Chapter 91: A Call to Adventure

ALEX

“Dusty,” I call out to the pilot, but there’s no response. “DUSTY!”

I need to get into the cockpit, but the door is stuck.

Steadying myself, I unclench my hands and release my claws.

I dig them into the metal and rip it away.

~Oh no…~

The cockpit looks like a crime scene.

There’s blood all over the dashboard, a crack in the front windshield and a matching one in Dusty’s skull.

He must have hit his head when the plane flipped, and now he’s slumped over in his seat, motionless.

I release his seat belt and push his body onto the floor.

“Alex, what are you doing?” Ariel calls out to me.

“I’m landing this plane.”

“Do you know how?”

“Not a fucking clue.”

But that’s not going to stop me from doing it.

I will not let my mate die on the way to our honeymoon.

~No chance in hell.~

I grab hold of the yoke and pull it toward me slowly to steady the nose of the plane.

I frantically scan the scenery.

We’re surrounded by mountains on all sides. Beneath us, at the base of all the mountains, is a dense forest.

~That won’t work.~

But between the forest and one of the mountains is a small, but rocky clearing.

I need to get us there.

It’s our only option.

I pull the wheel gently to the right and feel the wind catching the wings of the plane.

~Good.~

At least we’re not free-falling anymore.

“Holy shit, you’re doing it!” I hear Ariel say. I detect some surprise and relief in her voice.

But it’s certainly not the time to celebrate.

The engine is sputtering out of control, causing the plane to jerk wildly.

I think I need to cut the engine and pray that the wind is in our favor.

When I was a kid, Dusty used to let me join him in the cockpit. He would teach me about all the buttons and levers.

Now, I reach into the depths of my mind and try to remember what he taught me.

I take a chance and pull down the third lever on the left of the wheel.

Sure enough, in moments, the sound of the engine dies down and we coast on the wind, moving more smoothly now than before.

I continue to steer us in the direction of the clearing.

Again, I reach into my memory bank and try to figure out how to release the plane’s tires.

A flashing green button on the dashboard jumps out at me.

I press it and breathe a sigh of relief as I hear the familiar sound of the tires dropping.

By some miracle, the winds actually help guide the plane to my target landing site.

“Brace yourself,” I call out to Ariel. “It’s going to be a rough landing.”

Ariel staggers into the cockpit and buckles herself into the seat next to mine.

As the plane nears the ground, our eyes briefly lock one more time.

~Oh Goddess, don’t let it be the last.~

I pull the wheel up and the tires make contact, hard and fast.

I hear the sound of metal ripping below us as the bottom of the plane collides with the rocky ground.

My neck whips forward with a crack and I cry out in pain, but quickly regain my focus.

We shoot across the clearing, but the muddy ground works to slow the plane’s speed.

Mere yards from colliding with the side of a mountain, the plane finally comes to a halt.

~Holy shit.~

~I did it.~

~We’ve landed.~

I look frantically at Ariel.

“Are you okay?” I ask her. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine…,” she says, surveying her body. “I’m…”

But she’s clearly in shock.

So am I.

We were on the precipice of death and somehow just barely escaped it.

“How the hell did you know how to do that?” she asks me.

“Dusty,” I say softly, and my eyes drift down to his limp body on the floor.

Ariel undoes her seat belt and crouches down next to him.

She picks up his wrist and feels it for a moment.

Then she looks back up at me and shakes her head.

“Gone?” I ask darkly.

“Gone,” she says.

But there’s no time for me to process this loss, because suddenly all the lights in the plane start flickering and the engine starts sputtering again.

It doesn’t sound good.

At all.

Then, I detect the subtle but distinct smell of smoke.

“Ariel,” I say.

“Run?”

“Run!”

I wrench open the door of the plane, grab Ariel’s hand, and jump out.

As we dash toward the mountain face, the engine bursts into flames, swallowing the plane and Dusty’s body with it.

ARIEL

My eyes burn as I watch the plane become engulfed by flames.

Alex holds me in his arms tightly. It feels like he might never let go. I don’t want him to.

“Holy shit,” is all I can muster. “Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.”

“I second that,” Alex says, his voice shaking.

I turn around so that our faces are pressed together.

I kiss his trembling lips with mine.

“You saved us,” I say. “You saved our lives.”

“It’s not over yet,” he says. “Our only radio and both of our cell phones are burning as we speak. We need to find someone—anyone—who can help us contact the Royal Pack.”

My mind drifts back to the mysterious voice that called out to me while we were on the plane, but I quickly push the thought away.

“Where the hell are we, anyway?” I take in our surroundings.

“I have no idea,” he says.

We’re encased in a circle of mountains. The trees around us look nothing like the ones in the woods surrounding the Royal Pack.

The wilderness here is entirely unfamiliar and untouched.

A silvery-gray mist settles over us, and I feel a chill run down the length of my spine.

Just then, I hear ~that~ voice again.

~“What’s meant to be will always find a way,”~ the voice whispers into the wind.

“Can you hear that?” I ask Alex.

“What?”

~“Come find me,”~ the voice says, almost tauntingly.

“This might sound crazy,” I say to Alex, “but I hear someone calling out to me.”

“Babe, you’ve said far crazier things since I met you,” he says. “Does whoever it is have shelter for us? Or how about a radio?”

“Let’s find out,” I say. “What other choice do we have?”

It’s true.

We’re out of options.

So instead of starting up the mountain in front of us, I lead us deeper into the forested valley, toward the sound of the mysterious stranger.

NATALIA

I park my car sloppily, outside of the lines.

~Whatever. ~

There’s no time to fix it.

