Dire (The Dire Wolves Chronicles Book 1) Page 6

  “You okay?” Gage called up.

  “Wet, but fine.”

  “Wet again already?”

  “Shut up Gage!”

  He laughed. “Just keeping it light. I’m going to take a look at the truck again. I’m not giving up on Bessy quite yet.”

  If it weren’t for the tree line, it would have been impossible to tell where the road started. Everything was coated with heavy snow, and the snow drifts were crazy. But it wasn’t the snow that made everything seem so otherworldly, it was the silence. Aside from the sound of Gage struggling with the truck, I heard nothing. I took out my cell. No service. The emergency numbers still weren’t working either. I switched to roaming, but nothing. I tried my Wi Fi and texting just to be sure, but nothing for either.

  “No service.” I called down.

  “Wonderful.”

  “There’s absolutely no one up here.”

  “What did you expect? Traffic?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Want to start walking? We’ll have to hit a town eventually.”

  The snow was lighter on the road, but nothing about the walk would be easy. “But it’s going to be hours. It’s freezing out. We have no shelter and look at those clouds.” I pointed up even though I knew he probably wasn’t even looking.

  “It’s going to start snowing heavier again.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I’m going to mess with the engine.”

  “What should I do?”

  “For now, jump back down. I want to be able to see you.”

  “Worried I’m going to run off?”

  “Do I need to bring up the wolves again?”

  Just the mention of the wolves had me ready to leap. “I’m jumping!”

  “Hold on.”

  I waited until I saw him directly beneath me before jumping down. He easily caught me and set me on the ground.

  “Your face is all red.” He touched my nose with his gloved hand.

  “It is cold out.”

  “You can wait in the truck if you want. At least you’ll be out of the wind.”

  “That’s ok. I’ll wait with you.”

  I pride myself on having a substantial knowledge base, but I knew nothing about cars. I wasn’t going to be much help to Gage, but I stood by and watched.

  “Can you get in the driver’s side and try to start it?”

  “Sure.” I yanked open the door and got in. I tried to start the engine when he told me to. Nothing.

  I opened the door and got out. “What do we do?”

  “We have two options. One we stay here another night, two we start walking.”

  “You’re always supposed to stay with the car. That’s one of the first survival lessons.” I couldn’t remember where I’d seen or read it, but I was positive I had.

  “There’s no way anyone is going to be driving through here for days.” He crossed his arms. “Do you have anything else to eat? I doubt that candy is going to last us another twenty-four hours.”

  “No.” He had a point. “Maybe we should leave the car then.”

  “I don’t like the idea, but being cold is one thing, being cold and starving is another.”

  “Maybe we’ll get lucky and we’ll get service a little ways down the road.”

  “Maybe. Wait.”

  “What?”

  “I think I have something.” I walked back to the tailgate and pulled it open. I opened my suitcase and pulled out the wrapped present I’d picked up for my father.

  “Taffy?” Gage peered in to the box filled with pastel colored candies.

  “Yeah. From Ackenson’s. My dad loved the place when he was in college.”

  He wrinkled up his nose. “I hate those.”

  “Well, it’s better than nothing, right?”

  “Yes. I can’t believe you forgot you had these.”

  “Me either. I had no other ideas for a gift.”

  “Which kind do you think is best?”

  “I tend to go for anything in the red family. I just like those flavors better.”

  He reached for a blue one.

  “I just told you the red and pinks are the best.”

  He unwrapped his piece. “Exactly. I might as well save you the ones you like best.”

  I smiled. Despite everything, Gage was concerned that I got the kind of candy I wanted. Maybe things weren’t all that bad.

  I wasn’t thinking the same thing hours later when the last of the taffy was gone. We resorted to drinking some ancient bottles of Gatorade he found in the back of the truck to stay hydrated, and I was reminded of why I hated camping, having to pee in the woods.

  Despite the lack of food and restrooms, we decided to stay another night to wait out the storm. My prediction was right, another round of heavy snow greeted us during the afternoon. By the time the sun had set I’d decided that I didn’t need to see another flake of snow for the rest of my life.

  ***

  Getting into the sleeping bag with Gage the second night was a whole different experience. Our intimacy the night before had changed things, and we both knew exactly what was going to happen.

  “I’ve been waiting all day for this.” Gage ran his hand down my back.

  “To enjoy my body heat?”

  “To enjoy your body.”

  “Who said you get to enjoy my body?” I teased.

  “I did.” He left tiny kisses on my neck. “You can’t actually expect me to keep my hands to myself tonight.”

  “It’s not your hands I’m worried about.” I shifted to make room for the growing bulge currently pressed against me. He hadn’t bothered to leave his underwear on this time. Much to his chagrin, I had. I was still trying to convince myself that more sex wasn’t inevitable.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize you were worried about anything…”

  “Nope, being stranded in the middle of nowhere in near freezing weather doesn’t worry me.”

  “I can take your mind off that.” He unclasped my bra and slid it off me. So much for keeping some clothes on this time.

  “I guess I’m lucky you only have two condoms left. I can only imagine what would happen if you had a box.”

