by Ruby Ryan
"No, I get it," she said, putting a hand on my arm. "I think it's beautiful."
I smiled at her. Even if she was only being kind, it was a kindness I appreciated. A vulnerability that I didn't mind exposing her to.
I tried to think of an excuse to change the subject, and a question popped into my head from earlier. "What was around my neck?"
"What?"
"When I was a gryphon earlier," I added. "You rode on my back and held something that was around my neck."
"Ohh. It was like a collar! And there was a sapphire in it that was this big." She made the outline of a softball with her hands. "To match the one on the totem."
"A collar." I thought about that. If the gem on the totem could transform me into a gryphon, what would happen if someone touched the one on my collar?
Or worse, what would happen if they destroyed it?
"How much longer?" Ezra said. "I'm burning up in all these layers."
"GPS says twenty minutes."
"Twenty sweaty minutes," she grumbled.
*
Ezra sighed with relief when we finally reached the point where the road curved over the mountain and began to slope downward. But then she frowned as I pulled aside, tires crunching down a snowy path that ran along the ridge of the mountain in the darkness.
I reached the end, parking next to an identical van, the one Thomas had driven. We hopped out, and Ezra looked around at the trees and night sky. "This is it?"
I pointed at a snowy path marked by poles with LED lights. "Our build site is another 500 feet that way."
"Oh. That's not so far." She squinted as if she could see the camp in the distance, but I shook my head.
"No, sorry. I meant 500 vertical feet. It'll take us half an hour to hike up there at night."
Ezra stared at me like I was making a bad joke.
The equipment was compartmentalized into individual packs that could be carried like backpacks, so Ezra and I strapped two of them on and began the trek to the camp. Even with the path illuminated by LED poles every ten feet and the snow packed down, it was slow going in the dark while carrying a load. Every step had to be slow and careful, feeling for purchase before taking another. The wind howled across the ridge and stabbed my cheeks, so I pulled up my hood and tightened it until the world narrowed to a circle directly in front of me.
Honestly, it felt good to be up here. Secluded on the mountain doing my job. Away from everything else. Even the cold was a comforting annoyance, familiar and normal. The stars were brilliant specks of light, too many to count, more light than darkness once your eyes adjusted.
Ezra was having a tough go of it. Since her boots didn't fit perfectly they kept slipping, and once she slid off the path so quickly that she was forced to turn the motion into an out-of-control jog until she rammed into a tree off the path. She laughed it off though, and to her credit didn't complain about the cold.
My legs were just falling into a groove when the camp appeared ahead.
The PUT-PUT-PUT stutter of the generator was almost drowned out by the wind, but the smell of gasoline gave it away. The camp was positioned on a flat plateau straddling the ridge, thirty feet wide. A wide radio antenna had already been set up in the farthest corner, and next to it were two tents: a small one-person tent, and another large enough to stand up in. The latter was filled with light, and the silhouette of a man was cast on the wall.
I dropped my pack of equipment on the ground, and Ezra followed suit, before unzipping the tent.
16
EZRA
I didn't complain about the cold because Sam would just make fun of me, but holy fuck it was a relief to step into that tent.
It was a square about fifteen feet to a side, and it radiated warmth like someone had copied-and-pasted a block of the Florida wetlands inside. Crates of equipment were stacked around the exterior with half a dozen laptops open and resting on top, and a folding table full of schematics occupied the middle of the room.
"About time!" The man, Sam's boss, had a head that looked like someone had scribbled sharpie around the sides of a hen's egg, but only the sides. His body was just as round, and his bushy eyebrows rose sharply above rectangular glasses when he saw me. "Umm, Sam..."
"Thomas, meet Ezra. She's an intern up from Boulder to work on the contract." I shook his hand.
Thomas frowned and said, "I don't recall being notified of any interns, at least not until the JPL contract in--"
"Ezra, this is the man I was telling you about," Sam cut in, giving me a conspiratorial wink.
"Ohh!" I said. "You're Thomas Parker! You're a legend down at... the college."
Thomas's surprise quickly changed to pleased smugness. "Ahh, well, I get that a lot. I'm just happy to have left a legacy down there. Tell me, is Professor Jameson still kicking around?"
"Umm," I said. "Yes! Professor Jameson, with the... sweater vests? He's still there alright."
It must have been the right thing to say, because Thomas nodded to himself. "Old fart will never leave academia. You know, the last time I was there..."
Sam cleared his throat. "Sorry again for being late, but we had some trouble with my flight. We brought up a load of the equipment you requested, and the rest is in the van down by the road."
"Splendid." He pushed his glasses farther up on his nose. "We can retrieve them in the morning."
"How'd you get all this up here by yourself?" I blurted, looking around.
They both turned toward me.
"The setup crew assisted in unloading my van," he said. "But they're merely grunts. Not qualified technicians like us." He paused to look me up and down, and I could see him doing the mental math. Wondering if I was up to snuff.
"Thomas," Sam cut in, "I'm surprised you got one of the arrays up already."
He gave a start. "What do you mean?"
"Uhh. The array." Sam pointed at one corner of the tent. "It looks fully functional."
