The dirt road comes to an abrupt end, with a massive boulder blocking the way. It’s hand-painted, a little primitive, with a depiction of the lake below, wolves, bears, and hawks surrounded by trees.
The painting has been here for decades, and someone—I don’t even know who, but I think it’s some of the wild wolves—refreshes it every few years.
We climb out of the truck, and I take Mona’s hand, following a hiking trail through the woods. “You know about the wild ones?” I ask.
She nods slowly. “They prefer to live in dens like actual wolves, right?”
“It’s not that they don’t use their human forms. But they try to live more in tune with nature. In wolf form, they hunt. In human form, they gather. The sleep as wolves, fuck as humans. Mostly.”
Mona wrinkles her nose at that. I laugh and keep going. “They’re still a part of Silent Peak. There is safety in numbers. A lot of them are enforcers, actually. They know this land better than anyone. Eli was raised out here. Cynthia, too.”
“So when that thing happened… when I joined the clan, officially, and all the wolves felt it. They did too? The wild ones?”
“Of course. Eli told me they were thrilled.”
“You make it sound like they’re separate from everyone else.”
I shake my head. The trail is getting denser. This is about where the wolves would drop their human forms and shift. As if on cue, a small chest comes into view. There will be piles of clothes in there for people to take when they’re heading into the heart. It’s not unusual to see a person walking around naked, but when in human form, we tend to stay dressed.
I reply, “Not separate. But different, yes. I like sleeping in a bed. They prefer dens.”
The trail thins out until we’re stepping over roots, ducking beneath thick branches. I hold the tree brush back for her. The elevation rises rapidly, but our wolves regulate our breathing.
Mona doesn’t ask more questions, and she follows me silently until we get all the way up to the peak. Climbing up onto the final boulder, I reach down and grip her hands, and pull her up.
She stumbles into my arms, but rights herself and looks out. And gasps. She’s quiet for a minute until finally she says, “I can’t believe I get to live here.”
“I know what you mean. I’ve been on these lands for a very long time, and I never tire of this. It’s why I didn’t follow my family when they moved out west. My sister met her mate at a clan gathering, and she followed him home. My mom couldn’t bear to part with her youngest and followed.”
I wouldn’t have left Grayson and Silas, either, but I could have moved away for a little while before we settled down and started looking for a mate.
Mona can hear the affection in my voice. It never bothered me that my mom left. I still see her from time to time, and we talk occasionally on the phone.
But this was always my home.
Especially now.
I pull Mona down to a seat and tuck her closer, between my arms and legs. It’s peak summer, August is around the corner, but this high up, the air is thinner, much cooler. There are streams and waterfalls on various parts of the mountain, and I decide I’m going to take her to every single one of them before summer’s out.
Witches may be hanging over our heads, but I won’t let that bitch stop us from living.
“Are you sad?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. Her scent is so clear, her omega is sensitive and incredibly sweet.
She shakes her head. “Not sad, exactly. I don’t like what they were saying about Silas. But I’m mad at him, too. He’s going to leave, you know. As soon as the witch business is over.”
Hugging her close, I close my lips to her temple. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“But he said—”
“Mona, how can you think, for one single second, that he would ever leave you?”
She sucks in a sharp breath. “But he—” she sniffles, “he said he was leaving. He called me a shit show.”
She’s crying, and I should be more sensitive to that fact. But I snort. Then, I can’t help it, the chuckle spills out of me. Mona turns in my arms, part shock and outrage, part amusement on her face.
“Sorry, sorry,” I say, before laughing again.
“What the hell is so funny?”
