by P. Jameson
She inched closer. The crack was about three inches at its widest, and several feet long.
Peering down the slope, she took it all in with satisfaction. She’d climbed a precarious snow-covered mountain in Alaska, and now she was standing on an ice shelf thousands of feet up, that was in danger of breaking off. And what began as clear skies was looking more and more like a blizzard.
She couldn’t have timed this more perfectly if she’d tried.
She eased onto the shelf a bit farther.
It wasn’t that she wanted to be caught in a snow slide… it was just that she felt invincible, and needed to convince herself she was normal.
For the same reasons, she wished she could leave her riches behind. Just donate it all, her company, her trust fund, and open up a little country coffee shop somewhere quiet.
Normal. She wanted to be normal.
But you’re not, and you know it.
No, she wasn’t. Normal people weren’t able to endure sub-frozen temperatures like she could. Normal people didn’t dream of death coming for them. Normal people didn’t feel this glowing inside like they were something other. And most of all, normal people didn’t think they weren’t normal.
But if she couldn’t be normal, she at least wanted to be accepted.
Cedar shook her head. Another thought for another time. Right now, she wanted farther out on this shelf. Wanted more of that thrill coursing through her veins making her feel like she was being touched.
Yes, that was a big part of it. Besides handshakes and the occasional back pat from her father, she was never touched.
Cedar scowled, determined not to let this moment be ruined feeling sorry for herself.
Shifting her weight forward, she moved another centimeter and a sharp crack resounded over the wind. Cedar froze. Except for the grin she couldn’t help.
She should back away.
She should get back to safer ground. She was already planning on spending the night burrowed in a snow camp. Wasn’t that dangerous enough?
But the potential avalanche beckoned to her like a siren on the sea luring sailors to danger. It was a sweet song ringing in her ears. Flooding her senses. Making her warm.
She checked the slope once more. There was no one in the path and the light was fading. She was alone. So what would it hurt…
She shifted forward. Another inch, then two. Then four. The crest crackled under the pressure of her weight. And her smile grew bigger.
She was in a daze, euphoric like she’d never been before. And she couldn’t stop what happened next. It was too crucial. She needed this. This was where she belonged. On this breathtaking snowy mountain with all its perils.
With a resounding BOOM, the ground beneath her feet gave way, and in a frozen thundering rush, the snow dragged her with it down the mountain.
***
Daryn listened through the headphones as Kole relayed to the crew what Justice reported from his vantage point in the sky. The two could communicate by ruhi, a telepathic connection some shiften possessed.
From the information available, they’d been called in for an air assist on Turnagain Pass. An avalanche on Mount Magnum with one reported skier, female, on the slope at the time. High probability of survival since movement could be seen through the snow plume. But the wind and flurries had kicked up, and recue time was crucial with nighttime approaching.
“Almost there,” Kole called through the headphones. “Justice has a low visual. The snow is thick. We’ll have to move fast.”
“Copy,” Daryn answered back as he and Kai prepared the harness for him to descend.
Minutes later, Talon announced they were at door speed and Daryn knew it was safe to open the helicopter door. As soon as he did, Justice soared inside and perched on a hook near the ceiling. His eagle eyes glowed sliver-blue and he cocked his beak toward the door. Daryn’s gaze followed his and below them, through the blustering snow, he could see two black lines sticking out of the white ground.
Skis.
But that wasn’t the only thing he saw.
The yellow jacketed top half of a female stuck out of the chest-high snow. Her long, dark hair spilled out of her matching winter hat, framing round cheeks, and so long it touched the snow she was buried in. It looked like the color of his raven wings but he couldn’t be sure. Not until he was up close.
Daryn swallowed hard, and realized the thumping in his chest had gone triple time.
It’s just the animal wanting free.
But it didn’t feel like he was about to shift. He felt… moved.
Another lump formed in his throat as she waved her arms and smiled like she was happy to see him. Like she’d been waiting just for him. Then again, she had been. And most people smiled when the Coast Guard showed up to bail them out.
But there was something about this woman. She felt like a beacon. Like a lighthouse guiding him home.
It’s just the ridiculous yellow suit.
The marking on his left shoulder that identified him as shiften tingled. His renqua. All shiften had one, a white mark that varied in shape. His was triangular and hooked. Like a beak. And it burned beneath his suit making him shrug. It had never done that before.
Justice crooned from his perch. A warning.
It got Kai moving.
But just as Daryn was getting hooked to the line, the mountain moved, more snow rumbling and roaring until it crashed down over the female’s small shape. Pain gripped his center and he held his breath waiting for the slide to stop. Seconds felt like hours but finally the dust cleared and he blinked through the whipping snow to see…
Only skis.
“Shit,” Kai said. “She’s buried.”
Dread thundered through Daryn’s chest and his inner animal squawked for him to take action. The human was buried, and that meant possible injuries. She’d run out of air. Or worse. Head wound, broken vertebra… there was no telling what he’d find when he got down there.
Noooo. Something inside him went wild at the thought of anything happening to her. He was always protective of humans. It was his job to be. His birthright.
But this one felt crucial.
