The Girl and the Wolf (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Sanctuary Book 2) Page 2

  Before coming out here, she’d scoured the internet for articles on camping and survival. She’d found the best equipment she could buy and brought it with her. And she’d studied the indigenous flora and fauna so she’d be prepared for whatever obstacles they might face.

  Her spirits were high, despite her reservations about her guide. She felt ready.

  Santiago had told her to meet him at a spot just outside the Elder Forest. That was where the wolves were so that was where she had to go.

  They’d have to venture in on foot. This meant everything they needed for their trip, they had to carry with them. No trips back to the cars. No convenience stores. Just trees and rocks and the two of them.

  Her little Honda was loaded with supplies. Food, extra clothes, maps, water, the whole nine yards. She wanted to make sure Mr. “You Don’t Know What You’re Doing” Diaz didn’t have any reason to criticize her preparations.

  She pulled into the patch of hard-packed earth that served as a parking spot. Santiago was already here. He leaned against a beat up looking pickup truck. His arms were crossed over his chest and he looked bored.

  He might not be excited about this expedition but Amanda was chomping at the bit to get out into the woods. She hopped out of her car, clad in her adventuring gear. A slight, proud smile curved her lips at the thought of finally putting Santiago in his place. She knew he was going to be impressed.

  He took one look at her and burst into laughter.

  ***

  Santiago couldn’t help himself. She’d practically strutted up to him, showing off her brand new hiking gear like a kid showing off her new toys. And she’d obviously tried very hard to find the right clothes.

  But she’d gotten it all so wrong.

  He knew he should stop laughing. Amanda was not nearly as amused as he was. Her cheeks glowed bright red. Although he couldn’t say if it was from embarrassment or rage. Probably both.

  She had a pouty, pissed off look on her face, like she was two seconds from throwing the world’s worst hissy fit. It made her look terribly cute, if he was being honest with himself. But it also made him laugh harder.

  Amanda planted her fists on her hips and her chin jutted up at him defiantly. “What the hell is so damn funny, Mr. Diaz?”

  Santiago dug his nails into his palm. Pain was the best cure for laughter. The sharp sting helped, but only a little. Amanda wanted so badly for him to take her seriously, but she looked like a child playing dress up in her mother’s clothes. That little angelic face looked so offended. Her pale skin glowed pink with fury. The thick coils of curls bounced up and down when she stomped her foot at him. It was too much.

  His humor dampened when the sun disappeared behind a cloud. It would rain soon, and they had a long way to go. He had to keep her alive and in one piece. To do that, he needed to stay focused. One slip up was all it took for someone to get hurt. Someone who trusted him. Someone he cared about. Someone like Eliza.

  He shifted his eyes down to his boots and wiped the tears from his cheeks. Through the last fits of chuckling, he managed to get a few words out.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, still breathless. “That was rude of me.”

  “That’s not much of an apology, considering you’re still laughing,” she said testily.

  He fought down another wave of amusement. Come on, Santiago, he told himself. Get it together.

  He managed to make eye contact with her again. Her brown eyes blazed with outrage. Guilt flashed through him for acting like such an ass. She had tried to come prepared. That much was clear. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t know what she was doing.

  “You’re right,” he said. “That was uncalled for.”

  “Well,” she said. “Care to let me in on the joke?”

  “There’s no joke. You just caught me off guard.”

  “And how did I do that?”

  He shook his head and gestured at her outfit. “Your clothes. It’s just, they’re all wrong.”

  She looked down at what she was wearing, her cheeks flushing an almost frightening shade of crimson. “What do you mean? I did the research. This is all appropriate for the trip.”

  “It really isn’t,” he said, trying to be a little more gentle with the woman after what he’d just put her through.

  “Explain.”

  “Alright, well, to start, your jacket is going to be a problem.”

  She frowned. “But it’s waterproof. Isn’t that right? Conditions are expected to be cold and rainy for the rest of the week.”

  “No, it’s definitely waterproof, but it’s too waterproof. It will keep the rain out, but there’s no ventilation. All your sweat is going to be trapped inside. You’ll end up just as wet at the end of the day as if you weren’t wearing it at all.”

  “Oh,” she said simply.

  He found it curious that most of her anger had faded, replaced with a look of intense curiosity. She was absorbing every word and filing it away in that big brain of hers.

  “And the rest of it?” she asked.

  “That coat you’re wearing underneath the rain gear, it’s down, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Once that gets wet, and it will get wet, it’ll be useless.”

  She sighed. “Okay, anything else?”

  He almost felt bad piling on the criticism, but it was necessary. “The boots. They’re brand new? Just out of the box?”

  She looked down and smiled, extending one foot to admire her new hiking boots. “Completely new. They should last longer than this trip will take.”

  He nodded. “They will. But you haven’t broken them in yet.”

  “So?” she asked, her face falling.

  “So until they have a chance to conform to your feet, they’re going to feel like hell. There’s nothing we can do about that.”

  “Is that it?” she asked, frustrated. “You want to check out my underwear, too?”

