"There are plenty of deer where we're going." He chuckled. "And word to the wise, you won't get any pictures with that squealing."
"They caught me off guard." She slipped the camera strap around her neck. "And now I'll be ready."
Colton watched in appreciation as Ellie climbed back onto Diva's back. While it wasn't the cleanest mount, it was decent considering it was only her second time. The camera hung from her neck, and Ellie checked the dials before she clicked for Diva to start forward again.
More snow appeared on the ground as they reached higher altitudes. They were now riding side by side since the trail was wider. She smiled at him as they trudged along. "This is beautiful up here."
"We planned it especially for you."
She laughed as he teased her, and he realized it was a sound that he wanted to hear more of. "Can you plan for more snow? I want to see everything white."
He looked up at the clouds overhead. "Yeah, I don't think you're going to have to wait long for that."
"Do you think we'll get snowed in?"
He shrugged. "We might." He was also grateful that he had forced his brothers to spend an afternoon chopping firewood just in case, despite their complaints that it was a waste of time since no one ever used the cabin.
The expression on her face was one of complete joy. Colton watched her for a minute as he tried to figure out again why she wanted off the grid so bad. There was a missing detail that he was grasping at and not quite getting.
"Are we almost there?"
"Almost."
"What about wolves?"
Colton glanced over at her. "What about them?"
"Are they something that we need to worry about?"
"Well," he explained, "we'll be in the cabin after dark, the horses will be in the barn, and the wolves won't have anything to stick around for."
"What if we're outside though?"
"This cabin is rustic. Back in the day of rustic, you worked if it was light outside, you slept if it was dark. There's really not much else to do once the sun goes down."
"And the wolves just leave us alone?"
"They do. I haven't lost a guest to a wolf yet." He didn't tell her that the wolves could sense his dragon and usually kept a wide berth. He grabbed her arm. "Look."
Standing in an opening in the trees, a buck and two doe stood staring at them. Ellie carefully raised the camera and snapped off several shots. The buck snorted and they all took off out of sight.
Ellie's smile was warm enough to melt a ski resort. "That was amazing. I can't wait to see how the pictures are going to come out."
He chuckled. "Unfortunately, you're going to have to. There are not many places to upload them around here."
Ellie stopped Diva and just sat quietly. "You hear that?" she asked several minutes later.
Colton listened but didn't hear anything. "What am I listening for?"
"Nothing, that's the point. No noise. No sound. No people. All you hear is silence. I can already feel my body start to heal."
He thought about that as they rode on. "You really think it's the quiet? Or is it just you finally putting yourself first?"
She didn't answer for a minute. "Sometimes putting what you want out there causes a whole bunch of problems that weren't there in the first place."
He started to ask what she meant by that, but a bobcat suddenly darted out in front of the horses. Diva shied away and reared up, and Ellie almost tumbled off her back. Colton grabbed the reins and pulled the horse down before Ellie fell.
He half expected Ellie to go into hysterics as the horses calmed. The bobcat never even took a glimpse back at them as it disappeared down into a ravine. Instead, she just looked at him. "Well, that could have been bad."
