Frostbitten

CHOICES

I'D BE LYING if I didn't say I picked Reese more for his company than for his skills. He hadn't said much since arriving. Under the circumstances, that wasn't surprising. But I wanted to make sure he was okay. I felt… I don't know, responsible, I guess, having been the one to send him to the Sorrentinos.

"How are your fingers?" I asked as we walked along the creek-bank, trying to pick up Eli's trail.

"Still gone," he said. "Jeremy stitched me up good and gave me painkillers, so it's just a matter of getting used to not having them. I keep fumbling stuff. It'd be worse if I'd lost the whole fingers, though. And if I have to lose part of two, better those ones than the thumb and index. And better fingers than my hand. Better part of my hand than my life… " A wry smile. "I'm trying to look on the bright side."

"I'm sorry it happened. If we'd known there were other mutts in Anchorage -"

"And if I had stopped long enough to hear you out… Or if I'd tried to contact the Pack and explain instead of running… Or if I hadn't hooked up with those losers in the first place… I'm pretty sure the blame falls squarely at my feet on this one. You guys have been great to me." He looked over, meeting my gaze. "Really."

I bent to sniff a scent, but it was only a bear. "Nick tells me you still don't want to go back to Australia."

Reese stiffened, and I knew I wasn't getting anything more out of him on that count. Not for a while, I suspected.

"No," he said. "I'm staying."

"Any thoughts on the future?"

"Antonio offered me a job." He bent to sniff something, then wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "It's student work-the kind of thing he hires college kids for during the summer. I'm thinking of taking it." A glance at me, gauging my reaction.

"Sounds good."

"It's temporary," he added, as if starting to hope maybe it wouldn't be. "Antonio said I can stay with them, take over some yard work, maybe move into the guest house. They've been great. Antonio's fair, and Nick's-" He smiled. "Nick's cool. It's not what I expected. The Pack."

"That's good," I said.

And it was. I'd already started thinking Reese fit in well-obeyed orders, pulled his weight, was still young enough to assimilate. The kind of recruit the Pack could use. I didn't suggest that, though. It was too soon, and he wasn't going anywhere. Let him settle in and, maybe, stay settled.

When I found the trail, I whistled for the other. Sure, I'd said I could handle this alone, but that only meant I wouldn't waste time hunting for them. A whistle or two, I could do. When no one answered, though, Reese and I set out on the trail.

We hadn't gone far when a blast of icy air whipped past, laden with that thick musky scent.

"What the hell is that?" Reese asked, rubbing his nose.

Before I could answer, a massive form lumbered from the woods, stopping twenty feet away and turning to look at us.

"What the hell-?" Reese said.

The beast reared up, casting a shadow that reached to our boots.

"Holy shit!"

The beast dropped and charged. Reese grabbed my sleeve and tried to yank me to safety. When I wouldn't budge, he gave me a shove off the trail and raced past me into the forest. I calmly walked back to the path.

The beast roared… and ran around me. Then he turned, pawing the path, breath streaming from his nostrils.

"Eli," I said. "Cut it out."

"That's-" Reese said from his spot in the woods. "That's Eli? The Shifter guy?"

"Shifter kid. He's a teenager."

"I don't care how young he is. He's fucking huge. And fucking pissed off."

"No, he's just putting on a show, trying to warn us off. Do you want us to leave, Eli?"

He snorted, still pawing the ground like a bull, head down, eyes blazing.

"Okay, we'll do that," I said. "We'll go pick up Noah, and let your Alpha and your father handle this."

Eli growled. He lunged. When I stood my ground, he stopped short, snow flying from his massive paws.

"Go Change back so we can talk about this."

"SHIT, THAT WAS fast," Reese said as Eli lumbered out of the thicket where he'd Changed.

"That's one advantage they get," I murmured.

"Nice, but I don't think I'd trade," Reese said as he took a better look at Eli.

Reese quickly hid his reaction to the young Shifter, but Eli couldn't disguise his own response to the young werewolf, shoulders and jaw lifting as he drew nearer, eyeing Reese with the barely disguised envy of an awkward sophomore in the presence of the high school quarterback. I felt sorry for Eli, then. He wasn't an ugly kid, but at that age, no one-supernatural or human-needs to be reminded of his shortcomings.

He turned his back on Reese and talked to me. "She doesn't want to go back."