  The question surprised him, as did his reaction. It made him think of her standing there in just her panties. It sent a flash of desire through him, hot and jagged. He realized that he would very much like to check out her underwear, although for reasons that had nothing to do with safety.

  He chided himself in his head. What the hell is wrong with you? Getting turned on by the mere thought of a girl’s underwear like a hormone crazy teenage boy? It was ridiculous. Juvenile. And not like him at all.

  Still, he couldn’t shake the thought.

  Some of his reaction must have shown on his face. Amanda suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. Almost shy.

  “You don’t, right?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No, I’m sure your underwear is great.” She grinned at him, making him realize how his comment sounded. “I mean, I’m sure it’s fine for the trip.”

  “Good. So now that you’ve explained to me how everything I brought is wrong, what am I supposed to do?”

  “I should postpone this trip for a few weeks. Let you get everything in order.”

  She shook her head firmly. “Not going to happen. The wolves are dying as we speak. I need to get in there now if there’s any chance of helping them. I can’t put this off.”

  He nodded. “I figured you’d say that. And I figured you’d bring the wrong gear.”

  “Are you gonna be an ass and laugh at me again?”

  “At the moment, no,” he said, walking over to his truck. He pulled out a bag and tossed it to her. “I may be an ass but I’m not an asshole.”

  She opened the bag and her eyes lit up. “Is this for me?” She pulled out a pale pink rain jacket.

  “Well, I didn’t buy it for me.”

  “Is pink not your color?” she asked, grinning.

  “Not after Labor Day,” he said, shooting her a grin right back. “There’s also a wool jacket for underneath. And a shitload of extra socks. It won’t save your feet completely, but it should help with the worst of it.”

  She clutched the bag to her chest and her dark brown eyes met hi
s. “Thank you, Santiago. Really. This was nice of you.”

  He suddenly felt uncomfortable under her gaze. This woman had him all twisted up inside, making him feel out of sorts. He’d been so worried that Amanda wouldn’t be able to handle this trip. It had never occurred to him that he wouldn’t be able to handle being around Amanda.

  “It’s no big deal,” he said gruffly, hoping she didn’t notice his discomfort.

  “Well, thank you anyway. I didn’t get you anything, but I did bring supplies.”

  “Great, let’s have a look.”

  Amanda led him to the trunk of her car. She opened it and gestured grandly with her hands, like a game show hostess showing off a prize.

  Santiago took one look at the overstuffed trunk and groaned. “Lord, give me strength.”

  ***

  “Oh, come on,” Amanda said. “I know all of these supplies are good.”

  Santiago scratched his chin. “Yeah, they’re great. If we had forty other people coming along with us.”

  She tilted her head and looked down at the almost overflowing amount of supplies. “I may have overdone it a bit.”

  “You may have? How do you expect us to carry all this?”

  “Well, we don’t have to take all of it,” she said.

  “We’re not taking ninety percent of it.”

  “What? Really?”

  Santiago didn’t respond to her. To her surprise, he started grabbing things out of the trunk and threw them in the dirt.

  “Hey,” she protested. “You’re going to mess it all up.”

  “If you can think of a faster way to sort through this mess, I’m all ears. But we gotta get a move on soon. We’re already getting a late start as it is. Night comes awfully early out here. The last thing we want to do is try to make shelter in the dark.”

  She didn’t have any bright ideas so she let him do the sorting. In the end, there were two piles. One tiny and one huge.

  She gestured at the little pile. “I guess that’s all we’re taking.”

  He nodded. “We need to pack light. Every single ounce of gear starts feeling like a pound by the end of the day.”

  “It doesn’t seem like enough food and water.”

  “It’ll be enough,” he said, shooting her a look. “It won’t be fancy steak dinners every night, but it’ll give us the calories we need to survive.”

  “Why do you say it like that? You think I’m only used to fancy dinners?”

  He shrugged with that stoic cowboy expression of his. It was impossible to read. “I just know you’re not used to this.” He turned and pointed at the edge of the woods. “And I know you’re not used to that.”

  She looked at the trees towering above her, ancient and primal. They looked like giant sentinels, guarding the forest. Dark gray clouds loomed above the treetops, threatening rain. In the misty gray light, she realized she couldn’t see very far into the woods.

  Anything could be in there. And the one thing for sure that was waiting for them was a pack of wolves. Wild and untamed.

  All of a sudden, she didn’t feel as excited as she did when she first arrived. Was she really going to just walk in there with a backpack and this stranger? Would she even be able to find the damn wolves? Would she ever walk back out?

  She swallowed those thoughts quickly, before she spooked herself back into the car and away from here. There was important work to be done, and she was the only one who could do it. She had to be brave.

  And if not brave, at least strong enough to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.

  Santiago helped get her hiking pack situated on her back. The damn thing weighed a ton. She staggered a bit as the weight settled on her shoulders and back.

  “You alright?” he asked her, not unkindly.

  His mood seemed to have shifted now that they were about to leave. All traces of humor were gone. His face was stern and his words were quiet.

