The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 92

Chapter 92-1

I should have asked Alexander to help me get to a safe place, so I could stay with Andre and not have to be cold or in danger again. I wondered why I still hadn’t chosen to leave the

group,

if I was perfectly capable of doing so and they wouldn’t force me to stay by their side. I thought about the firefighters, about going back to the burned cabin with the boy and having the two of us taken out of there, going with the rest of the pack wherever they were sheltered. I thought about Hans’s death, about Nika, about Christian, about Richie’s, Ishida’s, and Luke’s wounds. And I thought about the explanations they would have to give, because even if Sheriff McCord could handle the Fremont County police, there were things that would have to be explained (like why the house had exploded-something that also intrigued me; or where the wrecked truck behind the garage had come from, the one whose roof Álvaro had tried to rip open with his own claws).

Suddenly, it was easier to stay with the group than to run away from it.

Although, by staying, I was just as exposed as they were and I could end up injured (or dead).

I suppose that, at that point in my life and with everything that had happened to me and was still happening, dying no longer seemed so terrible. I was afraid, it’s true, but I couldn’t figure out what was better. Another shiver from the icy breeze brought me back to reality, and I quickly crossed over some knotty pine roots covered in snow, hopping.

“I’d prefer to know where they intend to take us with all this,” Nika was heard saying impatiently after a while. “It smells like an ambush. They could have other allies; I don’t estimate the possibility very highly, but it wouldn’t be the first time they hit us with a setback.”

We all silently considered the German woman’s words until Rex spoke:

“If you’d seen that son of a bitch’s happy face, how he was smiling while backing into the forest with the boy…” he muttered, another fierce growl trembling in his snout. “There’s no doubt he acts like a madman. He could have killed us all right there if he’d wanted to; we were all stunned by the explosion. I understand this is a game, but these cats are starting to tire me out-I don’t like at all that they intend to win with tricks.”

“And we have to play better, without sinking to their level,” Alexander growled, furious.

The air caught in my chest, and I felt a very intense chill run through me.

“Wait-do you mean you saw the lion?” I turned to look at him, frantic. “When was that?”

Just thinking that that psychopath had been near us, near Sasha… that he had touched Andre!

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“Yes, he took Andre. The explosion threw us onto the snow, and when I came to, he was a few steps away with my son in his arms. He didn’t start moving away until he knew I would follow him,” the boy’s father answered, teeth clenched. “He was in his human form-that’s how I recognized him at first. It’s him, the supposed photographer he met in Alaska. Same face, his scars, his smell… everything. It’s him.”

Distressed, I swallowed, and once again, for a moment, I thought about walking away from

all of it.

Could I gather the courage to do something like that? Maybe Alexander wouldn’t have denied

it to me.

“So, as far as we know, there are three,” Rex concluded.

“Two. Sheriff McCord killed one of them,” Nika said coldly.

“Good. That means there are still two left to bring down,” the red wolf growled with

satisfaction.

As far as we knew there were two, of course. Nika was careful not to mention that the being Luke had managed to kill had taken her father’s life, and I caught the hint: she wouldn’t talk

about it for now.

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LUCK DRAW >

“Like having special binoculars,” Andre commented cheerfully.

It was impossible for me to look at the boy and not smile, even with my teeth chattering from the cold.

“So that’s why the phosphorescent color?” I said, stuttering.

“Yes.” Alexander looked at me, brow more furrowed than before. “Johanna, are you cold?”

“Uh… no?” I lied, forcing myself with all my might to sketch a guilty smile.

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He growled from deep in his throat, and I clenched my teeth.

+25 Points

Nika stepped forward toward us and interrupted her leader with a throat-clearing, preventing him from speaking:

“We’d better be quiet-we’re already very close to the house. I see the firefighters’ lights.”

I couldn’t help thinking she had interrupted on purpose, but why bother? One very real thing was that if I started talking, I wasted breath and got tired faster while walking, so I chose to comply. Even so, I noticed Alexander was annoyed by the interruption and was still watching me sideways, uneasy, as we discreetly approached the area where my house had once been.

Yes, maybe I was freezing-but what was he going to do about it?

I didn’t even know if I wanted him to do anything, either. I wasn’t supposed to want his company or his attention so much; part of me was already starting to accept that we were only a few hours away from everything ending, once and for all.