In truth, the offer of the game was to also determine the layout of the nearby land. The maps I looked at prior to coming didn’t seem too far away from the main roads, but there are also a bunch of smaller roads that connect this place to it.
I walk the entire gravel driveway-slash-road until being met with another thin road, nothing apparent within the near-darkness on either side of me. It’s a mental gamble before heading right—in the direction of the setting sun.
As soon as it’s safe for him, I have no doubt Lucian will find me nearly instantly.
After another few minutes of walking where the wind—though calmer today—nips at my face, the trees split ahead.
A road.
My steps quicken to the T, looking up and down the cement road. Surely this was the one I was driving on before myaccident. Question is, which direction was I coming from, and which direction is my car in?f
As I turn around to run away and disappear before Lucian finds metooeasily, headlights blind me when an SUV slowly pulls to the side. A vehicle with a symbol on the side pulls up, the reflective word revealing the letters RCMP.
Federal police.This just got more complicated. Wandering the mountain in sub-zero weather on Christmas night isn’t exactly normal, and the police in charge of patrolling Jasper National Park and the surrounding area won’t let me walk away without some sort of questioning.
The window rolls down, an officer stretching across the console until I’m in view. His mustache moves like an entity on its own as he talks, lifting his toque to see me better.
“Miss? You’re quite a ways from town. Are you okay? Need a drive?”
“Just exploring the area.” I thumb behind me. “I have a cabin nearby. I’m good.”
Please don’t ask where. Lucian won’t like a human intruding on our place.
Since when did it become ‘our’ place?
Since when was it ‘humans’ and not ‘people’?
He glances over my shoulder to the skinny dirt road behind me, frowning. “Right. Would you like a drive back? It’s too cold out here, not to mention quite late. Never know what’s roaming the woods.”
Or who.The sun is barley a glow. In minutes, Lucian will come searching.
“It’s okay, I’m heading back now and happy to walk. It’s why I came out here after all. Night, Officer, and Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” Reluctance is heavy in his tone, so with a final wave, I turn to walk the way I came. After another moment, tires skid.
At the bottom of the slope, as the road straightens, a figure steps out from the shadows. Dark hair plastered by the few flakes that have begun floating down from the sky—a tribute to the night’s warmth in comparison to the past few day—makes his skin appear paler. Eyes as dark as the shadows glint red as his body shifts, one foot in front of the other.
The sunbarelyset. “You found me in, like, thirty seconds flat.”
A blur takes him from the tree to me, where he cups my face and brings me closer. His touch, normally ice cold, feels warm compared to the air. He’s able to be out here in the frosty temperatures; vampires are so lucky.
“Like I said, I’ll find you anywhere.” He inhales suddenly with a sharp hiss as his hands weigh down my face and red eyes scan the area. “You smell like another human. A male.”
Jesus…It’s one thing to pick out my soap and emotions, but it’s another to pick up on the cop who was close but never touched me.
“Local police are patrolling and offered me a drive to either town or the cabin. Told him I was fine and turned around. Just as he drove off, you appeared.”
As though he didn’t hear any of what I said, his brow furrows. Hands slide from my face before he clutches me harder and claims my mouth. After a long kiss heated enough to remove the surface chill from my body, he murmurs against my lips with a wondrous tone. “You could have left.”
But I chose to stay. Once again, idiot magnet over here with a death wish.
“I want to stay.” My hands covers his, my gloves between us. “I meant it when I said I trust you.” If I’m honest with myself, I more than trust him.
His smiling is bright, a bit of fang. “I have something you’ll enjoy, but if you’re too cold, we should return and warm you up first.”
Body parts are getting numb, which is a sign. “Is it far?”
“Not with me running.”
