A Season of Wolves by K.M. Cannon

Author:K.M. Cannon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Studio 465
Published: 2023-10-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Derek paused just outside the palisade gate on the road as Shiloh watched him. The roads were a patchwork of ruts, potholes and washed out in sections. “Did all this happen in one winter?”

Shiloh led the line, and Derek’s horse followed with the other three horses behind them. “They haven’t been taking care of the roads for a few years,” said Shiloh. “But with no work at all and the freeze, thaw, and flood, they’re far worse. Without traffic, it won’t take long for the grass to take over. If this whole thing is permanent by next spring, roads will disappear.”

Derek made a sound in the back of their throat, not unlike an annoyed hornet. It summed up his feeling on the matter. If it weren’t permanent, then people like Cecelie wouldn’t have been as problematic as she had become. The police would have caught her by now. Rick at the marina would still be alive, as would the hundreds of those who had frozen or starved to death over the winter that they couldn’t save.

Before, this road had always been a patchwork of asphalt in the efforts to repair cracks and holes. The falling rain and the winter snow had found the gaps around that repair work, warmer days that melted the snow and then cold overnight in the early spring had caused frost heave. Grass grew where the cracks yawned open, already laying claim to a road that, while still travelled, was not travelled by car. Instead, they led the horses to the gravel and dirt shoulder, where a path had been worn by regular horseback travel. Ironic, he thought. The shoulder of the road is now the central part of the road.

The ride up Panache Lake Road took long enough that the sun, hinting at daylight when they left the ranch and manor, rose enough that the pale violet hues of the early morning gave way to a blue sky. By the time they had reached the Fire Hall at the end of the road where they had met and rescued Emilie, a paramedic who had been there with another trapped when the weather turned inclement—a city police officer named David who unfortunately had been killed by raiders not long after—and the family they had taken in.

Derek sighed as he rode by it.

So many lost over the winter, he thought. Where will it end?

However, Shiloh had stationed their own here, and it served as a northern watchtower and fort. As they rode up to it, Emilie came out and waved. Derek’s eyebrows rose. “You came back here?”

“It’s a little different when you have regular supplies and aren’t trapped here,” she pointed out, then shrugged. “I feel more useful here anyway. Gives me purpose.”

“Any sign of trouble?” asked Shiloh.

Emilie shook her head. “Not lately. Any trouble we could have after running her off is intimidated by our setup. We’re not exactly easy to push over, well, not easy to push over anymore.”

“Let’s keep it that way,” said Shiloh, encouraging her horse to take the right path onto old Highway 17.

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