We followed the curves of the road after we left the highway, going further and further into the woods with every twist and turn.

“This place is really out here, isn’t it?” Jessica asked, peering out the passenger side window at all the pine, spruce, fir, and aspen.

“Yeah,” I replied. “No reception at all. We have to keep an old school radio up here for winter as a just-in-case kind of thing.”

“Wild animals?”

“Oh, yeah. Around hunting season this place gets pretty loud with the number of hunters coming up for the elk and deer. Other than that, though, it’s quiet.”

“Wolves?” she asked. “I heard something about them introducing wolves to the area.”

Uncomfortable with how close to hope that question was, I shifted in my seat as we made another bend and continued our ascent. “Not really,” I lied. How could I tell her the truth?

After that, we lapsed into a friendly silence as we finished the drive. There wasn't anything disconcerting about the quiet as we just soaked in the forest like two old friends. The land here has a majesty to it, a presence that impresses on you how tiny of a speck you are in the universe. Even down in Enchanted Rock, with the mountains surrounding and dwarfing everything, a person could forget this fact. Here, though, as we slowly trekked deeper into the woods, you were eloquently reminded of that.

The mountain valley stretched out behind us, and the mountains towered around us. Pines stretched as far as the eye could see, split only by a tiny silver sliver of highway as it cut its way through the valley. This was as close to wild country as you got, and it sang to my soul in a way that no other place ever had.

Soon after, we pulled up at the safe house, a three bedroom cabin Peter and I had purchased on the cheap from one of our early clients when we set up Frost Security. The woman hadn’t wanted the hassle of renovating, and we knew we’d need a safe place for the pack. Besides, where would we put any clients we picked up along the way, like Jessica, that might be in need? With the help of YouTube and some blogs, we spent our weekends fixing the place up and making it livable again.

Yes, even shifters used YouTube.

Frank’s silver Mustang sat parked in front, and the screen door hung open.

“This is it, huh?” Jessica asked, smiling as she looked around the little homestead.

“Don’t like it?” I asked, strangely a little nervous.

“No,” she replied, “not that. It’s just, well, this is even more real all of a sudden. I’m going to be in a safe house for the next three days, at least.”

I nodded. “At least you’ll have company, though, right?”

She smiled a little as she opened the passenger door. “I guess there’s that.”

We piled out of the Jeep as Frank came out onto the porch. I slung my rucksack over my shoulder and we headed up to meet him.

“Made good time, buddy,” Frank said as we stomped up onto the porch and I held open the screen door for Jess to head past me. “And the Genny’s already going, too.”

She walked inside and did a quick look-around, nodding approvingly.

The place was rustic, to put it politely. A comfortable couch, a small table for eating, a couple of comfortable chairs, and a giant rug to tie it all together. A flat screen television was mounted on one wall, but I couldn’t recall the last time it had been turned on. Sure, we had a satellite dish out back and everything, but it still saw little use. Built-in bookshelves covered the interior wall of the room, and we’d stocked it with a combination of the classics, old history books, and newer titles. Everything from Kipling to Joyce to Rowling. Most people forgot to bring anything to read when they were afraid for their lives and, besides, Peter would rather thumb through a book than play cards or watch TV. Of course, we had cards, dominoes, and a dozen other board games. Long nights in the dead of winter were better with a little entertainment.

The full kitchen opened into the living room, with a little island for food prep sitting on the border between the two. During the winter, you wanted the heat from the oven to help with the rest of the house. Hell, on some summer nights up here it was still a good idea.

On the same wall as the bookshelves, a door led into a hallway that snaked around back to the front, connecting the three bedrooms and one bath.

“Didn’t have much choice,” Jessica admitted to Frank as she dropped her bag on the couch and had a little stretch from her hour and a half or so in the car, riding her shirt up a little in front so we could see her midriff. “Richard said we needed to get out of there.”

My pack mate looked away as she stretched, and shifted his eyes to mine. Something in his eyes told me he wanted to look just as much as me, but knew it would be wrong. “Normal week’s worth of provisions in the kitchen. Meat, fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs. May have to thaw some of the meat, but shouldn’t have to come down from the mountain for a while. Y’all be right as rain, I figure.”

Jessica’s eyes went wide. “A week? A whole week?”

I raised a hand before Frank could. “It’s just a precaution. I don’t expect any more than a few days, at most. But we prepare for a week at a time to minimize trips back and forth.”

Frank nodded in agreement and continued. “We have enough canned veggies to wait out Armageddon, and beans, rice, pasta—whatever’s needed is stocked as well. Anything else?”

“Fuel?”

He nodded. “Got enough. Need to catch up on the wood, though. Know how Peter gets if there’s not a whole chord before winter. You should probably chop some, given a chance and some boredom.”

“Well, there’s nothing else to do up here, is there?”

“Hiking in the woods,” Jessica offered.

I nodded. “Trails are tough, but you might like them. Mostly uphill.”

“Alright,” Frank said finally, “I’m heading back down. Radio’s working if there’s anything y’all need, okay?”

“Why not just call?” Jessica asked.

“Cells don’t reach, remember?” I replied. “Not unless you have a satellite phone, that is. Out here we’re about as off the grid as you’re going to get.”

She nodded. “Got it.”

Frank turned to leave, but stopped in his tracks and looked back to me. “Head out with me to the car, buddy?”

I thought it was odd, but shrugged and went along with him anyways. I stopped at the screen door and turned back to Jessica. “Pick out whichever room you want, I’ll take one of the others. I’m not picky.”

“Sure,” she replied. She grabbed her bag and headed down the hallway to the bedrooms.

