probably would have wanted the most comfortable spot in the cave. Or she might have asked him to make sure the fire stayed lit all night.
But Ryker was on his own.
He could do whatever he wanted.
On that happy thought, he drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Five
SOPHIE
Sophie crossed into the Arctic Circle on the third day after having left Josh’s pack.
She was beaten up and exhausted, and she hadn’t eaten properly in a day and a half. She had gone through the rations Marcie had given her too quickly. At least she had passed water sources regularly, so she wasn’t dehydrated—there was plenty of water in the bottle in her bag.
But, God—she had to eat something, and soon.
She found a springy sapling with some cattails growing nearby. She had seen Josh set a snare trap before, but he had always had string or twine. Could the same trap be set using the stems of the cattails to create the noose?
She was going to have to try.
Though she was weak with hunger, her hands trembling, she forced herself to work slowly. She did her best to remember what Josh had done, the way he had bent the sapling and set the line. She found a few berries to use as bait, picked a few more for herself as a snack to tide her over, and settled in to wait.
She must have fallen asleep because the snap of the trap activating jerked her awake. She was too worn down to jump to her feet and defend herself, the way she might have done if something had jerked her out of sleep on her first night alone. Instead, she blinked hazily up at the snare.
It had been sprung. A fat rabbit now hung from the sapling.
Food.
A shiver passed through her. For a moment, she felt sure she must be hallucinating. It was too good to be true, wasn’t it? An actual meal?
But no. The rabbit was still there, just waiting for her to go and claim it.
She crawled out of the bushes where she had been sleeping. Her clothes were dirty and torn after three days on the run, and she could only imagine what her hair must look like, but in the face of a prospective meal, she forgot all that. The rabbit was the only thing that mattered.
She didn’t know how to build a fire. Two days ago, that would have caused her to hesitate. Now she didn’t care. She could skin the rabbit with the knife she’d found in the backpack Marcie had given her. Maybe she could set it out on the stones to cook a little bit in the sun. But in truth, she wasn’t sure she could wait that long to eat.
“Whatcha got there?”
She whirled around, rabbit in hand. A woman was standing several yards away, leaning against a tree and watching her.
Sophie’s hackles went up immediately. There was something wrong about this woman. She had no idea who she was or what she was doing in the middle of the woods, but she didn’t trust her. Not for a minute.
“Well, go on,” the woman urged as if this were all a big joke. “Show me what you caught.”
Wordlessly, Sophie held up the rabbit. She was too frightened to refuse. The woman across from her was older—probably in her late thirties—and extremely muscular. She looked as if she could lift Sophie up over her head and throw her without too much trouble.
“Rabbit, huh?” the woman said. She licked her lips. “My favorite.”
Sophie said nothing.
“I haven’t seen you around before,” the woman said. “You new here?”
Sophie nodded.
“What’s your name?”
“Sophie.”
“Sophie,” the woman said. “Pretty name.”
There was something almost threatening in the way she said it. It reminded Sophie of the way Josh used to leer at her, of the way she used to hide in the shadows to avoid his eyes and his hands. She didn’t think this woman was a danger to her in that way. But there was definitely something unsafe about this.
She was being toyed with.
“You’re a wolf, aren’t you,” the woman said. “It’s all right. You don’t have to answer. I can tell by looking at you that you are.” She began to approach Sophie, and Sophie backed up automatically. “Don’t you know that you’re in bear territory?” she asked. “We don’t want any wolves on this part of the land, Sophie.”
So that was what her feeling of wrongness had been about. This woman was a bear shifter.
Sophie’s heart hammered. Bears were the sworn enemies of wolves. The two never met without it ending in violence and bloodshed, or so she had always been told. And Sophie wasn’t a fighter. She was just a half-starved omega. If they came to blows, she wouldn’t stand a chance against this bear.
“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t know.”
The woman gave her a smile that made the hairs on Sophie’s arms stand on end. “Of course you didn’t,” she said easily. “You’re not from around here, are you? Anybody can see that. You don’t know what territory belongs to whom.”
Sophie shook her head. Did she dare to feel relieved? Was it possible the bear woman understood her plight and was planning to be lenient?
“Still, you are on my land,” the woman mused. “I can’t just let that go. What kind of example would that set? What if you ran off and told all your little wolf friends that it was perfectly fine to trespass on bear lands? That the bears weren’t going to defend our territory?”
“No,” Sophie said. “No, I wouldn’t tell anybody. I promise. I don’t even have any friends.”
The bear woman’s face split into a wide smile now, and Sophie immediately regretted her honesty. She had just let this woman—this woman who might be her enemy—know that she was alone in the world. What a stupid thing to have done!
