Chapter 442 Chapter 442
It felt like his heart was lodged in his throat, making each breath harder to take. Being trapped in a vehicle for the last few days hadn’t done him any good. He felt like he was suffocating. If he could just put the window down and breathe fresh air it would be better, but with children behind him, he didn’t want them to be cold.
Movement beside him, had him jerk his head to see Asher giving him a strange look. He shook his head, telling him it was nothing. Of course, Asher and the other shifters behind him would be picking up the emotional storm he was weathering, but he seemed to accept the lie without comment.
“You’re going to be shoveling snow a lot sooner than you want to be.”
Noah looked back out the windshield to see there was snow on the ground, he hadn’t even noticed it. When was the last time he’d experienced a winter, one with snow? He couldn’t remember. The last house he’d been at hadn’t been in a state that saw any significant snowfall. Swallowing, trying to clear the obstruction in his throat, he glanced back over to Asher, “Ed has plows, I don’t think they do a lot of shoveling by hand.”
Asher smirked, “that sounds like fun.”
Noah shrugged; he had no idea. He needed to keep talking to distract his mind from smothering him. “You don’t get snow where your clan is?”
Asher looked back out the windshield. “We do. A ton of it.” He gripped the steering wheel harder, and his knuckles went white, “I’m not there much.”
There was a note in his voice that resonated with Noah, but he couldn’t be certain why. “Do you think things will slow down for the winter,” he looked back out the window, and he recognized where they were now, “with the teams?”
Asher snorted, “with some of the information Calum was relaying from our prince, I don’t think so. We’re hot on their as...” he glanced over his shoulder, “tails now.”
Noah smirked at the fact that he’d caught himself before swearing in front of the kids. He frowned; he was going to have to remember that.
“I am so thankful you found us when you did.”
Noah turned to see Emma talking. She was the only other elder in the clan aside from McKenna’s grandmother.
“The prospect of living in that shack in the middle of winter,” she made a face, “my bones weren’t looking forward to it.”
Delilah caught his eye before he could turn back around, “is it a big house or a smaller one?”
Noah looked to see the others were watching him now, “I’m not sure. I’ve driven by it many times, but it’s far back from the road, so I couldn’t see the layout.”
“Blair said it used to be an old children’s camp.” Penny glanced at Wren for a second, “what kind of camp?” He could hear the fear in her voice.
He didn’t blame them for being hesitant, not after what they’d been through. “I don’t know.” He motioned to the windshield, “there’s a lot of abandoned places around here.” He cleared his throat, “people think living up here will be fun until they realize how remote it is then they run back to the city.”
“I’m okay with remote.” Delilah nodded, “as long as it has heat and water.”
Noah shifted, wanting nothing more than to turn around and go back to his private torment, but he didn’t want to have a vehicle packed with women and children panicking. “Ed, that’s my Alpha,” it wasn’t a lie, he didn’t know his own clan at all or the Alpha there, “I talked to him this morning and he said the guys—the men I work with,” he tried to offer her a friendly smile, but wasn’t feeling it, “were working on that.” He glanced at Emersyn to see she was solely focused on him, he forgot what he was going to say.
“Are we close to your clan?”
Her voice seemed to bring him back to the conversation. “Uh, I think Blair said fifteen, twenty minutes from his and Ed’s clan.”
“I just want a bed to sleep in.” Liam, who hadn’t said three words the whole trip said.
Noah did grin this time, “if I know Beth, my Alpha’s mate, there will be a steady stream of trucks hauling in furniture and everything else.”
Penny closed her eyes and smiled slowly, “I can’t wait to cook again,” she opened them, “real meals.”
Several of the others nodded. He honestly had no idea what they were going to see when they got there and he didn’t want to get their hopes up, “there’s probably going to be a lot of work to be done before winter is here.”
“We’ll get it done.” Emma said as she nodded her head slowly, “if we get to stay in one place, we will work around the clock.”
“You guys moved a lot?” Asher asked and Noah was grateful it took him out of the conversation. Speaking to one female was hard for him to do, having the whole group of them looking at him had him sweating.
“Lindon moved us a lot.” Emma said, “I’m guessing so he and his pack of rats couldn’t be found.” Noah watched her smile wide, “the best thing I’ve ever heard was Blair telling us he was gone. Good riddance. I hope they torture him in hell.” She clamped her mouth closed and nodded. “Next to Noah dangling his sidekick by the neck that is, that’s my top favorite memory now.”
Noah turned to look at Asher, he had one eyebrow raised and the expression said there would be questions later.
“This must be the place.” Asher slowed the van. “You weren’t kidding about it being back off the road.”
Noah watched out the windshield to see the drive was long and winding. He watched Calum navigate it slowly. He wondered if Ed had a spare plow he could leave here. One of the men would probably be able to use it with a bit of practice. As they crested the small hill, the drive led through some trees, he could see a privacy fence ahead. The paint was faded, but things like that would have to wait until spring now.
The gate was open, so they pulled in. Noah spotted Cooper’s truck right away. Something inside him settled just knowing that he was here. There was another black truck parked there, one he didn’t recognize.