I have a destined mate to find. And I’ve never been particularly good at parking anyway.

Turning the rearview mirror so that I can see my reflection, I slick on a fresh coat of lipstick.

I want to look good the first time he sees me, even though it won’t be the first time I’ve seen him.

As I climb out of the car and walk toward the entrance of Fred’s Grocers, I’m instantly thrown back to that fateful day over two years ago…

It was one month after my eighteenth birthday; I went in there to buy a bottle of wine to bring over to Xavier’s house.

One look at the back of the bag boy’s head, and I knew he was my mate.

I couldn’t believe it.

~Me.~

~Natalia.~

~Destined to a grocery bagger.~

~When I was already dating the alpha-to-be!~

I ran out of there empty-handed, before he could catch a glimpse of me, and never went back to Fred’s again.

But I ~did~ send my best friend on a spy mission the next day.

My wolf wouldn’t rest until I knew his name.

~Charlie.~

~Charlie Woodworm.~

At the time, even his name grossed me out.

But not anymore.

Just the thought of him sends shivers of excitement through my body.

I can sense that I’m getting closer to him.

My heels clack against the tile floor as I enter through the sliding glass doors.

I scan the aisles, but I don’t see him.

~Maybe he’s a manager now?~

~Or is that just wishful thinking?~

I take a deep breath and remind myself that I’m not here to judge him.

~It’s not about his occupation, Natalia.~

~It’s about our connection.~

Manager or not, I’m going to give him a proper chance.

I grab a pack of bubble gum and get in line.

“Hello,” I say to the clerk when it’s my turn.

He looks up at me with a goofy smile.

“I was wondering,” I begin nervously, “if you happen to know where Charlie Woodworm is? He worked here as a bag boy. A grocery bagger. A—”

~Oh Goddess…~

~What is the politically correct term?~

The smile on the clerk’s face grows even wider. “You know Charlie? He’s a legend around here.”

“Is that so?”

“Hell yeah,” he says. “He quit his job two years ago, saved up a bunch of money, and traveled the world. Now he lives in the woods outside the pack.”

“Oh,” I say softly. “With his mate?”

“Hah! Hell no. Charlie doesn’t speak to nobody. He’s the Crescent Moon Pack’s very own hermit.”

My fluttering heart drops.

That’s not ~exactly~ what I was hoping to hear.

But I’m not ready to give up on him yet.

~So what if Charlie lives in the woods?~

~Maybe he has a nice, private chalet out there!~

“How do I find him?” I ask.

“Take Highway 41. When you reach the base of the Crescent Forest, take the first right and keep driving. You won’t miss his place. It’s the only one out there.”

***

I drive up and up and up the mountain…

Deeper and deeper and deeper into the woods…

~How far away from civilization does this man live exactly?~

As I go, I can hear my wolf panting in the back of my head. He must be close.

Finally, I round a corner and see some kind of a structure perched precariously on a hill in the distance.

~That can’t be it!~

It’s barely a house at all—more like a couple of logs nailed together with a wooden door and a tarp for a roof.

But the clerk said Charlie’s place is the only one out here.

I put my car into park in the middle of the road. I step out, and dust kicks up onto my brand-new stilettos. I try to brush them off but it’s useless.

Timidly, I walk up a steep, rocky incline toward the “house.”

As I get closer, I see that there are colorful objects hanging from every tree in the vicinity…

Circular frames strung with silvery thread forming intricate woven patterns. Bright, vibrant moonstones are perched in the center of each one.

I know exactly what these are.

~Mooncatchers.~

My mom would always hang one up in our house during the full moon for good luck.

But there’s not just one here. There’s hundreds.

~What kind of person needs so many of these little knickknacks?~

I approach the hut slowly and peek between the wooden slats of the window.

It’s empty… No Charlie and no furniture.

From where I’m standing, all I can see is a mattress on the floor.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my spiraling thoughts, my wolf encouraging me all the while.

She doesn’t care about what his house looks like, or how many mooncatchers he has.

She just wants him.

~This is fine, Natalia.~

~Don’t judge him until you meet him.~

~You can do this.~

I look to my left and see an even smaller hut a few feet away.

The door is already open a crack, and curiosity gets the better of me.

I walk over to it and swing the door open wide.

There is a bucket on the ground.

And a roll of toilet paper sitting next to it.

~Never mind.~

I definitely ~can’t~ do this.

I turn around and make a run for it back to my car.

ARIEL

We’ve already been walking for what feels like forever, but we keep descending down the valley.

The voice sings faintly in the wind, whispering for me to walk deeper and deeper into the forested terrain.

“I’m getting nervous,” I say to Alex breathlessly. “What if we’re heading toward a whole lot of nothing? Or a whole lot of something bad?”

“Thank the Goddess I have my pack warrior bodyguard with me,” he says, and I laugh.

But with every step we take, I become more wary.

The forest is becoming more dense. It’s starting to block out what remains of the daylight.

I look above me, and what I see causes me to stop in my tracks.

It’s not just leaves that are covering the sky, but also what are unmistakably spiderwebs—massive and intricately woven.

I point upward and Alex follows my finger.

He swallows hard. “Maybe you’re right,” he says. “Maybe we ~should~ turn around.”

~“Continue walking the path I have laid for you, my child,”~ the voice says.

It’s getting louder now, but somehow Alex still can’t hear her.

~“Tell me please, who are you?”~ I ask.

~“I am the Goddess Fate,”~ she says.

~Fate!?~

Fate is the Moon Goddess’s sister.

No wonder she sounds like Selene.

~“Welcome to my web.”~