Chapter 7
Monte
I wasn’t expecting the cold to set in. In my rush to get away from campus I hadn’t thought to look at the weather first. I didn’t mind camping in the cold as long as I was in my wolf form, but my wolf was still agitated and angry that I’d left our mate behind.
I knew if I shifted now that he would just run back to her, so I stayed in my skin.
A snowstorm certainly hadn’t been on my radar, and I was not properly prepared to camp in this. My headspace was a mess. These were rookie mistakes. At this rate I wasn’t even sure it would be safe to go rock climbing in the morning.
I tried to check the weather on my phone app, but I didn’t have a signal. That wasn’t uncommon up here.
There was a lodge a few miles from me. I knew the guys well and often helped with rock climbing lessons when I was in town. They always kept a room available for me, so I decided to head there instead. Maybe a good night’s sleep would clear my head.
The roads were starting to get a little slushy on my way down, but I arrived safely.
I hated this kind of snow. It was barely cold enough for it, which made it a sludgy mixture of rain and snow.
I knew if the temps dropped overnight, the roads could become hazardous.
That wasn’t common here, but it could happen.
I pulled into the parking lot of Cedar Ridge Lodge. It was packed and when I walked inside, there were people all over the lobby.
I went straight to the front desk. Karla was working and looked frazzled. I couldn’t say I was surprised. Still, her face lit up when she saw me.
“Hey handsome. Didn’t know you were coming through tonight. You picked a helluva time.”
“I see that. Guessing no chance you have a room for me then.”
She rolled her eyes. “As if we’d ever turn you out. It’s in the staff quarters.”
I shrugged. “Stayed there before.”
“Oh I remember. Caused quite the stir around here.”
I chuckled. I wasn’t into human women, but that hadn’t stopped them from trying. At this point they all just assume I’m gay because why else would I have turned down half a dozen horny women?
A memory of Zoey’s scent hit me like a ton of bricks.
Mine, my wolf growled in my head.
I scowled. Was this going to be a problem no matter the distance between us?
My inner wolf was suddenly excited. I could imagine him wagging his tail and jumping with joy.
What had changed?
Karla’s hand reached across the counter to hold mine. In reality, she was passing me a keycard. Then she winked at me.
“It’ll start a riot in here if someone knows you just got a room, handsome.”
I chuckled. “We certainly wouldn’t want that.”
“Staff Room 3. Hey, that’s right next to mine.”
She gave me a sultry look that I completely ignored.
“Thanks a lot for this, Karla.”
Her bottom lip jutted out in a perfect pout.
“Hey, if the weather clears in the morning, there’s a first timer scheduled at one. It’s a high-profile client. Bucky didn’t come in tonight, I’m sure he’d be happy to pass it off to you if you’re interested.”
“Yeah, sure. I don’t mind pitching in. Thanks again for . . .” I started to hold up the keycard but thought better of it.
“Anytime.”
As she addressed the next customer in line, I almost felt guilty when I heard her turn them out.
People were piling up all over the lobby just looking for a warm place to lay their head. It would appear I wasn’t the only one caught off guard by this storm. That at least made me feel a little better.
As I rounded the corner, my skin started to itch and feel too tight on my body. That was always a sign that I needed to shift, or that my wolf was trying to control me.
Mate, he growled.
I knew he wasn’t happy about leaving her behind, but I needed space to think straight.
Thinking about Zoey had me distracted once more as a hard shoulder knocked into me.
“Watch where you’re going,” a gruff voice said.
I looked up to see a stern face glaring back at me before he turned back to the woman with him.
“Get your hands off of me,” she screamed.
My whole body froze and then shook all over.
I know that voice.
I heard the slap before I whipped around to see for myself.
Zoey.
“Bitch,” the man yelled as he raised his hand.
Without even thinking, I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.
“You think hitting a woman makes you a man?” I whispered in a lethal voice.
“Bitch had it coming. She slapped me.”
“And what did you do to make her do that?”
“I just offered her a bed. I’m the good guy.”
“A bed for sex. I am not that kind of girl.”
A low guttural growl rippled through me.
“You lay one finger on her and you will die. I’ll kill you myself.”
