by Erin Kelly
~*~
She woke up before he did, before the sun rose and the dark night sky remained dominant above them, quiet and speckled with twinkling stars between thin stretches of lingering clouds. Careful not to wake Korban from his slumber, she gently pulled away from the warm nest of his arms. She was restless, but that didn’t mean he had to give up his sleep on her account. She tiptoed towards the door and stepped outside. The air was fresh but damp, the passing storm rinsing the old to give way to the new.
Somehow they’d made it so far, together. She sat down on the stoop and let the cool air wash over her, the after rain scent poured in to replace the stagnant, stale air inside the camper.
A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. The memories were returning and more solid now. The way Nikki sneered at her, for surviving all her malicious schemes. Her sister’s betrayal. Her husband… and her sister. The two people she loved and trusted had been having an affair. Nikki had decided she wanted Sophie out of the picture permanently. The whole idea made her sick to her stomach. Pain didn’t begin to describe what she felt, the deepest heartache she’d ever experienced wracking through her.
Lucas and Nikki. Nikki and Lucas.
When they returned home she could confront Lucas about the whole ordeal. As for her sister…
Fire, smoke, blood. Tires squealing and the sound of twisting metal. Nikki…
Could she have survived such an awful wreck? Even though she had put her through hell, the thought of her sister dying like that… it made her even more heart sick.
You can’t focus on that now, Sophie. She chastised herself as she stood up. She carefully closed the door, left it open slightly ajar and walked around the clearing for a moment. Moving around the yard already made her feel a tiny bit better. Their basic needs of food and shelter now set; of course these feelings would find a way to come crashing through. She had to face the fact that the two people she loved most had betrayed her. How deeply involved Lucas was in her sister’s scheme was still unclear, but when they returned home she was going to the police, and then…
Then she would endure the fallout, come what may.
We are survivors.
Korban’s words gave her some comfort even as he lightly snored in the camper. A small smile tugged the corner of her mouth, only to widen when her eyes fall upon something she’d overlooked before. A clue as to where they’d ended up in the wilderness.
So excited by this discovery, an idea bubbled up from the back of her mind and she quietly crept back into the camper. It was so simple, she felt silly for overlooking it before. Sure enough, she found another hint to their location by rummaging through a small waste basket that contained crinkled up papers in it. She is elated by the discovery but stopped herself from disturbing Korban’s sleep. While the clues she had found didn’t pinpoint their exact location, it at least gave them a starting point. She wouldn’t wake him just yet, and instead she busied herself by preparing a breakfast for them that was more substantial than wild berries.
Sophie heated a can of corned beef hash over the charcoal grill outside. She divided the contents of the can in half, saving some for Korban, but before she took her first bite the door to the camper opened up, and sniffing the air he stumbled out, his hair still disheveled from sleep.
“Sorry, I should have known the smell would wake you up, even out here,” Sophie apologized but he simply smiled and shrugged.
“Pops used to say if you ain’t getting up for breakfast, then you ain’t getting anything,” he walked over and licked his lips. “That smells amazing.”
Sophie smirked. “I know my way around a can opener,” she said, then added as she used the spatula to serve from the frying pan, “I found some clues as to where we ended up.”
“Breakfast with good news? You are continuing to impress me, as always,” Korban took the plate she offered him, but seemed more eager to hear what she had to say.
She doesn’t keep him in suspense, instead she gestured to the camper itself. “The license plate is a bit rusted, but we’re still in New York. I dug up an old grocery receipt inside just in case, but it seems we are still in our home state at least. Possibly near a small town called Haskell.”
“So we made it up to the Adirondacks, I think,” Korban glanced around in amazement. “Maybe we can hike and find a road. There must be one close by for this camper to end up here.”
Sophie nodded and took a few bites before she spoke again. “What do you think may happen when we return to Syracuse, back to civilization again?”
Korban chewed thoughtfully then swallowed. “They may have us put into quarantine for a little while again… for questioning, and to make sure we are stable for the outside again.” She noticed how the color seemed to drain from him at this and she reached to him, put her hand over his. “I am hoping that Officer McKinnon will have our backs, and I’m sure Tim will, but even if he does that won’t guarantee that we won’t spend some time locked up. Tested on.”
He shuddered and she squeezed his hand. The acrid scent of fear tinged his forest-like smell as painful memories resurfaced. “We’ll think of something,” she reassured him then squeezed his hand tighter. “We don’t have to head back right this moment. Soon, but not now… maybe we could stay here until the next full moon. Have one last run together out here in the wild. Then we can go home. Together.”
Korban looked uncertain, but after a moment he relaxed, looking relieved. “We haven’t smelled any humans around here for miles, and it’s early in the camping season, I think, so it is possible… it would be nice.” He smiled. “Do you remember anything from when we were wolves?”
“Just small bits and pieces,” she said, remembering fuzzy pictures like an out of focus clip show. “Better than the first time, when it was all a blank. What about you?”
