Chapter 14 Junie
Junie
Iturn around in my chair to see Silas looking at Fran, so I turn back, getting ready to say something, but she nods once and stands. I try to get her attention, but she moves too quickly.
“What the fuck, Silas?” I slap his chest when he takes Fran’s spot.
He seems oblivious to my anger, or at least, he doesn’t seem to care.
“What?” he asks, picking up a piece of toast from Fran’s plate to stick in his mouth.
“You’re such a fucking asshole.”
“Tell me how you really feel about me,” he muses, enjoying this little game we seem to be playing.
“Are you going to be this insufferable on our hike?”
He shrugs.
“And…” I poke him in the chest. “When were you going to tell me your entire pack can smell you on me? How do I get it off?”
Silas growls, low and steady. “You don’t.”
“But—”
“No.”
Silas stands, not waiting for me to say anything more on the subject. He wasn’t kidding when he told me werewolves were extremely possessive. At least I’m not near his pack a lot, so I don’t have to endure their stares for a prolonged amount of time.
“Let’s go.” Silas is out the door before I have the chance to stand, and I groan, hoping he won’t be like this the entire time we are on our hike. Last night, I thought we had a mini-breakthrough. Even this morning, he was different. It was like everything shifted when he saw Jake.
“Good luck, dear.” Mauve waves as I walk out. I thank her for the food and for the luck, knowing I’ll need it.
When I leave the cabin, I think I’ll see Silas standing at the bottom of the steps, ready for our walk. The quad in front of him was unexpected.
He watches as I walk to him.
“If I didn’t know any better, Silas, I’d think you’re looking for ways to get closer to me.”
“I wouldn’t need an excuse.”
“Why do you sound so certain about that?” I ask, gripping the hand he offers to help me on top of the quad behind him. My hands wrap around his waist, already thankful for the gloves this time.
“Because.” He turns his head around to his best ability. I have a feeling he wants to see me when he mutters these next words. “I could have pulled you into a side room at Mauve’s and felt how wet you were for me, even if you are telling yourself you’re furious with me.”
It’s my turn to grumble toward him. “You don’t know that.”
He shrugs and taps his nose.
“You’re the worst.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, brat.”
He presses the throttle with his thumb, chuckling to himself as he takes off to who knows where. We ride for a few minutes, and I’m grateful the wind isn’t as strong as the last time I was on here. Whereas that time I could barely lift my head from his back, this time I’m able to look around.
I must have rarely looked out the window while stuck in the cabin because I don’t remember there being this much snow.
“Why is there so much snow?” I ask but immediately add on to my question because I have a feeling he’d take it too literally. “More than yesterday.”
“There was another avalanche early this morning.” Silas twists his head back to tell me.
“What? Where? Is anyone hurt?”
He nods, but that doesn’t answer all my questions. Asking him for details while we are in the middle of driving might not be the best because it’s hard to hear, so I’m grateful when he stops a few moments later.
He kills the engine. Up here, it’s so quiet and peaceful. From what I can see, there are endless miles of trees covered in pure white snow, untouched by any creature. The mountain is bright, the snow reflecting the sun’s light, and I find myself wishing I had my sunglasses.
“One person got hurt.” Silas palms the back of his neck. “Kyrian was in the path of the avalanche this morning.”
“What? Is he okay?”
He nods. “Let’s get off this. I have something to show you, and I can tell you more.”
I let Silas help me down, not wanting to repeat what happened the first time I tried to get off by myself. Although I don’t think he’d let me fall this time.
I try not to notice how he doesn’t reach for my hand, grabbing my waist instead, once he gets off the quad, but I remind myself that what happened last night changes nothing.
Why is my brain fighting with me? Clearly, this isn’t anything more than what we talked about.
It’s just two adults exploring each other for a limited amount of time until I’m able to retrieve my car and go home.
Go home.
Why does my heart break into a million pieces just thinking about driving down the mountain back into Starview? I seriously need some time baking or something. Anything to get my mind off of Silas.
Silas stops a few paces in front of me at the edge of the cliff, and I stand next to him.
“Is this safe?” I ask, my chest tight from how far down one could fall if the snow were to fall under us.
Silas nods, and it helps a little, but I don’t think the weight will dissipate until we are back in the cabin, or at least back on the quad. “This is my favorite place to think.”
