by Zoe Chant
"So what do you do for a living?"
"Well. This, pretty much," Eric said. "I mean, uh, not camping out in snow caves, but—mountains."
He took a deep breath, as if trying to collect himself. He'd seemed weirdly flustered ever since he'd come back from outside. Cory guiltily wondered whether he'd noticed how much she'd been staring at him. Had she made him uncomfortable?
"I'm a ranger in Colorado. I specialize in mountain rescue," Eric clarified.
Oh, God. This was horrible, everything he said just made him more attractive. Cora couldn't help but imagine him, rescuing lost tourists, finding survivors after avalanches. She'd always had a bit of a thing for heroes.
Knock it off. If you fawn over him anymore, he really is going to notice.
"You should tell me about your job." Eric rolled on his side to face her, propping himself up on his arm, his unreasonably well-muscled biceps displayed to perfection by the position.
Oh God.
She told him about working as a guide. Eric listened with obvious interest, asking questions every time she slowed down.
There was a lot of work that went into planning an expedition: the food, the organization, all the logistics of securing licenses and permits. This was the part of her job that no one but other guides ever seemed to appreciate. But Eric had been on the other side of the experience and seen the disasters that happened when guides didn't properly do their job. He seemed to appreciate the nitty-gritty details as much as the joy of getting to share the beauty of the mountains with others.
She hardly noticed when the storm finally quieted. Without meaning to, she'd leaned closer and closer while she talked, and Eric hadn't moved away. And then she looked up, and his face was right there.
Cora gathered all the courage she'd ever had and leaned up to press a quick, shy kiss to the corner of his mouth.
For a moment, Eric was frozen, not reacting at all. Cora's chest clenched in embarrassment. God, what had she been thinking? They were trapped in this tiny cave together until sunrise, and now she'd gone and made things awkward.
And she'd been chattering at him about her job for ages, too, as if she shouldn't damn well know better by now.
Cora, I like you, but you're just too intense, you know? How often had she heard some variation on that, from ex-boyfriends, from dates—why hadn't she kept her mouth shut?
And then Eric reached out, one hand catching her in mid-retreat. He curled his big fingers gently around the back of her head and guided her close again. Cora let out a helpless sigh of pleasure when Eric returned her kiss, gentle at first but quickly turning passionate. Both of them strained towards the other as if pulled in by gravity.
Eric pulled her down until she was lying half on top of him. She ran her hand down his arms, feeling his muscles flexing beneath her fingers. It felt amazing to finally be allowed to touch him the way she'd wanted to from the first moment she'd seen him.
Eric ran his hands up the sides of her thighs and then up her back, pushing the many layers of her clothes out of the way until his hand finally lay against her naked skin. Cora gasped. Even this little bit of skin contact felt bright and intense, the small intimacy somehow so much more meaningful for all the muffling layers of clothes still separating the rest of their bodies.
And then Eric took his hand away and wrenched himself from the kiss with a gasp.
"Wait." He drew himself back to sit on the other mat, drawing a deep, shaky breath.
"This isn't fair to you. If we're going to do this, there's something you deserve to know first."
Cora shook her head to try and clear the pleasurable haze clouding her mind. Eric sounded deadly serious. He'd curled in on himself, big shoulders hunching, fingers twisting nervously in his lap. Whatever he was about to tell her clearly was a big deal to him.
Cora sat up, echoing his cross-legged posture. "What is it?"
Eric took a deep breath as if bracing himself, opened his mouth, and then hesitated again. "I need you to know that I'd never hurt you," he started.
Cora wrinkled her brows. Okay. That was… a weird way to start.
"I wasn't worried until you put it like that."
"I wouldn't! I won't!" Eric said again, quickly. "It's just… uh. What I'm about to tell you. Sometimes people don't react too well. But I need you to not do anything stupid if you get scared, okay?"
He looked anxiously towards the small entrance to their cave. The storm had finally passed, and the narrow opening showed a few stars blinking in the icy clearness of a Himalayan night.
