Love At First Gear Ch 06

Morning arrived too soon, and Ashleigh was awakened by Mack turning her over onto her stomach. She started to ask what he was doing, but when his hands slipped under her hips and pulled them up to meet his own, she knew. "Mack," she struggled to speak through her parched lips, "it's too soon," but before she got out another word he was inside of her once more. Thankfully, she thought, he didn't have anything like the pent up energy he'd displayed the night before, and for once their lovemaking was tender and gentle.

He left her in the tent as he made breakfast, which suited her just fine. She wasn't sure she wanted to leave the warm confines of the tent just yet. Her body ached from the cold of the night before mixed with their nocturnal activities, and sleeping on the ground, even with a good sleeping bag, is rarely comfortable.

When he called out to her that the food was ready she managed to wobble out of the tent and sit by the fire. She could see the concern on his face as he stopped in the middle of plating their food.

"I hurt you. I knew I would hurt you. Ashleigh, I'm so sorry, I understand-"

But she held up a hand. "Mack, my legs are tired from being wrapped around you half the night," She grinned, "You didn't hurt me."

She couldn't make out the blush beneath his fur, but she knew that he was blushing.

He sat down next to her and ate only a few bites of his food before he stopped. "Now you know my secret is real. What is your secret?" He resumed eating as he waited for her to spill the beans.

"Oh," she said softly. "Well, uhm," she struggled to find a delicate way to phrase it, but decided she would try to be as forthright as Mack often was.

"I was briefly a cop." She told him.

His eyebrows shot up. "A cop? I thought you were a student?" He shook his head playfully. "Wow, I've been sleeping with the enemy."

She nodded as she chewed. "I got my bachelor's in criminal justice. I really thought I wanted to be a detective. I don't know what I was thinking."

He tried, and failed, to imagine her in a police officer's uniform.

"I was on the job and officially an officer without probation or supervision for all of a month."

"I can't imagine you being a cop," he told her honestly. She laughed.

"Well, I wasn't very good at it. I let people go with warnings when I shouldn't have, and believed people were all just doing their best."

He nodded. "Aren't they?"

She shook her head noncommittally. "I found out the hard way they aren't always. I killed somebody. It was self-defense. Let's leave it at that."

Mack was stunned. Somehow he'd built Ashleigh up into an innocent, defenseless creature that needed his protection, or protection from him. The realization that she was apparently perfectly capable of protecting herself, although maybe not from him, turned his world momentarily upside down.

That's not a bad thing, he thought. His world was full of dangers, not the least of which was Mack himself. Knowing that she could, and would, hold her own was reassuring.

"It's good that you still want to help people after what you went through," Mack said once he had recovered, "some people don't come out good on the other side."

"What about you?" Ashleigh skewered him with one of her looks. Mack wasn't quite sure why, but it always seemed like she could see right through him. It didn't feel malicious, but it unnerved him anyway.

He faltered, not expecting her to turn the conversation back on him, but was saved by the ringtone of his cellphone. Grumbling as if he had wanted the conversation to continue, he held up a finger to pause the conversation. Ashleigh nodded, and he set his plate down and walked away with the phone.

She overheard him say, "Travis, what's the matter?" and she wished that she had wolf ears so she could hear the other half of the conversation. Mack walked far enough away that she couldn't hear what he said, either, and she sat chewing and glaring at the back of his head. It was probably just something about the new truck, but she still wanted to eavesdrop. After a few minutes had passed Mack hung up the phone, looked carefully at the screen, then reeled back and threw it into the snow-dusted desert.

"Mack?" she asked in alarm.

"We gotta move," he informed her.

She started to grab her bag, but he gestured for her to leave it.

"Leave it, we're leaving everything, and you need to toss your phone, too."

"Mack, you have to tell me what's going on. I can't just throw my phone, I can't buy another one and what about my computer-" he cut her off. "I'll buy you new stuff, hunters are coming."

Suddenly she was on her feet scrambling around the camp. No matter what he said, she needed her bag, her computer, and some clothes.

"I said leave it," he roared, but she ignored him.

