We asked everyone, but it wasn’t until the diner that the waitress from that morning told us what happened. Or some of it. “Saw her earlier. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she’d changed, but she was headed up Thompson’s Peak. Backpack on. Hat. Determined look on her face.”
“Thank you,” I said, and we left, even more confused, but at least we had a direction now.
There was no time to ask questions. We needed a plan. Thompson’s Peak was no joke for anyone. It would take some planning even for us to hike there.
What was she doing? Trying to leave us behind? Prove something?
Either way, we had to go after her.
Aldrin cleared his throat. “Okay. Back to camp. Get all the supplies. We don’t know how long we’ll be out there. Judah, get some first aid just in case. Saber, water and food. I’ll grab ropes and other supplies. We leave in ten minutes.”
It didn’t take much to get ready. We kept those supplies with us at all times, no matter what.
But the longer we took getting to her, the more time she might be stranded or lost or hurt, and that rushed our movements.
In bear form, this whole thing would’ve been so much easier, but while there were bears in almost every national forest, we didn’t need to flaunt it.
Or be discovered by humans.
Or scare our human.
She’d been around shifters, but wolves. Not anything compared to a bear.
“We have about two hours until sunset. Let’s move our asses.”
We started the path up the mountain. It was marked with a big sign, and unless Posy was determined to fail, she would’ve started right there. This was nowhere near the hike we’d brought her on that morning. This was rocky terrain. Steep steps. There were snakes and all kinds of other things, not to mention, human males. Sometimes, they were the most fearsome creature of all to a female on her own.
“She doesn’t have poles,” Judah grumped, hopping down from a boulder. He was the nimblest of us. We each had our talents.
“That’s the least of her worries. The sun is setting. It might be warm now, but it won’t be for long. I don’t know if she has a sleeping bag or food. Our mate is out there…”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find her, Aldrin. Her scent is here. She’s not far. Believe it.”
I didn’t know if I was speaking more to him or myself.
Hold on, Posy.
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 withoutany 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.