Can’t lose her.
“Let me down.”
“Sorry boys.” Talon’s voice through the earpiece sent a shiver down Daryn’s spine. “We need to get higher first. The snow is too fragile for our rotor wind. And with how hard it’s falling, we can’t take the chance of more piling on top of her.”
Daryn growled low in his throat. “She can’t wait that long. I go down now, captain.”
“Staying low will only endanger her more. Where’s your head?”
Daryn could hear the irritation in Talon’s voice. And the hint of disappointment. The guardsmen were trained to keep their cool in crisis. But the panic rising in his chest was making it damn hard to do.
“Permission to shift, captain.” He could fly down to her, return to his human form, and start digging her free. “Permission to shift,” he barked louder as the helicopter rose, taking him farther away from the fragile female. Then he decided not to wait for Talon to make a decision.
In a smooth move, he unhooked the drop line from his vest and let his Raven come forward. His bulky clothes peeled away, disappearing, ready for use later. Silky black feathers coated his back and chest as his jaw lengthened with his emerging beak and his arms expanded to wings. With a victorious caw, he launched out of the copter and into the air.
“Wait,” Kai roared, “the wind!”
But Daryn caught his warning too late, his outstretched wings folding like fucking paper in a ferocious gust that also sent snow into his eyes. He blinked it away, determined to land in one piece. He could always heal, but he’d never hear the end of it from Talon if he caused extra work for his crew by losing his mind and flying into a blizzard.
The ground was coming fast and hard, but he kept his gaze focused on the black skis jutting out from the snow pile. They were too still.
Flapping onc
e and bracing himself against the storm, he arrowed toward the place where he last saw a smiling face framed with raven hair. He skimmed the ground, tumbling once, twice before coming to a stop on his claws, croaking his victory.
Nailed it.
Sorta.
Quickly he transformed back to human, letting his feathers fold away and his body return to normal size. His clothing returned to normal, and comm was reestablished with his crew.
“Damn, son…” Talon’s throaty voice was sharp in his ear. “You’ll pay for that stunt. Reprimands will be coming out your ass like shit. You hear me?”
“Copy, commander. Wire me down a shovel, will you?” Daryn was already digging with his hands, starting where the ski stuck out from the white, and tunneling up her body when he found legs.
“Daryn, we’ve got heavy winds up here. You need to make this less than ten minutes,” Kai reported. “Shovel is on its way down.”
“Ten minutes? Yeah, I got this. Cake.”
“Bet I could do it in eight and a half.” Kai’s voice was half humor half challenge. His friend knew exactly how to light a fire under his ass.
“I’ll do it in seven.”
Kai laughed across the comm. “Do it then.”
The shovel descended near his head and he reached up to unhook it from the rope, giving Kai the thumbs-up to pull it back.
Then he went to digging, removing more and more snow from around the female’s body. But she remained still.
“Come on, come on…”
When he’d tunneled deep enough to kneel down in the hole with her, he began brushing away the snow with his hands until her face was revealed. Up close, he could see those perfect round cheeks were dotted with freckles. And her lips were full and so pink he wanted to lean down and kiss them. As if she was Snow White and he was some fucking Prince Charming.
But his animal was warning him to pay attention. Something was wrong.
Daryn bent, pressing his ear to her chest to check her heart. The wind howling made his shiften ears need to work harder, but it was there, her heartbeat. A slow and steady thump that made the breath rush out of his lungs with relief.
“Send the litter.” He needed to get her fully braced before lifting her. In case her neck or spine was injured.
“On its way,” Kai confirmed.
But dread pooled in Daryn’s gut as he finally understood what his animal was telling him.
The female wasn’t breathing.
Her heart pumped, but her lungs were still.
Shit.
He’d need to administer CPR before lifting her to the helicopter.
“Survivor isn’t breathing,” he reported. “Preparing to administer emergency life support.”
The litter landed with a rattle, ten feet away, as Daryn began tugging to free her scarf.
“Hurry,” Kai warned. “We’re taking wind up here. And losing visual on you and the survivor.”
“Copy.”
Daryn cleared the layers of clothing from around her neck and face, checking for injuries. No blood. Still no breath. He had the equipment to pump air into her lungs for her. But one glance upward to the helicopter told him there wasn’t time. It was listing dangerously as Talon tried to keep it steady in the blowing storm.
Daryn looked back at the fragile female.
If he wanted to get her breathing and get her loaded before the wind became too much, he’d have to try mouth to mouth.
“Damn it.” This had better work.
Leaning close, he checked her airways and tipped her jaw open. His face hovered just above hers and his stomach was twisted in so many knots, he felt like a fucking teenager all over again.
Ridiculous.
This wasn’t a kiss. This was a life-saving technique. One he’d practiced a million times in training. Kissing, well… he’d done a helluva lot less of that lately.
With a shake of his head, he pushed aside those thoughts and carefully pressed his open mouth to her soft one. He breathed hard, watching for her chest to rise with his air.
But he never got the chance to see it.
A bolt of something that felt like electricity pulsed through her and slammed him with all the force of a hurricane, throwing him backward five feet. He landed on his ass, gasping for air and trying to determine what new threat this was.