“I remember a lot, but it’s like… watching a movie with subtitles. I remember what I saw but I don’t understand all of it, it was from the wolf’s point of view. Otherwise maybe I would know something to help pinpoint where we ended up. Luckily you put the clues together and we now have some idea as to where we are.” He slid his hand over hers, their fingers intertwining. “I’m lucky to be lost in the wilderness with such a smart lady.”
She smiled at his compliment and they finished breakfast. One can of hash wasn’t nearly enough to completely halt the wolf’s hunger, but it did keep it at bay for now. Their human sensibility had to ration what they did have until they were literally out of the woods. “Why don’t we go for a walk and see if we can find the road? We can try a new direction each day, until we find it,” Sophie suggested and he nodded in agreement.
“Good plan,” he said and took her empty plate. “Maybe we can find some fresh water again too. Somewhere we can refill our water reserves.”
She nodded in agreement. He cleaned up their plates and she pulled out a couple pairs of men’s sandals for them to walk in. “I wonder who he is, the man who owns these, and this camper,” Sophie mused as they walk along the direction she’d picked.
“Someone very practical, thankfully,” Korban glanced around, his senses on high alert. “We’ll have to figure out a way to thank him somehow. Hopefully he understands the bind we are in and doesn’t charge us with… well, I guess not so much breaking in, but entering his camper.”
“Maybe we can replace everything we use, make it up to them. If I’m able to maybe I can find a way to repay them somehow,” she stepped carefully over a fallen log and sniffed the air for clues, any hint of a road or passing vehicle- exhaust, cement, rubber or asphalt. “I smell water this way. At least we aren’t too far from a source.”
Korban gave her an impressed smile. “It seems like you have a stronger sense of smell than I do.”
She smirked and gave him a playful look. “I’m probably faster, too,” he raised an eyebrow and she merely winked to him. “Race you there.”
“Really?” he asked her, to which her grin widened.
“Last one there doe
s dishes for the week!” Then she bolted, causing him to exclaim from behind her, “Hey!”
The two raced through the forest, until the trees gave way to a clearing that revealed a breathtaking sight- an expanse of muddy, rocky shore yielding to a clear, shimmering lake that mirrored the morning colors of the sky above. A small wooden pier stretched from the edge of the muddy banks and went several yards out into the lake. Sophie heard Korban as he sprinted to catch up with her, and she stepped out onto the dock carefully. The wood is worn and weathered but sturdy. She heard Korban halt as he took a sharp breath and knew he was moved by the sight as much she was. She glanced over her shoulder at him and gave him a smug and victorious look. “I’ll have time to do some fishing while you take care of the dishes.”
“Not fair, I demand a rematch,” Korban chuckled breathlessly and joined her out on the dock. “This is… incredible. No wonder the camper is so off the grid.”
“It is the perfect get away,” Sophie gazed out over the lake, which was teeming with life in its fresh water.
She stepped further out on the pier and something came over her. She looked to Korban, then pulled her shirt- rather the borrowed man’s shirt- over her head, then dropped it onto the ground before removing the loaned sweatpants and let them pool into a pile before she stepped to the edge of the dock, took a deep breath, then jumped in.
The water was freezing. She gasped out as she resurfaced and goose bumps broke out over her skin. She glanced back in time to see Korban shed away his own borrowed clothes then do a cannonball into the lake, splashing her with a wave of cold water as he landed. He emerged, sputtering and teeth chattering. “WHOA that’s c-cold!”
She laughed and gave him a playful splash, which caused him to laugh and retaliate with another splash. They spend the morning splashing and swimming together and for the first time in a long while Sophie felt truly care-free.
~*~
The next few days they searched and explored in several directions, but had not found the road that may guide them home. Each day that passed seemed a little easier, though she dreaded the morning they would find asphalt and road signs that would lead them from this wooded sanctuary and point them back home. Away from this slice of paradise that made their problems seem so far away.
Since they found the lake, fresh fish was now a part of the dinner menu. Using a fishing pole they found and proving she was no slouch, Sophie showed Korban a few tricks she knew from her summers in Girl Scouts and time on her grandfather’s boat. After they hiked to seek out the road they would spend the afternoon hours out at the lake, swimming and fishing. They spent moments together in silence at times, and others were filled with laughter. They grew closer, Korban opening up to her as she did to him. She learned so much about his past as they lay out on the dock and talked. He shared much about his history as they watched the sun crawl across a blue, endless sky.
“My mother would have really liked it here. She loved nature. She would have liked you, too. She was always hard working and told me never to settle for someone who wasn’t willing to work, too,” Korban’s yellow eyes had a faraway look as he reminisced.
Sophie turned to him, hesitant at first, but then she gently asked, “What about your father?”
He blinked at her question, an uncomfortable look briefly crossed over him, then a hard neutral expression. “What about him?”
“Well, you never really have mentioned him before,” Sophie said as she reached and took his hand. She could feel the tension singing from his body. “I was wondering why.”
He took a deep breath and kept his gaze up on the sky. At first she wondered if he had shut her out, that she crossed a line by asking this taboo topic. She opened her mouth to apologize but he said, “I guess I haven’t really said much about him before. He was never really around for me, so I sort of gave up even talking about him a long time ago.” He paused. “He has never really been a part of my life, so I don’t bring him up.”