  “I’m good,” she said, even though she was far from certain about that.

  “Ready to do this?”

  She nodded. “I’m ready.”

  He swept his eyes over her, up and down, like he was sizing her up. Making sure he thought she was ready. His expression was unreadable. She had no idea what he was thinking.

  Finally, he nodded. “Let’s get moving.”

  He walked ahead in a straight line towards the trees. There was no path here. No trail. Just bushes and brush and leaves. She followed, hoping he could see some kind of a path that she couldn’t.

  Then they were through the tree line, swallowed up by shadows. After a few minutes, she looked back towards her car, but it was nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter 3

  Amanda crashed through the undergrowth like a drunk rhinoceros. Her feet seemed to seek out every stray root and fallen branch. Every little crevice in the ground rose up to trip her. If it hadn’t been for sturdy tree trunks to grab on to, she would have fallen on her face more times than she could count.

  Santiago, on the other hand, had no trouble weaving his way through every obstacle. He made it look easy. Effortless. Like he was one with the forest.

  She would have been impressed if she didn’t find it so annoying. Like, I get it, you’re amazing, and I suck at this. Get over yourself already.

  Amanda wondered if this hadn’t been a mistake after all. They’d only been hiking for a few hours, but she was soaked through with sweat and she panted for air. It didn’t help that the air was thick with humidity. So thick it was like breathing through soup.

  It was a promise of rain to come. So far, it had refused to fall. She assumed it would come when it would irritate her the most. Probably when she stopped to pee. Or when Santiago finally allowed her to take a break and rest, which she hoped would be soon.

  Her pack had been heavy when they’d started their adventure, but now it felt a hundred pounds heavier. Her legs and back were tired, aching, and screaming for mercy. But that was nothing compared to the agony of her feet.

  Two things kept her going. The first was the reason she was doing this in the first place. Something was threatening the gray wolf population. They needed help, and she was the only one who could give it to them. It was a noble cause. An important cause. Unlike her second reason for struggling on.

  The second reason was that she wanted to prove to Santiago she could do this. He’d been so adamant that she was unprepared. That she wouldn’t be able to handle the journey. That she was weak.

  There was no way she’d prove him right.

  Amanda wasn’t sure which reason motivated her more, although she had a sneaking suspicion her stubborn persistence had more to do with Santiago than the plight of the wolves. Spite might not be the noblest of reasons to keep moving, but at this point, she’d take it.

  “How’s it going back there?” Santiago asked. He was about twenty feet ahead of her, standing straight and tall while scouting their surroundings.

  “Doing great,” she called back, trying to sound nonchalant, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the breathlessness of her voice.

  “Good, we’ve still got a couple miles to go before we make camp for the night.”

  Amanda looked up at the scattered patches of sky visible through the treetops. “Really? It looks like it’s already getting dark.”

  He shook his head. “The light is deceiving out here. We’ve got time. As long as we keep moving.”

  Amanda grumbled something rude under her breath. More loudly, she said, “Are you sure it’s not time for a rest? My dogs are barking.”

  “I told you those boots were going to be trouble.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I don’t need another lecture.” She leaned against a tree while she spoke, secretly thrilled that she was getting a rest despite Santiago’s protests. Take that.

  “Fine, but we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. The location you gave me shows that the wolves are a two-day hike to the west.”

  “Yes, and then it’s a two-day hike back. So fo
ur days. But we have provisions for a week. So we’re good.”

  He frowned. “It’s four days getting in and out. But that’s not including the time it takes to find your precious animals.”

  “You just get me there. I’ll find them.”

  “How can you be so sure?” he asked. “This area is big. And they could be on the move as we speak. Or they could sense us coming and high tail it out of here.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you plan to do once you find them?”

  She didn’t mind him asking at all. The longer this conversation went on, the longer she could take a break. “I need to find out what’s killing them.”

  “And those fancy tracking chips you’ve put on them, they don’t tell you what you need to know?”

  She shook her head. “They give us their location, but not their vital signs.”

  “So then how do you know they’re dying?”

  “I don’t, exactly. But once the chips stop showing movement, it’s safe to assume the animal is dead. And a lot of those chips have stopped moving. Too many to be natural causes. My colleagues at the NCC disagree with me, but I’m sure something is decimating their population.”

  Santiago suddenly seemed uneasy. “Like a disease? Like a wolf disease?”

  “That’s my theory, yes. Or some kind of contamination in their food source. I really won’t know until I can get a sample. If it is a disease, I can figure out what it is and see about protecting the rest of the pack from it.”

  “Well, then,” Santiago said thoughtfully. “I guess we better get moving.”

  Amanda pushed off the tree with a groan and forced herself to put one foot in front of the other.

  ***

  When Santiago finally told her it was time to make camp, Amanda all but collapsed onto the ground. Soggy pine needles poked her cheek, but she didn’t give a damn. The feeling of being off her feet was damn near orgasmic.

  “The tent’s not gonna get set up with you lying around like that,” Santiago said.