Alpha's Embrace 1(2)

“Bit tricky isn’t it?” she laughed at the couple.



“Tricky but so much fun. It’s okay for my boyfriend here, he can ski,” the girl replied pointing toward the guy trying to help her to her feet.



Lyanne took her other arm and between them, they got her upright once more.



“Hey thanks,” her boyfriend said smiling at Lyanne. He had a kind face and was obviously very relaxed with his girlfriend. They were having fun and didn’t care what other people thought. Lyanne envied the girl as she made her way after Nathan.



Nathan turned to look back at the couple and scoffed, “I doubt she’ll ever learn to ski.”



Nathan was so insensitive at times and this angered Lyanne, but she wanted to try and enjoy the vacation so she pushed the thought away. Lyanne knew Nathan had his faults and just accepted that part of being in a relationship was accepting your partner’s faults and inadequacies, so she simply kept quiet and followed him to the snowmobile.



It was a lovely looking vehicle and Lyanne could see the words ‘Arctic Cat’ emblazoned along the side of it. She was looking forward to not walking anymore and assumed Nathan knew how to drive it. She followed his lead and leant against the snowmobile to remove her skis, there were clips on the sides of it for their skis to sit in. Lyanne was so relieved to get them off and clipped them in place.



Lyanne had ridden motorbikes before and this didn’t look a lot different to her. She held on to the rail behind her, as she’d done on numerous motorbikes before and Nathan started it up.



“Shouldn’t we have helmets?” she asked.



“We’re not racing so just be cool Lyanne babe,” he shouted back to her.



The snowmobile seemed to be traveling along pretty fast to Lyanne and she held on tighter to the grab rail behind her. Her head was freezing and the cold wind blasted at the soft skin on her face as the snowmobile raced through the forest. Lyanne’s bobble hat didn’t seem to be doing much to keep her head warm so she buried her head down in her warm scarf.



She noticed how the light was beginning to fade and was a little concerned about where they were heading. The forest seemed to be growing very dense and there was hardly anyone around, it hadn’t occurred to Lyanne before now about how she was supposed to make it back down without skiing the tree run.



Nathan sped up as they weaved through the trees and Lyanne shut her eyes tightly, she was starting to feel dizzy. Lyanne’s stomach dropped, and she felt as though she were riding a rollercoaster as the snowmobile dipped down and then rose again over the bumpy snowy terrain. Her pulse was racing and Lyanne really didn’t feel that safe. She loosened her hands temporarily to reach for a better grip on the rail and suddenly felt the snowmobile give a sharp jerk downwards and then fly unexpectedly upwards again.



She felt a massive thump and the next thing she knew she was being catapulted through the cold air. The snowmobile had struck a large tree root protruding out of the snowy ground, sending it tumbling down a gradual slope. Lyanne had been thrown clear but Nathan was still on the snowmobile as it somersaulted through the snow. She was dazed. She tried to stand but her ankle and leg hurt too much and gave out. She looked down at her leg and couldn’t see any blood so that was a good start.



“Shit, shit and fucking shit,” she shouted into the wilderness. Seconds later, her voice came floating back to her on an echo.



She reached into her jacket pocket and managed to find her phone, she took one glove off and tried to use it but there was absolutely no signal at all. Lyanne started to panic as she quickly put her glove back on. She couldn’t see the snowmobile or Nathan anywhere. Lyanne scooted back toward a tree and rested her back against it with her legs out in front of her. Amazingly, her hat had stayed on her head so at least she had some warmth from that. The light was disappearing quickly now and Lyanne didn’t even know if she could survive out here alone, she had no survival skills; she couldn’t make fire or anything.



She heard a sound that made her gasp aloud. A blood-curdling howl; it was a low-pitched lonely howl coming from in front of her, a truly soulful howl.



“What the fuck?” Lyanne whispered. She shuddered, firstly at the cold and secondly at the howl. The temperature had dropped considerably now and it was almost dark. If she’d heard the sound at any other time Lyanne would have been impressed, she’d always loved wolves, but right at this moment the sound petrified her. Did wolves attack humans? Was she safe?



As she was contemplating her thoughts a second howl filled the night air, she could tell it was a different wolf as the pitch was remarkably higher than the first howl. This one lasted longer than the first howl. Lyanne buried her head in her scarf, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.