Chapter 223

Almara’s Pov

I wake up to Arthur gently pressing his warm lips against my shoulder. Despite his body heat, chills cross my body. I smile and burrow my head further into my pillow as he scoots closer from behind and holds me tightly.

Maybe Arthur, Grace, and I can go out to breakfast today. There’s this cute little brunch boutique not far from our house that I’ve been wanting to check out- oh right.

“What’s the matter?” Arthur breathes into my ear, and for a blissful moment nothing is the matter.

“We still don’t have Grace,” I say suddenly feeling restless despite the high thread-count sheets and the fact that I haven’t slept in a real bed in like a week.

“But, today is the day we get her back,” Arthur says and I realize he must have also slept well. He’s in a really good mood. Maybe my need to rest was felt by everyone and I wasn’t a burden after all.

Unfortunately, the mom guilt starts to kick in. I needed a rest and slept in a warm bed while my daughter is out somewhere in the unknown. “We better get to it,” I say and toss the sheets aside.

If Arthur wanted me to stay in bed, he didn’t make it known, and good thing too because his kisses were getting harder to resist.

“I’ll go knock on Zack’s door,” Arthur says as he stretches his arms behind his head. His chest his bare and his muscles have definitely grown. His wound looks much better too, it might leave a cool battle scar.

I envision running my hands up his chest and sliding my tongue down the ridges of his abs. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Arthur asks with a cocky smile, he knows exactly why I’m looking at him like that and my face floods with heat.

“Go wake up Zack,” I say quickly turning around and peeling my shirt off over my head. I hear Arthur laugh as he walks out the door.

I take a minute to recollect myself, feeling very disoriented. For the past week I’ve been sleeping on the hard ground with one eye open, hunting for food, and walking twenty miles daily. Now all of a sudden I wake up in a king-sized bed next to my irresistible husband kissing and bantering with me as though everything is fine.

Now, it’s back out into the wild. At least I do feel very well-rested and my body isn’t screaming with aches and pains anymore. My stomach on the other hand groans with hunger, just as the baby gives a hard enough kick to cause me to jerk.

“Strong like your dad, huh?” I say.

“What about me?” Arthur says closing the door behind him.

“This child is going to be a mini you, I can tell,” I say and place my hand over my belly.

“Well good, we both got our mini’s,” Arthur says placing his hand over mine. “Now go get dressed so we can go get yours,”

“Right,” I say and spring into action.

It’s still early, but we have a lot of ground to cover today. In the next fifteen minutes, we’re out in the hallway with Zack stepping out of his room.

I make a mental note that we should come back here. The motel is nice with new red carpeting and I’m curious to see what the town looks like during the day. Focus, Almara. Lily growls and I recenter myself. She’s right, I need to get in the zone.

I know Lily doesn’t like being away from her pup any more than I do, the only difference is I think I’m beginning to run away from my problems just wanting this to all be done and not face what lay ahead- the unknown, possible blood bath, the worst-case scenario with Grace; though I refuse to let my mind even wander there.

We scarf down some breakfast before paying out bill and stuff our bags with some extra food for the journey. Arthur says we’re not making that mistake again. I have to admit, I do feel good about taking care of my physical needs. For this baby’s sake.

Outside the town is cuter than I thought. The street lamps are a bit old-fashioned with hanging baskets of red flowers and the street is cobblestone. There’s not a single cloud in the sky and light blue stretches far above us. For the first time this morning, I have a good feeling about today.

We take off, quickly trying to make our way to the woods and out of the main center of the town. We don’t need any more excited fans or reporters. Luckily, it’s early enough that there’s not too many risers.

We walk a couple of miles and eventually come up to a stream where Zack pulls us over to fill his camelback with water. I also cup my hands into the cool stream and splash some water on my face.

Then, suddenly, and to my horror I remember a mistake we made. I jump up onto my feet, my sudden movements cause Zack and Arthur to get into a fighting stance, darting their eyes back and forth for the sign of danger.

I shake my head, “No, no, no. How could we be so stupid?”

“What?” Arthur asks hurriedly. As if I thought the mom guilt was bad enough, now I’m having daughter guilt too.

“We never waited for my mom at the meet-up spot,’ I tell him tears welling my eyes as I think about how anxious my mom must be feeling.

First, her husband goes missing, and now she has no idea where her daughter is. I put myself in her shoes and the weight of our actions crushes me. I bring my hands to my face still wet with the water, and now covered in tears.

“I told her about the plan,” I tell Arthur between sobs, “and I didn’t follow through. She has to be so worried,” I’ve been so caught up in getting back to Grace and my own discomfort I didn’t even think about my own mother. Some kind of loyalty that is.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Arthur shushes me and pulls me into his chest. I don’t know what comes over me, hormones maybe, but I sob. I can only imagine what Zack must think of me. He’s barely said anything this whole trip, he’s a stoic solider and so fa all I’ve done is complain, cry, and forget about my mom.

“We can call for her,” Arthur says.

“Uh, are you sure about that?” Zack asks, and Arthur must shoot him a look because Zack doesn’t say anything more.

“Yes, I’ll howl for her” Arthur says, but I shake my head.

“No, it has to be me. She has to know that I’m okay.”

“Are you okay?” Zack says and I’m not sure if he means it to be funny, but I laugh in spite of myself. I take a few deep breaths and then I bellow out a howl to my mother that I hope reaches where she’s at. I give another for good measure and now we wait.

“We should only wait fifteen minutes,” Zack says checking his watch. “I don’t think we’re deep enough in the woods, any other wolves could start showing up,”

“We can call out again if she’s not here by then at another spot,” Arthur quickly tells me and I pretend to not see the look of annoyance on Zack’s face.

“Okay,” I nod.

Fifteen minutes go by and nothing. At Zack’s urgency, we begin walking. I know we have to. Unfortunately, now my mind is preoccupied not just with the well-being of my daughter but with my mother as well.

Then another haunting thought enters my mind. What if instead of my mother just being worried about where I’m at, what if I have to be worried about where she’s at?

What if she never did show up to the meeting spot? Could she be missing or dead like my father too?