“This is really remote,” she marveled, looking past the house toward the lake.
“Yeah. It’s disconnected from the larger lake and the river except for a small stream that feeds this lake, and that’s mostly underground. You can see where it comes in from that rock structure over on the far side. The trees on the edges of the reservations block the view from most prying eyes, though some of the more adventurous people traipsing through the woods know it’s here. No one ever tries to come over here and bother anything.”
“Sounds safe. I like that.”
“Me too. I don’t know what kind of shape it’s going to be in. I haven’t been here since I was a teen. Hopefully, it’s decent. My uncle didn’t tell me otherwise.”
“Well, I guess we better go in and see.”
“I reckon. Come on. We’ll take a look before we take our stuff off the bike.”
The truth was that Malcolm wasn’t sure about this. He wasn’t certain about any of it. A part of him was already feeling like it might be a mistake, but he had committed to it, and he’d make sure she was solidly on her feet before he took off. Shifter pregnancies were notably shorter than human ones, so he had time to get her sorted and still manage a litter with someone before the year was out. He’d just have to hope for the best.
Perhaps he could even employ the shifter service he’d once heard about where they find mates. It might make things easier if he could just tell them what he needed, and they could look for him while he stayed and sorted this out with her. He contemplated this while they made their way to the door, stopping to retrieve the key from behind a false panel in the logs.
“Oh, wow,” Autumn said as she stepped inside and looked around.
He had to admit that he was pretty impressed as well. The last time he had been there, the cabin had been pretty sparse, with only a couple of mattresses on the floor and camping chairs. Now, there was a large bed to one side and a small but proper living room with a flat-screen television. The kitchen had been upgraded from the old camp stove on a floating island to a corner alcove with a fridge, a single oven like you’d find in a camper, and a microwave on a counter built along the wall.
It was a small open-style place, so limited as to what you could do with it, but his uncle seemed to have maxed out the space as much as he could and installed a handful of modern conveniences. Cabinets flanked the wall behind and under the installed counters and bookshelves had been put up in other areas and filled with books and DVDs. Most likely, there wasn’t any reception out here, so hopefully, whatever was up there was watchable.
“He’s done a lot of work,” he said to Autumn. “I guess we can get our stuff off the bike.”
She nodded and followed him back and, pulling her duffle bag free and taking it toward the cabin while he grabbed his own and unpacked the saddlebags of what couldn’t stay there. There was no closet, but there was a large dresser with four drawers on it against a wall at the end of the bed.
“Two drawers each?” he suggested.
“That should cover it,” she told him.
“Oh, that reminds me. You might want this stuff too,” he said, fishing the things she had left in the chair at the campground cabin out of his bag.
“I thought you had tossed this stuff out.”
“No. I thought you might want it back one day.”
“How did you know you’d ever see me again?”
“I didn’t, but you stood a better chance of getting it back if I had it than you would have if it had gone into the dumpster at a campground.”
“True enough. Thank you. I’m glad you picked it up. I thought I’d be hauling this bag around and needed to lighten it up as much as I could.”
“I figured. Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I’ll let you put your stuff away and see if Uncle Henry left any food behind or if we’re going to have to go shopping.”
“Sounds good.”
Malcolm looked in the fridge. It was empty but spotless. The cabinets had some tins of stuff like soup, tuna, and beans, but nothing of substance. Closing them, he walked over to the living room and pushed the coffee table aside, flipping up the rug under it to reveal the trap door leading under the cabin. He turned the flashlight on his phone and began climbing down the ladder to the cellar below.
“What on Earth?” Autumn said, walking over to look down the hole at him.
Malcolm found the pull chain that turned on the overhead light and began looking around, spotting the old freezer that sat in one corner of the rough concrete room. Opening it, a smile crossed his face. It was packed with food, a collection of frozen meat, vegetables, breads, and ready-made food. He pulled out lasagna and checked the date. It was still good, as were the green beans and loaf of garlic bread.