Chapter Thirteen
Posy
The sun disappeared behind the looming peak, and the temperature dropped rapidly.
When I left, it had been warm, which was why shorts and a tank top sounded like such a good idea.
And it would have been if I’d made it back as planned.
I still didn’t know how I lost the trail.
It made me feel so foolish, too. It wasn’t as if we were in the wilderness.
It was a park. A national park. And in my mind, a park was a tame place.
Certainly the trail we took earlier traveled through a section nobody could get lost in.
There were people in their eighties walking along it.
I slipped the pack straps off my shoulders and unzipped the main pouch, seeking my hoodie.
It wasn’t going to do much, but it was better than nothing.
Maybe. At least my shoulders and arms would be covered.
I’d made so many mistakes. Shivering, I tried to think what to do next.
At home, I’d been all over the lands, day and night, in all seasons.
But they were tame by comparison. I knew every inch of those woods.
And I’d been overconfident. This was no acreage patrolled by wolf shifters. Oh, there might be some around here somewhere, but I hadn’t run across a wolf of any kind so far. Thank goodness. Which type would be scarier?
I couldn’t say for sure.
Panic simmered as I stumbled through a stand of low bushes, my legs stinging from the sharp thorns and my head throbbing with the start of a headache.
Nearly running, I tripped over a root and fell, further insulting my knees with the kind of injury that used to rip the knees out of my jeans when I was young.
I could feel the trickle of blood without looking down.
Rustling in nearby bushes and trees, the howl of a coyote, the snap of a twig—all of it had me terrified and running without any idea what I was running toward. The second time I fell, I didn’t have the energy to run anymore.
Perhaps I had not been smart in getting into this situation, but how often had I seen situations arise in videos where my favorite videographers got themselves into messes either through their own fault like me or due to some circumstance they hadn’t been able to control?
Thousands of times. And that included the bears who even now would likely be wondering where I had gone off to.
Sitting on the cold ground, I tried to think if any of them had done anything this dumb or reckless.
I came up with nothing as foolish, but there had been that episode where the bears got lost after an avalanche took out the trail both ahead and behind them.
Cold and exhausted, they finally settled down to create a nest where they could keep warm while waiting for daylight to return and help them find a way out.
Trying not to remember they had also registered with the rangers before attempting the difficult climb and therefore could expect someone to come find them.
It was getting colder by the moment, and unlike the bears, I did not have two friends to share body heat with.
That said, I’d spent nights out in the forest before and, while it was not as chilly, the lands had provided just what the other cubs—as I’d considered myself to be back then—and I needed for a fun campout.
It had been a while, but I had little choice but to try. Remaining where I was guaranteed hypothermia. So, I pushed to my feet, wincing at the pain in my legs, and looked around for a place to settle in for the night.
The bears had been adamant that when lost, one shouldn’t wander around aimlessly and make it harder for searchers to locate them. So, either morning light would show me the way, or hopefully someone would find me, but either way, the correct action was to make that nest.
But the forest in this area didn’t seem to offer a good spot to work with. The only bushes were of the spiky variety, and the trees stood tall and aloof with all branches high above my head.
In the shadow of a boulder, I dug out a hollow with my bare hands and the handle of my hairbrush until it broke, which took a while but also served to warm me up.
I scooped up handfuls of leaves and pine needles and piled them inside.
Then I crawled in and burrowed down, semi-confident I would survive the night without too much damage to my limbs.
Regret colored what might have otherwise been a fun adventure.
With adequate water and plenty of snacks, things were looking up for my night.
Except for what I’d done to the guys. Whether they wanted me as their mate or not, they’d been so generous with their time and everything, and I should have left a note.
Both out of consideration and, I realized now, for safety.
In the morning, I would reassess the situation and either start back or remain here hoping to be found. Either way, I owed three bears and possibly a whole rescue team an apology. Maybe the pack was right about me.