M.J. Fredrick > Recent Status Updates

She moved stiffly to the window to look out—and saw a lone wolf standing silhouetted between the trees and the lake. A shiver ran through her.
“Following us?”
Grayson grunted. “Maybe. But he might also be obscuring our path, if Andrew thinks the wolf made the tracks instead of us.”
“Why is it out so early?”
He turned his head to look at her. “Probably smelled Ghost.”

“Cold out there?” She really felt terrible about taking his bed, which was pretty warm, and really big. She wondered not for the first time why he had such a big bed, if he lived here alone. “Maybe if you stayed in here you could sleep more?”
His head whipped around to look at her. She hugged the book to her chest and drew her legs up.
“I’m just saying the bed is big, and warm.”

As she began to shift out of survival mode, well, no, she was still in survival mode because she was still unsure of him, but her curiosity was beginning to spark. Who was he, and why was he up here on his own, in the middle of nowhere? Why had he settled here in the coldest part of the year? Did he have nowhere else to go? She couldn’t imagine being so isolated.

He tucked the gun on the shelf above the door and guided her to the stone ledge of the fireplace. He pulled a blanket from the couch and started to cover her, but the sweat pants were soaked, as was the thin jacket.
He hesitated, thinking about her modesty. He looked up at her pale face, her hair plastered against her head. No head covering. One shoe. Nothing thicker than the stupid jacket. What happened to her?

She stepped back, her hands up in front of her in surrender. She slipped, and he lunged forward, catching her elbow, drawing her toward the door. She grabbed onto the front of his sweater and looked up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Dark shaggy hair fell forward around his face, a beard shadowing a strong jaw.