Chapter 222

Jacob’s Perspective
The campfire crackled, its strength fading until only deep red embers remained, breathing softly in the darkness. Celena had curled up beside the dying fire and fallen asleep. Moonlight washed over her face, tracing impossibly soft lines. Her long lashes cast faint shadows on her cheeks, and a few strands of brown hair clung to her slightly parted lips. God, she was so beautiful it made my heart ache. I wished I could stay right here, like this, shielding her from all the storms and trouble forever.
Exhaustion finally claimed us both. In the dead of night, the temperature plummeted, the raw chill of the wilderness seeping into our bones. Driven by some wolf-instinct, or maybe just our bodies unconsciously seeking familiar warmth and comfort—when I felt a warm form press against me in my half-asleep state, my arms opened almost on their own. She settled into the space I offered, her head pillowed on my chest, her arm curling naturally around my waist.
We clung to each other like two cubs huddling for warmth in a bitter winter, breathing in each other’s comforting scents—her faint lilac mixed with woodsmoke, my own lingering aroma of forest and motor oil—and sank into a deep, dreamless sleep. It was the most restful sleep I’d had in a very long time.
The next morning, I was awakened by a sensation that was a confusing mix of pure bliss and acute physical tension. I opened my eyes to find Celena sleeping peacefully on my chest. She was wrapped around me like a koala, her cheek pressed over my heartbeat, her breathing even and deep. Our tightly entwined position, combined with the natural morning physiology, made me freeze instantly. It felt like all my blood was rushing south.
And then, to make it infinitely worse, she shifted in her sleep, nuzzling lightly against me to find a more comfortable spot.
The last thread of my sanity snapped.
Acting on pure instinct, I lowered my head and pressed my lips to her forehead. The kiss was feather-light, filled with all the pent-up longing and love I’d been carrying.
The moment my lips touched her skin, her body flinched. Her eyes flew open. Those grey eyes were first clouded with confusion, then swiftly flooded with shock and blazing anger.
“Jacob!” She jerked away from me as if scalded, her cheeks flushing a deep red, her gaze sharp enough to draw blood. “What are you doing?! Who said you could kiss me?!”
Damn it. I was such a fucking idiot.
“I’m sorry, Celena,” I said immediately, raising my hands, my voice rough with regret and lingering desire. “I… I lost control for a second. Seeing you asleep like that… I’m sorry. Truly.”
She glared at me, her chest heaving, but beneath the fury, I thought I caught a flicker of… panic? Or maybe not entirely disgust? She turned her back to me, fussing with her clothes and hair, her tone brittle. “Don’t let it happen again. We’re… we’re not there yet.”
“I know,” I murmured, drowning in a wave of crushing disappointment and self-loathing. A perfect moment, a morning that could have broken the ice between us, and I’d ruined it. The slight progress we’d made, the fact she could talk to me normally, felt nullified. That invisible wall was firmly back in place. I wanted to punch myself.
Celena’s Perspective
That idiot! He actually kissed me while I was asleep!
I kept my back to him, pretending to reorganize my pack, but my heart was hammering against my ribs like a frantic drum. My face was on fire, half from anger, and half from… hell, I didn’t even know. The wolf spirit inside me was purring with satisfaction, thrilled by the morning’s closeness, and the lingering, traitorous warmth of his body against mine sent a secret, damnable thrill through me.
But that didn’t give him the right to do it without my permission! I hadn’t fully forgiven him yet! It felt like… like he just assumed I was already his, that he could cross any line he wanted. That rankled.
But seeing the look of pure, gut-wrenched remorse on his face, like a scolded puppy, took the edge off my anger. Sigh. Maybe… it was just a small slip-up? My thoughts warred with each other before I decided to table the issue for now. We had bigger problems to deal with.
Lost in our separate thoughts, we packed up in silence, doused the fire embers, and got back on the road. Using his innate wolf sense of direction and scent, Jacob guessed that heading east should bring us near a main road. We had enough gas to try, so we decided to risk it.
After about an hour of driving, as we crested a slightly higher ridge, I spotted a single, faint bar of signal flicker to life in the top corner of my phone screen!
“Signal!” I exclaimed, quickly opening the mapping app to pinpoint our location and recalculate the route. Half an hour later, our battered SUV finally bounced its way onto the smooth surface of a proper asphalt road.
Returning to “civilization” felt complicated. But that feeling was soon replaced by tension. The vehicles we passed seemed to eye our dust-covered, side-mirror-missing truck with sideways glances that were far from friendly.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before flashing lights appeared in the rearview mirror. One car, then two… converging from different directions like sharks scenting blood.
“Dammit,” Jacob cursed under his breath. “They must have flagged our plates and details across the network.” Follow current novels on.net
With several police cars tightly boxing us in and blaring stern commands over their loudspeakers, we had no choice but to pull over slowly. The doors were wrenched open. A cold, sharp order hit us: “Hands on your heads! Get out!”
We were hauled roughly from the vehicle, our arms wrenched behind our backs. With two sharp, metallic clicks, cold, hard handcuffs locked around our wrists. We were then shoved into the separate back seats of different patrol cars and driven to the police station of the nearest human town—one whose name I didn’t even catch.
The interrogation room was blindingly bright under harsh fluorescent lights. Two officers with severe expressions and hawk-like eyes sat across from us. One of them kept his hand resting on his holstered weapon, his fingers curled loosely, the threat unmistakable even though the barrel wasn’t raised.
“Names. And pack,” the one on the left said, his voice devoid of any warmth. “State your business here. Unregistered wolves aren’t welcome in human territory.” His pause before the last word was heavy with undisguised scrutiny.
My heart sank. They knew more than we’d hoped.