WINTER FROST

CHAPTER 5: THE TERRITORY THREAT

RAVEN POV

I spent the rest of the morning walking the territory with my camera, but I didn’t take a single photo. I just walked. Thought. I tried to breathe.

The land was beautiful in that harsh way only Alaska knows how to be. Everything here was either fighting to live or giving up. No in between. The trees that survived winter came out stronger. The animals that lasted were the quickest and smartest.

I used to think I was like that tough, adaptable, someone who always landed on her feet.

But maybe I was just someone who ran when things got real.

I ended up at the creek where Colton found me yesterday. The same spot where we used to catch minnows and skip stones, pretending the whole world stopped at the tree line.

I sat on the same flat rock from yesterday and pulled out my phone. Scrolled through my contacts. Editors. Magazine people. Photographers I’d worked with.

I could do this. I could make calls, pitch the story, get it published. National Geographic would jump on it's oil company vs. protected land, culture vs. greed, wolves vs. machines. It had everything.

But could I handle three whole months here?

Seeing Colton every day? Watching him joke with Mara? Feeling the pack glare at me like I’d personally ruined their lives?

My phone buzzed.

A text from my editor. Madagascar assignment is a go. They want you there by the end of December. Interested?

Madagascar. One of the few places I’d always wanted to shoot but never had the chance. A dream job.

All I had to do was say yes.

“You can't hide by the creek forever. People will start to worry.”

I looked up. Mara stood on the path, hands tucked into her jacket, face unreadable.

“I’m not hiding." I said. “Just thinking.”

“About Skye’s idea?” She asked, stepping closer. I stiffened without meaning to. “It’s alright. She told me this morning. Asked what I thought.”

“And what did you say?”

“That she’s right to ask you.” Mara picked up a small stone and rolled it between her fingers. “You have a platform. You could help.”

I swallowed. “You love him.”

She didn’t even try to deny it. “I do. I have for three years. Since the day I helped keep him alive after… everything.”

“Mara—”

“I’m not blaming you.” Her voice stayed calm, almost gentle. “I’m just saying the truth. He doesn’t love me back. Not the way I wish he did. The bond with you never broke. You rejected it, but it’s still there. It’s hurting both of you.”

“That’s not—”

“Don’t lie." She said quietly. “I’m a healer. I can feel it when you’re near each other. You act like magnets that don’t know whether to connect or push each other away. And neither of you has been with anyone else, no matter how much you pretend you’ve moved on. The bond is still active. Still pulling. Still painful.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

Because she was right.

And we both knew it.

“So here’s my advice.” Mara said as she stood. “If you’re going to stay, do it for the right reasons. Do it for the land, the pack, the animals everything that depends on this place. Don’t stay because you think three months will fix what happened between you and Colton. It won’t.”

She took a few steps, then paused.

“And if you choose to leave? Don’t drag it out. Don’t give him false hope. Just go. It’ll hurt less.”

Then she walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the cold water rushing past.

I looked down at my phone. The message about Madagascar was still open. A dream assignment. A clean escape. Then I looked at the forest around me, the same forest I grew up in.

Power East Energy called this empty land.

But it wasn’t empty. It was alive. It was ours.

It was mine, whether I liked it or not.

I pulled up the text from my editor and typed, Can’t do Madagascar. Got a bigger story. Will explain later. I sent it before I could chicken out.

Then I called Skye.

“I’ll do it." I said when she picked it up. “Three months. But I have conditions.”

“Okay." She said right away. “Name them.”

“I work independently. I document what I actually see even if it doesn’t make the pack look good.”

“Done. What else?”

“I need full access to the territory. No blocked areas.”

“I’ll talk to Colton." She said. “He’ll agree.”

I wasn’t so sure. “Does he know you asked me?”

“No. I wanted to be sure you’d say yes first. He won’t be happy, Raven… but he’ll understand. This is bigger than old feelings.”

Was it really? I wasn’t convinced.

“When do I start?” I asked.

“Council meeting tonight at seven. Present your plan. If they approve, you start tomorrow.”

Great. A room full of elders who probably wished I’d stayed gone. And Colton. Always Colton.

“I’ll be there." I said.

After she hung up, I stayed by the creek, staring at the water running over ancient stones. These rocks would outlive all of us unless the company got their way and turned everything into a dead zone.

Maybe that’s what finally pushed me.

Not guilt.

Not duty.

Just anger at the idea of losing yet another place to greed.

I’d spent years photographing vanishing worlds. Watching beauty disappear and doing nothing but capture it as it died.

Maybe this time, I could actually help stop the loss.

Even if it meant seeing Colton every day.

Even if it meant reopening wounds I’d tried so hard to ignore.

Even if it hurts.

I lifted my camera and started shooting trees, water, mountains.

Proof. Fuel. A starting point.

Whatever it took to protect this place.

Whatever it took to show I wasn’t running anymore.

Whatever it took to be brave with more than just my camera.