#Chapter 24 – Long Hike Home

Fortunately or unfortunately for me, my wolf has a lot of ideas about how I can take advantage of a night in the woods with Luca. And every single one of them is incredibly impractical and ridiculous. Just let down our hair and then he will know – and then he will grab us and press up against a tree and kiss us and kiss us – I grit my teeth as I make the final cut, finally freeing the long, single piece of birch bark that I’ve been peeling off the tree for hours. Seriously, it’s slow, painstaking work. “What are you even thinking about?” Luca asks from behind me, and I gasp and jump, dropping the piece of bark to the forest floor. “Luca!” I growl, glaring at him and bending over to scoop the bark back into my hands. “You scared me! What are you talking about?” “I saw you,” he says, leaning back against another tree and grinning at me. “You were all growly, muttering things to your wolf, shivers running down your spine. What is going on with you?” Youuuuu! My wolf supplies interna