Rocky Mountain High

CHAPTER 3

     Aurora woke up in a warm bed but there was no warm body beside her. The window showed it was still dark outside, so where was Lee? It was then that she heard the howling of a wolf. Was that Lee? Had he gone out to run in his wolf form? She had never seen him run freely. She thought about how much she would have loved to see that first time he was able to just run to his heart's content. But alas, she didn't see it or the many other things in his life. I should have been there for him. She didn't know if she could ever really forgive herself. She had been the only person that had shown him love of any kind. The one to center him when he felt like fighting the whole world. Now she was nothing to him really. Nothing more than a memory. He'd had to learn to survive without her all those years ago, and he had done just fine. So in other words he probably never really needed her at all. That thought hurt more than she was willing to acknowledge at the moment. Why couldn't he return though? Why was he so gung-ho about finishing this mission, if somebody else could take over? She needed more information and she needed to get dressed and stay that way long enough to figure shit out. Being around sexy Lee turned out to be a lesson in self-restraint and she was failing big time. The first order of business was getting dressed and staying that way. She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and then she went in search of coffee. There was none made but finding stuff in a well-organized house was pretty easy, so she started to brew some beans. She also cooked some bacon and eggs for when Lee returned. He had cooked the day before so it was only fair for her to do the cooking this time. She sat with her coffee and saw the breakfast turn cold as the sun went up in the sky. Where was he? She walked out and the truck was not there. Immediately she felt her stomach drop. She began calling his dog while walking the perimeter of the cabin. She found the pen where all the goats were but no dog. She didn't know what to think besides the fact she was overreacting and he was probably just out for a run or something. Her mother had shown her part of his file but nothing about the mission he was on. Arora decided to go for a walk in search of the horse she had lost the day before.

She couldn't believe how silent and beautiful the place was. She could see why Lee was able to find a semblance of peace in a place like this. But, could he? Could he really find peace, ever? She hoped that one day he could, but how? She knew he was a trained assassin for the government, and she didn't want to think about what retirement would look like for any of the men and women she saw when she was little. She was afraid their retirement was found at the end of a barrel. Her eyes filled with tears immediately, and she knew at that moment that she was in trouble. Yes, she'd always loved Lee but now it was different. After being so intimate it was almost like that childhood love had blossomed into something else, something deeper. As a scared teenager, she knew Lee was her first crush, her first kiss, and her first love. Now she wasn't sure what kind of love she was feeling, but she knew it was love because she never stopped loving Lee. She walked around in a daze until she had no fucking clue where she was.

"Way to go dumbass," she said out loud to no one.

She looked at her cell phone ready to call for help but to no one's surprise, it had no bars, no service, and only 5% battery life.

"Awesome," she mumbled sarcastically.

She could also see it was almost noon by the way the sun beat down on her skin. Her stomach growled at her to remind her it needed some grub and soon. She tried calling 911, surely the whole emergency calls only thing worked here, but no, nothing. It was as if her own phone was conspiring against her. Now she understood why Lee had that CV radio. One would come in very handy right about now, she thought. Why didn't I have the sense of staying on a damn path? Or I don't know, pay attention to where the fuck I was going. Even the chirps of the birds which minutes ago sounded lovely and relaxing, now felt like the little fuckers were just judging her and finding her extremely lacking. Were the little bastards mocking her for being a complete and absolute moron? She'd always hated the whole dumb blond monicker, but right then and there she was letting her fellow blonds down big time. She looked around taking the beautiful scenery around her. She was in some kind of prairie with tall grasses and wildflowers. Ahead of her, she could see very tall mountains and a pine forest that was pretty foreboding looking.

"Not going in there, that's for sure." Behind her, there was also a forest but somehow it didn't look as dense and she had obviously walked through it to get to where she was. To her left, there was a beautiful stream and it was flowing pretty rapidly. She remembered seeing it not so long after she had begun her stupid stroll, so maybe if she followed it back it would lead her close to where she started. Aurora had not seen even one person on the way and only a porcupine and a few squirrels had made an appearance. She was kind of glad about that last one though. The ranch guy that had rented her the horse had warned her about bears, lynxes, elk, moose, and other animals she should watch out for. Did she think about any of that when she set out to get this fucking lost? Well of course not.

"It's gonna be okay Aurora. Deep breaths and just follow the stream, right? Isn't that what the survivalists say? Also, don't eat the berries because you will probably grab some delicious poisonous ones and kill over right here."

Maybe Lee was looking for her? Hopefully, he was looking for her. As a wolf shifter, he could smell her, and run fast in his animal form. Of course, she had no clue what he looked like as a wolf now. Her stupid ass would be all happy to see any wolf and they would probably be like, "Sweet, lunch!"

The thought of Lee looking for her helped her to not lose her shit completely. Lee would come for her. He would save her.