Page 41 of Those That Are Lost

“Morning,” I call back, stopping to wait for him.

“This is too early for exercise,” he complains as he reaches me, his breath puffing out in clouds with the cold air.

“It’s not that early, dawn is nearly midday.” I’m exaggerating, although not by much. This far north and with the shortest day approaching, there are only three to four hours of daylight in total.

“Fine, it’s too cold to exercise,” Henry corrects.

“That, I’ll give you.” I laugh. We continue up the track with me in the lead as the trodden path is too narrow to walk side by side.

“Surely the snow is going to be too thick,” Henry continues to moan.

“You’re really not feeling this are you?”

“Nope,” he replies, popping the ‘p’. “I bitched the entire way through basic training and even more so when we found ourselves in mud-filled trenches.”

“So why are you doing this then? It’s not like we’re being forced too.”

“Ty.” His answer is too short for my liking. When hedoesn’t expand on that, I shoot him a look over my shoulder, eyebrows pulled together.

“Ty?” I verbalise the question when he ignores my glare.

“Yeah…” He pauses. “Ty thinks it would be good if I wasn’t rusty. In case his old pack finds us.”

“Does he think they’re close to discovering where we are?” I feel my throat close around the words, and my heart rate picks up a little. I know the threat is out there but I guess I’d started to feel safe in this village, and now I wasn’t alone.

“I don’t think he has any intel, but he warned me of the risk. And I guess the longer we stay in any one place, the chances of us getting tracked down get higher.” Henry must sense my sudden anxiety because he steps up beside me as the path widens slightly and throws his arm around my shoulders. “Hey, we haven’t heard a peep from them. And they won’t be able to set foot within a mile of this town without multiple wolf shifters raising the alarm. They won’t get near you.” His words reassure me. He’s correct of course, the wolves were quick to surround us as we entered their valley.

“I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Any vampires from that pack would fight for the chance to drag me back there.” I shiver at the thought. Henry pulls me in closer to his side. I lift my own arm to wrap around his back as we walk.

“Aurora, they won’t get near you. Even if the wolves failed, which they wouldn’t because there are dozens of them, they won’t get through me or Ty.” He looks down at me from his towering height as he says it. I hear the conviction in his voice and know he means it.

“Even if you’re rusty as hell?” I reply, giving him a smirk.

“Oi! I’m about to show you how not rusty I am.” He uses his free hand to gesture ahead of us, meaning the training pitch we’re heading towards.

“I look forward to putting you on your ass,” I continue to tease.

“Oh, it's on.” A smile full of mirth splits his face.

We take a few more steps, the end of the trees visible now.

“Thank you again, Henry,” I say, all humour dropped from my voice.

“Anytime, Rory. We’re friends, of course I’d protect you.”

We step through the final trees and take in the small area in front of us. My jaw drops as I see greenery instead of snow. Henry stops beside me.

“How?” I say in wonderment.

From our right I hear a soft thunk. Turning my head, I see Ty off to the side with a couple of kick pads laying at his feet. He must’ve dropped them as he spotted us. His gaze scans us over and I see his face cloud over in an emotion I don’t quite catch before he shutters his features.

Henry steps quickly away from my side, dropping his arm from my shoulders. His focus is on his friend, a sheepish smile now on his lips.

I look between the two males as something I don’t understand passes between them. It only lasts for a second before Henry is striding over and hauling up the kick pads into his arms.

“Morning. Want help with these?” he asks, even though he’s already picked them up.

“Yeah, sure,” Ty replies, although sounding distant. He shakes his head a couple times before adding, “Rune wants them over that side for the less experienced ones to warm up with.” He points to where I now spot Rune, who is laying out some boundary lines with long pieces of rope.