  “Don’t you mean you’re unlucky?” He ran his tongue over my nipple, breaking down any resistance I might have had.

  I closed my eyes, trying to pretend we weren’t in the middle of nowhere.

  A loud howl brought me back to earth, and I tried to pull away from him. “Stop!”

  “What?”

  “The wolf is back.”

  Another howl followed. Gage shifted beside me. “And he brought a friend.”

  “We have to leave tomorrow morning. Hopefully the snow finally stops.” The last howl had seemed even closer.

  “Agreed, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t distract ourselves tonight.”

  “Yes it does.” How was he being so carefree? There were wolves outside.

  “Why?” His hand cupped my breast.

  “Because they’re wolves. We don’t want to set them off.”

  “Set them off? What? Do you think they’ll smell us?”

  “Maybe. No reason to give them more.”

  “You actually think they’re going to smell my semen or something?”

  “Semen, sweat, and they will hear our noises. We’re not having sex.”

  He groaned. “Seriously?”

  “Yes.”

  The wolves howled again, and I grabbed hold of Gage. “I just want to go home.”

  “Me too, Mary Anne. Me too.”

  We barely slept that night. Between the howling wolves, and the reality that we were going to have to set off on foot the next day, we were both nervous. Hopefully the weather would clear up enough that someone would come by on the road.

  Gage brought my bag over so I could get dressed without getting out of the sleeping bag the next morning. Considering how cold the truck bed was, I definitely appreciated the thoughtfulness. I layered on some extra clothes. I knew it wasn’t goi
ng to get much warmer. There was no breakfast this time, and even our slushy Coke’s sounded good.

  “Not that we questioned it, but there were definitely wolves here.”

  Fresh paw prints littered the area around the truck.

  Gage bent down to look at the prints. “They must be some massive wolves, look at the size of those tracks.”

  I shivered. I really hoped they only came out at night.

  We filled Gage’s backpack with the essentials from our bags and locked the truck. For the hundredth time I was thankful he was with me—even if he was the reason we were in this mess to begin with. Left alone, I probably would have been huddled in the car crying.

  Gage helped push me up the embankment again before following me up. The snow had tapered off again, and the sky was clear, but the temperature was still below freezing, so the snow on the ground wasn’t going anywhere. It wasn’t quite as deep as it was around the truck, but it was still going to be tough to walk through.

  The hours passed painfully slow. My feet were frozen, and I was cursing myself for buying the cute boots instead of ones that were actually waterproof. My socks were soaked through, as were my jeans. I didn’t think I was entering frost bite territory yet, but I was afraid I was getting close. At least I’d found a hat and scarf to help with the wind. Gage stayed right next to me, and I realized he was trying to block the wind. I never imagined he’d be so protective.

  Finally he broke the silence. “Maybe we should have stayed with the truck.”

  My arm brushed against his as I tried to stay close. “We had no food.”

  “I’m packing a week’s worth of food next time I drive anywhere outside the city.”

  “A week? I might try a month.” My stomach growled loudly.

  He put an arm around me. “We’re going to get out of this all right.”

  “I know. And we’ll have an interesting story to tell.”

  “A great story if we include the sex.” He grinned.

  “Gage.” I blushed, although my face was probably already so red from the cold that he wouldn’t have noticed.

  “Sorry, couldn’t resist. That has been quite the highlight though.”

  “You are so sex obsessed. You’d probably be ready to go right here.” Joking about sex made the situation seem less intense.

  He laughed. “Believe it or not, I couldn’t. It’s too cold.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  It took us until late afternoon to go a few miles down the road. The snow was deep and cold, and with our hunger thrown in, we weren’t going very fast.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw something in the forest off in the distance. “Is that smoke?”

  Gage blinked. “Maybe?”

  “You are always supposed to stay on the road, but what if that’s our only chance for help?” I gestured toward the woods.

  “If it were just me I’d head that way in a heartbeat, but we have no idea who’s there. On the other hand, we may freeze to death out here.”

  “We stay together. That’s the biggest rule here.”

  “Of course.” He tightened his arm around my waist.

  I let out a deep breath before I took a step off the road and into the woods. “I really hope this isn’t a bad decision.” I was overcome by an ominous feeling, like there was no going back.

  “It may be nothing. Or it may be a cabin. We need shelter, we need a phone, and we need food.”

  “Please don’t let us get murdered.” All of the crazy horror movies my brother had forced me to watch ended that way.

  “I’ll try not to.” He squeezed my hand, and I realized just how much I appreciated his sense of humor. The situation was awful no matter how you looked at it, but at least Gage kept me from completely losing it.

  The snow was only slightly deeper in the woods, but it felt twice as difficult to walk through given the uneven ground. Every step we took away from the road felt monumental, and if Gage wasn’t holding my hand I might have turned back. I didn’t particularly enjoy being out in the cold, but walking into the wilderness toward a cabin or house, that may or may not be friendly, was something altogether different.

  “Did you hear something?” Gage asked about twenty minutes later.

