Page 16 of Fractured Mates
I scratch an itch on my forehead, then grimace when I feel something sticky. After wiping my skin, I remember there’s blood from that shifter at the house on my face.
“Is there a shower at this cabin?” I ask, preferring a steaming, hot one over a cold dip in the stream.
“Yeah, you can wash up while I sort out the food,” he says, and I have to hold back a scoff.
Like I’m going to eat anything he makes me. He’ll probably try to poison me.
Because he saved you from those other wolves just so he could have the pleasure of killing you himself. Makes total sense.
Fuck. You.
I’m not normally that abrasive with my wolf, but my annoyance with her seems to be rising by the second, and I can’t help myself. Especially when she’s laughing at my expense inside my own head.
We walk the rest of the way in silence. When we arrive at the building, it’s exactly what I picture when I think of the word cabin. A small structure made from wooden logs with one front door and no windows to be able to see out of.
There’s a stone chimney at the top and moss on the roof. Overgrown foliage surrounds the small porch and around the side of the house, showing no signs of a used path anywhere around.
“Watch your step,” he says. “We don’t want to leave tracks.”
“Because our scent won’t be a big enough attraction on its own,” I say dryly, more than a little shocked we haven’t heard or sensed anyone chasing after us.
He doesn’t respond as he opens the front door with a key from his pocket. When he steps aside for me to enter ahead of him, I give him a side eye but don’t question the action.
If this is a trap, I’m ready for it.
Except when I cross the threshold, I know I’m either already fucked or somehow completely safe.
Kyler closes the door and smirks. “Still worried about being found?”
Magic presses in around me, blocking out the world beyond these four walls. My skin tingles with the foreign energy, but none of my senses tell me I’m in danger. “How did you know about a cabin with a cloaking spell so close to the pack?”
“I didn’t,” he answers, moving past me toward the small kitchen area. “I’m a protector. It’s our job to be prepared with things like cloaking spells. I scouted the area before you showed up.”
Huh. I don’t want to be impressed, but I am.
He nods toward the first door past the kitchen. “Bathroom is there. I’ll see what’s edible in here.”
I grin. I have a feeling I’d be much better at that than him, but the desire to remove the blood from my body outweighs my need for food. I can be quick cleaning up when the occasion requires it.
There’s an unlit fireplace on my right and a couch centered in front of it. Books and board games fill two bookshelves on the wall next to the fireplace, and the head of a stuffed deer is mounted above it.
Great. A hunter’s cabin. Just where a pair of wolves should be hiding out.
I step into the bathroom and find a small, single shower stall and a toilet without a handle to flush. When I lift the lid, I swiftly slam it back down. I don’t need to pee that bad. Apparently, having some sort of sewer system wasn’t as important as running water to these humans.
In seconds, I’m naked and standing under the hot water. I get soap in my hair and start to lather the rest of my body when the bathroom door is kicked in.
“What the hell?” I peek around the curtain to see Kyler grabbing my clothes and a towel. He wraps the cotton material around me and once again holds me in his arms, almost as if he believes I belong there.
“We’re leaving.” He growls. “You were right.”
Of course I fucking was.
“Let me down,” I demand. “I’ll shift.”
“No time.” He runs us toward the bedroom, and there’s a window there that I couldn’t have seen from the outside.
“If you throw me through another window, I will rip your balls off and shove them down your throat.”