Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret (Leah and Aaron)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The road winds back and forth as we gain elevation. The

mountain is steep enough to ski and it’s heavily wooded. The headlights cast shadows through the

pines and fir.

I’ve never been here before.

I wonder if Aaron has.

He brings the vehicle to the mountain top and parks. “Get out,”

he tells me.

slowly unbuckle my belt. It’s significantly colder here than where we’d been and I didn’t think to bring a

coat. I don’t have my medications. My phone’s about to die.

This is the type of deserted stretch of forest where you’d go hunting for the weekend.

Or where you’d bury a body.

After the things I’ve said tonight, I have to wonder why Aaron has brought me here.

n a battle of strength against this wolf, there would be no novelbin

contest.

2/4

“Come on,” he says quietly. “It’s this way.”

He grabs a big duffel bag from the back of the SUV and then

walks through the dark to the edge of the mountain top.

I can’t see with the same precision he does. And the gold flash

of his wolf’s eyes tells me his night vision is easily ten times better than mine. I let him lead the way.

An owl calls and there’s a low hum of different insects. Gravel

or stones crunch as we walk, so this roadway is maintained in

some way.

Again I want to ask where we’re going and more importantly, why. But this wolf won’t reveal anything

he isn’t ready to and there is no point in arguing over it.

I just have to hope that I’m not walking to my own grave.

That would be the ultimate coup, though, wouldn’t it?

Aaron kills me, pins it on my father or my pack in some way.

Hmm.

I slide on some uneven stretch of ground and in a flash, he has

my arm and he’s holding me in place.

“I, uh, I’m okay.”

He grunts and keeps walking.

3/4

I glance up as the clouds lift, and moonlight floods this area, showing too many stars overhead to count

and a valley below

that’s bisected by a curving stretch of river.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It is,” he agrees.

I hadn’t intended to say that out loud.

Perhaps a mile or so down the trail, there is a flash of reflection. As my eyes adapt more, I see the

straight lines of a cabin, and more glints of the moonlight on glass windows.

“Is that where we’re going?”

Aaron nods and picks up the pace.

He hefts the giant bag a bit higher on his back. There’s a clang and thump, sounds I’d associate with

heavy objects.

I gulp.

Bad Love: An Alpha’s Regret

We make it to the cabin without any incident.

Which probably sounds silly, but it’s a win in my book.

I breathe a deep sigh of relief.

“Worried about falling off the trail?” he asks.

“Amongst other things.”

He snickers.

“Wait here,” he tells me. “Let me check out the place first.”

I’m pretty sure if there was some danger, he would’ve sensed

it already. Also, this is Alpha Aaron Rathborn, there isn’t

anything on this earth that he fears. And I know he isn’t going inside to dust the place or freshen up.

But I dutifully stand outside, shivering and waiting.

After a few minutes, he reappears.