I pushed him away a little harder than I intended. He hit the wall face-first and started cursing, but I no longer cared.
“Are you okay?” I barked out in the same lethal voice.
She bit her lower lip and nodded.
I wrapped a possessive arm around her and practically dragged her down the hall all the way to Room 3. She gave no resistance, didn’t even argue. When I opened the door though, she gasped.
“Shit. I guess I’m no better than that asshole.”
“What? No. Don’t say that. I’m just surprised you have a room. They are booked out for the night. I have one for tomorrow night, but they were already full when I got here. There’s some event in town, plus the storm. Everything’s a mess.”
I waited until we were inside the room before speaking.
“What the hell are you doing here, Zoey?”
She cringed.
I continued before she could answer. “Last I saw you were heading back into the party. As Queen Bee of Theta, I can’t believe you’d just skip out like that.”
“Pretty sure that was your fault.”
“You snuck out of my bedroom window.”
“And into mine where I packed and ran like a dog with her tail between her legs,” she surprised me by confessing. “And what? You just got in the car and followed me?”
“I wasn’t following you. I was getting far away from you.”
The hurt on her face before she masked it felt like a knife puncturing my heart.
“What are you even doing here, Zoey?”
“I did go back to the party,” she confessed. “And I made amends and then decided it would be best to get away from campus.”
“You mean away from me?”
“A lot of good that did. I was already scheduled to come up in the morning. I just left super early.”
“In a snowstorm?”
I smirked at her, starting to feel a little more relaxed by her surprised appearance. Plus, the more we talked, the less chance of me tracking that guy down and ending his life for even talking to her. I needed the distraction of her witty banter.
I needed her.
The thought had come so quickly that I nearly choked on my own spit as I started to cough.
She stood there scowling at me. “I don’t know how to do the Heimlich, so keep that in mind if you’re going to mock me.”
I went to the sink, cupped my hand, and drank up some water from the faucet.
“I wasn’t mocking you. I would never do that.”
“Oh. Are you okay then?”
“I’m fine,” I snapped.
I wasn’t fine. I was far from fine.
“What the hell are you doing in the mountains, anyways?”
She cringed this time.
“I don’t know how much you know about me, but I have this little social media account where people send me stuff and I unbox it live and then record myself actually using it and give a review.”
I snorted. “Having 4.3 million followers is not a ‘little’ account.”
She blushed furiously. “It’s not a big deal.”
Hadn’t I thought the same before? Yet I found myself defending her to herself.
“Don’t say that. It is a big deal. Maybe not my favorite, but I guess I can see the appeal. I’m sure you work very hard for that, and it shows by how successful you are.”
“You’ve watched my videos?”
“Full confession. I just found out who you are today. I had no idea.”
She frowned. “Before or after we met?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does to me.”
“It was before. This morning, actually. But only because you got that rock climbing gear, so it popped up on my feed, and the guys had to explain who you are and all that. I was pretty irritated by it.”
“Irritated? Why? It was just an unboxing video.”
“Of some high dollar, top of the line equipment that would have been much better served going to someone who actually knows how to use it.”
She wanted to argue. I could see it on her face. But then something changed and she sighed.
“That’s why I’m here. You know? To learn. When you showed up and everything happened, I had to get away from campus sooner. It was stupid, I know. But I’m here to actually learn how to use it properly and give it a true review. I don’t just get free stuff and show off.”
“That wasn’t what I was saying. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I can’t help it that this company chose to send it to me instead of an actual rock climbing influencer.
That’s not my fault. I don’t solicit things.
In fact, I started off just by unboxing and reviewing things I personally bought.
The rest just sort of happened. I didn’t ask for it.
But I’m not going to half-ass a review either.
I may not know much about rock climbing now, but by the end of tomorrow I’ll know enough.
I’m already scheduled for lessons starting at one. ”
“One tomorrow afternoon?”
“Yes. Why?”
“No reason.”
Damn. Zoey was Bucky’s high-profile client Karla asked me to take? I was struggling to wrap my mind around it. I knew she was a big deal online, but I was still struggling to reconcile that Zoey with my Zoey.
My Zoey? When the hell did she become my Zoey?