I followed his order and took a shuddering inhale.
“Good.” He let out a long breath, too. “You’re doing fine. Just watch where you’re going. I’m not as young as I look, remember? You almost gave me a heart attack.”
I nodded. “Right. I’ll be more careful.” He really was making me lose my concentration. One smile and I almost fell off a mountain.
***
We spent the next few hours huffing it up the mountain. Or at least I was huffing. Lucas made carrying two packs look easy. If he didn’t have a leg up from being a wolf, I would’ve felt bad. But as it was, I didn’t. Even with the two packs, he was slowing down for me.
“Let’s take a break.”
“A break?”
“Yes.” He kicked a log, and stared at it for a second.
What on earth…
“Sit there.”
I followed his command before I knew what I was doing, and boy did sitting feel good. I hadn’t realized how tired I was already.
Lucas set down the packs and dug around in his. “Here you go.”
He handed me a plastic bag filled with some sort of jerky. “What is it?” After yesterday with the guinea pigs, I needed to know exactly what I was eating.
“Beef jerky.”
Thank goodness. I took a piece and chewed. “How much farther do you think?”
“We’ll get to the mine right before the sun sets.”
I nearly choked. My feet were already killing me, and it was just past midday.
“That’s why it’s important to take breaks. I don’t want to have to carry you back to the car.”
I thought he was joking until I saw his face. “Could you?”
“What? Carry you back? Yes.” He handed me a water bottle. “With the packs, it’d be cumbersome. But yes.”
That was pretty damned impressive. I knew my pack weighed at least fifty pounds. His was just as big, if not bigger. And then add me? “How much can you carry?”
“Let’s just say a lot.”
I laughed. “Well, all the same, I think I’m going to be fine.”
“Of course you are. You just need a little bit of time to heal up.” He paused. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
I looked up at him, shielding the sun with my hand. “What?”
“After all this is over, what do you want to do? What are your plans?”
I knew what he was getting at. He wanted more from me. He wanted there to be an us. So, it made sense that he’d ask. But I didn’t have a great answer for him. “I don’t really know. I’ve been stuck on the compound for so long…” I stood up, bushing off the back of my pants. “I always dreamed that if I left, that I’d go to college. Travel as much as I could.” I shrugged. “And maybe go to some concerts.”
“Concerts, huh?” He took the water bottle back from me. “What kind?”
“Symphonies for sure. But besides classical, I’m not sure. I guess I’ll see whatever comes into the town where I end up.”
He took a long drink before picking up the packs. “And what do you want to study?”
What didn’t I want to study? “Everything.”
“Everything?” He bumped his shoulder into mine. “That’s ambitious.”
“I guess. I just want to know more. See more. I feel like my life has been so contained. So limited and controlled. I know I might not get to everything I want, but I figure if I shoot for the stars, I might just land on the moon.”
“College and travel then.”
“Yeah.” I hoped that wasn’t a bad thing. If he was Alpha, that meant he’d have to stick around here. Would I also be stuck here if I was with him? It wasn’t that I didn’t like Peru, but I’d been so confined—especially the last few years—that being tied anywhere wasn’t in the least bit appealing.
Could I really give up my dreams for a guy?
I wasn’t sure that I could. I’d given everything up for everyone in my life. I’d blackened my soul and was still paying the price to make up for that. Now that I finally had hope on the horizon, I couldn’t just abandon my plans to be mated with some pack Alpha.
Even if that Alpha was Mr. July.
“A thirst for knowledge is never a bad thing,” he said, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Neither is travel. It tells me that you’re wise.”
I hoped when he found out that I wasn’t keen on giving either up, he’d still be supportive. Otherwise…
I made a face, trying to break myself out of my suddenly gloomy thoughts. “I’m not wise. I barely know anything besides what the coven taught me.”
“Which was…”
I sighed. “Nothing good.”
“That’s not true. You helped your brother with magic.” He moved a branch out of the way, and motioned me past.
“If I hadn’t learned about my magic, then Luciana wouldn’t have been able to use it. And Raphael wouldn’t have needed my help in the first place. So, nothing good.” Fathers Valentine and Albert came to my mind. “It seems like the people practicing black magic outweigh the ones practicing white by an impossible amount.”
He grunted. “No. I don’t believe that at all.”