Unbound

Chapter 44

I was reluctant to pull my wet sweater back on and leave the warmth of the station, but the blizzard had died down some while we'd been talking. This time, I could see a bit more of the settlement. Still only outlines, but enough to get my bearings. The guard station was, in fact, not the first building, but the third. There were two others just beyond it that I could make out. On the right side of the street, the structures seemed to be slightly more spaced out. I could only count four; the swirling white swallowed the rest.

Emma kept a quick pace as she led the way towards the right side of the street. We passed through an alley between two buildings, both brick, then continued on straight until we reached a row of small houses. She opened the door to one and beckoned me inside.

"You don't lock it?" I asked once she'd shut it against the cold. I sat on the floor to work at the frozen, knotted laces of my boots.

"No need around here," she said with a smile. "Let me find you some dry clothes."

Emma's house reminded me a lot of the house I'd shared with Jack: cozy, nothing fancy, with well-loved furniture and comfortable, lived-in rooms. Floor lamps lit the space with a warmth that the fixtures at Gabriel's house didn't offer. A quilt was folded over the high back of an armchair that I longed to wrap myself in.

"Here," Emma returned with a stack of folded clothes and a towel. Finally free from my boots, I stood and took them from her. "Bathroom's just down the hall; plenty of hot water for a shower if you'd like."

I could have hugged her, but instead I just nodded and squeezed the dry material to my chest. "Thank you."

I brought my backpack with me into the bathroom. I assumed she'd look in it if I had left it by the door—I certainly would have—and I wasn't ready to explain the large wooden box of silverware to her yet. I wanted to feel her out a bit first.

With some effort, I managed to peel my wet clothes from my body and left them in a wad in the sink while I climbed into the shower. The shock of the hot water sent pins and needles buzzing through my extremities at first, but as my body temperature slowly climbed back towards normal, the water soothed my tense muscles.

Once I'd finished and changed into the dry clothes, I held mine in my arms and left the bathroom, following the smell of food back towards the kitchen. Emma was standing by the stove, tossing vegetables into a large stock pot there.

"Feel better?"

"Much, thank you." I hovered in the doorway. "Do you have somewhere I can hang my clothes?"

Emma nodded in the direction of a slatted door off the kitchen. "Laundry's through there. I have some things in the dryer; you can toss yours in with mine and get the load going. Lay that sweater out flat to dry, though, or that wool will shrink right up."

I smiled at that. She reminded me of my mother.

While the soup simmered on the stove, Emma and I sat across from each other at her small wooden table. My hands were tight around a steaming mug. Tea this time, thankfully. I wasn't sure my empty stomach could take any more coffee.

"You said you're mostly human?" She asked.

I nodded. "Three-fourths. My grandmother married a wolf, but my mother didn't. She brought me back to the pack when I was young."

"That must have been difficult for you growing up." She blew on her tea.

"It was," I said. I tried to draw an edge of bitterness to my voice. "Still is. I always thought if I made myself useful that they'd accept me. They did find me useful, eventually. As a bartering chip."

"I'm sorry that you've had to go through all that." Emma sounded so sincere, so genuine, that it brought tears to my eyes. Though it wasn't the truth, I had been through a great deal over the past months. As much as I didn't want to admit it, the extreme highs and lows of it all had worn me down. I wiped my eyes quickly with the back of my hand and cleared my throat.

"I'm grateful for your hospitality. I never expected to find such kindness here."

"About that," Emma started. I braced myself. "You mentioned a truck driver who told you that we were a resistance group?"

I nodded and pulled my backpack around into my lap from where I'd hung it off the back of the chair. "He wasn't sure, but he said he'd heard rumors that you all have been forging silver blades. I brought these, I thought they might help." I withdrew the box from my pack and passed it across the table to Emma, who looked surprised by my confession.

"They're real silver," I offered when she opened the box and touched the tines of one of the forks. "They were my mother's, but I have no use for them. You could melt them down."

Emma closed the lid and looked up at me. "I appreciate the gesture, truly, and I'm sure we'll be able to make good use of these. But you have to understand, we're not a part of any resistance. The blades we make and sell are for protection."

I fought to control my reaction. I understood why she'd be reticent to share the truth with me: not only was I an outsider, I was part wolf. I'd openly told them I had been a member of two different packs. But still, I was frustrated. My mixed blood would never be quite clean enough, no matter what side I was on.

"Protection?" I asked, looking down at my tea for a moment until I was sure the irritation wasn't showing in my eyes. "From who?"

"Other wolves, I guess." She shrugged. "I try to stay out of all their politics."

Questions swirled in my mind, deafening, but I'd asked enough already. It was time to back off for now. Instead, I nodded towards the stove. "Is there anything I can help with for dinner?"

Emma made up the guest room for me while I did the dishes after our meal. I'd eaten three bowls of the stew she made; I didn't realize how hungry I'd been. The room was at the top of the stairs, and small, but it had its own tiny bathroom and the bed was piled high with blankets. Once I'd folded the laundry in the dryer, I separated my clothes out and tucked them into my backpack to take up with me.

On my way up the stairs, Emma stopped me.

"I'm sorry if we're not what you were hoping for," she said. "I know there are a few resistance groups east of here. I could ask around, see if anyone is heading that way soon that could drive you."

I shook my head. "I don't know what I'm looking for just yet, to be honest."

"Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like. Plenty for you to do." She smiled, then paused. "But please don't feel obligated to give us your family heirlooms. I'm grateful, of course, but it isn't necessary."

"No, no," I waved away her concern. "My mother would be happy to know they're going to a worthy cause rather than collecting dust in a cabinet somewhere."