Chapter Eighteen #2
Rowena had also shifted, her midnight coat making her almost invisible against the deep indigo sky.
Her wolfish head was craned over her shoulder, watching me to make sure I had no issues with my transformation.
Once I was ready to go, I nodded my head.
Rowena returned the nod, then turned and took off at a hard canter.
She likes taking the lead , I noted, my thoughts salaciously shifting back to her dominance in bed the night before.
We kept an even pace for a while, weaving between the dark silhouettes of trees.
As we traveled, fallen leaves softened the beats of our paws, and the deep blue of the night sky shifted a few shades lighter.
I could almost make out the fiery colors of the maple trees.
Sunrise was imminent, and I couldn’t wait to see it – the explosion of bright yellow light over the horizon, tossing shades of orange and red into the rapidly softening sky.
It was one of the few joys that came with rising so early for work. I would often pause my baking to watch the first bits of sun burst through the trees, shortly before the café’s opening time.
It made waking up ridiculously early far more tolerable. I still wasn’t a morning person, but the world truly was a beautiful place in those silent, peaceful hours, when everyone else was still asleep.
Rowena shifted from a comfortable canter to a hard gallop, and I adjusted my gait to match her speed. I assumed we were getting close to our destination, although it was hard to tell. I wasn’t familiar with this area, and one patch of autumn-tinged forest looked much like any other.
Then it stopped. We broke through the forest, trees disappearing around us, and crossed a narrow, gravelly road.
A road. For cars.
Human cars.
Where on Earth are you taking us, Rowena?
Then we rounded a corner, and I saw it. Though it was still dark, the sky a stubbornly dim shade of cerulean, its rectangular shape and clay-brown coloring made it stand out from the rest of the scenery.
It was a sign. It read: ACADIA NATIONAL PARK.
Whoa . My wolfish eyes widened, my heart hammering excitedly in my chest. I read about this place in books.
National parks were sanctuaries – areas designated by humans to have their natural features forever preserved.
They were havens for wildlife, and werewolf packs considered them to be neutral zones.
Which made Acadia a beautiful, untouched wilderness perfect for us to wander, hunt, and nap in solace.
We continued at a sprinting pace, following the winding swirls of the human road while remaining tucked against the foliage so we wouldn’t be seen.
The terrain took on a steep but steady incline, and as we continued running up the trail, I realized the trees were getting sparser and shorter, the fiery deciduous species becoming scarce among the evergreen pines.
Then there was a clearing; a break in the trees that allowed me to see the world beyond the forest. And once I saw just how much of it was spread out beneath us, I realized we were climbing up a mountain.
A thick layer of foliage was rolled out below us like a carpet, the trees getting smaller and smaller until they looked like dollhouse miniatures along the coast. From there, the ocean lolled across the horizon, wide and vast and endlessly blue.
Small coniferous islands dotted the foggy landscape, and I wondered how far away my own home was.
If from here, Hollenboro would be nothing but a tiny dot, a single speck of dirt on a sprawling canvas.
Or if I’d even be able to see it at all.
The sky was getting lighter. We didn’t have much time until sunrise.
Rowena was antsy, paws tapping the rocky ground as she waited for me to finish admiring the view. I finally pulled myself away and galloped after her, knowing an even more impressive sight awaited us at the top of the mountain.
The rest of the journey was steep and winding, and despite her almost-healed injury, Rowena was insistent on running through it as fast as possible.
My paws stomped the ground like a racehorse, my strides lengthening and hastening as we climbed; higher and higher, faster and faster.
My lungs heaved, my legs ached, and I could feel the adrenaline pulsing through my body with every thumping heartbeat.
But the exertion only pushed me to run quicker.
In my wolf form, I never felt more alive than when I was exercising.
The blood pumping in my veins and the fresh mountain air filling my lungs was what we werewolves lived for. It was a part of us.
Then, Rowena stopped. I slid to a halt behind her, my furry chest expanding and contracting as I caught my breath.
The foliage had almost completely fallen away, and the ground beneath our paws was hard, smooth, weather-worn rock.
