His breathing turned ragged, unsteady gasps that she matched as she flexed her body around his, seeking her release. Her body tensed, going rigid beneath him, and he dropped his lips back to hers and swallowed her cry in a kiss as she climaxed, quivering and trembling around him, her thighs shaking against his hips.
He screwed his face up and grunted as his own release blasted through him and his cock pulsed and throbbed hard, shooting hot jets of his seed into her welcoming body. He clumsily kissed her as his climax swept through him, his entire body quaking from it.
Eloise kissed him softly, slowly bringing him down, luring him back to Earth with her. He settled against her and rolled over, bringing her on top of him so he didn’t crush her with his weight. She rested her head against his chest. He could feel her heart racing, thundering as his was, and he could feel her trembling too as he ran his hands up and down her spine, savouring how good it felt to be with her like this.
He closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh as he wrapped his arms around her and held her pinned to his chest.
He would have this forever.
Nothing would stand in his way.
Eloise would be his mate.
Chapter 12
Cavanaugh found a hold in the thick snow and hauled himself up onto the plateau above the sheer cliff, rolled into the snow, and grabbed hold of the rope attached to his harness. He braced his boots against a boulder near the edge of the plateau, made sure the rope ran over one of his boots to stop it from chafing on the rocks, and began to pull. He easily took Eloise’s slender weight, steadily pulling her up the cliff face with the rope.
Her hands appeared first, red from the cold, groping around in the snow. He looped the rope around his left arm, making sure it wouldn’t slip from his grip and holding her steady, and then reached out with his right arm, stretching for her. He snagged her right wrist and she twisted her hand and grabbed onto his wrist, locking them together.
He leaned backwards and hauled her up, pulling her over the edge and onto the plateau with him. She slumped face first on the snow, breathing hard, and he pulled her closer. Snow built up around her shoulders and against her face and she scowled at him. She could be angry about the cold all she wanted. All he cared about was making sure that she was away from the edge and safe before she relaxed and took a break.
The climb had been hard, the freezing temperatures turning what remained of the snow into ice, making it difficult to get a good grip on the rocks and handholds.
He had come close to slipping at one point, his left boot skidding off a small ledge he had thought would be a safe foothold. Eloise had snapped at him, berating him for almost five minutes after he had managed to save himself and stop himself from plummeting to a grisly death with her.
He smiled fondly at the memory.
She hadn’t been angry with him. She had been worried and it had come out in the form of reprimanding him.
“What is with that stupid smile?” She huffed and got onto her hands and knees, and then sat up, rubbing her hands together and blowing on them.
He grinned and sat up. “Nothing. Just thinking about how worried about me you were back there.”
She playfully punched him on the arm. “I had every damned right to be worried. You almost killed us.”
Cavanaugh caught her fist when she went to hit him again and kissed it before smoothing his fingers over it, concern growing inside him as he saw just how red her fingers were.
“Come on, you need to get warmed up.” He shoved onto his feet and pulled her onto hers, and kept hold of her as he led her a few metres back from the edge, to a safer place.
He released her and drew in deep breaths, slowing his heart as it pounded from the exertion of the climb. Mountains rose above them still, tall cragged and forbidding white peaks. They were only two-thirds of the way up them, with the forest in the valley and the smaller mountains stretching below him like a beautiful painting, more fantasy than reality.
He had forgotten how stunning this place was. The land of his people.
No humans ventured here. Only his shifter kin and the real snow leopards. Even the tigers that had made a home at altitude didn’t climb this high. The air was thin and cold, burning his lungs. His head ached already. It would take a day at the least to become acclimatised to the higher altitude and the thinner air. Until it happened, he needed to keep away from the village. He was in no position to fight. He would be out of breath in seconds, and dizzy within minutes, and liable to pass out from the exertion and strain on his body.
He undid the harness around his waist and stepped out of it, leaving it on the packed snow, and removed his pack.
Eloise slipped her backpack off and opened it. She stuffed her harness into it, together with his and the rope, and pulled out the thick fleece she had worn in the forest and a lightweight white wind-and-waterproof jacket. He meant to get his gear out too, but could only stare at her as she quickly stripped off her wet thermal top, flashing her black bra, and replaced it with a dry one. When she put her stone fleece on, Cavanaugh set about changing.
He pulled his thermal off over his head and slowed as he felt her watching him, her gaze roaming his body, heating him wherever it touched. He flashed her a smile as he dumped the damp top on his pack. She glanced away but her gaze crept back to him as he pulled out a fresh long sleeve black thermal top and straightened to put it on. He let her get another good long look at his body as he slipped his arms into the top and then pulled it down.
The dark grey fleece followed it, and then his lighter grey waterproof jacket. With his top half already warming up, he set about dealing with his bottom half. He pulled out a pair of white waterproof trousers for Eloise and one for himself. She took the small pouch that contained the trousers from him and set it down on her pack, a miserable look on her face.
