Wolf's Path (Monstrous Hearts: The Short Stories)

Hunter's Moon (part one of two)

Gretchen didn't know why she had agreed to this. She hated camping with others, she hated Micah and Sarah, and once she knew Grayson better, she would hate him as well.

As she pulled the food bag from the back of Micah's car with more force than necessary, Sarah noticed while grabbing a case of beer. "Are you already being a bitch about this? We just met up."

"I'm always a bitch. Ask Micah."

Sarah hated being reminded that Gretchen had dated Micah first, but for once, she only laughed. It transformed the tight angles of her face into a soft bubbliness even as her words lashed back. "You didn't have to come, you know. You could have kept spending spring break with Mommy instead."

That was the downside of knowing each other since the fifth grade—they could each needle personal sore spots with unthinking precision. Still, Gretchen had to admit the other girl was right; three nights in a remote area in the Sierra Nevada mountains was far better than going back home. In theory.

Despite herself, her attention jumped to Micah, who had already settled the other beer cases on either shoulder, looking comfortable even with his huge camping backpack. He wore a tank top to show off the eagle tattoo he was so proud about. It flexed with his arm against all the weight. Micah worked out and had the biceps to prove it, but her lust over his great body hadn't lasted long. He bragged about the type of people he knew and how he always carried a gun, but had woken her up one night terrified of a spider that had crawled across him in his sleep. She'd had to catch it with a glass and take it outside before he'd calmed down. For all his claims otherwise, she'd never seen him as anything except soft and boring. Her other boyfriends hadn't been much better.

As if sensing her thoughts, Sarah pointed at Grayson, who checked for reception on his phone. "You're welcome, by the way, for bringing your whiny ass along. I even made sure you had someone to talk to... not that you will."

For the first time, Gretchen felt her sullenness brighten into the old anger that always left her breathless with its intensity. "He's been arrested for a DUI. That's all I need to know."

Sarah shrugged while pulling on her backpack. Gretchen checked the trunk again. There was another backpack, this one the size of Micah's, and the last canvas bag, which she'd thought had held water. A closer inspection revealed bottles of tequila. "Are we really just going to get drunk around a bonfire the whole time?"

It was Micah who answered, turning back enough to look at them over his mirrored shades. "We have to find a campsite first. C'mon."

Grayson appeared as confused as Gretchen felt as he said, "I thought you guys rented a cabin?"

"All booked up, bro. I checked it out and you can camp anywhere on this trail. We have two tents and a shitload of toilet paper. It's fine."

"Seriously?" said Grayson, his reedy voice rising further in disbelief.

He and Micah were about the same height, but his good looks were of the lanky, chiseled type, and he all but shrank beneath the shadow of Micah's beefy build as the other man frowned. "You got a problem with that?"

Gretchen sighed at the posturing, but it worked on Grayson. He subsided with a final mutter.

"Babe, you ready?"

Micah's question was obviously directed at Sarah, who had finished pulling her thick hair into a ponytail. It bobbed as she nodded eagerly and hurried over to kiss him. Then they both started on the trail. Gretchen grabbed her own duffel bag and then pulled on the final pack, refusing to touch the liquor. She left Grayson to get it and close the trunk, following after the others.