Page 86 of Wolf's Fate
“I don’t know. I don’t know what waits for us at the top of this mountain, but I know we have to see it through.”
“Agreed.” Caleb stood, stepping back, giving me room to get out of the bag. “You ready?”
Maybe I was. Or maybe I was going to have to learn how to be. Either way, I was going to face whatever waited for us in his home, and I would get some answers.
TWENTY-SIX
Willow
“I will never get downfrom here,” I told him as I lay half-collapsed against the face of the peak. “The fact you can carry me, the backpack, and yourself up this horrid, inhospitable, evil mountain is beyond me.”
“You’re being dramatic,” Caleb murmured.
“I’m dying.”
“You’re being very loud for someone dying,” he told me, dropping the pack to the ground. It had taken two days to get to the peak. Well, the peak part where we stopped. Even if his packlands were further up, he’d have to cart my dead body there. I wasn’t taking one more stepup.
“Every part of me hurts.”
“Mm-hmm. For someone who’s been carried for the last day, I don’t know how.”
Narrowing my eyes on him, I made a face. “You’re not human. This mountain ishumanlyimpossible to climb. Do not speak,” I snapped, breathing in short pants. “Why can’t I breathe?”
“Because you’re panicking and being completely unreasonable?” Caleb deadpanned.
Wide-eyed with panic, I felt my chest tighten. “Caleb!”
He was in front of me, his hands cupping my cheeks as he tilted my head back slightly. “Hey now, come on, why are you being silly?” he teased softly, dropping a kiss on my nose. It was the first kiss he’d given me since we stepped onto this hellish mountain. “Breathe with me, Willow. You remember how we did it last time? Breathe in,” he said soothingly, inhaling with me. “And out.” We exhaled together. “Good girl, one more time.”
We did it again and again until I was plastered to his chest, our mouths a hairsbreadth from each other. By the time Caleb declared me calm, I was hot and bothered for another reason.
“Better?”
I almost said no, but I was very much aware that I had overreacted and been ridiculous. “The air’s so thin up here,” I mumbled. I took a breath, the crisp, sharp air filling my lungs. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine. You’re not used to it.” Caleb stretched and I wanted to wrap my arms around him and not let go.
Because we were up a very steep mountain, and I was scared the whole rock face was ready to slide me right back down to the bottom. Despite my fear that the mountain had sinister intentions towards me, I couldn’t deny it was breathtaking.
Literally in places.
We’d stopped late last night, and had I known how narrow the ledge he made me sleep on was, I would have died of fright. However, that particular treat had been what I woke up to.
Caleb had wanted to stop so I could reach his packlands in the morning. I’d been useless since yesterday morning. My legs weren’t built for hardcore mountain climbing. No ropes. No tools. Just Caleb and his shifter strength and intimate knowledge of this mountain.
Once or twice, when he’d left me, I’d caught sight of a gray-furred wolf as he went to get water or food. I’d never tried rabbit before it was handed to me on a skewer made from a stick, and I’d been too hungry to refuse.
I lost my sleeping bag after I’d slipped and started skidding down the mountain. Caleb had thrown the bag for me to grab onto, and I’d grabbed the sleeping bag, only for it to snap and both of us careen down the way we’d come. He’d caught me, but the bag was gone, and last night, I’d spent the night curled up into his wolf’s side. One huge paw had stayed on my thigh, and weirdly, I’d slept like a baby.
But the air was thin here, so it could be that.
“You okay?”
Nodding, I looked over at him, and whatever I had been about to say died on my lips. The sun was resting low in the morning sky, the sky one of burning oranges and purples, casting differing shades of light and shadow over the peak. I felt like I was in a painting. It was so surreal, standing here, this high and breathing.
“Good lord, it’s beautiful.”
“Yeah.” His tone was wistful. “Worth the climb?” I saw his quick smile, and had my limbs not been sore from hanging onto him for almost twenty-four hours, I would have punched him, but I had no energy.