He didn’t exactly relish the thought of getting his tackle out in the freezing temperatures either, but there was little point in putting the weatherproof trousers on over wet clothing.
She spread her wet thermal top on the snow, removed her boots, and stepped onto the top. He did the same with his, using it as a barrier to keep the snow off his new dry clothing. He toed his boots off and quickly changed from his dark grey trousers into a lighter grey pair, pulled his weatherproof trousers on over the top of them, and then changed his socks one at a time, switching them for thick thermal wool ones and putting each foot back into his boots straight away so they didn’t get wet.
He tossed a pair of socks to Eloise. She nodded her thanks and put on her white weatherproof trousers over the top of her other ones, swiftly changed socks and jammed her feet back into her boots.
Cavanaugh bent and tucked his grey trousers into his boots before tying them. He smoothed the weatherproof trousers down over the top and tugged the elastic that ran around their inner layer, pushing the toggle down to make sure they were snug against the tops of his boots. No snow getting in that way.
Eloise straightened and rubbed her hands together between packing away her damp top and trousers. He shoved his kit back into his bag and then took the thermal gloves from the front pocket. He handed the smaller pair to Eloise.
She stared at them and then at him.
He shrugged and smiled. “You always get cold hands.”
And she always forgot her gloves.
“Thanks.” She smiled back at him and pulled them on, a brief flicker of bliss crossing her pretty face as she flexed her fingers.
That flicker became a full on burst that shone in a smile that hit him straight in the heart when he held out a white woollen hat to her.
She snatched it from him, purred lovingly as she stroked the fluffy white lining inside the hat, and then put it on and beamed at him. He had never seen her so happy. If he had known the way to her heart was simple but thoughtful gifts like gloves and hats, he would have showered her with them all those years ago.
“Where’s yours?” She frowned as she stroked the hat over her t
emples.
“As I recall, I’m not the one who always complained about how their ears were going to freeze and fall off.” That earned him a playful glare.
Gods, he really had missed her.
He had her back now though, but he feared it wouldn’t last. Every step closer they took to the village was one that would slowly increase the distance between them again, even when he didn’t want that to happen. He didn’t want to lose her again. He wanted her to stay like this, filled with smiles, every meeting of their eyes telling him that she felt something for him.
He finished with his pack and put it on, tightening the straps over his shoulders. “We should head off. It’s a long trek to the next shelter and I want to be there by nightfall.”
They had agreed they would rest overnight in another small cave at the base of one of the mountains halfway between the cliff and the village, and continue in the morning. It was too dangerous to head on from that point tonight because they would have to cross the snowfields to the other side of the valley. Crossing in the darkness would be suicide.
They needed the overnight stop for another reason too. It would give them both time to acclimatise and prepare.
Eloise gave him a look that said she still wanted to make him go straight to the village, but thankfully didn’t put voice to that desire. He knew she didn’t want him to fight again and that was the sole reason she wanted him to reach the village before he lost his title as alpha.
They had argued about it in the cave halfway up the climb before leaving it and she had confessed it to him. She had confessed something else too, but without words. He had seen in her eyes and felt in her that taking him back to the pride was hurting her. Part of her didn’t want to bring him back. He was glad of that. It told him how she felt about him and gave him courage and hope that he might have done enough to win her heart and her as his mate.
He had reassured her that he would do all in his power to avoid a fight, but Stellan might not be as accommodating. Stellan would want to defend his claim to the pride.
She had been away from the mountain now. She knew how much the change in altitude could affect their bodies because it was affecting her just as it was him.
She knew he would be in danger if he had to fight.
It had been enough to get her to agree to stopping overnight to rest and acclimatise.
Eloise put her backpack on and he looked across the valley ahead of them. Wind blew down it, stirring the snow. The valley snaked between two of the largest mountains, immense dangerous peaks that speared the sky. All they had to do was follow that valley and they would come to the village, but the path across the basin was treacherous, riddled with crevasses. They could easily place a foot wrong and slip into one.
“We’ll take the higher path,” Cavanaugh said and she looked back at him. He didn’t look at her. His gaze remained fixed on charting the path that followed the side of the mountain to his left, or where it should be beneath the snow. If they were lucky, the local snow leopards would have used it recently, outlining it for them.
If they weren’t, it would be tough going, but it was still better than taking the path across the valley.
He hadn’t been across it in five years, and Eloise hadn’t traversed it in two. In that time, the crevasses could have shifted away from where they knew them to be and they might walk straight into one that hadn’t been there before. Even if they made it across the valley basin, they would still need to make a second crossing to reach the village. Another valley intersected the mountains on the right hand side of this one.
It was best they stayed on the higher path until the point where it dropped down into the valley and crossed the snowfields there. They were more stable and it was a much shorter crossing.
He glanced at Eloise and she nodded.
Cavanaugh took hold of her right hand, slipping his fingers between hers, and started walking towards the base of the mountain. He kept his gaze on the path ahead of him, scouring the eye-numbing white snow for any signs the ground beneath might not be solid.