Kai’s voice over the earpiece called to him. “What the hell was that, swimmer?”
But Daryn didn’t know how to answer him. Something… some force… had tossed him away like he was barely more than a scrap of confetti in the wind. Past the whipping of the helicopter blades, he could hear a sound coming from the victim. A vibration. Set apart. As if on a different frequency than regular sound.
He scrambled to his knees, crawling back to her, but she sat up before he got close, and the strange sound stopped.
She blinked, staring at him, her eyes going wide. They were pale green. Almost silver. The color of rain in the spring.
“Coast guard, ma’am. Here to help you. Don’t move. You might be hurt.” He rattled off his usual announcement, but it came off his lips numbly. Because her gaze was draining him of all reason.
Need to touch her.
“I’m not,” she mouthed, staring at him like he was a mirage. “I’m fine.”
Daryn inched closer. “You’re not fine. You’re stuck on the side of a mountain in a blizzard.”
“I know. I want to be here.” She must be yelling, but over the wind and noise from the helo, he could barely hear her. And he must’ve gotten her wrong.
“Let’s get you in the chopper, ma’am.” Staying low to the ground, he fetched the litter, dragging it back to her location.
But when he lined it up beside her, she shook her head. “No. I’ll stay.”
He frowned at the odd female.
Only seconds ago, she wasn’t breathing. Was she attempting suicide? He knew people came to the mountains sometimes when they were finished with life and let nature take its course. Except the idea of this woman not making it out alive made his raven scratch at his insides. Made his chest raw with strange emotions he didn’t like.
Made him… angry.
He opened his mouth to tell her to get her ass on the litter now. And if that didn’t work, he’d carry her onto it. Sort this mess out at the nearest emergency station.
But a gust of wind had Daryn stiffening as Kai’s voice came over the earpiece.
“Taking high winds up here. Need to put the chopper down. It’s too dangerous.”
He didn’t have to say the rest. Daryn knew.
The helicopter was swaying so many feet above him, barely keeping air in the storm. Daryn could fly up. But there was no way to lift the female all that way in this wind.
“Can I strap her to myself and pull her in that way? Advise.”
Talon came over the radio. “It’s risky, son. Real damn risky. Barely holding this bird steady. We can call land rescue. Tell them she’s coherent but the mountain’s not stable.”
Daryn growled in frustration. “Can’t leave her here, captain. We don’t leave survivors behind.”
And they’d all be “survivors” if they didn’t get the chopper down soon.
The silence on the other end was long and his mind raced to find a solution.
“What do you want to do?” Talon’s question was grim.
He stared at the woman. Her jaw was set stubbornly. It told him she was used to getting her way.
And she was going to get it now.
“Send down all the supplies we have on board. Heat packs, fire starters, the winter packs. Both of them,” he told his team. “I’m staying with her.”
Chapter Four
Cedar watched the white and red helicopter fly away until it was no longer visible, then she settled her gaze on the hunk ‘o man in the orange jumpsuit. She could tell he was tall and broad even through his suit. And his face was chiseled-handsome even with his safety helmet on. But that wasn’t what had her flailing inside, panicked an
d aware.
His eyes.
They were the specific blue-green of the ocean water around The Maldives. She’d been there once on vacation. When she was ten. But she never forgot that color. It had calmed her all those years ago, and it was the first thing she thought of when she opened the pendant her parents gave her for her birthday. The raven’s eyes were Maldives blue.
And so were the eyes of the man she was now stranded with.
That night after the party, she’d sat on her bed staring at it, lured by the bird’s eyes. Thinking they were the most beautiful color she’d ever seen. And the way they sparkled. Like a light. One that could chase away the darkness she usually endured in the night.
It did that time.
She had stared at the raven’s eyes the entire night, only breaking contact with them when her alarm blared to life the next morning and she dropped the box holding the necklace to the floor.
Lost seven hours looking at those eyes.
But it had been worth it to escape the dark dream.
The Coast Guardsman removed his helmet, and tossed it to the ground, revealing short sand colored hair. Maldives sand. He was a tropical island right here in frozen Alaska.
He dragged a loaded down pack over to her, along with an insulated duffle. Then he pulled on a pair of snow shoes the people from the helicopter had dropped down to him. All the while, not meeting her stare.
“We have to get out of here. Find shelter. Away from the sliding snow. Do you feel pain anywhere? Can you walk? How is your breath—”
“Whoa there, big guy. One question at a time please.”
She had to yell over the whistling wind, but he heard her, because he finally looked at her with that striking blue gaze.
“Start at the top and work your way down,” he huffed.
She couldn’t resist a snappy, “That’s what she said.” She’d murmured, but he must’ve caught it because his jaw went hard.
“You think this is funny?” She didn’t actually. She just relied on inappropriate jokes in times of stress. But he never gave her the chance to answer. “Snow is piling up faster than we can get down to a safe zone. It’ll be dark before then. The chopper might be grounded for the night, which means we are likely stuck here until morning. And you’re going to be all wet when I get done with you.”