"That's because it was fully functional," Thomas snapped. "This contract is an expansion of the dish already here. Didn't you read the paper I sent, or did you spend your entire vacation basking in the sun?"
Damn, dude. I decided I could never work with someone who was such a dick to the people under him, but Sam handled it smoothly.
"It was a long day of flights. I'm just happy to be here to help." He slapped Thomas on the arm.
"Yes. Well. You two can pitch your tents and we'll get a fresh start in the morning. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ezra."
He handed us each a duffel bag.
It took all of my willpower to return to the frigid cold of the mountain, and instantly I felt the ice seeping back into my bones. I followed Sam around the corner, on the opposite side of the tent from Thomas's.
"Should be less wind on this side," he said, dropping his duffel bag and pulling out a canvas cylinder. "I'll help you get your tent set up first."
Your tent. I'd be sleeping alone. I didn't like this plan already. But Sam's gaze lingered on me extra long, adding emphasis to his words, so I didn't say anything.
The tent was up in less than five minutes: the canvas base laid flat, then the poles extended and bent into the holes of the base to form the frame. Sam hammered stakes into the ground to keep it in place, then pulled the base up to connect to the frame. A final, thicker layer went over the outside to shield from the wind.
"There's a heater in your duffel bag," Sam explained over the sound of the wind. "But when you set it up, make sure it doesn't touch the wall of the tent or it'll melt the plastic. Learned that the hard way."
He grinned, but I didn't smile with him.
Getting out of the wind was half the battle; once I'd crawled into my tent and zipped the door back up I felt marginally better. The heater was the size of a small purse, and I looked around for a place to plug the cord when the zipper opened.
"You'll need this," Sam said, tossing in the end of an extension cord.
"There's only one outlet," I observed. "Where will
I plug in my curling iron?"
The most beautiful smile split Sam's face, cheeks brightening behind his mask. He looked both ways like he was going to tell an offensive joke, leaned in for a quick kiss, and then said, "Goodnight, Ezra."
And then he was gone.
The heater made no noise; I plugged it in and looked for a power button or a knob to control the heat, but it possessed neither. But then I saw the orange glow of filaments inside, just like a toaster, and the heat radiated off of it like pure heaven itself.
Or pure hell. Honestly, hell sounded awfully appealing.
The sleeping bag was a puffy cocoon of plastic, and once inside I stared up at the roof of my tent in thought. The wind howling and pummeling my tent emphasized where we were: at the top of a mountain, with the world spread out below us. I could imagine the views on either side of my tent: dangerous slopes falling away into open air, a vacuum that would suck me over the edge if I weren't careful. It was like the opposite of claustrophobia, which I knew had a name but I couldn't remember. I felt uncomfortable up here, alone.
I made it about five minutes before leaving.
Sam flinched when I unzipped the flap to his tent and crawled inside. He waited until I'd closed it behind me before hissing, "What are you doing?"
"What's it look like, Einstein? It is way too cold for me to sleep alone."
Sam cocked his ear, listening to the wind. "If Thomas thinks I'm fucking an intern..."
"Technically you are fucking an intern," I grinned.
"Except technically, you're not an intern," he countered. "And anything that might tip off my boss to that fact should be avoided."
The fabric of our pants swished together as I crawled into his sleeping bag and snuggled against his body. "If you're not careful I'm gunna go find another bird boy to fuck."
Whether it was the joke, or the subtle reminder of the weird secret we shared, Sam finally sighed. "Sorry, but I think I'm the only available gryphon boyfriend." He poked me in the ribs. "And right now I don't think my junk could handle doing it a fourth time today."
"Oh?" I rubbed my leg up against his crotch, which was warm and inviting. But then I stopped and said, "I've never really had a boyfriend before."
I felt Sam blink. "Really?"
It was the truth: I'd never had a boyfriend before. At least not a serious one. I'd dated men, attaching myself to drug dealers and auto chop-shoppers for as long as I needed to, but it was never more than a convenience. Some physical gratification while I used them for whatever I needed.
Sam was... different.
"Never a serious one," I said automatically.
"You think this is serious?"
My eyes shot wide open and I stared at the wall of the tent. I'd just called him my boyfriend, and a serious one at that. This dude I'd known for less than a day. My mind raced. Goddamnit, Ezra. I've learned not to allow myself to be this vulnerable. Too many times I've seen what happens when I get close to people, when I show them too much of myself and give them a chance to disappoint--
But Sam chuckled, which made our mutual bodies shake. "I thought it was just me."
"Yeah?"
"It's like I've known you forever, Ezra. Being around you is easy."
"Easy?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"You know what I mean. It's like we fit together--no, not like that. Our personalities. Kindred souls, I think the term is." He shook his head. "You probably think I'm stupid."
I considered making another joke, but he seemed too vulnerable then. Like he'd revealed some of himself to me. "Not at all," I said softly. Then, after a pause, I said, "I feel the same way."
The totem in my pocket pulsed happily as we snuggled together at the top of the world.
17
EZRA
I woke up to the sound of an explosion.
It was impossibly loud, even through the tent wall, and bounced me off the ground. I yelped, and tried to leap to my feet but something held me down, and for a few crazy moments I fought against the restraints.