It was a deceptively peaceful sight. Cora knew better. With the cloud cover gone, the temperature would have dropped another five degrees, and the dark and the freshly-fallen snow would hide the mountain's jagged crevasses, turning them into deadly traps.
"You can't go out there in the dark," Eric said, echoing her thoughts. "If you need me to leave, I will. Just… don't run out and do anything stupid, okay?"
Okay, now this was starting to freak her out. How scary was this secret of his, that he thought it might make her want to run out into the night?
"Just tell me," she said. It couldn't be that bad. Could it?
Eric took a long, shaky breath. Cora's chest clenched with nerves. Maybe it was that bad.
"I'm a shapeshifter," Eric said.
For a long moment, she couldn't even make sense of the words.
"You're a…"
"Shapeshifter. Mountain lion shapeshifter."
There wasn't any doubting what she'd heard this time, but it still didn't quite want to register. The words played back in her mind like a damaged tape.
Mountain. Lion. Shapeshifter.
It didn't sound any less insane inside her head than it had hearing it spoken aloud.
"So, what. You're… saying you can turn into a cat." Cora startled herself a little with the flat sound of her own voice.
"Yeah." Eric's response came out tentative, as if he weren't quite sure about what he was saying now… or just not sure about her reaction.
"What the hell," Cora said, pushing to her feet and stalking towards the cave's entrance.
"Cora—" Eric reached out for her, tentative, an anxious look on his face—and then he recoiled, spluttering, from the armful of snow she'd scooped up and hurled straight at his face.
"Hey!"
"You! What the hell is wrong with you! You scared the hell out of me!"
She gestured wildly at their little cave. "You didn't think this was a bad time for a prank? I thought you were going to tell me God knows what terrifying secret, and I'm stuck here with you, and—ugh!" She picked up another handful of snow while Eric ducked hurriedly beneath his jacket.
"Stop, I—Cora, stop!" Eric peered out from under his jacket, both hands held up placatingly. Melting snow dripped down his face, small clumps of crystals stuck to his long lashes, and even now, as annoyed as she was, she couldn't help but notice how goddamn good-looking he was.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—I'm not making fun, I—Look."
He yanked his shirt off over his head. Cora watched him, speechless, baffled and, for a moment, thoroughly distracted by the perfectly sculpted muscles of Eric's broad chest.
Eric's body started to shine with a golden light, his outline blurring. Her eyes, accustomed to the dim light of the cave, squeezed shut involuntarily. When she blinked them open again, a mountain lion sat where Eric had been.
Cora stared.
The lion wriggled out of the pile of Eric's clothes. It sat down, tucking its tail around its paws.
Cora stared.
The lion lifted one paw, giving a tentative and very human little wave.
Cora's mouth was hanging open. She sat down hard, groping for the floor behind her, hanging on for dear life until she felt less like the whole cave was spinning.
The mountain lion tilted its head at her, making a soft sound. It looked… concerned.
"You're a… mountain lion." Cora's voice wavered.
The big cat
nodded. The gesture looked jarringly human. It took a tentative step towards her, then hesitated again, one paw half-outstretched.
Right. Paws. Claws. Fangs.
Eric was very large for a mountain lion, and every time he moved she could see his powerful muscles flexing beneath the sleek fur. No wonder Eric had worried she might run screaming into the night.
But even eye to eye with one of the deadliest predators on the planet, Cora found that she couldn't manage to be scared. There was something so—human about the big cat, and the expression on his face was somehow gentle despite the gleaming white fangs.
Cora slowly reached out her hand. The lion inched closer until her fingers brushed the soft fur of his muzzle. He felt warm and soft and very real. Tentatively she ran the tips of her fingers through his fur, brushing the fuzzy ears and the dense pelt that covered his shoulders. The cat made a low sound and leaned into the touch.
"You're real, aren't you?" she said, a feeling of awe shuddering through her.