"I'm not like you, Mack. I can't survive out here without this stuff, and my whole academic career is in the computer. The phone, sure, throw it," and she handed it to him, "but the computer has my papers and everything else I've ever accomplished in it."

"Fine," he growled, "but put it in airplane mode so it can't be tracked somehow." She nodded and flipped the switch on the side that put it in airplane mode. Dropping it into the backpack, she stopped to cram in some clothes and dried food while Mack extinguished the fire and scraped the last of breakfast into his mouth.

"Why can't we just take this stuff back to the car? It wouldn't take long to break it down," she asked, feeling guilty about all of his camping gear.

"The car is gone," he answered curtly. Seeing her look of shock he explained, "Travis had one of the guys hide it somewhere. The dealership logos are too obvious. The hunters figured out where I sold my truck, where my pack's den is. I didn't think they had put all that together, but I was wrong. We're on foot for now, but we want it to look like we're coming back. Maybe they'll get confused and wait here for a while before they realize we aren't coming back. It might buy us some more time."

Hand-in-hand they left the camp behind. Ashleigh looked back forlornly at the cozy tent and wondered what they would do for shelter. Mack would probably be fine. She would freeze. But another thought was pressing for attention, too. "What did Travis say about me yesterday," she asked hesitantly, "I know he was whispering about me." She furrowed her brow at him as she waited for him to respond.

Mack grunted. "They're my family, Ashleigh. They have opinions about what I'm doing with you and that's all." Ashleigh nodded her understanding and let the conversation die. She wondered why he wouldn't just tell her what Travis thought, or anything about the other pack members, but she thought she knew why.

He's probably just trying to protect them, in case I decide not to stay.

The idea of leaving hurt too much to think about and she pushed it away.

They had only walked a few miles before she lost her footing and fell, painfully scraping her hand on a cold, snow-dusted rock. Mack stooped to pick her up as she tipped her tear-streaked face up to his.

"I'm sorry, Mack, I just can't keep up today. I'm so tired. I'm slowing you down." He examined her hand. It was bloody but wouldn't require stitches. He thought he heard her tell him to just leave her, but that couldn't be right. He frowned at her.

"What did you say?"

"Just leave me here. You can probably run all day without me. I'm not a wolf, they don't want me," she tried to sound convincing.

He shook his head, then knelt down and took her backpack from her before slinging it over his shoulder. Gingerly he took her hand once again and to her shock, licked the cut. "Lycan saliva has healing properties, don't wipe it off," he instructed her. She had to admit her hand already felt better, even if the idea of someone else's saliva on her hand was gross.

"I can't, won't, leave you behind. If they find you, they will kill you. Or worse." He thought about how careless he had been with her.

She could already have a pup in her womb, I shouldn't have put her in danger like this,

he thought angrily to himself.

Until I know otherwise I have to treat her like she's...

he let the thought trail off. It fried his nerves to think about what he might have already done to her. She sniffed loudly, interrupting his thoughts, and before she could protest he had scooped her up and started walking again. "Wait," she said, motioning for him to put her back down on her feet. He did, and watched as she pulled her backpack from his shoulder and slung it back over her own. She gestured for him to squat and to his surprise she voluntarily climbed onto his back. Mack hooked his arms under her knees and she held on for dear life as he began to sprint down the trail.

"How long will we be out here?" she asked.

"Maybe a couple days if we stop at night," he panted, "one day if we don't."

She thought about what he was suggesting. "Don't you need to sleep?"

"I don't, not when I'm like this. But you do."

"If you can really do it, just run. I'll be fine. Maybe in a little bit I'll feel like walking again and you won't have to carry me the whole time."

He grunted, "You weigh practically nothing and I'm faster than you."

She tried not to sound offended. "What are you saying?"

Another grunt. "I'm saying relax and let me get you there, that's kind of my job, you know."

"Fiiiine," she sighed and nuzzled her face into the back of his neck.

Ashleigh was surprised by how quickly he moved, and that she really didn't seem to slow him down at all. If she did, he was still faster than her by a lot, too much to seriously consider walking. They paused throughout the day for him to drink water and once to refill the canteens at a spring where she marveled at a frog that seemed unfazed by the cold weather. Where she was from there would be no frogs until April or May. Soon she was on his back and he was running again, veering off the trail and heading towards the sun, due south.

