Chapter 4

Garrick

There was nothing I could do about this whole cabin-booking situation in the middle of the night, so I resigned myself to just going to sleep. I didn’t know the layout of the cabin—I’d only found the stairs by happy coincidence. Not that there was much to the cabin, but still, I fumbled around in the dark, thankful for my shifter eyes to at least guide me.

When I realized there was no other bed to sleep on, and the “couch” was actually more of a loveseat, and it had wooden armrests covered by a thin padding. I knew there was no way my six-foot-three frame was going to fit there. It seemed I’d be sleeping in my wolf form somewhere nearby. I tossed off my clothes, not wanting to get tangled in them, and shifted. Tomorrow, I’d worry about getting fur all over the place, but for now, I just wanted to sleep. I curled up onto the sofa and closed my eyes.

Morning came all too quickly. Light filtered in through the windows, and there was a chill in the air—likely due to the fire having petered out while I slept. Had the omega—Noel he’d said his name was—not turned on the furnace either? If it got much colder, we’d be in trouble with pipes bursting.

I opened my eyes to see the omega in question tiptoeing down the stairs, an oversized sweater wrapped around him and a pair of faded jeans hanging loosely on his frame. His feet were bare. They had to be freezing. I let out a soft chuff to let him know I was there, and he yelped in surprise.

“Oh goodness,” he stammered. “It wasn’t a dream. You’re here, and I’m in your cabin.”

He glanced around, looking lost. He grabbed a chair and stood behind it, like he felt more comfortable having something between us. I wanted to growl and bare my teeth at whatever alphas made him this scared. Something or someone had to have hurt him in the past for him to be this wary. I didn’t want him to wander off; it was cold, and he didn’t look like he had much to keep him warm. The man looked like he could use several good, solid meals.

I shifted. “Wait up,” I said once I was standing.

He halted in place, eyes wide as he looked at me. His gaze flicked downward, and then he quickly pinched his eyes shut. What kind of pack had he come from that he wasn’t used to nudity? The frames of his glasses reflected the light.

“Let me get dressed,” I said.

“I’ll make coffee.” He turned and took a step toward the mini-kitchen, only to run right into the other chair. I chuckled and pulled on my jeans as quickly as I could.

“I’m decent,” I said.

He opened his eyes and let out an audible breath. “I’m… Noel, by the way,” he said. “I’m sorry I don’t remember your name.” His nose wrinkled, and he pushed his frames up so that they were higher on his nose.

“Garrick.”

“So you rented this place?” He began looking through each of the cupboards. Finally, he found a canister of coffee, opened it, and sniffed. “Still good,” he said, and his smile lit up the entire room. Then his cheeks reddened, and he looked away. “Would you like some?”

“I’d love some,” I said. “How was it that you came to be here… a stranger let you stay?”

“Yeah. I needed a place to stay, and he offered this place. But I can go back to Plan B.”

I had a feeling that “Plan B” wasn’t anything I was going to allow to happen. Especially if it meant he would be spending his nights out in the woods in his wolf form. “I’ll call the rental place to see if they have any other open cabins. For me, not for you. You can go ahead and stay here. I don’t want to put you out.”

“Please, don’t worry about it. I don’t want to interrupt your vacation. I don’t want to cause trouble.”

Noel seemed to shrink down like he was attempting to make himself smaller. A sure sign that wherever he came from wasn’t the most positive place.

My alpha instincts told me to calm him in any way that I could. I resisted the urge to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You aren’t any trouble.”

I found my phone and dialed the number I knew, only to reach an answering machine.

“Due to the inclement weather, our offices will be closed for the next several days. Good luck.”

Seriously, “good luck” was all they could say?

“Inclement weather?” he asked, raising a brow.

“Oh, there’s a big storm coming,” I replied. “You hadn’t heard about it?”

“Apparently not,” he said. He bit his lip and looked out the window. Snow already coated the ground. Soon it would be a whirlwind of white if the weather was going to get as bad as they said.

He opened the fridge. “There are some things I can whip up quick if you’d like some breakfast. Eggs, pancakes... I might have sausage links too.” The omega bit his lip in the most adorable way as he thought to himself. I cleared my throat and had to look away.

“Sure, I’ll eat pretty much anything. Don’t feel like you have to cook for me.”

He smiled. “It’s the least I can do.” A small shiver went through him.

“I’m going to grab some wood and get this place warmed up.”

“Oh, I can help with that, too.”

“You don’t need to—you’re making breakfast. I’ll make the cabin warm.”

He blushed. “Thank you.”

I thanked my warm wolf blood for keeping me halfway warm while I was outside gathering wood. I piled as much as I could into the carrier on the front porch, stacked what I didn’t need outside, then carried the rest inside to get the fire started. Thankfully, it was all dry, and it didn’t take long to get a roaring fire going.

The omega hummed to himself as he cooked. When I came back into the kitchen, he smiled at me. “Ready,” he said and handed me a plate.

“Thanks.” I sat down at the counter—the only seating in the whole cabin besides the loveseat. It was a tidy little place, great for a getaway, but not ideal if you needed space.

I pulled out my phone to check the weather app.

“As soon as breakfast is done, I can get out of your hair. I’m sure there are other—”

I stopped him before he could continue. “I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere,” I said, turning the phone toward him. Even if he tried to leave, I wouldn’t let him go. It was too dangerous out there, and he needed to be here, where I could protect him.

A red banner scrolled across the top of my weather app: *Winter Weather Advisory.* I had the radar pulled up, showing the storm that was rolling in.

“Oh, dear,” he said, glancing out the window. Snow had already begun to fall outside, and soon we’d have a ton more. It was going to turn very, very cold.

He bit his lip, and I had to fight the urge to reach out, gently ease his lip from between his teeth, and soothe that tortured flesh with my thumb. I shook that thought away. This was an omega who clearly needed out of a bad situation—I couldn’t go pouncing on him.

“We’ll both be staying here,” I said. “We’ll make it work.”

“Are you sure? I can sleep on the couch. You’re much too… I mean, that’s… you’re very large.”

I chuckled. “We’ll figure all that out later. For now, I think we have a little bit of work to do before the storm hits completely. We’ll want as much firewood inside as we can, and we’ll need to take stock of our food. I brought plenty with me. We’ll get it all inside. We may need extra blankets too.”

“Of course. I’ll help with whatever you need.”

I smiled. “It’s a plan.”