It didn’t take long for them to come across a trail. He crouched and touched the wide paw prints. Snow leopards had trekked in both directions along it. His eyes followed the path as it curved off to his right and he smiled as he saw it curled around and headed towards the mountain ahead of him.
He rose onto his feet and followed the animal trail, his eyes still locked on the snow and checking it for signs of danger.
When the path led them up the side of the mountain, he released Eloise so she could walk behind him and began to relax again and take in his surroundings. The valley and mountains looked beautiful against the bright blue sky, a sharp contrast that took his breath away.
Eloise fell in behind him, her scent swirling around him together with the sharp tang of snow. He wanted her beside him, but the path was narrow, snaking up and down as it followed the side of the mountain above the valley floor.
Cavanaugh stared ahead of them, tracking the path at first, and then looking beyond the far end of the mountain. The village stood there, miles away but drawing ever closer. He drew in a deep breath to quell his nerves. He still wasn’t sure what he was heading into and it was time he found out.
“How many men does Stellan have on his side?” he said, keeping his voice down so he didn’t disturb the thick snow above him on the mountain. The last thing he needed was an avalanche. They were common, particularly at this time of year when the weather was warming during the day.
“Five males who are always with him. At least another six who might fight on his side.”
Cavanaugh huffed. That was most of the males in the village then. Stellan must have won them over through brute force, showing them how powerful he was so they would think twice about rising up against him.
“What about August?” He looked back at Eloise, needing to see in her eyes whether his cousin had pledged himself to Stellan.
She shook her head. “He isn’t with Stellan… but Stellan keeps a close eye on him.”
Cavanaugh had expected as much. August was the next in Cavanaugh’s bloodline, the son of his father’s brother. Cavanaugh’s father had only managed to produce two male heirs in his time as alpha. Normally, if Cavanaugh died as things were, outside of a fight against a challenger and while he was still the alpha but without any heirs of his own, the pride would pass to his younger brother, Harbin.
But Harbin had been exiled by their father twenty years ago.
Harbin had been hot-headed and had never seen eye to eye with their father. It had all come to a head when his brother had fallen in with a woman in a sleazy bar, spilling shit to her that he should have kept to himself.
Harbin had tried to impress her by telling her that his father held a position of power but was off halfway around the world at a meeting and he was in charge of the empire while he was gone.
The woman had slept with his brother and drugged him. When Harbin had come around, he had realised his mistake and had rushed back to the village. It had been too late. Archangel, a hunter organisation, had already launched an attack on the pride. Cavanaugh had fought as hard as he could together with August and the other males, but while they had dealt with several of the hunters, they had lost many of their kin too.
His mother and sister included.
Harbin had returned shortly after the remaining hunters had fled. He had lost his mind on seeing their mother and younger sister laying in the snow, surrounded by stark crimson. Cavanaugh had tried to stop him, but he had gone after the hunters.
Harbin had returned several days later, naked and bloodied, his eyes as cold as ice.
Cavanaugh had done his best to console his brother, but to this day he wasn’t sure whether his words had gotten through to Harbin at all. His brother had changed, all of the light and fire in him gone, leaving only darkness and ice behind.
The second their father had set foot in the village, he had announced Harbin’s sentence. He had exiled him without even loo
king at him and had him ejected from the village without even giving him a chance to gather his things.
Cavanaugh had wanted to go after him, but their father had made it clear that if he attempted it, he would be banished too.
He had looked at Eloise then, seeing a woman he was falling in love with, one he couldn’t live without, and had made the hard decision to stay where he was and let Harbin go.
Cavanaugh hadn’t seen him since he had left the pride and all his attempts to track him down in the past five years had ended in nothing.
If Cavanaugh died as the alpha right now, the pride would pass to August.
“August should have done something,” he muttered and ground his teeth. His cousin was younger than he was, but strong, more than able to rally the other males.
“He tried.”
Those two words stopped him dead and he looked back over his shoulder at Eloise.
She closed her eyes, sucked down a sharp breath, and then opened them again. “August fought Stellan, but with his lackeys, Stellan was too strong for him.”
“He should have convinced the other males to fight with him.”
Pity filled her eyes. “The other males won’t fight, Cavanaugh. Anyone who dared to raise his voice against Stellan was dealt with.”
“He killed them?” The thought of his pride losing so many males shook him, but the way Eloise’s golden-brown eyes shone with tears said that what had taken place was infinitely worse than he had imagined.
“He killed their females… and then he threatened to kill their young if they stepped out of line again.”
Cavanaugh’s knees weakened. No. He shook his head, not wanting to believe what she was saying, because in the end he was responsible for everything that had happened. His heart couldn’t take it.
“I’m sorry.” She placed her hand on his arm and squeezed it, lowering her gaze there. “This isn’t your fault, Cavanaugh.”
“It is.” He placed his hand over hers and closed his eyes. “It is my fault. All of it. Everything that happened to you… everything that vile bastard did to the members of our pride… every death is blood on my hands, Eloise.”
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