Page 42 of Recipe for a Curse

Chapter 17

Another snarl woke me. I only jolted a little, startled awake, surprised I’d fallen asleep, and feeling a bit numb, even while my entire left side was blazing warm, and the right side of me felt like I’d been stuck in a freezer. Something was moving in the dark, then paused. I could see a vague outline in the dying light of the fire. Was it Rio? I had a few seconds of hope. The wolf growled again, but it wasn’t Rio who shined a flashlight over us.

It was Zach. And behind him Sean. My heart flipped over in sadness and disappointment. The wolf growled beside me. I reached out to pet his head. Zach’s mouth opened as if to protest, but the wolf calmed under my touch.

“Are you trying to freeze to death?” Zach asked quietly.

“Um, fire…” I pointed at the dying blaze. What time was it? I frowned and pulled out my phone. It was after midnight and no sign of Rio.

“Okay, caveman. Wanna tell your friend it’s time to go so we can take you home to get warm?”

“Rio didn’t come,” I said sadly, gripping the wolf’s fur a bit. “This guy ate most of the food I brought. What happens if Rio comes later?”

Zach seemed to hesitate, looking at Sean and back to me and the wolf who didn’t seem interested in moving from its spot. Which was fine because he was deliciously warm.

“Montana, thatisRio.”

That was ridiculous. “Um, it’s a wolf…” I looked back at him, noting the light gray fur and those clear blue eyes. Okay, the eyes did look like Rio, but this wasn’t a fairytale. “People don’t turn into wolves. Because, science,” I said, too tired to think of all the real reasons why.

“Not unless they are cursed,” Sean said.

I slogged through a mash of confused thoughts, none of which really made sense. Rio a wolf? Rio cursed was a thing, or at least that was what everyone told me. But cursed to be a wolf? Not possible. I stared at him. He stared back at me. “Are you Rio?”

He didn’t answer, just turned his gaze from me to Zach and Sean. At least he was no longer growling.

“He’s not raving,” Zach said, I think more to Sean than me. “Seems calm enough.”

“Fed?” Sean replied.

“And if we try to take Montana with us?”

“I don’t know,” Sean said apologetically.

Zach stared at the wolf. “Rio. We need to get Montana home. He has to get warm or he’ll get sick. You want Montana safe, right?”

The wolf turned his head and laid it across my lap seeming to let out a long sigh like he was annoyed. I ran my mitten covered hands across his head and side. His stomach seemed to rumble and both Zach and Sean jumped a little, but the wolf didn’t move from his spot.

“He might have eaten all the food I brought,” I said and dug through my pack, finding a single granola bar. I leaned over and kissed the top of his head. “He reminds me of my friend Brand’s huskies. Less chatty though. Those dogs ramble and talk like crazy.”

“He’s not a dog,” Zach said but sighed. “You really need to get warm.”

I groaned and stretched looking around in the dark. “Can we leave this stuff for Rio? I’m not sure how much food is left, but the tent and the stove and stuff would be helpful.”

Zach seemed to want to say something else but finally nodded. “Sure.” His gaze fell to the wolf again.

I got up, patting my wolf friend on the head and gathered up my bag. “You be safe out here,” I told him. “Take care of Rio? I’ll bring more food.”

The wolf stared at me, but didn’t try to stop me as I threw snow on the fire until it sizzled out and then headed toward Zach and Sean. Neither of them got closer. They headed down the path toward the cars but kept looking back. The wolf was following us. I reached for him, and he came to my hands like he’d been trained to do it.

“Do you see that? He’s tame,” I said. “Probably by Rio. I bet he was starving out here. Maybe that was why Rio was determined to leave the manor?” If we brought the wolf home maybe Rio would come home too? “He was worried about his friend.”

Zach said nothing. We found our way back to the cars. Zach had already hooked my car up to be towed by his. He rounded the truck to the driver’s side, opened the door and leaned in to start it, blasting the heat. Sean opened the passenger side and pushed the front seat forward so I could crawl into the narrow back. I was surprised when the wolf moved ahead of me, leaping into the narrow space and fitting himself into the back seat, leaving only a tiny amount of space for me. I climbed up next to him, strapping on my seat belt as Sean returned his seat to normal and climbed in.

Zach stared at him, still standing outside the driver’s side in the open doorway. “Is this safe?”

Sean shrugged. “He’s fed. Seems attached to Montana. Only aggressive if we threaten him.”

“Is he in there? Thinking? Seeing us? Recognizing Montana?”