Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)
Chapter 112 - The Contained Calm Before…

Chapter 112: Chapter 112 - The Contained Calm Before...

I waited fifteen more minutes in place, listening for any movement or approaching vehicles. Waited for nothing... because either they were extremely good at concealment, or more likely the exchange had been completed when they dropped off the container - as promised.

With the verification I sent just serving as final confirmation that they don’t have an angry customer. Or... wait, maybe it had something to do with whatever just allowed them to infiltrate my phone?

> I know the contact didn’t say BK when I messaged that code. Did they make me compromise my own device somehow?! <

Sighing at that possibility while approaching the container, I examined the heavy-duty padlocks securing the door before roaming to the left side. The key to them had been left as they said it would be, stuffed in one of these ’forklift pockets’.

Fishing it out from the second little hole at the bottom, before walking back to try it out, the key fit and turned smoothly. Clicking open with a sound and that seemed unnervingly loud in the night’s silence.

Pulling the others off, the reinforced door swung open with surprising ease and quiet. Its hinges smelled like they’d been recently oiled and I closed the doors behind me while setting down the lock and key in a corner.

In the dark, I pulled out my phone and found the flashlight feature before pointing it around the empty container’s interior. Mostly empty, save for a metal toolbox in a far corner... what had been mentioned as a ’maintenance package’ in the listing.

Lubricant for the door hinges, touch-up paint matching the exterior color, spare bolts for the reinforced plating, and a detailed manual for addressing common structural issues. The person, or people, behind reselling these were very thorough.

Touching the lilac square in my system interface, my hand glows blue and out from the | Single Parent Stash | comes my backpack. I’d stuffed it with things I need to take, but don’t really need to carry with me as I travel.

One by one, I empty everything into the toolbox or down beside it. Everything except the jacket and the backpack itself. Putting those two things on and ruining the sneaky look I had, I walked out of the shipping container.

"Let’s hope it’s not oversized by a small amount thanks to the door modification..."

I activated the Stash once more and placed my hand against the cool metal surface. It remained blue - and with that flex of my intentions... the entire thing and its contents are simply gone.

Relief and accomplishment filled me up. All the little stresses about this situation felt like they’d been loosened and I just stared at the dark sky for a while. But I couldn’t just linger here in this abandoned lot.

> Stars are disappearing. Cloud cover... That rain is coming after all. <

As I was leaving, a distant metallic clang froze me in place for a second before I dropped into a crouch behind a pile of the concrete debris. Someone was on the property of the paper mill itself.

> Movement near the side entrance. That was a figure slipping inside the abandoned building. Then another. Not approaching our position, but definitely too close for my liking. Did they see me do that a bit ago? <

I caught their scent on the moist shifting breeze. Human, with what I think is gun oil because of what Vrika suggests. And silver, lots of pure silver... which means it is likely hunters gathering.

Were they here monitoring this exchange? Or are they simply using the abandoned property for their own purposes coincidentally? The text sent back did mention not to come back here... why would they send that unless there was danger?

> And how did they know I would find hunters dangerous - unless they knew what I was. Should I be considering them an ally... or not? <

Either way, I had what I came for. The container. I had no reason to engage or sleuth. Nor was this the kind of danger I wanted to get involved in. In fact, it’s exactly the amount of it that has slipped past exciting and is now only fear-inducing.

Moving as silent as possible through the shadows and toward the gate, I slipped past and eventually distanced myself along the many fence lines and industrial buildings. Making my way back to the city center as quickly without completely shifting as I could.

But part of me really wanted to change. To run, freely, as either wolf or hybrid. The night air carried increasing hints of that promised rain from the television forecast and the primal part of me wanted nothing more than to bed down before it arrived.

I quickened my pace, hoping to reach the northeastern district and the Oak Knot before the weather turned. Some exhaustion was building, as I hadn’t been able to wind down until 10PM after receiving that message to come here.

The phone alarm I set that woke me up to do this had begun ringing at midnight. Hells awful midnight! Which... isn’t something I’m looking forward to in the future.

"Babies wake up all times of the day, including night. So the book said. I’ll be lucky to get two hours of uninterrupted rest a day for a while in the future..."

But I had no real option other than to walk. Buses had stopped running hours ago - if I was even willing to try riding one for the first time. Despite possessing a werewolf’s stamina, walking several miles in a downpour held no appeal at all.

> I’d rather be curled up in my motel room. But I’ll take any dry spot if it comes down to it. <

At the edge of the industrial distract, I began to cut through the ’token’ park. A place put at the border to the cleaner, nicer parts of the city proper which provided some small greenery to offset the swaths of concrete.

Which was when a crisp scent caught my attention.

The smell of freshly fallen snow with undertones of iron.

A scent that never made me think of blood so much as it did authority.

My steps faltered as I inhaled it deeply. Merely to confirm what my senses were telling me.

That Kyrie Voss was very close by. Living, present... and not just a territorial marker.