Page 14 of The Reluctant Mate (Shifters of the Three Rivers #5)

Chapter fourteen

Sofia

M y pulse pounded as I crunched through snow, breath clouding in the frigid air. I turned in a slow circle, taking in my surroundings. The cabin stood in the center of a clearing, a wide expanse of snow-covered ground stretching about twenty meters in every direction before the tree line swallowed the landscape.

The trees themselves were ancient, towering pines and skeletal birches, their branches heavy with fresh snow, forming an impenetrable wall around us. The wind whispered softly through the forest, carrying the faint scent of pine and wet earth. There were no voices. No hum of cars in the distance. No telltale warmth of Pack on the edges of my senses. My wolf whined as she stretched—searching, yearning—for anything familiar.

The only break in the unrelenting stretch of trees was the narrow, winding track leading away from the cabin, the single path carved through the snow. My gaze followed it, noting the tire tracks still visible in the frozen ground. They led straight to Derek’s black SUV, parked a few feet from the cabin’s covered porch.

The snow around the cabin was largely undisturbed, save for my footprints and Derek’s. An axe leaned against the cabin wall, its handle worn smooth, blade crusted with a fine dusting of ice. Nearby, a tree stump sat half-buried, surrounded by scattered wood chips.

I turned again, slower this time.

Apart from being north of Three Rivers, I had no idea where I was or how to get home.

Fuck!

Derek stood on the porch of the cabin, arms crossed, watching me.

“You going to tell me which way is home?”

“Nope.”

Fucking Derek Shaw.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to work it out, then.” I strode toward the track. It had to lead somewhere with people.

“That there is an old logging track,” Derek said, his tone just as maddeningly composed as ever. “Splits more times than I can count. Junction after junction. You don’t know where you’re going; you’ll just go deeper into the forest. Take you days, weeks even to get to the other side.”

I spun back to him, narrowing my eyes. “Newsflash, Derek: I’m not some helpless child you can scare into staying put.”

His mouth curved slightly, though there was no humor in it. “No. You’re not. But if you get lost in these woods, you’ll need to hunt to survive. Plus, there’s a good chance the cold will kill you first.”

I looked away quickly, letting my gaze skate over the forest again. Derek knew I wasn’t a good hunter. Knew I had never really been taught how to catch prey in my wolf form.

I turned in another slow, deliberate circle. Maybe he was bluffing. Then again, maybe he wasn’t.

The towering trees stretched in every direction I could see. The wind, whispering through the branches, carried no scents of human life, just pine and ice. The only movement came from the occasional swirl of frost kicked up by the breeze, tiny whirlwinds of glittering ice that danced across the clearing before settling again in perfect stillness.

My wolf whined, deeply unsettled.

No Pack. No bonds. No way home.

If I Shifted into my wolf form, I could probably follow the SUV tracks back to a road, as long as I could find the road before there was another snowfall. I glanced up at the sky, at the heavy clouds gathering above me.

Damn it.

The last thing I wanted was to be caught out in a snowstorm; it would be a death sentence.

I clenched my fists so tightly my nails dug into my palms, sharp little crescents biting into my skin. My breath came too fast, too shallow, misting in front of me in frantic, uneven puffs.

No. I couldn’t accept this.

I wouldn’t accept this.

I dug my heels into the icy ground, forcing my breaths to slow, making sure the out-breath was longer than the in-breath. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. The tightness in my chest didn’t ease, but it made my lungs work properly, made my wolf settle, made me feel grounded and in control again.

I was not going to panic.

Derek hadn’t moved from his spot on the porch. He obviously wasn’t worried I’d get far out here. There was no triumph in his expression, though, no smugness that I was stuck. Just that same unbearable calm, like he knew this was hard for me, but he was waiting for me to come to terms with it.

“This is kidnapping, you know,” I said flatly.

His jaw ticked. “I know.”

“You don’t even care, do you?”

“I care,” he said, his voice steady. “But I care more about keeping you alive. If I hadn’t moved when I did, they would have—” He stopped himself, jaw clenching. “Just trust me on this.”

Something in his tone made me pause. It wasn’t just determination—there was an edge of urgency I’d never heard from him before. His eyes scanned the tree line with the kind of focused intensity I recognized from when he was working.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he didn’t waver, didn’t flinch. He really believed this was the right move.

And that pissed me off even more.

I exhaled slowly, forcing my shoulders to relax, shoving my anger down deep where it wouldn’t get in the way of what I needed to do next. If Derek wasn’t lying, then escaping through the forest wasn’t the answer. But he had given me an idea of what might be.

His SUV.

I just needed to get my hands on the keys; then I could leave his sorry ass stranded while I drove myself home.

And in the meantime, he was going to tell me what the freaking hell was going on.