Page 1 of #Resort Love
Chapter 1
Sybil
TWENTY YEARS AGO - AGE TWELVE
The light was quickly fading; the sky a sea of red and purple. The sun looked as if it was melting into the mountains behind us while the moon was steadily rising. We werecompletelylost. Frustrated, I sighed as I closed my eyes, a feeble attempt to calm my nerves. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Micah when he said he knew the way back home. He had just turned eleven a week ago, and though we were cousins, he felt more like a brother, even more so than my own. My brother was eighteen years older than me, always leaving me behind to be with his friends. At least until he left for a job two years ago, which didn’t help our shoddy relationship. But Micah and I did everything together, which included getting lost in the middle of a forest.
Thirty minutes had come and went since we passed the red-leafed maple tree, which I had been using recently as our marker for the path home. However, Micah swore that the tree we needed to look for had bright orange leaves instead. ThoughI knew it was bullshit, I reluctantly trailed behind him, even when everything in me warned against it.
Another five minutes passed before I stopped, refusing to make another move. Noticing my faltering steps, Micah turned to me, his sky-blue eyes flickering with anger at my defiance. Annoyed, I scoffed and rolled my eyes at his tight expression. The air had a chill to it tonight and it seemed to grow colder every minute. It matched the growing disregard I felt toward him and histalentfor refusing to listen to me and constantly getting us lost. My instinct was never wrong. Even when we were so lost that we couldn’t tell which way was up, I could always find my way back home. It was like my soul somehow inherently knew the way.
“We need to turn around, Micah,” I huffed, tired from our endless trek. “This is obviously not the right way, and we need to get home before the sunlight is completely gone.” If we stayed out any longer, I just knew we would be grounded for days, maybe even weeks. I wasnotgoing to let that happen just because thisboyfelt the need to prove himself.
Micah narrowed his eyes, his face twisting into a sneer. “What do you know? You’re just a girl.”
My lips curled at the insinuation of his words. “I’m not the one that got us lost,” I reminded him.
His ridiculous remark had me bristling. Micah loved playing the expert navigator when it was just the two of us, all because Uncle Tommy took him camping and hunting a few times a year. Yet, I was always the one that got usoutof these woods andoutof trouble.
“Fine, if you think you’re so smart, lead the way,Sybil.” His voice oozed sarcasm and contempt.
Taking a moment to gather my bearings, I pushed aside his boyish attitude. Turning my back to him, I took a deep breath,filling my lungs with the cold, refreshing air. I looked around the pasture we had somehow stumbled upon, the trees thinning out into a small field. It was mostly flat and freshly mowed with a few small trees and bushes scattered here and there, except for the steep hill a few steps away that led back into the forest.
Taking another look around the field, the encroaching darkness made the pressure of the air grow heavy and charged, as if eyes were watching our every movement. The hair along the back of my neck stood at the shift in the air, the peaceful quiet of dusk forgotten as I scanned the dark woods we left behind.
“Well, come on, Sybil. What are you waiting?—”
A twig snapped in the distance, cutting off Micah’s voice. I held out my hand to stop him from moving forward, alarm thrumming through my veins. “It’s probably just a cow or something,” Micah said, stuttering. His narrowed eyes shifted nervously along the tree line.
Our grandparents owned over fifty cows, letting them roam through the fields and woods behind our parents’ homes. The cows, however, weren’t the only animals that wandered through the area. Living in the quiet countryside of the north Georgia mountains meant seeing all types of animals, like deer and raccoons, but that also meant bears and other predators prowled the area.
“The cows are usually in their stalls by this time,” I whispered, my pulse quickening at the shadows that looked as if they were moving ever so slightly.
Looking behind me, I met Micah’s wild gaze. He must have seen them too. Holding a finger to my lips, I prayed that he would listen to my gesture to stay quiet. Though I wasn’t completely positive if it was a trick of the eyes, my gut told methat something was watching us from the forest. Whatever it was, I was sure it wasn’t soft or cuddly.
Not wanting to turn my back to the forest and the thing that was watching us, I gently urged Micah to walk slowly back to the steep hill, hoping the distance between us would be enough to make it lose interest.
We had only made it five painstakingly slow steps when more twigs snapped, this time sounding closer. The birds nesting around us, flew into the sky, squawking.
Flinching at the sudden flutter of wings, Micah and I stopped, frozen by fear. I reached a shaky hand to Micah, pulling him close enough to whisper without disturbing the still air around us. “When I tell you to, run as fast as you can down the hill. Don’t stop, okay?” I could only hope the panic in my voice couldn’t be heard.
Micah’s response was drowned out by the pounding of my heart. I knew our parents wanted us to stay away from these woods, always saying how dangerous they could be, especially around dusk and throughout the night. They told us tales of creatures that lurked in the forest, waiting for their next meal. We never gave it much thought, always laughed it off as over-embellished stories. The only danger our escapades led us into was the bulls or cows, protective of their calves. Never had we run into anything that we couldn’t get out of, and because of that, we had let our guard down. We became reckless in our childhood craving for adventure.
Silently cursing myself, I took another small step back, preparing to tell Micah to run, when a low growl came from behind us. Icy terror pinpricked its way down my back, making my steps waver. The chatter of the woods fell quiet. Not daring to make another move, I stood rigid, listening closely to the sound of the deafening silence around us.
Whatever was surrounding us was large and it was still stalking us along the darkened tree line, refusing to make itself known.
I looked at Micah, his face blanched, his eyes wide with fear. His chest rose and fell rapidly while he was staring at the shadows along the trees. Taking a shaky breath, I looked back to the field, hoping to find a place to hide and wait until the animal moved on, but all I found was open space. Even the sections of tall grass were laid so flat against the earth that it would be impossible to hide in.
I swallowed hard, and my chest tightened. This was all my fault. I should have forced Micah to follow me when we saw the red-leafed tree. I should have dragged him, kicking and screaming, down that trail instead of staying quiet. Instead, I had ignored the voice in my head urging me to turn back.
More growls filled the air, pulling me out of my thoughts, and my stomach twisted. There was more than one animal stalking closer toward us. My eyes snapped to the clearing ahead at the rustling of grass and leaves. Horror washed through me as a pack of snarling wolves padded out of the tree line, fanning out to surround us.
Circling closer, their growls and barks broke through the thick silence as they lunged at us, snapping at our feet, pushing Micah and me closer together.We stumbled back, panic making our movements careless and frantic.
Behind me, Micah quietly whimpered and grabbed hold of my shoulders, his grip tightening as he quickly pulled me closer to him. Startled, my back knocked against his chest, the abrupt movement making me feel unsteady on my feet. Feeling the rapid beating of his heart, I reached to his hand, hoping to lend him some type of strength that I wasn’t sure I felt myself.Before my hand could touch his, the world around me began to tilt.
Using my balance against me, Micah pushed me forward, channeling all his strength to send me closer to the hungry wolves, all sohecould make a run for it down the hill behind us. My mind blanked. Grunting, I fell hard on my knees, still unable to fully grasp what had just happened. I shook my head, my mind whirling with confusion. My body shook and my throat tightened at the sound of a growl in front of me. Looking up, blood drained from my face when a large red wolf stalked closer, snarling and baring his yellowed teeth.
