Page 29 of Escaping Monsters

“Hey,” I said as the wolf climbed up the stairs. “Your steak?”

Jasper slid his plate onto the kitchen island. “He wants you to eat it.”

“These two steaks are probably a pound of meat each.”

“Three steaks.” Jasper cut a slice of steak off with his fork and knife and held it up toward my lips. The rich aroma of seared meat and spices filled my senses, and my stomach churned.

I leaned in and took the first bite off his fork, and the savory flavor burst across my taste buds.

“Why can’t you stay here?” Jasper asked as he cut off another chunk and held it up.

“Well…” I took his fork, “As of this moment, four supernaturals outside of this pack know who I am. It only takes one person knowing, and likely, the fae queen and those demons told others. Trust me, secrets like that don’t stay hidden for long.” I put the next slice in my mouth and closed my eyes, savoring the flavorful meat.

“Only supernaturals fleeing for their lives can find Grayhaven,” Jasper said. “Do you think Kane is going to be fleeing for his life any time soon?”

I examined the large man before me. “Kane will find a way through. I guarantee you that sooner or later, he’ll figure out a way.”

Jasper gave one decisive nod, and I was pretty sure that he was confirming my words. Kane would find a way around the enchantment.

“Lucas told me that you were the man to see if I wanted to know how to leave Grayhaven. You left before.”

“Lucas said that, did he?” Jasper snorted and took a swig of his beer. “I did leave, once, ten years ago. Can you guess why?”

“To challenge Kane?”

“No. I didn’t know that Kane had you, yet, but you’re close to the mark on the reason I left Grayhaven. It happened in the middle of the night, one night. You woke me, your fear and your pain, and just this sense of you. Feeling you for the first time, it was so…” Jasper looked off, remembering, “Visceral and strange. It was like waking up to a new kind of hunger or thirst, and not even knowing what I was yearning for. Your voice was in my head--”

“My voice? I was talking to you?” I asked.

“All you said was ‘Mate,’ but I knew you were calling out for me to help you,” he said.

“I—I’ve never experienced anything like that on my end, Jasper,” I said with a shake of my head. A moment later, I realized that my words weren’t completely true. I had known the yearning feeling Jasper described all too well. I’d always chalked it up as my need to be part of a true pack, a need that was never met. It was a low constant ache, like a broken bone that never quite healed. If I was being honest with myself, I hadn’t been feeling that pain since I got off the bus in Grayhaven.

“I set out to find you,” Jasper continued with a furrowed brow. “And so far as I know, Grayhaven just let me leave—simple as that. I remember somehow knowing that the magic would let me out before it did. One minute I was walking the same familiar paths around town, and the next, I came out on a road in Colorado, five miles from Kane’s compound. That’s all I know about leaving Grayhaven.”

Jasper’s words definitely didn’t inspire hope. “How did you get back in?”

He winced. “That’s a long, unpleasant story I’d rather save for a different day. Anyway, your steaks are getting cold.

I took another few bites of the rich meat, staring off at nothing and trying to remember any details about the route my bus took into town but coming up with nothing.

“I’ve upset you?” Jasper asked.

“No.” I set down my fork. “I’m just disappointed. I was hoping you knew how to get out of here.”

“Sorry I don’t know more. Where are you planning on going from here?” he asked. “You can trust me to keep your secrets all the way to the grave if necessary.”

Maybe it was the intense way Jasper was looking at me or that this man seemed to hate Kane even more than I did, but I believed that Jasper was the kind of werewolf that would keep my secrets. And, for some unfathomable reason, I wanted to confide in him. “My only chance is to head up into the Boreal wildlands.”

“To do what?” Jasper asked.

“Disappear. Live off the land. Wolves do it all the time.”

“Yeah, man-eaters, rapists, and wolf killers that have been exiled from their packs.”

I took a steadying breath. “A couple of bad characters have headed that way, yeah, but there are one and a half billion acres of forest. “That’s a lot of wilderness to get lost in. There are towns with almost no contact with the outside world that I can settle in for months or even a couple seasons before eventually moving on.”

It felt strange saying the words aloud for the first time, ever. I hadn’t even written anything alluding to my plan in case it could be discovered. And, fuck. The dream that had always been a bright light in the distance sounded so desperately lonely when spoken.