If I could find a sharp stone, I could cut away enough of my clothing to get out of here.
But I’d managed to fall into the only ravine in existence solely populated by round, smooth rocks.
‘I hate you,’ I said to a perfectly oval stone. One of hundreds scattered around me.
I tried making my own jagged rock by sanding one down against the huge boulder above me, but after long minutes of awkwardly angled rubbing, I lowered my hand and discoveredthat all I’d managed to do was to make one side of the rock even smoother than before.
‘Gah.’ I threw it away. Albert opened his eyes blearily, but on ascertaining I was still having a chill-out under a huge-arse rock, he settled in for part two of his nap.
‘Callum!’ I shouted, my voice bouncing back at me. I had to hope sound could escape this ravine, even if I couldn’t. ‘Callum! I’ve fallen down a valley and I’m trapped under a stupid boulder!’
I shouted a few more times, until Albert huffed and trotted off to snooze elsewhere. It was lonely without him around. Despite his clear disinterest in helping me, at least I hadn’t been trapped alone.
I listened out for any sign that Callum might have heard me across the mountains, but there was nothing. I tried to remember where he’d said he was headed today. Unfortunately, all my brain had been able to focus on while in his presence this morning was the helpless noises he’d made as I’d humped into him when we’d woken up, both of us lazy with sleep.
Time passed strangely in the ravine. I got hungry around when I assumed lunchtime was, but the growling ache died away as the sun set. There was enough light that I could see my tears as they hit the ground beneath me.
Although I’d known death would find me in some ridiculous way, I hadn’t wanted it to be any time soon. I’d hoped I’d be carried off by an eagle or impaled on a particularly hardy breadstick when old and grey.
I didn’t know how long it would take to be found. Callum had rooted me out easily enough when I got lost in the snowstorm, but he’d had a vague idea of where I might be. I didn’tthink he listened this morning when I told him where I was headed. The way he’d kissed me before we went our separate ways suggested he only had one thing on his mind.
‘Sex and a boulder have killed me,’ I sobbed.
I had limited options for mopping up my tears and snot. I’d settled for pulling my jumper over my hands and blowing my nose on my sleeves, when—summoned by the law of the universe that he must witness all my most pathetic moments—Callum arrived.
CHAPTER THIRTY
CALLUM
The sky filled with deep oranges and pinks as the sun set. Despite the picturesque setting, I knew something was wrong as soon as I got back to the cabin. We left Tim inside when we headed out on longer treks across the mountains, but the other goat accompanied Aster everywhere.
The over-friendly goat skittered around outside the cabin. Alone.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the scents swirling around me. Pushing past the smells in the cabin and the pungent goat aroma across the mountains, I attempted to zero in Aster’s changeable scent. I was momentarily distracted by the sting of pain around my family home, but it was easier than ever before to brush past it.
Aster’s scent lingered across the whole island, winding in criss-crossing patterns where he’d walked day after day between his examination squares.
My eyes snapped open when a bubble of panic tickledmy nose. I looked down at the goat headbutting his way around my legs.
‘Is Aster in trouble?’
He bleated, as though that was what he’d been trying to tell me all along. I closed my eyes and locked in the direction of Aster’s fear, then sprinted off.
It took long minutes to find his trail. I raced along it as the sky turned a deep navy. I leapt over trickling streams and the last of the banked snow. As I neared Aster, other scents filled the air. Sharp desperation. Cloying despair. Salty sadness. All of it emanating from a steep valley cutting through the side of a mountain.
When the mingling scents grew overwhelming, I jumped into the valley and landed at the bottom in a controlled crouch. My shins protested, but any damage would heal soon.
‘Callum?’ Aster’s voice croaked from under a boulder.
I dropped onto all fours and peered through the darkness. My eyesight was as good at night as in the day. Aster was helplessly pinned, wet tear tracks shining across his cheeks.
‘I can’t believe you found me.’ Sweet relief warred with the scent of wild panic that had been building around him for hours. ‘You landed like a superhero. It was epic. But you might need help getting this off me. I’m okay. I can wait until you get reinforcements.’
That was the sensible—the human—thing to do. The boulder wedged above Aster was huge, impossibly heavy for one person to lift.
But not for a werewolf. Now I’d found Aster, I couldn’t leave him.
‘I’m going toget it off you.’
