“The roads are going to be bad,” Forest says, pulling off his hoodie and kicking off his boots. “We should all go as our wolves.”
“Agreed,” I say, as we make our way out back, the three of us stripping off.
When we all shift and are ready to go. Flint leads the way, since he’s the one who caught the scent. He’ll know best what he’s looking for, but I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to track it in this weather.
Giant flakes of snow the size of golf balls are coming down in heaps. It’s as if the clouds have fallen over our small town and we are being covered. From what I can see through the thick trees, there’s already three feet of snow on some of the main roads. We run through the woods, sticking to the trails as we approach the back of the town bakery. For a moment I’m confused, but Flint creeps around to the front of the building slowly, keeping his legs low.
I’m worried that he’s going to get caught in his wolf form, but the storm is bad enough that any remaining tourists have long gone.
Forest and I stay back as he walks over to the parking area and does a few circles. His ears move and then he walks over to the small table and chairs under the awning of the shop. Those don’t have any snow on them and he moves over each one, scenting them.
My wolf is anxious, watching him with bated breath, when suddenly Flint’s body tenses and he takes off.
Forest is hot on his heels before I can blink, and then I’m bringing up the rear. I don’t know how Flint knows where to go in this weather, but he does. I feel a warmth in my chest as we run as one, somehow our wolves bonding even tighter.
It’s a strange sensation, but I try not to think about it, instead focusing on helping Flint. If his mate is out here, we’ll find her.
We wind through the trees of the forest, the snow making everything quiet. After a few milestones, Flint stops abruptly, and Forest and I come up beside him. We stare down a side road that’s off the main highway. It’s not traveled much because it’s a back way to Dominic and Ruby’s house. I don’t think they even use it because there’s a better entrance that’s closer to their house a mile or so down the road. But looking at this narrow road in the woods, there are fresh tire tracks that are rapidly being covered in snow. Night has almost fallen, so it makes it impossible to see all the way down the stretch of road. Forest nods in the direction of Dom and Ruby’s house, and we all follow.
Up ahead I hear the sounds of what might be someone crying. I stop and turn my ears, my wolf on high alert. My brothers do the same and we look around. I spot something on the side of the road in the distance—it might be a car. The bank of snow is huge, but it could be under it.
Slowly we all walk over to where the noise is coming from. As we get closer, I can see it’s a small car that’s gone off the road and into a ditch and has since been covered by snow. Having a white car in this weather is dangerous, and if we hadn’t been out here whoever it is may have remained stuck.
The three of us shift and look at one another before we go down to the car.
“I hope they’re shifter. Otherwise three naked guys in a snow storm is going to cause a lot of problems,” Forest says as we go to the side of the car and dig away some of the snow around the driver’s side window.
When the window is clear, a small blonde that I’ve never seen in town before looks at us. For a second I think she’s going to freak out, but then there’s relief and a smile on her face. She must recognize we’re not fully human.
“Sit back and we’ll dig your door out. We’ll get you out of there,” Flint says, and she smiles at him, nodding.
She’s so small, but she’s utterly beautiful. Her white-blonde curls frame her face and her giant blue eyes look at us with so much hope and trust. I feel an immense need to pull her out of the car with my bare hands and hold her to my chest.
Sure, I’ve found shifter women nice looking before, but always at a casual glance. I never cared for them if they weren’t my mate, and it’s not like our cocks can get hard without them being the one. So, what was the point? But now as I stare at her, this small woman is stirring something inside me that I didn’t know was there.
I blink a few times, realizing that I’m not doing anything to help get her out, so I dig with my brothers. It doesn’t take long before her car door is uncovered and she pulls on the handle to open it.
She pushes it open, and I inhale. In an instant, the warm smell of home fills my lungs and I know then why she’s different.
“MINE!” I growl at the same time as my brothers.