Chapter 155

Michael POV

It's early evening when we begin heading down the trail to reach the spot where my truck is parked. Shawna's parents were understanding about us leaving. Celeste cried and apologized to Shawna for what she'd done, then stomped off through the woods to go "speak to Malik". We had said our goodbyes and now walked through the trees quietly, our packs secured to our backs and snacks tucked in. Shawna walked with a blueberry muffin in her hand that her mother had made, taking small bites every few minutes and then moaning in pleasure.

"You know, you keep moaning like that and I'm going to get jealous that a muffin gives you more pleasure than I can," I tease her.

"Well, it is good," she says with a smile. "My Mom sure can bake, and these blueberries just explode in your mouth. Did you try them?" she asks.

"I had one this morning for breakfast," I admit. "It was good but not as good as sex with you," I tell her with a wink.

Shawna laughs and then takes another bite. "Down should not take us as long as going up did," she says. We pass two wolves who are clearly on patrol. They look our way, one with nose raised sniffing the air. Shawna sees him and wags her finger. "No no, this is my muffin. Go knock on Mom's door after your shift and she will give you one." The wolf looks down at the ground and then slinks away. Shawna laughs. "That was my brother," she tells me.

"Oh you didn't get to say good bye to him," I remind her.

"He's going to come down the mountain in the morning and meet us at my sisters. He told my dad before he went on patrol."

"That's good." We walk quietly for a bit. Shawna has finished her muffin and now just looks around as we make our way through the trees, down the mountainside. "Do you need a break?" I ask her, concerned that she's going to get fatigued.

"Not yet," Shawna takes my hand and slows her pace a little. "I would like to maybe just walk a little slower, take in the mountains. I don't plan on every coming back, so I'd like to commit it to memory."

"You never want to come visit your family again?" I ask curiously. "Why not?"

"It's not that I don't want to see them,"she says biting her lip. "It's the other things, the drama and the way everyone up here thinks and acts. It's just not what I need in my life. I need to be in a place that I find peace." She looks over at me with a tired smile. "I think you understand, don't you?"

"Of course I do baby," I stop and pull her to me for a hug. Shawna raises on her tiptoes and kisses me softly.

"Thank you for being so understanding," she pulls back and with my hand in hers, we continue down the path. "I do love Wyoming, but I can't wait to get to Georgia. Tell me about it," she says. "What's your pack like, what's the area like where you live?"

"We have a bigger pack than this one, but it's still not huge. Not like the Lone Wolf Pack. I'd say we have about three hundred wolves. Many are warriors." I see movement in the woods to my right. I make a note to keep an eye on that, but to not upset Shawna. Someone is following us. Either that or their patrols have made it a mission to listen to our conversation. "I think you'll be happy there. My mother will love you. My oldest brother, who is now Alpha of the pack, his mate is very sweet, like you."

"What are their names?" she asks.

"Who?" I'm distracted by the wolf creeping through the brush to our right.

"Your Mom and your brother and his mate," Shawna says in a sarcastic tone. "Michael, what's wrong?" she has stopped and is staring at me and then into the bush where I'm looking. She pulls me to a stop.

"Someone is following us I think," I say quietly and nod toward the underbrush. Shawna looks harder and then narrows her eyes. She drops my hand and stomps off into the trees. "Where are you going?" I say, coming up behind her.

Shawna stops right next to a bush. I hear a low growl. "Shawna step back from there," I warn, grabbing her hand and pulling her back into me.

"Come out of there right now," she seeths. "I can smell you Malik, get out here." A large grey wolf stepped out of the underbrush. The same wolf we had seen on the bank of the lake the other day. He stood with his teeth barred, growling at me. Shawna marched forward and swatted him on the nose. He yelped and jumped back, turning his body away from her and towards me.

"What's your problem?" I asked. "Shawna come back over here, I'm not letting this asshole bother us." Shawna looked from me to the wolf and back at me again.

"He won't hurt me," she said. "I don't think." She took a step back considering the wolf and then walked towards me. The grey wolf huffed before crouching down as if he was going to pounce.

"You don't want to do this buddy," I said. It was apparent that Malik wanted a fight, so I dropped my pack to the ground and pulled my shirt over my head.

"What are you doing?" Shawna asked in a concerend voice. "You will kill him Michael. You can't fight him."

"Stay behind me and let me handle this," I told her. I knew I wouldn't have time to striip off my clothes if I had to shift, but at least dropping my pack and taking off my shirt would help. Malik continued to stay crouched down, teeth barred at me.

"You should be home with your mate Malik, not here bothering us," Shawna said with her hands on her hips, looking more annoyed by the minute. "You are impeding us getting down to the truck. We are trying to leave you ass," she was now seething with anger, her wolf pushing forward, her eyes glowing.

Malik looked up at Shawna, then stood from his crouching position. He now turned more towards her, head cocked, but still looking menacing, teeth barred. He took a step towards her. "Don't even think about," I warned. "You need to go home to your mate and leave us be before you get hurt," I told him. This triggered something in him, because he suddenly turned and threw his body towards me, snapping at my neck. I reached out my head and grabbed him by his throat, holding him in the air. He was a big wolf, but I was tall and powerful. I held him up, his tail dragging on the ground, his legs reaching out looking for purchase. He snagged me with one foot, his claws coming out and scratching my chest. I squeezed harder with my hand, then flung him down hard, his body hitting the dirt with a thud.