“I’ll tell you what,” the bear woman said. “There’s no reason this has to end in blood. Just give me the rabbit, and I’ll let you go.”
“The rabbit?” Sophie hesitated.
“That animal was caught on my territory,” the bear woman said, her smile fading somewhat. “It’s my prey by rights. Do you deny that?”
“I...” Sophie shook her head. “Please. I haven’t eaten in days. If I don’t get something soon, I’ll starve. It’s just one rabbit.”
“One rabbit that belongs to me,” the bear woman said. She was scowling now. “Letting you trespass on my land is one thing, but I’m not going to allow you to steal from me. Give me that catch, or I’ll have to take it from you by force. And I promise you, you won’t like the way that goes.”
There was no choice. If it came to a fight, Sophie would lose. She handed over the rabbit.
The bear woman’s smile returned. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Sophie said nothing. She hadn’t di
ed in a brawl, it was true, but it didn’t seem likely that she would survive more than a day or so longer. Not if things kept going the way they had been. That rabbit had been a source of hope, a reason to believe she might make it on her own after all. But now it was gone as quickly as it had been gotten.
The woman turned and started to walk away. “Get off my land,” she called over her shoulder. “Keep running north. I won’t follow—at least, not for a few hours. I’ll let you get a head start. But if you’re still in bear territory by nightfall...”
She didn’t have to say anything else. Sophie grabbed her backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and began to stumble away through the brush. Behind her, she could hear the sound of the bear woman laughing.
Her stomach ached with hunger. She had come so close to having a meal! And now it was gone.
The woman had told her to go north. But how was Sophie supposed to know which way north was? She didn’t have a compass. All she could do was move away. She did her best to keep the woman at her back and to keep moving in the same direction. She hoped it was right.
She stumbled along for hours, until the sun was low in the sky and the air around her was cold. She wasn’t looking forward to another night spent out in the open. Every night had been worse than the last. She had hoped she would begin to get used to living in the wild, but that didn’t seem to be happening. Instead, the air got colder and the wind got more bitter.
Much as she hated to admit it to herself, she was beginning to wish she had just gone along with what Josh wanted.
It would have been horrible, going through that awful mating ceremony. But if she had done it, she would still be with her pack. She would still have her own quiet little bedroom, a roof over her head, and four walls around her. She would have three sure meals a day. She would have a home.
She would have been abused and disgraced, but she would be alive.
Was it really worth it?
It doesn’t matter, she told herself firmly. You can’t think like that. It doesn’t matter now if it was worth it or not. It’s done. You’re on your own, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
She saw black spots swimming in front of her eyes and knew that she wasn’t going to be able to make it much farther. She was on the verge of collapse.
She reached a big pine tree with a thick trunk and dense branches. The ground beneath it was bare and dry, relatively sheltered. Maybe this would be a good place to spend the night. If it rained, Sophie thought she would probably be able to stay pretty dry. And she ought to be shielded from the wind—better, at least, than she would be anywhere else.
She crawled under the tree and allowed herself to fall over on her side, panting for breath, her eyes drifting closed.
She lay like that for a while, her consciousness fading in and out. She slipped into dreams each time she closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she felt like a significant amount of time had passed. But the sun wasn’t moving. Time was clearly passing more slowly than she thought it was.
One of these times, I’m going to open my eyes and it’s going to be the middle of the night.
God, she hoped she wasn’t still in bear territory. If a bear happened upon her now, it would be the end. She had no game to sacrifice to save herself, and she didn’t have the energy to try to hunt or to set another snare. Her only chance of getting food would be if something walked right up to her.
Am I going to die here?
The idea should have filled her with horror, but she was too worn down to feel much of anything. It all seemed so far away, like something that was happening to somebody else. Like something that she was watching, that she could turn away from if she lost interest in it.
She was losing interest now.
She closed her eyes and went back to the dream she’d been having.
The next time Sophie awoke, the light was so low that she could hardly see, and a frigid rain had begun to fall. She wanted to shift, to take shelter in the warmth of her own fur coat, but the tree’s branches had kept her dry so far and the idea of taking off her clothes was too much for her to stand.
She wished Marcie had given her a blanket. A jacket. Something.
Back home, there would be a fire. The members of her pack—Josh’s pack, not mine, I don’t belong to them anymore—would be huddled around it, drinking liquor, the men smoking cigars, telling ribald jokes and singing songs.
She had hated those nights.
She had hated the way they had compelled her to serve them, sending her to the kitchen again and again for more drinks, slapping her on the ass in thanks when she had returned.
