Chapter 5 – Carla
CARLA
My skin burns.
Every nerve ending is on fire.
The pre-heat symptoms are getting worse by the hour, and Billy’s presence only intensifies them. His scent fills the backseat of the SUV, wrapping around me, filling up my lungs and triggering reactions I can’t control.
But freedom. God, I’m free. At least, for now.
I press my forehead against the cool window glass, watching the unfamiliar forest rush past. Three weeks in that basement, and now sky, trees, and movement.
It’s overwhelming. I should be giddy with relief, but all I can focus on is the fever burning through my veins, and the man sitting too close beside me.
My mate.
Who has no idea what he is to me.
“How long till we get to Grey Ridge territory?” Billy asks Beau, his deep voice sending an involuntary shiver down my spine. His fingers stroke mine as he leans forward to speak to his brother and he may as well be stroking my clit the way my body is reacting to him.
“About forty miles,” Beau replies, eyes flicking to me in the rearview mirror. “But there’s a problem.”
My heart stutters. He knows.
Clearing his throat, Beau tips his head toward the weather outside and frowns. Maybe he doesn’t know. “Storm’s moving in fast.”
I follow his gaze to the sky ahead. Dark clouds gather on the horizon, heavy and ominous.
Fantastic. Just what we need.
“Weather service is calling for severe conditions by evening,” Beau continues, shifting in his seat, his eyes returning to me in the mirror, expression grave.
Oh, he knows. And he knows just how bad this is.
“Will we make it before it hits?” Billy sounds tense, but I don’t think he’s realised the full extent of the issue like his brother has. His hand wraps around mine as I start to panic. He thinks I’m afraid of the storm, but that’s the least of my worries.
Beau shakes his head. “Doubtful. Already seeing the first bands moving in. Roads will be shit within the hour.”
“It’s okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Billy’s words calm my trembling body, but there’s no getting away from what’s about to happen to me.
I bite back a groan. The idea of being trapped in this vehicle with Billy as my heat symptoms worsen is a special kind of torture. Already, I can feel sweat beading along my hairline, my clothes sticking uncomfortably to my skin.
“I can’t be out here,” I state matter-of-factly, and Beau nods, understanding the gravity of the situation immediately.
“Options?” Billy asks.
“There’s a motel off Route 16,” Beau says. “Small, out of the way. We could hole up there until it passes.”
He means more than just the storm.
I close my eyes, imagining being confined in a small motel room while a storm rages outside. With Billy. While I’m in heat. It’s like the universe is determined to torture me.
“Carla?” Billy’s voice is closer now. “Are you okay with that plan?”
I open my eyes to find him watching me with concern. For a moment, I’m caught in his gaze, drowning in dark eyes that see too much.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” I manage, once again, looking to Beau who nods, expression grim.
Billy frowns, looking between me and Beau, and for a second, his eyes brighten, lighting up from within, as his bear senses something going on.
He’s clearly not buying my forced casualness.
Sliding along the back seat, bringing his huge body closer to mine, his hand lifts, hovering near my face, and for a wild second, I think he’s going to touch me.
I hold my breath, torn between wanting to jerk away but also wanting to lean into his palm.
But he drops his hand back to grab a blanket off the back of the seat and drapes it around me instead, and I exhale, my breathing laboured.
“You’re shaking. Here.”
“There’s water behind you,” Beau says, eyeing me in the mirror again. “The AC’s up if you’re too warm.”
Too warm. Understatement of the century. I’m burning alive from the inside out.
I take the blanket anyway, wrapping it around myself like armor. Maybe if I don’t look at Billy, don’t breathe in his scent, the symptoms will ease. Maybe I can get through this without humiliating myself by begging my mate to touch me.
Billy shifts beside me, resting an arm protectively along the headrest.
Has he figured it out? Does he know what’s happening to me? Bears go into heat every mating season regardless, but wolves only go into heat when they meet their mates. If he knows that, it won’t take a genius to connect the dots.
The thought sends a spike of panic through me. He saved me because it was “the right thing to do,” not because he wants me. Probably thinks I’m nothing but a problem to solve, a good deed to cross off his list.
Bears choose their mates. Why would he want me when I look like a mess and stink to high heaven?
I close my eyes again, focusing on my breathing. In, out. Slow and steady.
Don’t think about the man next to you. Don’t think about his hands, his mouth, the way he would feel pressed against you, inside you...
Fuck. This is bad.
“How long have you been feeling sick?” Billy asks quietly.
I keep my eyes closed, pretending I don’t hear the concern in his voice. “I’m not sick.”
“Carla.”
The way he says my name, soft but insistent, makes my wolf whine with need.
Damn bear senses. I crack open one eye to glare at him. “I’m fine. Just tired. I need a long shower and a good sleep.”
He studies me for a moment longer, then nods, though I can tell he doesn’t believe me. “Try to rest.”
Rest. Right. Like I could sleep with my body humming like a live wire, and my wolf clawing at me from within, desperate to get closer to her mate.
But I try anyway, turning to face the window, curling into myself beneath the blanket.
If I can just make it to Grey Ridge before it hits me full force, and I climb this man like a tree.
If I can just get home, I can lock myself away until this passes.
Deal with it alone, like I’ve dealt with everything else in my life.
Leila has drugs to help with the symptoms. She’ll make it better.
The miles pass in tense silence. Outside, the first raindrops fall, fat and heavy against the windscreen, quickly coming so fast, the wipers can barely keep up. The temperature drops as the storm closes in, but I barely notice, lost in the heat of my own personal hell.