Mated Girl (Wolf Girl #4)(14)

‘Good. Had an issue with the water tank. It’s cracked, but we got it fixed and morale is high. Everyone loves being outdoors.’
That was a huge relief. I wasn’t sure what I would do if he told me there was a big problem and I had to come home.
‘How’s my mom doing with Creek?’ I tried not to think about my baby, but it was hard, I missed him so damn much it hurt. I felt emotional whenever I thought about him too much, so I just tried to push him from my mind.
‘Great, Willow is helping her, and Creek and Daisy have become best friends.’
I smiled, a tear slipping down my cheek at that.
‘Hunting going okay?’ I switched gears. Twenty thousand people was a lot to feed. We’d brought what dwindling provisions they had from the bunker, but it wouldn’t last long. My magic seemed to have healed the land, but I wasn’t sure how that translated into actual food to feed that many people.
‘We are already smoking elk meat in excess,’ he replied. ‘The blueberry fields are ripe with fruit.’
Another relief.
‘Astra? Is she okay?’
‘Alpha, everything is fine here. Astra is well and walking among the people again. Don’t worry. I’ll contact you if we have a problem. You just focus on bringing your mate back.’
I sighed in relief again. ‘You’re the best. Thank you.’
After that, I met up with Sage and helped her break down the tent. A tent was a luxury compared to what we’d gone through in the Dark Woods. Water treatment tablets, freeze dried food, all the stuff she’d packed was way more than we needed out there.
“Thinking about our time in the woods?” she asked as she shoved the tent into the saddlebag on the horse.
I nodded. “Do you miss it?”
She chuckled. “I do. Is that weird? I mean the woods were constantly trying to kill me, and before I met up with you I was starving half the time, and scared, but then … there was a peace there, ya know? Our little cabin by the creek.”
I bobbed my head. “I know.”
“But let’s not ever go back there.” Sage scrunched her face and I laughed.
A pang of sadness struck through my chest at that: never see the cabin where I birthed Creek again? I guess not, huh? Why would I ever go back there?
“But we could build you and Sawyer a little cabin on the creek in Paladin Village,” Sage offered, probably noticing my sadness.
I beamed. I hadn’t really gotten to explore Paladin Village as much as I’d liked to. I knew there was a creek and so much farmland to explore. I was alpha of a place I hadn’t really spent much time in.
“I’d like that,” I told her, my bottom lip trembling as I suddenly became emotional.
“Hey.” Sage gripped my shoulders. “We’re going to get Sawyer back. I promise.”
I nodded, wiping my cheek. Now that I’d envisioned a house on the creek with Sawyer and our son, I didn’t want to give that future up.
“Now, let’s go steal a horse buggy,” I said, and we both burst into laughter.
Sage grinned. “So many things I never thought we would casually say.”
With our mood lightened, we walked our horses over to the thick trees behind the barn and tied them up. Then we hiked up to the back door and around the side to a large storage shed that Marmal had told us held the wagons.
“Time to walk through a wall,” I told Sage as we ducked behind the storage shed. I could hear two men talking at the front, so I was going to send my wolf in first.
I pulled off my cuffs for two seconds and my wolf jumped out of my body and through the wall like it was no big deal, then I slipped the cuffs back on quickly. Shifting my awareness to hers, I was suddenly looking at a giant storehouse of animal saddles, bridles, cages, and carts and wagons of varying size. This was exactly what we needed! The giant front double doors were wide open, but two men were standing there talking loudly and clearly hadn’t smelled or heard my wolf.
The two men were very large. We were going to need a small distraction to lure them away, not one that would tip them off that we were about to ambush the place but enough to make them run off into the woods for a few minutes so I could get the wagon out.
I wished I could mentally talk to Sage in human form. It was annoying to have to whisper as a human and try not to be heard.
“Get ready to run with the wagon,” I nearly mouthed, trying to speak as low as possible to her as she stood beside me. She nodded and I blinked back to my wolf’s awareness.
She already knew the plan, since we shared the same mind.
‘Be safe,’ I told her.
‘I’m faster than them,’ she replied.
My wolf totally had an ego. Or I did, I guess. Great.
Without wasting another second, my wolf solidified and slammed into a nearby cage to make it rattle. Both men stopped talking and spun, just as she darted out of the barn between their legs.
“Oy! A wolf got loose from the barn!” one of the men said and took off running after her.
The second man stayed where he was, watching the scene unfold. My wolf pounded the ground as fast as she could, and it was clear the one dude wasn’t going to be able to catch up with her.
Come on, go help your buddy, I thought.
“That damn troll woman is useless!” the second man growled, slamming the double doors of the shed shut and taking off into the woods.
“Let’s go!” I whisper-screamed to Sage, and pulled my attention fully to my human form. We burst around the front of the storage shed and yanked the doors back, running inside. We needed something big, big enough to carry Pearl and us and not break our horses’ backs.