They all look at me like I’m crazy, including Nash.
“You’ve seen the paths,” I tell him. “With the little yellow stones. What about the ones that lead to the cabin?”
He looks at me for a moment, then realization dawns on him and he shakes his head with a smile.
“Baby, wolves can’t see the color yellow.”
“What?” Now I’m the one who is surprised. “Even shifters?”
“Even shifters. Looks like your Grams was one clever broad,” Nash smiles. “She made sure you’d be able to find your way home, but that Jeffrey would struggle to find you. To shifters, yellow and green look the same. I’ve never seen a stone path. I’m guessing because the stones look like grass to me.”
Looks like I really lucked out on that one. The thought that shifters might have some of the same colorblindness as “real” wolves never dawned on me, and I say a silent prayer, thanking Grams for all she did to help me.
“To answer your question,” Ryder says, getting us back on topic. “We grew up in these woods. We know them inside and out.”
“What about my cabin?” I ask.
“What about it?”
“No one knew it was there.”
He shrugs.
“There are little places here and there where wolves don’t tend to go. Obviously, the Alpha knows the general location of where you’re staying. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent his men after you.”
My stomach clenches as I remember my encounter with Jeffrey’s men and how horrible it was. I never should have left the cabin without Nash.
“That was a chance encounter,” I say, wanting to believe it. “Maybe they weren’t hunting me. I could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Nothing is chance when it comes to the Alpha,” Thorn says firmly. “Look. We’re here.” He stops behind a tree and points down an overlook. We’re at the top of a wooded hilly area and at the base of the hill is the entrance to a cave.
The wolf cave?
Looks like it.
My stomach turns at the thought that we’re this close to my brother and that anything could happen. I want to enjoy this moment. I want to think about how I’m going to see my boyfriend’s childhood home. I don’t want to be afraid right now, but I am.
I am.
As we watch, I see a man stroll out from the cave, look around, and go back inside. Nash looks at Thorn.
“Security?” He asks, and Thorn nods.
“He’s got two or three guys patrolling at all times. Tomorrow, everyone will gather here,” he points out to the open area in front of the cave. “And he’ll talk about how he wants us to ‘merge’ with Nightfall.”
“We all know what that means,” Ryder comments. “All hell is going to break loose. You think the youngsters are going to go for that?”
Nash shakes his head.
“Everyone is too scared of the Nightfall members,” he says to me. “A bunch of people will freak out at the mention of anything.”
“So what do we do?” I ask, wrenching my hands together.
The men exchange knowing looks, then Nash turns to me.
“Not here,” he says, and he leads me away from the cave. We walk back into the woods until we reach a small clearing with another little cave. This was is much smaller. This one doesn’t look like it’s been inhabited, but there are a couple of sleeping bags inside and evidence of a fire.
“What’s this?” I ask.