Chapter Eight
The cabin door shut behind her with a soft thud. The sound was nearly swallowed by the gust of wind. For a moment, Liana hesitated on the front porch of the cabin. Her gloved hands gripped the railing as she took in the swirling whiteness before her. Snow drifted down in a slow hypnotic spiral. She inhaled sharply. The world had been reduced to a blinding blur of silver and gray.
She should go back inside.
She knew that.
But her stomach twisted with a different kind of unease. It wasn’t fear but restlessness.
Guilt.
Eddie had been working all day from the moment she’d woken up. She’d shoveled,chopped wood, fixed a few things out in the yard, getting them ready for whatever was to come. Everything she did appeared to be deliberate and efficient. The woman was capable of taking care of them.
And Liana? What had she been doing while the alpha had been out in the cold working?
She’d cleaned the kitchen. Dusted a house that didn’t have a speck of dust. Straightened up the bathroom and living room. All of which had taken a little over an hour.
Liana wanted to help. To contribute. To matter in this place that wasn’t her world. She just wasn’t used to someone taking care of her. She’d been on her own and providing for herself since she had graduated from college. Her parents had raised her to be self-sufficient. So to have someone literally do everything for her—drove her crazy.
Her gaze turned toward the direction of the buried road. Somewhere down that slope, under layers of snow, would be her car waiting for her. Her phone, her tablet, her chargers—everything she owned that connected her to the outside world—was locked inside that vehicle.
What if something happened?
There wasn’t a phone in the cabin. Eddie had said it proudly like it was a badge of honor to be completely disconnected from the world.
No signal. No service. No interruptions.
Apparently, she was determined to take a break from her clan. The beta had been put in charge while she had taken some time away.
But again, what if something happened and they needed help? Liana was even more determined to go after her phone and charger. The wind bit through the scarf she’d borrowed. Due to her dunk in the creek, she was unable to wear her coat. It was still wet. When she’d been going through the cabin, she’d found additional clothing and outwear. Whoever the coat belonged to must be a giant. It practically dwarfed her.
Her boot sank in the drift. The cold nipped at her cheeks immediately.
“I’ll be fine. It’s not that far,” she whispered to herself. She remembered the trek when Eddie had rescued her. They had arrived at the cabin in no time. She blew out a deep breath that puffed into the air as a white cloud. The snow was deeper than she’d thought. She took another step, and this time she sank down to her knees.Each step was work. It was a battle between her stubbornness and the snow.
Eddie’s warning replayed in her mind.
That road is probably covered under a good three feet of snow. You’re not getting near that car without a snowmobile.
But Liana had grown up in Colorado winters. She wasn’t some delicate flower. She could handle a ton of snow.
Right?
She kept her focus on the faint line of dark pines ahead, her guess at the direction of where the street was located. The wind howled and threw some snow against her. The first flicker of doubt that entered her mind was when she glanced back. The cabin was gone, swallowed by the flurries of snow. There was only whiteness behind her.
Her stomach dropped.
Okay…maybe it’s a little farther than I thought, she told herself. She forced her legs to continue moving. She tried to go faster, but with the amount of snow she was trudging through, she was probably going the same speed, if not slower.
“Just a bit more. I’m sure I’ll see the car any second now,” she muttered.
A few more minutes or maybe an hour passed.
Nothing.
She didn’t see anything but snow. Endless, swirling snow.
The cold had definitely set into her. She didn’t feel any pain anymore when it came to her ankle. The throbbing she had been used to feeling had dulled until she could barely feel it. She tried to convince herself that it was a good thing. Maybe she was getting used to the cold.