Page 19 of Unravel Me

"Oh, I’m glad I could help, sweetheart! But please, take a piece of candy." He nudges the bag toward me more insistently.

Eventually, I give in. I never eat sweets because I like to stay in shape, but he's really persistent.

"I just hope you're not getting yourself into trouble, child. People play all kinds of foolish jokes these days, you know. Those internet challenges… telling someone to go somewhere and do something. Don't let yourself get dragged into that."

I suppress a smile.

"No, nothing like that. It's not a game. I simply received some information and wanted to verify it. Now I know everything I needed to know. Thank you very much."

I give him a polite nod and start to leave, but he extends a hand holding a small calling card.

"If you ever need more information, I live nearby on Raspberry Hill. I'm just an ordinary nobody," he winks, "but I've crossed paths with a few of them, you know."

No, I don't know who ‘they’ are, but I keep smiling.

"Thanks," I repeat, slipping the candy into my mouth and the card into my pocket.

The candy tastes sour and herbal, intensely so. Davos is already lifting the bag to offer me another one, so I quickly back away, afraid he'll keep insisting, or maybe even try to discourage me from this trip, and I'm already only a step away from talking myself out of it.

I clench my teeth and get back into the car.

Damn.

My pants are soaked again. I have to stay away from alphas or this is all going to head in the wrong direction. My passage keeps clenching, almost rhythmically. The whole conversation with Davos didn’t make my preheat stop, even if it did distract me for a little while. Not good.

As I walk toward my car, an alpha and omega pair pass by. I notice the alpha wrinkle his nose slightly. He definitely caught my scent.

I climb into the car and glance uneasily at the glove compartment. My gun is inside, though that's obviously my last resort.

Okay, all right. I need to focus.

I tighten my fingers around the map. I study it for a moment before realizing that one of the roads, a very thin line on the map, will take me fairly close to the spot, about half a mile away. I should be able to cover the rest of the distance on foot through the forest.

Unfortunately, it's December. I came from Florida, and the climate here is entirely different. There's no snow, yet by my standards it's chilly. It's a beautiful, unusually sunny day, and the temperature can't be much above sixty degrees. It's around two in the afternoon now, though I know it can drop to around the mid-thirties by evening.

I hope I can make the trip there and back in about two hours. According to the map, it's only half a mile from where I'll leave the car.

So I drive out of town and head down that road.

Within just a few minutes, I find myself on a narrow, cracked strip of old asphalt that quickly gives way to gravel, then to a slightly muddy, grassy track.

I keep driving, glancing at the map over and over. I know I need to stop as close to the marked area as possible.

I find a reasonably decent spot where the road widens enough to pull over and park.

Luckily, I'd had enough common sense to pack warm hiking boots, a jacket, a beanie, and warm pants. I grab my backpack too. After a brief hesitation, I toss my dildo inside. Hey, you never know what kind of situation you might run into. Maybe there really is some ranger's cabin out there, and a heat wave will hit me.

To be honest, it kind of feels like that's where this is headed, because my body is acting weirder and weirder. My abdominal muscles keep tightening almost painfully every now and then, and my slick just won't stop producing.

I can't exactly call myself a heat veteran. I've only been through two, and only one of them was fertile, so I still don't know all the ways my own body reacts or how this might unfold. Besides, every heat can be a little different, although this one is starting off unusually rough. Technically, I'm still only in preheat, yet it's already hitting me pretty damn hard.

Before I close the trunk, I also pack a bottle of water, a sandwich, and a few granola bars.

My pale golden hair reaches all the way to my hips, and I hate showing it because it draws attention. So now I pull my beanie lower over my eyes and tuck my thick braid tightly underneath it.

Once I'm ready, I head into the forest, which actually looks pretty welcoming. Sunlight pours through the trees, and there are so many evergreens that the whole place stays lush and green. In some areas there are more deciduous trees, where naked branches and piles of fallen leaves greet me, but for the most part the route takes me through beautiful, scenic stretches.

There isn't any real trail, though, so I try to stick to the more open areas. I guess it's just instinct. I've got a gun in my pocket in case I run into a bear or a hostile alpha. I could always fire a warning shot into the air or something. If I'm being honest, I still don't really know what I'm expecting here.