  I strained to hear. “No, but I’ll try to listen more closely. I was too busy thinking about how my parents are probably flipping out right now.” My father was probably on the phone with the Dean and the Boston Police Department. When I’d forgotten to answer a call one night he’d contacted campus police. And that wasn’t during a massive blizzard.

  “I’d guess they are. They’re going to kill me.”

  “If they kill you it means we survived, so that’s a good thing.”

  He brushed his shoulder against mine. “Wow, you made another joke.”

  “Believe it or not I do know how.”

  “If you say so.”

  The sound of crunching snow had my heart racing a mile a minute.

  Gage’s hand tightened around mine. “Shh, stay quiet for a second.”

  I nodded, trying to stay calm.

  After a moment I leaned in close to whisper. “Do you think it’s a person?”

  “Maybe, but it could be an animal.”

  My thoughts went immediately to the giant wolf prints. I looked up at the sky. The sun was already on its way down. It would be dark soon.

  We stood there motionless, neither of us sure what to do next. The crunching had stopped right when we did. Someone was watching us.

  “Let’s head back to the road.”

  “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” We turned back around toward the road. I glanced over my shoulder as we continued our walk, but all I saw was endless mounds of white snow.

  Chapter Eight

  Gage

  Once again I’d made a bad decision. Following the smoke had seemed like a good option, but as we hightailed it back toward the road, I knew it wasn’t. Someone, or something, was watching us. I was positive of it. I tried to stay calm for Mary Anne’s sake, but I had no plan B. We were hours from the truck, and although the next town had to have been closer than that, we’d never make it by night fall. For the first time since we careened off the road I was scared. We were in trouble, and for once in my life I had no idea how to get myself out of it.

  The road was nearly in sight when I heard the crunching snow again. I spun around, pulling Mary Anne behind me.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” A man dressed in jeans and a dark green fleece glared at us. He had a thick coat of stubble on his face, and his eyes were slightly red like he hadn’t been sleeping.

  I looked him right in the eye. If this guy wasn’t friendly, I didn’t want him to think we were easy prey. “Hi, I’m sorry if we’re trespassing on your land or something. We were just looking for a phone.”

  “A phone?” He eyed me skeptically, as he tried to peek around me at Mary Anne.

  I continued to block her. “Yes. We’re trying to get someone to pull out our truck.” I didn’t want to tell this guy we were stranded, but whether he meant us harm or not, we were going to freeze to death if we didn’t find shelter soon.

  “Where’s your truck?” He gazed at the tree line. “No truck has come through here since the storm picked up.”

  “It’s a few hours walk from here. Do you happen to know how far the nearest town is?”

  “Do you talk?” He stepped closer, and I knew he was trying to get a glimpse of Mary Anne.

  She had her hood on, but it didn’t hide her face or size. There was no question she was a girl.

  She said nothing, and I had a feeling she was too frightened to talk.

  The man stepped closer. “Well, do you?”

  “Yes,” she said in a surprisingly confident voice.

  “Are you all right?” His posture changed from angry to concerned. Leave it to a female to melt a guy that easily.

  “Cold and hungry, but fine. We’d really appreciate it if we could use your phone.”r />
  “I don’t have a phone.”

  “Oh.” She looked at me to get my read. “Do you know where we could find one?”

  “You need to come with me.”

  “Excuse me?” No one was telling us what to do. I didn’t trust this mountain man.

  “The girl is freezing. She needs shelter.”

  The crunching of more snow announced the arrival of someone else. I tightened my hold on Mary Anne.

  “I see you found the intruders,” A male voice asked from behind us.

  “We’re not intruders. We’re stranded.” Mary Anne replied before I could say anything.

  “Hello there.” The man, who couldn’t have been over twenty-five or so, smiled revealing two rows of white teeth. He wore a short sleeve red t-shirt. He had to have been freezing. Like the first man, he was also in need of a shave. I probably was too.

  “Hi.” Mary Anne leaned into my side. I wished I could do something. The situation was going from bad to worse. This guy was looking at her like he hadn’t seen a girl in years. Maybe he hadn’t.

  “So we’re going to be going. I’m sorry we were on your land.” I tugged on Mary Anne’s arm.

  “Going?” The second guy asked. “Where would you be going? You already admitted you’re stranded.”

  “We’ll figure something out.”

  He shrugged. “If you’d like to stay out here, that’s fine.”

  “Okay, good.” I turned. Anything seemed better than being with these guys.

  “Wait. I said you could. I never said anything about the girl.” His eyes zeroed in on her.

  “She’s with me.” There was no way I was letting these guys touch her.

  “I’m afraid I can’t with a good conscious leave a girl out here in the cold. If you want to freeze to death, that’s your choice. She’ll be coming with us.”

  Mary Anne looked at me through petrified eyes.

  I pulled her closer. “She doesn’t go anywhere without me.”

  “It’s your choice. She’ll be well taken care of.”

  She shuddered.

  I’d gone from annoyed to angry, but I didn’t want to make things worse. I couldn’t take on both guys, and they were right. We’d freeze to death outside. It would all be okay if we remained together. “She stays with me.”