“Ikennaaa!” Darren called excitedly and ran over to him.
Cole turned and unlocked the cabin door.
“Are you coming in?” she asked.
I turned away from Darren; his excitement was such a contrast to my ever-increasing dread that it seemed foreign, like I’d never felt the feeling before and couldn’t imagine what it felt like.
I nodded to Cole and followed her inside.
The inside was the warm brown-orange of polished treated wood. A rug ran from the entrance past a couple of closed doors and into the open centre space. A couch in front of a large wood fire and a kitchen area to the back corner under a staircase, which led to a loft bedroom, which looked out over the living space.
Cole set down her suitcase and my bag at the foot of the stairs and walked back down the hall.
“The bathroom is the door on the left. The coat closet is to the right,” she told me from down the hall.
Impressively tall floor-to-ceiling windows gave a view of the forest beyond. To the side of the porch was a covered hot tub.
“What do you think?” Cole asked when she returned.
I looked around. It was nice. Two glasses and a bucket of ice with a bottle sat on the side table next to the couch. Everything was clean and neat.
I could just see the foot of the bed from the loft above, but something was off. Like when you know something isn’t quite right but you just can’t point it out. I looked around again. Bathroom down the hall, kitchen space, couch, bed.
“What’s wrong?” Cole asked, walking towards me, and I realised what was missing.
“There’s only one bed,” I said.
“The accommodation was arranged months ago. I’ll take the couch,” she told me.
Her suggestion stung. It was completely irrational; it wasn’t like I had a right to share a bed with her. I didn’t even want to. I mean, I was the one who pointed out the bed issue.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
I looked up at Cole. The couch was large, but she was tall and definitely needed more space to spread out.
“I should take the couch; you need more space,” I told her.
“It’s not for long. You’ll sleep in the bed,” she said, and that stung worse. That she was probably only planning on sleeping on the couch for a night or two because I’d be gone soon enough and she’d have the bed to herself.
“Okay,” I replied.
“There’s a hot tub. I think it’s wood-fired,” she said.
I hummed. I didn’t care about a hot tub.
She slid open the screen door to the back porch and walked out. We had direct access to the forest. It would make it easy to leave and come back before and after the full moon. A bit of privacy. Only likely to come across your own Pack if you happened to destroy or lose your clothes and had to return naked.
I sat down on the edge of the wooden porch and stared at the forest.
I could run; Darren would bet on me escaping.
What lay beyond the forest?
Mountains?
Sleepy human towns where I’d be unlikely to come across another wolf?
Could just as easily be a mixed community, or a Pack town, or endless miles of road.
