“How’s the snow?” I asked, even though we’d checked just an hour earlier.
“Still too thick for you.”
We were a lot higher in the mountains than the skulk was, so they were far more mobile than us.
I could only hope they wouldn’t get desperate enough to check in with Bo. We had never been friends, but Artie and I hadn’t either.
Bo’s phone vibrated, and I read the text on the screen.
Artie
I just got a call from my dad. Apparently Madison made a run for it the night before her mating ceremony. A snowstorm blew in after she left, so they couldn’t track her. You haven’t heard from her, have you?
Bo’s fingers rested on the phone.
He hadn’t answered the message yet.
He and Artie didn’t lie to each other. I knew that better than anyone.
“I didn’t technically call you,” I said. “You haven’theardfrom me. You’veseenme.”
Bo grunted.
After a moment of hesitation, he typed back,
Bo
What if I have?
Fuck.
“Come on,” I protested, gesturing to the device. “He’s going to see through that.”
“He’s not going to tell your dad.”
Artie
What did she say?
“You can’t actually—” I started, but cut myself off when Bo typed back quickly.
Bo
Her alpha sent her a list of wifely duties. Fucked up ones. Made it clear she’d basically be a sex doll to him
My entire face wrinkled with disgust at the label, but it wasn’t inaccurate.
Artie
What the fuck?
Bo
That’s what I said
Artie
Where did she go?
