Page 2 of Rescued By The Wolf

“I’m going to turn in,” I tell my mom and Roger.

“So soon?” My mom asks, and I nod.

“Yeah. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

I wave goodnight and trudge over to my tent, unzipping the flap and crawling inside. I get changed in the tent, muttering as I try to pull on my pajama pants while I’m hunched over in the cramped tent.

I yawn again as I crawl into my sleeping bag and plug my phone into the power bank I brought.

I’m so tired, but as I lie on my back, staring up at the ceiling of my tent, I can’t seem to fall asleep. I feel like I’m wide awake. I close my eyes and roll onto my side, then my other side.

I hate sleeping on the ground. I hate camping.

Four more days, and then we go home.

I start to drift off when a sound has me blinking my eyes open. I listen, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when I realize that the sound is the zipper of my tent opening.

I sit upright, staring at the opening as the tent opens and the shadow of a man starts to come into my tent.

Air stalls in my lungs and I stare wide-eyed, trying to make out who it is. It’s so dark though that I can’t see anything, so I finally react.

I start to scream.

TWO

Flint

“Hey,” Alec greets me as he comes up the path toward me.

“Hey.”

He yawns, which makes me yawn. It’s close to midnight now and I wish I was in bed instead of out on patrol. Normally we don’t work night shifts at my job at the Aspen Ridge Mountain Patrol, but the resort in town was hosting an event with fireworks, and our boss, Niko, was concerned about tourists wandering around after it ended.

Alec and I both joined the Mountain Rescue here in Aspen Ridge after we got out of the military. He was in the Marines, while I was the Air Force. We had actually met a few years before, though, when we were both deployed overseas.

“I haven’t seen anyone in a while,” he says, and I nod.

“Yeah, we can probably head home. I just wanted to check this last trail.”

“Want me to come with you?” He asks, and I shake my head.

“No, I’ve got it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Have a good night.”

With that, he turns and steps into the woods. I can hear him stripping, and I know he must be about to let his bear out for a run on the way home. My wolf paws at me, wishing that he was running too.

Soon, I promise him. We’ll clear this trail and then you can run.

That seems to satisfy him because he stops pawing at me and sits down, his eyes and ears perked as he scans the trail ahead of us.

I walk all the way to the end of the trail, and I’m about to turn around and head home when a scream pierces the still night air. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge and I turn, scanning the darkness for any sign of danger.

The scream comes again and I take off running. I’m at the edge of the resort property already, but I crash through the trees and run to where the screams are coming from. I can tell it’s a woman, and my wolf paws at me, wanting to be let out.

I can run faster, he growls at me.

Yeah, but a wolf running at her is only going to scare her, I argue back.

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