“Do you think we have enough blankets?” Meg asked looking at the pile in the back of the car.
“Maybe. It gets cold this time of year and sometimes even I don’t have enough fur,” Luc said. He smiled at Meg who shot him a look of sheer disbelief.
“I didn’t think that was possible,” she said.
“Oh, it is. ODFS is just about over, and the nights are cold,” he replied.
“ODFS?” she asked.
“Out Door Fucking Season,” Luc answered.
They both broke up with giggles.
“I had never heard that term before,” admitted Meg.
“Well, now you have. Soon we will have to just hike in the woods and leave the nookie to the bedroom and lots of warm indoor heat,” said Luc.
Meg smiled. She thought about how hot and sweaty they had been most of the summer and sort of relished the idea of being cooler. She watched the scenery go by as they drove higher into the mountains. Last weekend had been upsetting and while she was glad her cycle had shown up, there was still a part of her that had really wanted to be pregnant. That was a situation she had never expected to find herself in let alone desiring. Ginny had taken her out for lunch and the two of them had had a really good girl’s night out. She found out that Ginny had been dumped by a lover when she couldn’t keep a baby. After that, Ginny had decided to just enjoy life and not worry about babies. Besides, she had Duke’s brood to worry about.
Luc looked over at Meg. She was deep in thought and he just let her be. While they hadn’t really argued this week, it was a rough one for both of them. His cousin Bert had been after him to dump Meg and find a good shifter to make babies. Luc had decked him and told him to never show his face again at the office or Luc’s home. Duke had been sympathetic. He’d explained that Penny had a rough time when they first got together. Luc hadn’t realized that. They’d had a few beers while the girls had been out and talked while waiting for them to get home.
“Meg, we’re almost there,” he said as he turned into the campground. They had decided to see how things were as this was a rather isolated area. There were maybe two campers in the whole campground.
“Are we going to camp here and hike in the morning or are we going up higher?” she asked.
“I’m all for going higher if you want,” he said.
“Let’s do that. I know I’m still in a bit of a funky mood, and I think I want to be as far from people as we can,” Meg said.
“Fine by me,” said Luc as he turned up a road at the back of the campground. The road lead to a wilderness area that had primitive camping. He noticed that the bushes were loaded with berries as they drove up to higher elevations. Five miles up the road, they stopped and pulled into a big meadow. Meg got out and stretched.
“This looks good. The river is just over on the other side of the meadow,” she said.
“This is nice. We might car camp up here more often. I’ll get the tent if you’ll start dinner,” he said.
“Okay,” answered Meg. She got out the little Svea stove and started up water for tea and was cutting up meat to cook with the noodles.
Luc found a soft grassy area to put the tent up. He got it set up in record time and started setting up the bedding. Amongst the extra blankets, he had a few treats hidden. He put them under his side of the nest he’d built. Standing up out of the tent, he could see that Meg had the tea ready and the meat and noodles were simmering. It smelled good.
“I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I stood up out of the tent,” he said.
“I agree. I haven’t felt really hungry all week, but right now I could eat every bite of this,” said Meg. She spooned the food into two bowls and handed Luc one. She sat down and began to eat.
They sat there quietly eating and drinking their tea as the sunlight began to fade. As the sun set, the wind picked up. It seemed to howl down the valley and then ten minutes later it changed directions and howled up the valley.
“What the heck is with this wind?” she asked Luc.
This valley is called Lungs of the Earth by the local Native Americans,” he said.
“Are we going to have to listen to this all night?” she asked.
“I have no idea. I’ve never camped up here before. I’ve camped higher up, but didn’t notice the wind.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, let’s get the dishes done and take a bit of a walk before bed,” she said.
Luc nodded and began to heat water. That took longer than they expected, because the wind kept shifting. It even blew out the stove once. As Luc started the stove again, something caught his eye.
“Meg, move very slowly and look out about 30 yards from my left shoulder,” he said softly.
“What?” she asked.
“Just look,” he said again.
Meg looked and soon she saw a pair of eyes reflecting in the darkness. “Oh,” she said softly.
“If my nose is correct, that is something that doesn’t exist,” he said.
“Huh?” Meg asked.
“That is a wolf. A real one, not a shifter, and she is very interested in us. She is having a terrible time trying to understand why a two-legs smells like a wolf,” he said with a smile as he slowly stood up from the stove.
“I bet that is confusing,” replied Meg.
“It certainly would be for me,” Luc said. “I know I was terribly confused the first time I met a non-wolf shifter. All I could think was ‘why did that man smell like a bear?’ and then I realized what he was,” said Luc.
“Oh, I bet that was funny,” she said.