She squeezed his hand. “That is his loss. He has no idea what an incredible son he has.”
Korban scoffed at that and shook his head. She flinches at the harsh sound but he turned his gaze to her and his expression softens. “Believe me, if you knew him, you would know that he doesn’t feel that way. He chose career over family before I was born. I’m not worth his time so he isn’t worth mine either. That’s all.”
“Well… he is wrong,” Sophie insisted and caressed his cheek with her hand, evoking a smile from him.
She dropped the subject and he seemed all too happy to say nothing more on it for now.
~*~
After a few days of heavy rain, enough to keep them closed up in the camper, they were both relieved when one evening it stopped. It had been bad enough that they had paused their exploration of the forest, spending their time chatting and searching the camper floor to ceiling for any more clues they had overlooked. Sophie had her head resting in his lap as she was reading a Stephen King novel when the rain slowed, then ceased. An eerie quiet filled the air in the absence of the constant percussion of raindrops pelting the roof.
Korban had been dozing off but the sudden silence sent a jolt through him. “Finally,” he said softly, but it seemed loud in the quiet camper.
She smiled, lowered her book and gazed up to him. “You’ve got cabin fever too, hmm?”
He felt his cheeks warm as he confessed, “Yeah… I’m not a fan of being confined in small spaces. I’m a claustrophobic werewolf.”
She gently chuckled, put a playing card into her book as a bookmark and said, “Well, we’re top of the food chain around here. Why don’t we take our sleeping bag outside if it’s clear enough?”
Sleeping under the stars sounded wonderful after being cooped up for so long. “That sounds good to me.” He got up as Sophie sat up and went to the door. Opening it and peering outside they saw a swollen three-quarter moon glowing in the sky, thin wisps of cloud floating here and there as the storm clouds drifted off into the distance. They gathered up the sleeping bag, blankets and sheets and headed outside into the fresh air.
He spreads the waterproof side down on the ground and together they arranged the blankets and sheets, before they lay down together and stared up into the night sky. As the thin veil of clouds slowly opened like a curtain above them, thousands of stars sparkled and shone against the velvety, deep purple sky. Sophie slid her hand into his and their warm fingers intertwined. He can’t get enough of the sensation and warmth filled him. “I’ll never get over how beautiful it is,” she whispered, stared in wonder. “It makes me wonder what else I have missed, what else I was once blind to in the world.”
He smiled, knowing the feeling all too well. He squeezed her hand while his thumb caressed over her knuckles. “Your eyes were open before. When you and I met that night at Howl at the Moon. You were the first woman who didn’t flee at first sight when you saw my eyes.”
She looked at him with a small smirk. “Maybe because of your suave pick up line.”
He groaned. “That was definitely not my finest moment.”
She laughed and turned to her side, her warm, soft body pressing against him. “Oh, I don’t know. I think you made up for it with your rendition of Billy Joel’s ‘Uptown Girl’. Even if it was Alex’s prank.”
He blushed despite himself, which only evoked another laugh from Sophie, and before he could respond she leaned in closer and her warm lips pressed against his. She pulled away after a long moment, her green and gold eyes locked with his.
His heart raced and the primal look she gave him was both familiar and new. Her lips locked with his and she tasted him, again and again, and he is all too happy to be her captive for the moment, and for the night.
~*~
His mouth was warm and fit perfectly against hers. She heard his heartbeat speed up and her hand moved to his chest. Beneath his ribs his heart fluttered like a caged bird. She pinned him to the sleeping bag as their kiss deepened. When their lips parted she inhaled his scen
t, which had taken a sweeter, intoxicating fragrance as he was turned on by her. Something about it only aroused her even more, being able to sense just how badly he wanted her. No, needed her.
She climbed into his lap, straddled him and kissed him. She hadn’t felt this amorous with anyone since she was a teenager, and yet it was so much more than lust driven by hormones. Sophie moaned against his mouth, and a new fire was suddenly lit within her, an ache and burn that came from deep inside, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
When they pulled away breathless from one another, she didn’t let him get too far away. Their eyes were locked together, his lips inches from hers, his breath curled with hers. She knew what she wanted, and judging from his scent and the hardened bump beneath her Korban wanted it too. She reached up and caressed his cheek as he leaned into her touch. “I want you,” he said softly.
Never had those words touched her so deeply. There was only one thing to say in response to that. Perhaps two, but she blurted, “Show me.”
He gave a soft growl as he leaned in, captured her lips once more with his own. When he pulled away this time his voice was lower, hungry with desire. “Sophie…” The way he said her name sent a thrill through her body.
She bent down and kissed him again, before she slid her hands over his own and guided them up her thighs, resting his warm, strong hands at her hips. She kept her eyes locked on his as she peeled her borrowed t-shirt up over her head. His cheeks darkened and his breath hitched. She dropped the shirt somewhere behind her and guided his hands again. His warm fingers slid up her sides before bringing them to rest over her breasts. Her nipples hardened against his palms and she moaned softly, “Korban… touch me, taste me…” She felt him grow harder beneath her and she rocked her hips against him in encouragement, which evoked another lustful moan from him.
