Lara
The moment I stepped through the back door, the cold hit me.
Wind tore across the yard, slipping beneath my clothes and raising goosebumps along my skin. I hugged the canvas rucksack against my side and hurried toward the line of trees bordering our property.
I needed to get away.
Not because I hated being home.
Because for the first time in my life, I had something that belonged entirely to me.
A secret.
Elijah.
My mate.
And nobody else knew.
I reached the cover of the trees and glanced back toward the house.
Nothing.
Good.
I quickly changed, folding my clothes into the rucksack before securing it tightly. The cold was biting now, and I shivered as the wind howled through the branches overhead.
“Remind me why we’re doing this again?” Phoenix grumbled.
“Because I want t
