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helped. She didn’t feel sorry for herself when she worked her body hard. She didn’t think about anything, not about the friends and family she left behind, not the empty days and nights that lay ahead of her. Not about the stranger from the night before that roused all kinds of longing inside her. It was nothing but this. Her body in perfect, fluid motion.
    Almost home now, she was sweating beneath her clothes. The sun had dipped behind the snow-covered mountains and a faint haze of red washed the air. She circled to the back of the diner and pounded up the steps to her apartment. Inside, she paced the small space of her living room, cooling herself down. She grabbed a bottled water from the refrigerator and took a swig.
    Her buzz was still there, a euphoria that would last her through the night and ease her into the deep, dreamless sleep she needed. Moving into her bedroom, she stripped off her clothes and turned on the shower, waiting for the water to warm.
    Still, just to be safe, she strolled naked back into the living room and flipped on the television and found an old movie, welcoming the noise, the distraction. It filled the silence and made her life seem less …
less
.
    Anything to keep her thoughts off the cloying quiet, the suffocating aloneness of her life.
    C OREY SLAMMED THE DOOR shut with all her might, swearing when a nail broke in a sharp burst of pain. Hands on her hips, she glared through the dirty truck window at her date.
    “Don’t call me again,” she bit out, and then stomped away, churning the snow with her boots. It was only a couple of miles back to town. She wasn’t afraid of walking.
    The truck pulled up alongside her, the diesel fumes choking her. She waved a hand to clear the stink.
    “Come on, Corey,” Don cajoled. “Don’t be that way.”
    “Leave me alone.” Why had she ever agreed to go out with him in the first place? She shouldn’t have listened to her mother. So what if he had a solid job and his own house? That didn’t make suffering through his rough gropings worth it.
    “You don’t want to walk to town in this cold. C’mon, sweetheart.”
    “It beats getting back in the cab with you.”
    “Corey!” Apparently he thought taking an authoritative voice would win her over. “Get in the truck!”
    He would be wrong on that score. She could almost feel the steam coming out of her ears. She’d had enough with overbearing men in her life. First her daddy, and then her husband. If Tommy hadn’t run off the road after an all-night bender and wrapped himself around a tree, she’d still be stuck with him and his quick fists. With the slaps that made her ears ring. With choking tears and sobs she had to stifle so she didn’t wake up Parker.
    “Go to hell,” she flung at him. She was twenty-seven. She still had a lot of life left. She didn’t need a man. She had a decent job and Parker. He was all she needed.
    “Fine, bitch! Hope you freeze.” He gunned the truck. The tires spit a spray of grimy snow on her, dousing her new pair of jeans. She watched the taillights fade into the night, not the least bit sorry.
    With a tired sigh, she continued down the road.
    The moon rode high above the tall trees, following her as she made her way back to town. Its pale light reflected off the snow. The night floated like a pool of ink around her. Striding ahead, she felt as if she swam through it. The distant lights oftown winked at her through the occasional break in the trees.
    Her pace increased as she thought of her warm bed, her television, Parker asleep in his bed in the room next to hers. For the first time in her life, she was okay with what she had—with what she was. She didn’t need more than that. She didn’t need some jerk draggin’ her down.
    The first howl stopped her cold in her tracks. It was like no wolf’s howl she’d ever heard before, and she’d grown up out here, where wolves were part of life. You didn’t camp or hike the trails in the summer without