Only when I remembered that I was inside a sleeping bag did I stop, unzip it, and climb out.
The sound of the explosion echoed on the mountains, bouncing back at us from several directions at once. Sam put a hand on my arm but I stared at the tent wall, waiting.
"Ezra..." he began.
CRACK-BOOM.
Another explosion to our left, a massive thunderclap that was louder than before. I felt this one in my pelvis, and had the inexplicable urge to run. We were under attack. That psychopathic dragon dude had come, and brought a bazooka or something, and we were going to die on this mountain.
"Ezra," Sam insisted. "It's not what you think!"
"Then what is it?" I hissed.
Boots crunched on snow across the clearing, and then I heard laughter.
"Rise and shine!" Thomas called. He chuckled some more, and then I heard the long zipper of the work tent open, then close.
"Planned explosions," Sam said.
"I know I don't have the same fancy college degree you do," I muttered, eyes still wide, "but I'm struggling to understand why you would need to blow shit up to build some radio dishes."
Sam stretched his legs out in front of him and groaned a morning groan. "To cause avalanches."
"You're making less and less sense every second."
"Planned avalanches. We set them off with small explosions while we're up here."
I gave him a you're still not making any sense look.
"Avalanches are a risk this time of year," he explained in a patient voice, "especially as more snow accumulates. So smaller avalanches are triggered with explosions before they can build up into dangerous ones. Sometimes the Colorado Parks Department sub-contracts it out to teams like us since we're already up here." His frowned. "You've never heard of this?"
I punched him on the shoulder. "Don't act like I'm the dumb one. I'm not used to this shit!"
We both froze as we heard the zipper to the work tent open again.
"Gunna grab a load from your van," Thomas called out. "There's coffee steaming inside. If I don't see bright faces by the time I return I'm gunna roll each of your tents down the mountain!"
We listened to him crunch through the snow toward the path.
"See?" I said. "He doesn't know we shared a tent at all. And you were mister worried."
I lay back down on the sleeping bag and sighed.
"How long's it gunna take him to get a load--half an hour?" I asked. "Wake me in 20."
Sam slid sideways, pressing his body on top of mine. His smile was inches from my face. "Or we could do other stuff."
He kissed me before I could kiss him, his lips pressing me back against the tent floor. I closed my eyes and melted into him as his weight surrounded me, holding me in place. I spread my legs to let his body descend into me, pressing against my sex through our clothes while Sam's curtain of dirty blond hair shielded our faces.
"I need you now," he whispered.
Safe in the bubble of warmth that was our tent, I shimmied out of my pants and underwear, kicking them to the other end of the tent. Sam leaned back on his heels to do the same, his long cock bouncing into view as his own pants came down. I couldn't keep my hands off it, and I grabbed it like a sword and stroked him rapidly while he pulled his clothes off.
"Hurry," I moaned, touching my sex with my other hand, spreading my juices all around for him.
Sam's eyes were intense with need as he kissed me again, lowering his nude body onto mine. The touch of his skin everywhere was incredible, a warm blanket covering me. He held himself in a push-up position with one hand--which made his muscles bulge like a fucking god--and he used his other hand to guide himself in.
But he was moving slowly, coating his head and testing my entrance, so I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him close.
"Oh God!" he moaned as I used my legs to shove him all the way inside. There was the tiniest flicker of pain from taking him all at once, with the ache f
rom yesterday's fun, but it only lasted a heartbeat, and it was overwhelmed by the pleasure of every nerve feeling his cock all at once. I opened my mouth wide and gasped, my chest heaving in our dim tent.
His lips found my left nipple, sucking gently before using his lips to nibble at it. I arched my back into him as he licked around my areola, keeping my legs around him tight so he had to stay inside of me. I ran my hand through his crazy hair, tightening on the strands while he pleasured my nipples and sent shocks up and down my spine, and then he broke away and kissed me roughly, trying to move his hips while I held him close.
"I want you so bad," he said, stopping to look into my eyes.
I loosened my legs and he pulled back eagerly, slow thrusts that made me sigh. But I could feel the animal inside of him raging to break free, to fuck me hard and fast.
"Give it to me," I commanded, and he sped up while smiling at me. "Harder!"
"You like it like that?"
"Oh baby, I do."
He lifted himself into a push-up position, biceps like hard boulders on either side of my body. Then he thrust deep inside of me, a long stroke that touched every grain of my inner skin, a wonderful ache of flesh.
"Harder," I moaned.
Sam obeyed, his body crashing into mine each time and making my butt slide on the fabric of the sleeping bag.
Within moments we were both crying out so loud with pleasure we thought we might start our own avalanches, two orgasms on the top of the world.
"Want some breakfast?" Sam asked afterwards, his head resting on my breast.
"What we just did was better than any breakfast."
"So is that a no?"
"Pfft," I sputtered. "I didn't say that!"
By the time we'd climbed from the tent, and had shared a cup of coffee and warm toast in the work tent, Thomas was crunching his way back into the campsite.
"I trust you slept well, Ezra?" he asked, ducking back into the tent and rubbing his hands together. His cheeks were so windburned it almost looked like red paint.
