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I wished I knew what it was like to shift. To break free of my human constraints and become something entirely different. To be one with nature.
Okay, I wasn’t exactly the outdoorsy type, but maybe if I had some fur and fangs, I could learn to love it.
It was the pack culture that did it for me. Spending time on Colorado Ranch and seeing how they’d welcomed in all their newcomers made me want to be a part of their world. Before I came here, I’d worked in the music business, where everything was cutthroat. People I’d considered my friends had stabbed me in the back to get ahead.
So over it.
I was so happy that I’d already found a fierce girl gang in Sunset Springs, and I was looking forward to adding a mate to the mix.
Those signs that said ten miles lied. There was no town in sight. The road had narrowed to a ribbon, and the snow-covered red rocks jutted straight up into the sky.
The options for turning around were bleak. I slowed to a crawl—the only car on the lonely, windy road—and checked my GPS.
My phone was taking emergency calls only, and apparently, this was not an emergency.
At the next intersection, I’d turn around and head back to—
“Sweet mother of the moon.” I jumped at the cracking sound as a wall of snow dropped off the mountain in front of me. It wasn’t even a mountain, more like a cliff. The geographical term wasn’t important at the moment. The urge to swerve was useless because there was nowhere to go. I screamed, shrinking back in my seat, like that would help—and maybe it did. The brakes activated just in time to avoid the avalanche.
What’s up, near death experience. I needed to get the fuck out of here, now. I threw the car in reverse. If I had to make a ninety-seven-point turn to head back to Sunset Springs, so be it.
But the road behind me had also become an all-snow situation.
Oh, Shit.
A pile of snow landed on the hood with a whump. I could barely breathe.
Everything went blue gray as the avalanche swallowed my car.
Okay, think positive, Hannah. You can get out of this.
I thanked the moon that production insisted on renting a souped-up SUV for me instead of the convertible sports car I’d lobbied so hard for. I unhooked my seatbelt and climbed into the backseat, looking for the shovel, and trying to remember the instructions I’d been given in case I got stuck in a snowstorm. I hadn’t really digested it, because I had no reason to be out in a storm, and what idiot got stuck in an avalanche?
Hi, it’s me. I’m the idiot who got stuck in an avalanche. When I had been thinking of creating an emergency to get my episode started sooner, this was definitely not what I had in mind.
With shovel in hand, I pushed on the door handle.
I managed to move the door just enough to make thedoor ajarbell beep.
“Stop it!” I screamed at the car, like it was the one who got me into this mess. I turned the ignition off, only to make the beeping stop. Then I realized that if I’d left it on, carbon monoxide would flood the car, killing me.
So instead, I’d likely freeze to death with no heat.
No, I wouldn’t be stuck here that long. I had to believe that.
With fragile optimism, I turned back to the snow, which had quickly become a wall of concrete. I jammed my shoulder against the window. The door didn’t budge, but my shoulder smarted. Maybe I could break the glass with the shovel.
I imagined the snow spilling into the car through the broken window and my panic grew. There would only be so much oxygen inside the car, and it would probably be mixed with the chemicals from the engine and exhaust. Sweat ran down my back as I took deep breaths of precious oxygen to calm myself.
I texted Bibi, praying that somehow the message got out. I had no idea where I was, but maybe the text could be traced.
That was if my phone didn’t die before anyone realized I was gone.
Someone—or something—roared in the distance, sending me straight out of my seat. Like my heart needed another reason to race. Maybe it was a wolf or a lion. There were many of them in the area. Whatever it was, I hoped it was friendly.
The likelihood of it finding me, friendly or not, under this mountain of snow was grim at best.
The roar turned into a low rumble. The sound shook deep in my bones. The sweat running down my back turned cold.