People had hallucinations at this altitude. She wouldn't be the first person who'd gone crazy up this mountain. Maybe her brain had finally succumbed to the thin air, and this was nothing more than an altitude-inspired crazy dream. Maybe in reality, her body was unconscious on the floor of the cave, or buried somewhere in the freshly-fallen snow.
But she didn't think that was what was happening. She could feel every single hair in the mountain lion's pelt, the silky upper layer and the dense fluff beneath it. She couldn't have made this up.
Somehow, through some magic she couldn't begin to understand, Eric had turned himself into a cat in front of her eyes.
She ran her hand over his side, fascinated by the sinuous shape of his body, the sheer power she could feel in every movement he made.
Eric twisted around and nudged his big head gently against her arm. It occurred to Cora that, as much as he looked like a cat right now, this was still Eric, and she couldn't just go petting him like a stray cat without even asking.
She pulled her hand back hastily. "Sorry."
Eric made a low noise, and nudged her hand again; she was pretty sure that meant he hadn't minded.
"Can you still understand me like this?"
It felt strange, talking to a cat as if he were a human. But there was a keen intelligence in his golden eyes. Eric nodded his head.
"This is amazing."
She reached out to put her hand on his shoulder again, irresistibly drawn. She felt as if she needed to keep touching him just to reassure herself that this was real. But she had more questions than could be answered by nods and headshakes.
"Can you turn back?"
Eric nodded. He padded over to the pile of clothes and then hesitated, looking at her over his shoulder.
"Oh. Oh, gosh, right."
He'd shifted right out of his clothes, hadn't he, which meant that when he turned back… Her face burned.
"Wait, hang on a second."
She pulled the emergency blanket out of her pack and spread the silver foil over Eric's back. He gave her a grateful nudge.
This time, she was expecting the transformation when it happened. But even so, it was hard to keep her eyes on him, as if her brain didn't quite want to process what it was seeing. The golden light blurred the edges of his shape, and then she blinked and Eric was sitting there, the blanket wrapped around his shoulders.
"Holy shit," Cora said, startled all over again. "This is amazing."
Eric's smile looked a bit tentative around the edges. "It doesn't bother you?"
"Are you kidding me? This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"
"There's plenty of people who don't… deal with it very well." Eric's mouth tightened.
She reached out for him automatically, putting her hand on his shoulder. She didn't really think about what she was doing until she felt bare skin under her hands and remembered that he was naked except for the thin foil blanket.
She pulled her hand back quickly, blushing. "You must be cold."
She turned away to let him have a moment of privacy. Not that she wanted to look away. And they had just been kissing. So maybe just a little peek wouldn't be so bad…
But Eric's reveal had certainly thrown off the romantic momentum, and anyway, there was kissing and then there was full frontal nudity, and it didn't quite feel right to go straight from one to the other.
She heard the rustle of clothes and the crinkling of foil. "You can look now," Eric said.
When she turned back around, he was back in his pants and a long-sleeved undershirt. He handed her the blanket, folded neatly back into its pouch. Her hand brushed his when she took it. His skin was very warm. She suddenly desperately wanted to touch him, to reassure herself that he was real, that this was really happening.
Eric went still when she caught his hand in hers. His fingers were rough with calluses, just like her own. Strong hands. Climber's hands.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
Cora squeezed his hand. "I'm not dreaming this, am I?"
Eric grinned. "You're not." He picked up her hand and pressed his lips to the back of her knuckles in a gentle kiss.
"Thanks for taking this so well."
"I have so many questions," Cora said. She didn't even know where to start.
"So ask."
Eric stretched out on his mat. He reached out with one hand, inviting. She stretched out beside him, close enough to touch. He told her about the family of shifters he'd been born into.
She could tell that this was something Eric hadn't often talked about before. Sometimes he'd pause, visibly thinking about how to phrase something so it would make sense to her.
"I've never talked about this to an outsider," Eric said, confirming her suspicions. "We're pretty careful about keeping our secret."
"So why did you tell me?"
