Chapter 199 - [Bonus ] Lazy Day

SURPRISE! Thank you SO MUCH for your support of this book! We're hitting 200 chapters today! To celebrate, I'm releasing this bonus chapter. Thank you for all your Golden Tickets, votes, and summoning pens. I hope you enjoy it!

*****

~ ZEV ~

Zev slept hard and woke with his body aching, tired from the fighting and carrying the supplies out to the cave before the Rite. A wolf's four-legged body wasn't accustomed to a backpack and bouncing weight.

The light in the cave was dim when he opened his eyes, initially giving him the impression it was still early, but his body clock argued. He'd slept in. Slept longer than usual after a late night. Blinking, he examined the ceiling of the ice-cave, and listened carefully.

There was virtually no sound from outside. Everything seemed dampened and distant. The storm must have come and snowed them in.

Zev smiled.

Turning his head slowly he found Sasha curled up on her side, facing him. She'd pulled her hair up high over the pillow, baring her neck and jaw. He knew he shouldn't wake her, but her creamy skin called his name.

Pulling her into his chest he buried his nose in her neck and she startled awake, squealing.

"Your nose is cold!" she gasped, pulling her shoulder up and trying to wriggle away. But Zev opened his mouth on her neck, last night's fire still burning both in the fireplace, and within him. To his relief, Sasha sighed and began to cling rather than retreat.

"Good morning," he murmured against her skin.

She hummed, her skin prickling with goosebumps as he continued to kiss and suck. But just as Zev prepared to roll her over and make it the very best kind of morning, she sighed and stretched, putting a hand to his chest and pulling back to meet his eyes.

Zev had to force himself to pull back, to look at her carefully, uncertain of her mood. He didn't want to push, but he'd hoped… "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said smiling softly. "I just want to see you. I feel like… I feel like I've spent the past five years missing you, then the days ever since you came back either in danger, or frantic, or… or having sex with you," she blushed prettily. "I want to just be with you, Zev."

He stroked her hair back from her temples and smiled. "Well, then we'll just be here," he said, swallowing back the part of him that wanted to grit his teeth and insist. "You picked a good day for it. We're snowed in."

"Wait, what?!" she pushed up to sit, eyes wide and sparkling. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously… why is that exciting to you?"

"Because, it's a Snow Day!" she giggled, throwing the furs back and scooting off the bed. "We could make a snow man and—"

"No, Sash," Zev chuckled. "Believe me, even if you can get out there, you don't want to. You'll be snow blind in half an hour."

"Snow blind?" she frowned as she pulled her leggings on in quick tugs. "What's that?"

"When everything is white and loses its shape. The sky and the land look the same and you get disoriented because all the normal landmarks can't be seen and… trust me, today's an inside day."

She stopped pulling on her furs and stared at him. But then she gave him a wicked grin. "Can I just see it?"

Zev sighed—pushing aside his arousal right alongside the furs because he wanted to please her, but surprised by how tired and… agitated he felt. How willing he would have been to simply stay in bed. How urgently he wanted to have her.

Still, he was eager to keep her eyes sparkling like that.

"Sure." He got out of the massive bed and pulled on his own furs quickly, then took her hand and led her down the tunnel of icicles and blue glow.

"It's dark. Is it still early?" Sasha asked as they walked.

"No. The snow doesn't let as much light through as the ice," he said, weaving past one of the rock shelves in the tunnel. Then they turned a corner and were met with a snowbank, sloping from the stone floor, almost to the ceiling of the tunnel—which wasn't as high as the cave, but still well over Zev's head. There was a small hollow where the snow had fallen in and the gray light of the overcast sky could be seen breaking through the blue-white snow.

Zev lifted a hand. "I mean, I could dig us out if you want, but it will be warmer if we leave the snowbank in place. And while it's still gray outside there's likely going to be more snow which will just cover us up again."

Sasha blinked. "Are we going to get trapped?"

"No," Zev chuckled, grabbing a handful of the snow to show her how powdery it was. "It will compact over a day or two, but a lot of it will melt off as soon as the storm passes. The rest I can clear enough to get out. Don't worry, Yhet chose this location for a reason. The cave mouth gets the afternoon sun. Barring a hundred year storm, we'll be walking out of here in two or three days."

Sasha's forehead wrinkled and Zev sighed. There was only two more full days before they needed to head back—and that was assuming no dramas cropped up that sent messengers to get them sooner. He'd been very clear with Dunken and Lhars—unless the hierarchy was in danger, or the humans showed up, no one was to come for them.

That agitation tightened in his chest again and he closed his fist over the snow, squeezing it together, letting the water drip from his fingers.

"I'm scared to go back, Zev. This whole Alpha thing…"

He blinked, remembering Sasha was there. "Don't worry," he said quietly. "I'll help you."

They stared at each other for a moment, then her brows pinched. "Why didn't you just take Alpha? Why did you let them make me Alpha?"

"Because if I hadn't, they would have expected me to dominate you or fight you. I can't do that. Besides… can't you see what's happening, Sash?"

"No. What?"

Zev dropped the little chunk of ice to the floor and wiped his wet hand on his furs. "You're human. The humans are our problem. Who better to help us see through what they're doing… who better to help us thwart them than someone who knows how they work?"

"You know these people so much better than I do, Zev—"

He didn't want to think about that—about his time with the humans. About everything he'd seen. So he interrupted her with a casual shrug he didn't really feel.

"Yes, but… it's just different. Humans think differently than I do. I think you'll understand things I don't. You'll definitely understand their world better. We're going to have to go back at some point, Sash. Once we know how to do it safely, we have to get the females back here—and any others they've made. Somehow…"

Sasha raked a hand through her hair so it fell around her shoulders in lovely waves he wanted to comb with his fingers. But her expression was a strange mix of angry and disturbed.

"When you say others… you mean Chimera? They're still creating you? Not just trying to get you to breed?"

"The breeding wasn't working. I know that now. It's why they're still making us. But they don't seem to be having the success with that that they want either. They were still studying me right up to the day I left, because they say I'm what they're trying to do every time. But they claim they haven't been able to achieve that again… but then I wonder if that's all just a lie, too, and maybe I'm missing more than I thought." He stifled a growl and raked his hands through his hair, blowing out a breath to try and release the tension that didn't seem to want to leave him this morning.

"The whole thing is crazy, Sash. And every time I think I understand it, I learn something new and then I have to start again. I mean, what were they doing to Xar? Why were they giving him stuff that made him act crazy… or were they trying to stop him acting crazy? But then, why would they help us? I don't know," he muttered, shaking his head. "That's my point. I can't help but think you're here for a reason."

"Everything happens for a reason, Zev."

Zev nodded.. "Just not always the reasons we want."