Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 361 - Mnemonic For Your ABCs: Alibi

I sat at the kitchen island with a bowl of savory rice porridge that I’d managed not to burn this time. Only because the instructions I’d looked up were very detailed and I’d followed them exactly without deviation.

Martha might be proud of me, as terribly as that visit to learn how to cook eggs went. Not that any of it went to waste. Except the few I cracked badly and was too proud to lick off of the counter like I might have done had she not been watching.

As I taste the first bite of my best - passable - home cooked meal, I glance at my phone on the counter... and the research I’d been doing to pass the hours as the rice simmered. Satellite images of the countryside near Vossden.

Specifically, a wooded and hilly region known for kitsch, modernized cabin rentals that feel like a more permanent representation of the glamping I encountered on that second model shoot. All because of the gift that sat on the other side of the counter.

A simple, old brass key sat on a brand new straight out of a delivered package leather lanyard. With a wooden carved fox charm the size of my thumb dangling from it for good measure.

Chosen because of my last name, he claimed, but the very cream-colored and clear-sealed wood made me further uncomfortable with the number of suspicious links. Of course, he took my hesitance to be just about the cabin itself.

> Was it dubious, you think? How he went on to describe the empty cabin that his ’forever bachelor’ brother left behind for him when he died? That he had already been thinking to offer it... <

My wolf cared little for my question, tail low and ears back. It had been anxious since I’d woken up, sending impressions of snow-covered dens and separation from pack members that didn’t return before the first heavy falls of winter. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"The cabin is real. If anyone checks, they’ll find records of Edgar Miles’ family owning property there. And that’s if I even *have* to let on where I obtained access to one."

I spoke aloud to justify my planning, to no one but myself and the spirit. With the system rewarded earpiece ’equipped’ - just in case anyone happened to be listening in. My finger traced over the map on the screen, memorizing the route like someone who planned to go there might do.

Two and a half hours by car, nestled in a small community near the edge of national forest land. Not quite in the direction I intend to go. But having proof that I looked all of this up before leaving is good insurance.

> False trails are the clever fox’s way. And I would have never known I needed to make them like this if Claire never became my friend. If she never let on that she was BoundaryKeeper. <

Honestly, the location is nearly perfect and that is why it bugs me. Close enough to a city to seem reasonable even for a ’long vacation’. Far enough that people wouldn’t casually drop by. Though I have fears that Anise certainly would, since she already proved she would do five hours one way.

Taking another tablespoonful of porridge into my unsettled stomach - I may have thrown up twice when I woke up - I pulled up the messages I’d sent late last night. After leaving Anise’s apartment.

Which was also after I got dressed in a much less fancy set of clothes. After she’d hugged me too tightly when I dangled the key and the alibi. And after she made me promise to take care of myself. Without asking why I was choosing suddenly to go to any sort of vacation.

> And with a feel like she understood. That I understood it might be the last time... <

There was some kind of sad resignation on her face. Which is why my message to her went like this.

C: [Thank you for everything. Vossden wouldn’t be the same if I hadn’t met you. I’m only taking a short vacation to clear my head. Will send pictures of the woods!]

But I wasn’t sure I would. Because the phone is going into my Stash the moment I leave. However, I did take a picture of my hand holding up the cabin key. Rather, I took several with shaky thumb presses that just couldn’t get it to feel acceptable.

The lighting, I mean. Of course that’s what I meant. Before composing drafts of unique messages to people whose contact I had... that might care if I disappear without any word.

To Ellie:

[Thanks for the invites the other night. I’m actually going off-grid for a bit soon to re-experience cabin life after a couple months of city living. Not sure about signal or internet, but I’ll check messages when I’m back.]

To Zoé:

[A bit sudden, but I’ll be taking a trip for a few weeks. Not far, but won’t be around to hang out. If you need anything at all or are in any sort of danger, ask Kyrie Voss for help.]

[And send me a picture if you ever do wear that wolf onesie. I promise I won’t send it right to Paul. Oh, but tell him for me too that I’ll be gone? Thanks.]

To Mrs. Morin:

[I just told your daughter I’ll be away from Vossden for a while. Informing you just in case she seems in a bad mood - or so that she can’t claim she is meeting with me.]

[Not that she would ever do that last part! Zoé has been a delight and is a very good girl. Thank you for allowing the interactions we’ve had.]

[I think I’ve been getting more out of the experience of managing care for an adolescent than she is out of my attempts to act as a mentor. But she’s smart, and sharp, and I think you are raising her well.

[And I don’t mean this to imply you do not take her seriously, but if she stresses to you that there is trouble and you need to rely on people you would not have thought to? Her instincts are solid. Listen.]

Some of them may have gotten longer as I went along. I did consider making it easy on myself and using the exact same message I sent to Anise. That one felt generic enough that it could apply to anyone.

> Yet, it felt more intelligent to not make the alibi *look* like one by cheapening my ’goodbyes’. So now the trail straight to the wrong place looks more and more like the right path. <

A number of them would go out to anyone I’d annexed and would potentially see again if I’d stayed in the city. For instance, Reina’s was filled with similar explanations and veiled warnings - asking her to tell her grandfather I said hello and was looking forward to stopping in when I got back.

Lies. Deceits mixed with truths. And I can’t tell if they are pure white snow covering everything or black soot hot enough to set my pants alight. I hadn’t prepared to send anything to Kyrie. Or to Claire, who will likely have access to all my messages anyway.

I know I should. I know it would be more suspicious not to. But I just could not think of what to say. So I haven’t, as I wait for a reasonable time of morning to blast everyone with the texts.

"Stupid fox. Stupid wolves."

I flip the phone screen-down and finished my porridge. Finding it doesn’t taste so good as it did on the first few bites.