Chapter 10

 My cabin was a bit messy as I wasn’t expecting guests, so Lily and Rand were gracious enough to wait on the porch, while I trotted inside and gathered them up some essentials. My hound dog Tom had returned from his night on the town for his first breakfast of the day and was more than happy to keep the mates company. He lapped up the droopy ear rubs and then rolled over and showed his belly. Tom may have been an Alpha on the streets, but he was a submissive on his home turf. He’d assumed the position for belly rubs and Lily especially was more than happy to comply.

 I had already explained they’d be bunking in a hunting cabin I owned a couple miles into the forest. The cabin had come with the land, and hadn’t been nothing fancy, but it had gotten a facelift not long after Mom started dating my stepbeast when I was seventeen. Back before I’d known that he was a monster in every sense of the word, I’d offered to spend some time out there to give them some privacy. I’d wanted to be a good daughter and support my mom’s new relationship and in those days, Stone had made her happy, and played the part well of perfect boyfriend. Mom was smitten and I had been too at first. By the time the shiny façade had shattered, it was far too late, and Mom and I were already trapped.

Back then, before my life went to hell when I met the devil behind the disguise, the cabin had gotten a few upgrades. A makeshift outdoor shower, a compost toilet, and a generator to run a minifridge and a small air conditioning unit. A new mattress for the twin sized bed, and the small table and two chairs got a fresh coat of paint. It still didn’t have indoor plumbing, but there was a stream only a rock’s throw away, and water could be either boiled on the small propane stove or filtered with a purifying tablet.

It was cozy and had been the perfect reading spot for me. It gave me my first taste of independence. Another first for me in that cabin, had been losing my virginity in that bed. The boy had been dreamy and played on the football team, and though that relationship had barely lasted a summer, those bittersweet memories would last me forever. The only dream I’d allowed myself to live in real life. Brent had moved away for college, and was now in Grad school, but I still crept his social media from time to time. He was engaged and seemed to be doing well for himself. I was happy for him. He was my first love and likely to be my only.

I no longer had any need for forest rendezvous, but I had maintained the cabin, and held out hope that others could find the things I had lost. The things I had never found. So, when Lynn had commented last spring about wanting to do something nice for her boyfriend for his birthday, I’d offered up the place for an extended weekend.  At the diner, she’d always talked about how he was the outdoorsy type and got off on fishing and camping. They had a fantastic time. It was going to be a yearly thing for them now.

Arms loaded with fresh sheets, toiletries, and some snacks, I met Lily and Rand back out on the porch. Tom had his head in her lap, looking up at her with his doe eyes. I snickered as another female had fallen for his charms. A smile upturned Rand’s lips but he didn’t seem jealous his mate was giving another four- legged creature pets.

“He’ll never leave you alone now,” I warned her.

“I don’t mind. He’s sweet.”

I laughed, “Until he howls at four a.m. outside your door wanting to be let in and belly rubs.”

Rand’s grin grew, “Sounds like Tom and I have something in common.”

Lily’s cheeks bloomed. I could tell their mating bond was fresh, just by their ages. Wolves didn’t find a mate until they were at least eighteen. Not that some of them didn’t mess around before then, but true mates weren’t revealed by The Moon until wolfies were of age.  

That was another reason I had chosen to put the mates up in the hunting cabin out in the woods, because I knew what they were likely to get up to, a lot. Not that I judged them or blamed them, but wolves tended to be loud, and insatiable with their sexual appetites. I liked sex, but when I was the one having it.

 I liked my peace and privacy as well. I’d never adopted the blasé attitude of the wolves surrounding nudity or lack of boundaries over things deemed to be natural. I wasn’t raised among wolves seeing folks in their Birthday suits on the daily and not batting an eye. It still made me uncomfortable when their junk was dangling for all the world to see. Well, that wasn’t the total truth when recent events of this early morn had just proved otherwise.

But the cabin was the best solution for all parties involved. It allowed me some space, and gave the mates a taste of freedom, and some solitude so they could fuck like rabbits. I wasn’t jealous, as what was right for Lily, to settle down with a mate, wasn’t right for me. They seemed to make a good pair, and Rand seemed decent for a wolf. Hopefully, that wasn’t just because he was young, and the salt of this Earth hadn’t hardened him yet. Only time would tell.

“Rand! You shouldn’t say things like that…in front of company,” chided Lily.

Though I doubted she had any problems with actually letting her mate in and giving him rubs in all sorts of places.  The beta just shrugged nonchalantly.

“What? It’s natural you know,” then his moss colored eyes landed on me, “sex and physical attraction is nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s the most natural thing in the world.”

Now Lily’s cheeks weren’t the only ones with a reddish glow. It hadn’t been a secret the way my body had responded to the Alphas. But it certainly wasn’t a topic I was open to discussing. Especially with near strangers, and ones not even legal to drink yet.

“Alright, follow me if you please. The cabin will need a bit of airing out. You can sleep with the windows open. But if it gets too hot, just turn on the air conditioning.”

“We should be just fine. We’ll make do. You’ve done more than enough already,” said Rand.

It was the peak of July, but nights often weren’t too bad in these parts. Even the days weren’t unbearable thanks to the mountain. The air was thinner here because of Stonemountain, making it less able to hold in the heat. There was always more moisture in the air. In the winter it also blocked gusts of cold air from the north. Our mountain took care of us.

Lily removed Tom from her lap. The dog grumbled like an old man, but she gave him another ear rub and promised him more to come. She and Rand fell in step with me, hand in hand, as we cut through the woods. It was sweet the way she kept looking up at him when he wasn’t aware she was looking. Stealing glances at him like he was the most beautiful thing she’d ever saw and could hardly believe her lucky stars to have him. Rand watched her too. They were enamored with one another.

Both of them took turns thanking me and expressed their gratitude on our journey within the forest. The night was calm, but my heart was anything but. I kept expecting to catch an unwelcomed scent on the wind, to be surrounded by a snarling wolf pack out for my blood. I was paranoid already, though our only company was the crickets, the bullfrogs, and the wildlife that darted through the underbrush. I could also take my cues from nature, if something got the animals all spooked, I needed to be on high alert, as danger was coming.

“It’s beautiful here. An even better view of the mountain than home,” spoke Lily, pulling me from my troubled thoughts.

"It is," I agreed with a smile, “there’s no place else on Earth like it. And trust me, I’ve been quite a few places in my life. None compare to here.”

“Have you lived here long?” continued Rand.

“Ten years. But this place has felt more like home than any of the others. Mom and I used to spend time here every summer when I was a kid and she fell in love. When the opportunity to buy Mountaintop came, she took it. And we never looked back.”

I was surprised about how candid I was being with them. I was typically a tight-lipped person. Other than being noisy in the bedroom, but that wasn’t the same thing obviously.

“Lil and I were born in these parts. Maybe one day, we’ll get out and see the world,” smiled Rand wistfully.

He wrapped an arm around the she-wolf.

I let out a breath, “You aren’t missing much. The stars are brighter here.”

It wasn’t just sentimental ramblings; I meant every word. Stonemountain was my first true love. And now my home was being threatened. I would die before I let those wolves take me from my home! I would die on this soil, hopefully not for many more years to come. But I wanted my body laid to rest next to mother. She had always hated to be alone.

Once these fertile lands in the shadow of the mountains had turned from my sanctuary, into my prison, but I had liberated myself, and taken back my homeland. And I refused to be put in a cage of any kind ever again.