Eric reached out, gently tucking a lock of her hair back behind her ear. "Because you're special," he said.
Cora laughed, startled. It was a strange thing to say, and Eric had said it so sincerely.
There wasn't much special about her, at least not in a good way. Weird, sure. Too much of a loner, too obsessed with her mountains.
But then, Eric would understand, wouldn't he? Eric loved the wilderness the same way she did. She'd felt it when they'd been hiking together out there, and she'd felt it when he'd talked about his home, about Colorado's mountains. Maybe that's what he'd seen in her, this strange shared passion.
"You are," Eric insisted.
He reached out to put his hand on the back of her neck, gently pulling her closer. His hand was warm on her skin, and even that innocent touch sent a shiver of want through her entire body. Cora leaned towards him, irresistibly drawn. She gasped when his lips met hers.
It felt as if there was an electric current flowing between them, a humming energy passing from his lips to hers, lighting up her entire body with sensation. She moaned, pressing closer. Eric drew her on top of him, his body solid and hard beneath hers. She lay down on top of him, knowing he had the strength to easily take her weight.
Eric wrapped his arms around her, pulling her even closer. His hips hitched against hers. Cora's breath caught in her chest. She felt suddenly, fiercely impatient with all the layers of clothing separating their bodies. But although their little cave was sheltered from the icy cold outside, it wasn't exactly warm, and she knew perfectly well that if she gave in to the urge to rip her clothes off she'd regret it immediately.
"Wait," Eric said, pulling back from her with a groan, apparently thinking along the same lines. He gently rolled her off him, letting out an almost pained sound when their bodies separated.
They figured out how to zip their sleeping bags together with only a little bit of fumbling, creating a comfortable space large enough to fit them both.
Cora pulled her shirt off over her head, feeling suddenly shy all over again. Eric's eyes were on her, his pupils wide and dark when he took in the sight of her in nothing but her bra. Cora's c
heeks burned. And then there was a brush of wind over her naked skin, sudden and sharp like being doused in an icy bucket, and Cora skinned her pants off hastily and dove into the cover of the sleeping bag.
Eric stripped off and then slid in beside her with equal haste, both of them laughing now, struck all over again by the absurdity of their situation: finding each other like this in one of the least hospitable spots on the entire planet.
And yet there was nowhere on Earth she'd rather be right now.
Both of them gasped when their naked skin brushed for the first time. The urge to laugh disappeared as suddenly as it had come.
Eric yanked her close, pulling her into a hungry kiss. She stretched out on top of him with a groan, her entire body straining towards him, their naked legs tangling, her chest pressed to his. They moved together, gasping, Eric's hips thrusting up against hers, her legs spreading open around his thighs.
They'd both stripped down to their underwear. Cora could feel Eric's cock pressing against her through his boxers. Eric groaned when she reached down to wrap a hand around him, shuddering all over. His cock twitched in her hand, hot and hard and eager.
Eric dropped his head back, gasping. "Slow down," he said, his voice cracking on a gasp. "God, Cora."
He took a deep breath, visibly struggling for control. Cora watched him, feeling her own arousal pulsing hot between her legs. He'd been so very in control of himself, earlier, so confident and sure of his own body. It killed her that she was able to take him apart like this with nothing but a touch. No one had ever responded to her like that before.
She ran her finger down his cock one more time, nothing but a gentle tease, and felt the way the reaction ran down his entire body like a physical force. His hips arched up to chase her touch, his breath caught in his lungs.
"Cora," he said, his voice cracking, his eyes on hers in a quiet plea. She bent down to kiss him and he kissed her back so eagerly it lit up her whole body.
Eric ran his hands up her back, his touch very warm and almost unbearably gentle. His fingers caught on the straps of her bra. "Can I—"
"Please."
He undid her bra and eased the straps off her shoulder, nudging the cups down in slow stages. He bent down to press reverent kisses to each inch of newly-revealed skin. Her nipples tightened into hard points when his breath brushed over them, and her entire body went tense with anticipation at feeling him so close.