It was the first time in their adventure that she felt she was really in danger. It had been dangerous before, but they'd had the truck. It had never been so dire that they had almost nothing, had left everything they still had behind. Out here in the open it felt so much worse. Anything could happen now, and they had nowhere to hide.

"I was really hoping we would have a romantic camping getaway," she mused aloud.

"Someday. I owe you one." He shifted her weight slightly and kept on going a little faster than before.

"Is your life always like this?" she asked.

"No. You just showed up during a bad week."

She laughed. It felt better if she focused on the future and what would happen once they were in Albuquerque, for whatever was waiting for them there.

"Do you think," she hesitated.

"Not usually," he replied.

She snorted, "No... do you think you could love me, someday?"

His chest tightened. How could he explain how he felt to her, how intense it was to be him?

"Why do you think I am carrying you across the desert right now?"

She was quiet for a while. "Because you feel bad for me," she finally replied.

"I feel bad for lots of people. I don't risk my life and volunteer to carry them for 24 hours straight."

"Mack..." she whispered, barely audible over his footfalls crunching in the red dust and powdery snow.

"I love you. I have loved you since the first night, that first time... that's how we work."

"But you have only known me for like four days or something, how can you know that already?" She had already lost track of the time. How many days had it been? Three? Four? And yet, here they were talking about love in the middle of the desert.

"I just do."

Another brief silence, and finally she said, "I think I love you, too."

He gave her legs a little squeeze. "Even if you decide you don't, we have to stick together. At least for now." She silently agreed.

"Is that why lycans and humans don't mix? Because lycans get attached so quickly?"

He slowed a bit every time he spoke and wished she wouldn't ask him anymore questions, but it was nice that she finally believed him. He liked having someone that he could talk to about his life that wasn't part of it in the way everyone else around him was.

"It's a big part of it," he answered, "we bond through mating. Humans do, too, but they're better at ignoring it or at least acting like it isn't that important to them."

Ashleigh let the conversation die again. She had noticed that speaking slowed him down, and she didn't want him to have to carry her longer than he already had to. As the sun set and the waning but still nearly full moon finally rose, she let her head rest on his shoulder.

"Are you sleepy?" he asked her. She muttered something in response, but he couldn't make it out.

"Hang on," he said, and stopped to unfurl a rolled blanket, one of the only things he had taken from the campsite. With a little help from her he managed to pull it over her and gather the corners at the front, tightly fastening them around his chest and waist.

"I feel like a baby," she murmured. He laughed softly and bounced a bit, testing it to make sure it would hold.

"It's okay if you fall asleep," he told her, "that would be good, if you can."

Mack began running again, careful not to dislodge his limp passenger as he navigated across the darkening desert. Soon he heard her softly snoring, her face nestled in the warmth between his shoulder and the blanket. As he ran his thoughts returned to her confession, if you could call it that. Short on details and obviously not something she wanted to discuss, he wondered what she had left out of her story. It wasn't fair to say it changed his opinion of her; he barely knew her anyway.

She's obviously not totally helpless,

he thought as he ran toward the rising moon.

If she was in a bad situation, she'd at least be willing to do what she had to for survival. Not a bad trait in a wolf's woman.

He gave her legs another little squeeze, even though he knew she was too asleep to notice it.

Mack enjoyed having the night to himself. The full moon cast more than enough light for him to find his way, and he had excellent night vision even without it. He was, after all, a creature of the night, and he reveled in the feeling of the air rushing over him and the sounds of the nocturnal animals coming to life around him. An array of scents filled his nostrils, each tinged with frost, but none of them drove him crazy like they had before. Perhaps Ashleigh had been right and he'd always just needed to get it out of his system. He hoped that she would always be around to help him with that.

All through the night he ran, holding onto her tightly. Occasionally she twitched, once or twice she said his name, and once he reassured her she quickly fell back to sleep. He marveled that she could seemingly sleep through anything. As a wolf he was always on high alert. He had never had a single night of truly deep sleep in his life until the first night he met her, when he'd somehow slept through the noise of the TV and the bunk heater turning the inside of the cab into a tropical rainforest. He wondered what it must be like to sleep like that all the time, and thought to himself it must be a nice alternative to the hypervigilance of the wolf.