“Do you bring all the ladies here?” I smile, teasing him. Except when I look his way, he doesn’t seem amused.
“Junie. I wasn’t lying last night. This isn’t normal for me.”
“Taking a rescue for a tour?” I ask, needing to cover all my emotions with humor.
Silas clearly sees right through me because his stare is intense as he regards me.
His gaze travels across the features on my face.
If he’s trying to read me, good luck to him.
Even though I’m an open book, I know when there are things I need to keep close to my chest. And how I feel about him? Yeah, he’s not getting that from me.
He doesn’t need to know that I’ve somehow developed a tiny crush on him within the past forty-eight hours.
He doesn’t need to know that I’m thinking about ways to see him again when I go back to Starview.
It would only complicate everything.
I also know he’d reject me. It’s clear on his face as he looks at me that this isn’t what he wants. He’s an Alpha of the soon-to-be north pack. He doesn’t need to be tied to a fucking human. And I don’t need him to sugarcoat anything or tell me things I already need to know.
“Junie. You know what I mean.”
I ignore his statement, not needing him to think I care. Plus, I need to know Kyrian is okay. “Tell me about Kyrian. What happened?”
Silas inhales, then turns to face the outlook. It doesn’t escape me that I see his shoulders sink as he exhales, as if he’s expelling all the added stress from the day just from being here in this view.
“The story to explain the why behind what I’m about to say is too long, but essentially, there was an ambush. Again. Normally, we have scouts that are able to predict when a certain group of rogue wolves is advancing on our territory, but we were caught off guard.”
“Is Kyrian a scout?”
Silas nods. “He’s one of the leaders of the team that regularly scouts the west side of the mountain. Kyrian also aids Fran with negotiations from time to time. We never predicted that the rogue groups could have help from witches.”
“What? They worked together?”
“We aren’t sure. That’s what…” Silas takes a deep breath before continuing. “That’s what I was arguing with Jake about this morning. He is leaning toward it not being a partnership and that it’s possible the wolves had a potion or something from a witch.”
I nod, knowing the power of what a potion could do, especially if you’re close to your target. It’s handy to have a witch as a best friend.
“Anyway, I think he’s right. Fran is going to double-check with the witches she can reach, but I don’t think a witch could have gotten through the snow. The spell made Kyrian immobile. They triggered a small patch of snow to fall down, cracking one of the larger pieces toward the top.”
“They planned it,” I guess, and Silas nods.
“Kyrian is lucky he was able to communicate with the rest of his group before the snow covered him. They found him and got him out. Wolves can resist a lot of the cold temperatures, but he was helpless against whatever was used against him. He’s in a coma as his body comes back to itself.”
“You don’t have anything to help with that, I’m guessing?”
“No, there’s no special salve for this. We need a witch.”
“It sounds like you should have a witch on staff, Silas.”
He sticks his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels, chuckling. “You might be right about that, Junie.”
We are silent for the next few minutes. The wind blows through the surrounding trees. It’s so peaceful out here. I could stay for hours if I weren’t starting to freeze from the falling temperatures.
When I turn to tell Silas just that, he presses a finger over his mouth, silencing me. The way his eyes flit from me to the surrounding forest is enough to tell me he senses danger.
“When I tell you to run, you run.”
“Silas, what—”
“Junie. You run. Do you hear me?”
He grips my shoulders, searching my eyes. I don’t know what he saw, but it has to be something to instill this kind of fear in his tone. When I nod, he hands me the keys to the quad.
“You take the quad and drive south until you see smoke from the camp. Turn toward it and keep going.”
“Silas, I don’t know how to drive a fucking quad. I could crash. I—”
“You have—you can do this.” His hand cups my cheek. “Okay?”
I nod again, and he turns back to the forest, moving to stand in front of me. I try to look where his gaze goes, but I don’t see anything. There’s normal movement from the wind and snow falling naturally from higher leaves, but that’s it. I swear, minutes pass as we stay silent, with bated breath.
Silas reaches back for me with his gaze remaining forward, and I grab his hand. He squeezes once, then whispers, “Run.”
I do as he says, knowing it’s not the time to stand up for myself. There’s no way I’d be able to help anyway. I would only distract Silas and get in his way.
As soon as I reach the quad, I put the key in the ignition and turn it. It doesn’t start. Fuck. I told him I don’t know how to work this stupid quad.