The steep incline plateaued, and the lack of trees gave us a stunning, panoramic view.
We’d reached the top of the mountain.
Rowena resumed moving at a jog, and I followed her until we came to a secluded area beneath a cluster of short pine trees. She shifted, slipping out of her wolf form and back into her human skin, and took a seat on the hard stone.
She sat cross-legged, her black leggings tight against her calves as she smoothed down the bottom of her plum-purple dress.
I shifted out of my wolf form and settled in next to her, stretching my legs so that the tips of my boots nearly touched the horizon.
Our hips and thighs were pressed snugly against each other, and Rowena wrapped her arm around the back of my shoulders.
I happily cuddled into her side, my head tucked beneath her chin.
“Isn’t this incredible?” Rowena asked, her fingers gently weaving through my long red hair.
“It is,” I replied in awe. “I’ve never been to the top of a mountain before. This is incredible. I had no idea the rest of the world looked so small from so high up.”
Rowena chuckled. “You’re so cute.”
I blushed, snuggling deeper into Rowena’s embrace. “Where are we anyway?”
“Cadillac Mountain, in Acadia National Park. Fifteen hundred feet up. It’s the tallest mountain on the Atlantic coast that borders the sea.”
“The Atlantic coast?”
“Yes. Maine is the northernmost state in the eastern half of the country. But there are forty-nine other states that make up the USA, many of which are a lot bigger than Maine.”
“Wow. The world truly is massive,” I sighed.
“On top of that, the United States is just one country. There are almost two hundred others, all crammed together on this gigantic planet. The world is so incredibly diverse and beautiful, even if we don’t always get along.”
“Wow. I remember–” I shifted my legs, tucking them beneath my body, “–when I first left Hollenboro, and saw a map of Maine in a classroom on a human island. Then I saw how tiny Hollenboro was, and I was shocked. Then I learned how tiny Maine was, in the grand scheme of the world, and I couldn’t believe it.
My whole life… just a single drop of water in the entire ocean. ”
“Speaking of Hollenboro…” Rowena interjected, still stroking my red hair. “I can tell you wanted to leave so you could see the rest of the world. But when you talk about fate… it makes it seem like there was another reason you fled. Was there?”
A deep unease settled in my gut as I sat upright. There was another reason, and I’d been shoving it out of my mind for weeks, refusing to dwell on it. As if not thinking about it would make it cease to exist.
“Yes,” I sighed. “I’d been sneaking away to human-populated islands for years, learning more about the outside world, and I’d always planned to slip away at some point. But there was an incident that made it much more urgent.”
“What was that?”
“Well, you know how werewolves are very traditional, placing family above all else? We settle down young, with mates our parents pick for us. And my father, at breakfast that day, told me he had chosen a young male for my bonding ceremony. He planned to announce the betrothal to all of Hollenboro that night.”
“Oh goddess. Did you not like him?”
“No, actually. I did. I’d been with him before, in– uh, never mind. His name is Cecil, and he’s the son of one of my father’s best friends. I wasn’t in love with him or anything, but we got along well, and my father was right – it was a good match.”
“But you weren’t ready, were you?”
“It’s not quite that,” I shifted awkwardly, worrying I was making Rowena think I was afraid of commitment.
“It was just… the more I thought about it, the more I realized how my life wasn’t really my own.
I’d spent my entire childhood and teenage years taking care of my sisters, and now that I was an adult, and they were finally old enough to not need my help…
I was going to be bonded to a mate. I’d be expected to produce children right away, as with all werewolves, and I realized I’d be forever stuck on Hollenboro, tending to my mate and family but having no life of my own. ”
My throat locked up, a sign that tears were imminent.
I swallowed hard, forcing them down, willing my eyes to remain dry.
“I wasn’t going to abandon Hollenboro forever.
I just needed some time to myself, to be independent, to see the world on my own terms before I settled down.
But of course, you saw what a disaster I was. I didn’t even know money existed.”
Rowena chuckled. “Yeah. It was kind of funny.”
I nuzzled my face closer to Rowena’s, my nose brushing against her cheek, and she kissed the top of my head.