"Good. Then she can tell me that."

He hesitated, big jaw working. Then he pushed back his hair and scanned the forest, and I thought he was working on an excuse, but instead he said, "Fine. She won't like it, though."

He led me along the path.

"She does want to stay," he said as we walked. "She asked me to move her."

"All right."

"You don't believe me."

I glanced over at him. "Do you really expect me to take your word for it?"

He didn't answer, and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

WE REACHED THE cabin, another small backwoods, off-the-grid one probably used by anyone needing shelter.

When we arrived, Eli insisted Reese stay outside-apparently, he didn't want the cute, blond Aussie getting too close to his girl. That was fine, but I made Eli wait, too. If this girl was as set on staying as he said, then she needed to tell me that herself.

I opened the door. Inside, it was dark, the light having flicked off the moment we drew within sight of the cottage.

"I won't go," said a voice from deep in the shadows. "You can turn around right now. I'm eighteen, so I can make my own decisions."

Of the three missing girls, two had been twenty, which gave me a good idea who I was talking to. The one who'd been living on the streets, trying to escapes life of abuse and neglect.

"You're seventeen, Adine."

"Eighteen next month. Better off saving yourself the paperwork and pretending you never found me."

"I'm not from social services. I'm just someone who wants to make sure you're okay."

I turned on the nearest lantern. A wavering light filled the cabin. Adine sat on a cot in the corner, her face set, her expression saying if I was going to take her out of here, I'd damned well better have brought an army to do it.

"I know what happened to you," I said.

"Yeah? Same shit, different day."

I met her gaze and recognized that haunted, hunted animal look. I'd never been this tough, though, as much as I'd wanted to be.

"What happened to you is-" I began.

"Gonna leave scars. Scars no one can see. Yeah, I've done the sessions. If you're expecting me to say I'm fine, you're wrong. But I'm sure as hell going to get back to fine. And Eli's going to help me."

"He-"

"He's just a kid, I know. And something… something's not quite right about him. I know that, too. But I don't care. He rescued me and he took care of me, and he doesn't want anything in return, just to be with me, talk to me." She met my gaze. "You know what that's like?"

Actually, I did, but I knew she wouldn't believe me. And as I looked in her face, I knew she wasn't kidding herself. Eli wasn't her knight in shining armor. She didn't expect happily ever after. But whatever it was, it's what she wanted. What she needed.

"If she wants to join us, she may," rumbled a voice behind me.

I turned to see the Shifter Alpha in the doorway. Behind him, Eli's father had his son by the scruff of the neck. The Alpha stepped in and shut the door.

"This is not our way," he said. "But if the girl wants to come… " He looked at me. "We should not argue."

In other words, sending this girl back to civilization, angry and unhappy, really wasn't the best idea. She was likely to start talking about the Shifters. That might only land her a bed in the psych ward, but they couldn't take the chance.

He turned to Adine. "We live far away. You will not be able to visit your people."

"Fine by me," she said, chin lifted, defiant.

"We have a village, but we are hunters. We do not come to the city."

"I can hunt and I can fish, and I'm a damned fine cook-though I like the hunting and fishing part better. I've had enough of the city. It wasn't… " A look passed over her face, disappointment and regret. "It wasn't what I thought it would be. I'm ready to go back inland." She straightened and met his gaze. "I'll do my share. You won't regret it."

The Alpha's expression said he was pretty sure he would, but he only nodded.

I turned to him. "She might want to go now, but after a while… "

"She may change her mind," he murmured. "If she does, we will bring her back. You have our word."

As I looked at Adine, I realized I had no right to make this choice for her. No one had that right, because no one was her, no one else lived her life and knew what was best.

What would I have done if someone told me to stop seeing Clay when we were dating? They couldn't have told me anything I didn't already know. I'd spent years telling myself that Clay tricked me, deceived me, but he hadn't. I'd seen the warning signs and I'd worried about them and, in the end, I'd decided to do what was best for me-stay with him.

I'd spent years dealing with my choice, and the consequences, and went right back to where I'd been. Did that make me weak? No. I'd realized that what I needed wasn't necessarily what the world thought was right.

For me, this worked, and no one had the right to interfere. No more than I had the right to interfere with Adine now.

So I gave them my blessing. If this was the life she chose, if it made her happy, that was what mattered.