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13
As Alec predicted, the lake was empty when we arrived. I was still covered in the grime and dirt and blood from my last night in Wolf Creek. I didn’t care how cold the lake was, I just needed to wash the trauma away any way I could.
“I’ll see if I can find you some fresh clothes,” Sheila said. “You good alone for a bit?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I said. “As long as I don’t have to try to find my way back solo, I should be good.”
“We gotta get you a compass,” she teased.
I laughed. “Hopefully, I’ll get my bearings soon.”
She waved and left me alone on the shore of the huge lake. The water was like glass. A still, silvery gray. Every so often the breeze would send ripples over the surface, making the water seem like it was shivering.
I took a moment to stare out at the island. It was a peaceful sentinel in the center of the water. Covered in thick trees, it seemed a wild place. Like something out of an adventure story. I wondered if anyone ever swam or took a boat out to it.
Unsure of how much time I had, I began to remove my boots and clothes. I was grateful that I could rinse the dirt off in solitude. At least for the first time.
Carefully, I stepped into the shallow water and instantly regretted not taking Alec up on the offer to use his shower. Megan wasn’t kidding when she’d warned me that it was freezing. Maybe in a month or two, the cool water would be nice on a hot day, but today it was still a little too cold.
Holding my breath, I ran forward and ducked under as soon as it was deep enough. I emerged with a gasp, then yelled out. “Fuck!”
The cold water was exhilarating and it definitely woke me up fully. I felt more alive than I had in years. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to jump in here.
Using my hands, I scrubbed the dirt and blood off my arms and I rinsed my hair as best I could. I wished I had some shampoo to help get all the matted blood out of my hair, but this was better than nothing.
It took a while to scrub everything on my top half clean. I walked to where it was waist deep water and lifted my leg to inspect the place where I’d been bitten. There were tiny pink dots where the teeth had dug into my flesh. Scars that might remain despite the fact that the wounds were healed. There were other marks on me from fights over the years. All reminders of what I’d endured. I frowned at them, wishing I didn’t have any visual reminder of my life before.
I continued my inspection of my wounds and rubbed dirt away if I encountered any. There was something stuck on my right hip that hadn’t washed off with the initial plunge. I rubbed at it, but it didn’t fade. Narrowing my eyes, I took in the strange marking.
No.It was impossible.
I rubbed some more. It had to be dirt.
Dirt that just so happened to be in the shape of a crescent moon with a circle around it.
It can’t be real.
I can’t have a mark.
I for sure can’t have the mark of a mother-fucking-alpha.
My skin was red and raw from all the rubbing. Hands shaking, pulse rising, I stared at my hip. It was a mistake. Some kind of sick joke. Right?
Why the fuck would I - a wolf who had only shifted once as a last resort - receive a mark from the moon goddess? And not just any mark… the alpha mark.
I’d never even heard of a female getting any kind of mark until I met Sheila. Hers had been a single crescent, a protector mark. Mine was obviously the crescent inside a full circle. I’d never seen the mark in real life, but I’d learned about it. We’d all seen it on charts hanging in classrooms. There was no mistaking what kind of mark I had.
The problem was the fact that I had it.
“You all done?” Sheila called from shore.
I hadn’t even noticed her approach.
Quickly, I used my arm to cover the mark. It was an awkward unnatural position, but I hoped she didn’t notice.
“I found you a towel too,” she said. “It’s your lucky day!”
I waded through the water and gratefully accepted the towel. Turning away from Sheila, I dried off then got to work trying to dry my hair.