After a few hours of silence she suddenly awoke. "Mack," she croaked, "I need water." He realized with a jolt that every time he had stopped for water, she had abstained. "Have you been saving it for me?" he asked her. He felt her nod against his back.

"Ohhh, for fuck's sake," he groaned. He stopped and gingerly untied the blanket, carefully lowering her to the ground. He knelt and held his canteen to her lips but she drank only a little sip.

"Drink everything you need. I can find water anywhere." He pointed at his nose.

"Anywhere."

Her eyes opened wide and then she began to chug. "Okay, don't make yourself sick, damn." He watched as she slowed a bit, but still drained the canteen and finished with a gasp. "Can we eat, and rest for a while?" she asked. He glanced around. They were in a clearing now, and he didn't want to stop out in the open. Then he spotted an arrangement of rocks and brush that might be just enough to hide them.

Mack gestured to the rocks and helped her to her feet. He collected the blanket and pack from the ground and lead her to the little rock shelter. It was just enough to get them out of the cold winter wind that had picked up as the night wore on and the shelter would keep them out of view from anyone who might be looking for them.

"I think it's almost morning," he told her, "and we should be getting close now. If we hurry we can probably get there by mid-morning." He tore open a packet of dried fruit with his teeth and offered her the first bite. He was surprised she accepted. "You really don't feel good, do you?" he asked, giving her cheek a little caress. She flinched and he realized she had gotten sunburned during their trek through the snow-blinding wilderness.

"I didn't even think about that!" he said aloud, clearly angry with himself. His fur provided ample sun protection, but of course she didn't have that.

"It'll be okay," she tried to reassure him, but he was inconsolable.

"I have to get better at this stuff," he grumbled, "or I'll kill you from exposure before any hunter catches us. Dammit." He tried to channel his anger into opening a packet of jerky, which exploded from the abundant force he exerted upon it.

She helped him pick it up from the ground. Mack dusted off a piece and offered it to her but she shook her head. "I've had enough meat in the last few days, I think." He waited for her to change her mind and, seeing that she wouldn't, he shrugged and ate it all himself. Rifling around in her pack he found another packet of dried fruit which she happily accepted instead.

Once he had convinced himself that she was in a little better condition he stood and reloaded her pack. He began to kneel for her to climb up on his back again but she shook her head. "I can run for a bit now."

Mack had no idea how long she would be able to keep it up and suspected that at any moment after the first quarter mile she would be asking for a break. Instead he was surprised when two and three miles passed and she still ran alongside him. He couldn't run at his usual speed, but he didn't have to slow down much for her to keep up. At least this way she didn't say much, he thought, and then felt guilty for thinking it.

Gradually the moon sank beyond the horizon and the sky lightened from navy blue to gray before the first rays of sun danced and sparkled over the crusted surface of the snow. It wasn't deep yet, but Mack knew it would eventually really snow. They were lucky winter hadn't kicked into high gear yet, otherwise they would have spent the night slowly wading through knee-deep snow. At times they slowed to a walk so Ashleigh could catch her breath, and also because Mack was tired though he wouldn't admit it. In his wolf-form he could push his body almost endlessly but he would eventually pay for it. As the sun began to lazily rise higher into the sky he became aware of the sounds of cars in the distance. "We're getting close," he told Ashleigh before taking her hand and leading her into a full run.

As they broke through a wall of scraggly ice-crusted pine trees the first vestiges of civilization came into view. A concrete and stucco building surrounded by cars and not much else lay just across an old two-lane highway from where they stood in the copse of stunted ponderosa pines. "I hope this is a hotel," Mack told her as he watched for cars, then carefully led her across the cracked asphalt of the road. As they rounded the corner of the building the building's sign finally came into view and he was relieved to see that it was a hotel after all. "Uhm, shit," he said and stopped just before the glass doors of the lobby. "I can't go in there like this," he laughed self-deprecatingly. "Here," he said, fumbling in his pockets until he found his wallet. "Get whatever room you want. It can be fancy. I owe you one," he told her with a wink.