Now she longed for it. She would have given anything to be back there with them.
I can’t stay here, she thought as the wind gusted. I can’t stay out here in the cold. I can’t take it. It’s too much. She had to find somewhere more sheltered.
But where? It wasn’t as if there was any chance of finding a cabin. It wasn’t as if there were any packs that might take her in.
But maybe she could find a crevice in the rock face there in the distance. Maybe she could find a little cave that would serve as a shelter. It wasn’t too far away. She could make it without passing out.
The only trouble was that going to the rock would mean going out in the rain. Abandoning the dry place she had found under the tree.
I’ll freeze, she thought.
But she was going to die anyway. Being out here was going to kill her. She had no food, and no real chance of finding any.
She was losing hope.
If she found a cave, at least she would have a scrap of comfort. Of warmth. At least she would have a place to sleep that would feel safe.
Maybe I can drift off and just not wake up, she thought miserably. Maybe it won’t be too awful.
She decided to try.
Summoning all her willpower, she forced herself back to her feet. She stumbled out from beneath the tree and toward the rock. It was sheer, too steep to climb, and by the time she reached it, she had gotten so wet that she hardly noticed the river she had to wade across.
She picked her way along the bank, one hand tracing the side of the rock, preparing to catch herself if she stumbled. She felt horribly weak. Each step felt as if she were defying the laws of physics just by going on.
And then she saw it.
A crack in the rock.
An entrance.
Terrified that it was a mirage, she hurried forward, arms out as if she meant to embrace the cave rather than enter it. She was stunned by the warmth, by the difference the lack of wind made, as she found her way inside.
It was dark as night in there. She couldn’t see more than a foot in front of her face. But it didn’t matter. She’d found her way to safety. Tears filled her eyes.
She didn’t know what would happen now, whether she would live or die, but her mind couldn’t take another moment. She felt herself drop to her knees as the darkness closed in around her, and the last thing she was aware of was the cave floor rushing up to meet her.
Chapter Six
RYKER
Ryker awoke the moment the stranger stumbled into his cave, but he held still, uncertain of what he was dealing with. Was she a bear?
There was definitely a smell of bear in the air. But he waited as she collapsed to the cave floor, breathing in slowly, cautiously, and his question was answered. She was definitely a wolf.
Which didn’t explain what she was doing there.
He thought about just dragging her back out into the storm. This was his cave, after all, not hers. She didn’t belong. He wasn’t about to start providing shelter to every hapless creature who passed him by.
But, fuck, she was skinny.
She’s going to die if I send her back out there, he realized.
He couldn’t do it.
With a sigh of exasperation at his own soft-heartedness, he grabbed the backpack she’d dropped on the cave floor and began to rummage through it. Most of what was inside was
useless to him. There were a few articles of women’s clothing—he didn’t need that—and a single water bottle. He held the bottle for a moment, contemplating taking it from her, but then he put it back. If she died, he would take it. But he wouldn’t be the one to take her last source of water away. That was too cruel.
There were also two pairs of men’s boxer shorts in the bag. They looked clean and unused. Ryker supposed she had been keeping them to use as extra clothes. Well, she had enough clothes, and he had none. He took the shorts and put one pair on, pleased to find that they fit him well.
He shoved everything else back into the bag and tossed it into the corner of the cave. Then he turned his attention to the girl herself.
She was shivering, and he could feel the heat coming off her skin. She had a fever. Her face and her hair were dirty—dirtier than his own—and he wondered whether she hadn’t yet figured out how to keep herself clean in the wild. She looked like someone who belonged indoors. She also was the sexiest looking female shifter he had ever seen. Her porcelain face had clearly not seen the ravages of the arctic lands.
What the hell is she doing here? he wondered.
He stripped off her clothes, while trying to ignore the growing pulsations in his cock. He ached to caress her skin and squeeze her supple breasts. It was not normal for a woman to drive his desires so hard, and it was taking all his strength not to mount her.
He used one of her cleaner shirts as a rag, pouring water from her bottle over it and using it to clean the dirt from her face and body. Then he dressed her in fresh clothes. He moved her to the back of the cave and went down to the river to refill her water bottle for her.
It was getting late, but the girl didn’t look like she’d eaten recently, and Ryker thought he’d probably better feed her. He checked a snare he’d set earlier in the day and discovered a squirrel. It was really only enough to feed himself, but he’d share. It was just one night, and maybe she’d want to fuck him. He supplemented his squirrel with a handful of berries from the bushes that grew beside the river. Popping a few berries in his mouth as he went, he made his way back to the cave and began to put together the beginnings of a fire.