I joined Frank on the porch and stepped down, heading out to his old Mustang with him.

He stopped next to his car and leaned back against it. “Found the one, huh, buddy? Found your mate?”

I was immediately taken aback by his words, all the sense knocked from my head. “My mate?” I sputtered. “What? Excuse me?”

He laughed dryly, shook his head. “Frost not say anything about it? Assuming he knew since he was in town to see the client.”

I rounded back to my original question and leaned in closer, more intently. “My mate?”

I wasn’t raised by shifters, not really. My father was one, but he’d left his pack because they wouldn’t let him be with a non-shifter. Said it was immoral, that it contaminated the bloodline. I wasn’t old enough to understand when he died in the car accident, and he never told me to my face. Instead, my mother gave me a letter when I came of age, telling me about my lineage. It didn’t have much else in it, other than that I was a shifter, and there were others like me in the world. Mom told me he wanted me to be my own man, not wound up in the old world’s ideas of what I should be.

Frank clapped me on the shoulder, leaned in close, and looked me in the eye. “Your mate. The person you’re meant to be with. You can smell her, can’t you?”

I nodded, my eyes intently returning his gaze.

He squeezed my shoulder and gave me a rare smile. “My uncles always said it had been the most unique smell in the whole world for them, that they’d never been able to get it out of their minds or noses. Ain’t shit else like it, buddy, and I’m glad you found her.”

This was probably only the third or fourth time I’d heard Frank discuss his past before the military or his job after the service as a private bodyguard in South America. Most soldiers, they came back from the war not willing to discuss anything that happened over there. Frank, though, Frank was different in that regard. He was an open book on most things except for his childhood.

“How could you tell? I mean, about me?”

“You,” he said, chuckling. “There was just something different about you when I got back from Denver, then I saw what it was on the side of the road. Know how we all changed after the service, how we can all spot other guys that have seen combat? It’s like that.”

I shook my head. “This is just unbelievable. People don’t—we don’t mate like that. People don’t–”

“We ain’t people, Richard,” Frank said, cutting me off. “Shifter blood, remember? Turn into a fucking wolf at night, and only silver can kill us. Think we’re the same as humans? Think the same rules apply? That’s just crazy to think that. You’re a wolf, not a man.”

Things made more sense now. The way I was drawn to Jessica Long, the way I felt about her, the way her smell had hit me like a hurricane the first moment I’d been in the room with her. But it was still crazy, wasn’t it? To think that some person was destined for me like this? I stepped back a little. “What if—what if she doesn’t return, you know, my feelings?”

He threw back his head and roared with laughter. “I saw the way you were holding each other when I drove up earlier. You’re a fucking idiot if you’re worried. She can’t keep her eyes off you when you’re around.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Think so?” His words made my confidence level go up from zero perecent to one.

“Know so,” he said, pressing a finger to the side of his nose. “My eyes may deceive me, but this nose don’t lie. So just admit it.”

I shook my head in disbelief and sighed, looking back up to the cabin. “You’re right,” I finally said, “I can’t get her out of my mind. She’s just, God, she’s just beautiful and funny and sweet and strong–”

He took his hand off my shoulder. “Keep it to yourself, buddy. Not all of us are so lucky, if you catch my drift. I just didn’t know if Peter had told you or not, and I wanted to congratulate you on finding her, that’s all.”

I turned back to him, wincing a little as I realized how he might feel like I was gloating or lording it over his head “Sorry,” I said apologetically. “I wasn’t thinking, man.”

He shrugged, held up a hand. “Forget about it. No offense taken. Now, though, we need to make sure Jessica’s safe. Need to focus on that. Agreed?”

I nodded. “Agreed. I need you to speak to Sheriff Peak when you get back into town. I would have done it myself, but I wanted her safe and out of harm’s way first. Tell him what happened on the road, best as you can, and about how we think the Skull and Bones MC are involved. Lacy’s got a dossier on them put together if you need some more information. Sooner he can get involved, I think, the better off we’ll be. Maybe he can even make an arrest in the case.”

Frank nodded again as he got into his car. “I’ll call Lacy soon as I have reception.”

“Good,” I said, stepping away from the car. “Any problems, get in touch Peter. He should be back in town soon, but you should be able to reach him by phone if there are any issues or questions.”

“Will do,” he replied before climbing in and shutting the door. As he started up the engine, I turned to leave. “Hey, Murdoch” he called as I walked away.

I spun around to face Frank. “Yeah?”

“You only get one mate for life,” he said. “Keep her safe, and don’t let anything happen to her.”

I nodded. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

He nodded and pulled out of the little drive, turned the wheels on his old, previously pristine Mustang, and headed back down the mountain towards Enchanted Rock.

I watched him as he navigated the mountain road for the next minute or so, his car shifted into a low gear as he took the decline.

My mate, huh? That’s what Jessica was? Was this how my parents had felt about each other? Like they were being pulled together by destiny, drawn to one another despite traditions of my dad’s pack? Had the feelings been so strong that he’d defied them entirely? I shook my head, still in disbelief about what Frank had told me.

Jess and I, we had the next few days together. Alone. And Frank seemed to think she shared my feelings, at least partially. I kicked a loose roc, sending it flying off into the grass and undergrowth beneath a stand of nearby pine trees, and headed back up into the cabin. I still had some wood to chop, but first I needed to see how Jessica was settling in.

I hoped Frank was right about her. If he wasn’t, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Not with the job, of course. My dedication to the mission, and to perform it fully, wasn’t even in question. What was in question, though, was how I’d go through everything else when this was all said and done. If I couldn’t have Jessica, I guess I’d muddle through somehow. I would have no choice.