19
As we walked, I tried to send away any thoughts that entered my mind. There was too much to consider and too much at stake.One thing at a time.That was the only way I was going to get through this. We stopped at a stream and drank some of the best water I’d ever tasted. Other than that, there were no breaks. I was eager to find my friends and make sure they were safe.
“If Wolf Creek tracked us here, you think they’ll find us again?” I asked.
“The others can take care of themselves. I would guess our immediate threat is gone,” he said.
I hated that my friends had to cause harm to others on my behalf. Granted, the assholes from Wolf Creek deserved it, but I didn’t like that my friends had to take on the burden of protecting me. I wanted to be strong enough to fight my own battles and I was willing to put in the work to make myself and my wolf stronger.
Ahead, I noticed a strange looking tower. It was bright blue and might have once been a tree. It wasn’t much thicker than the tree stumps around it, and it was only a little taller. “What the hell is that?”
“That’s our meeting place,” Alec said.
“Subtle,” I deadpanned.
“Nobody knows it’s there. Random hikers find it from time to time, but it’s not on any shifter radar,” he assured me.
“What is it, exactly?” I asked.
“I heard it was created by some artist. Not sure why or what the meaning is.”
“Is it a tree stump?” I asked.
“It’s a big ass pole. They shoved it way down in the earth. It’s not even made of wood,” Alec said.
“That’s the oddest thing,” I said.
“It makes for a good meeting place, though. It’s fairly easy to find and if anyone does see us waiting there, they assume we’re hikers passing through,” he said.
“Unless it draws the attention from shifters we don’t want around,” I replied.
“True, but we’re not going to stay there,” he reminded me.
The strange blue pole looked like it wasn’t too far away, but it was hard to tell how close we were. The path took us straight uphill for a while, then it leveled out and we emerged into a clearing. The blue pole stood proudly in the center. It looked even more out of place up close. The bottom of the pole was covered in spray paint and parts of it were rusting. Beer cans, red plastic cups, and other trash scattered across the clearing. Most of it looked like it had been there for a while, untouched. That made me feel a little better.
“Doesn’t look like this place is too secret anymore,” I said.
“Humans use it in the summer sometimes,” he said as he kicked some of the trash out of his way.
I frowned at the cigarette butts and other debris. It was awful that they’d left it all here. I didn’t have time to clean up other people’s messes right now, though. At this moment, I needed to find my friends and put out the fires already burning in my life.
“Where are they?” I asked quietly. The clearing felt too open and exposed. I didn’t like standing next to such an obvious landmark without anywhere to hide.
“They should be here,” he said.
I looked over at him. “What if something awful happened to them?”
“I’m sure they’re fine. If they aren’t here soon, they must have gone to the next stage of the plan.”
“Truth, remember?” I asked.
“I swear I wasn’t hiding anything. We had this as our meeting place, but if they couldn’t get rid of the attackers, they were to lead them away from our destination,” he said. “They might have had to do that.”
I hated the idea of my friends on the run, being chased by shifters from Wolf Creek. “That’s not a comforting thought.”
“I know. But they wanted to help you. We all do,” he said. “We’ll meet them after. We can’t stay any longer.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” a loud, clear male voice called.