Laurie's Wolves

by Becca Jameson

  “Anybody can do that,” she mumbled, though she knew it wasn’t true. At least not to the accuracy she could provide.

  “You lead.” Zach pointed down the slope.

  It was steeper than anything she’d been on that morning, and her confidence fled. “Zach…”

  “Don’t think about it. You were doing a marvelous job. I know you can do it. Same rules apply. Make wide zigzags back and forth across the hill. We’re in no hurry. The steepness of the mountain doesn’t matter a bit. All it does is dictate how much of an angle you want to descend with.”

  She nodded and took a deep breath. She needed to get a move on before the snow blinded them. Already it was coming down faster. She lowered her goggles over her eyes and glanced at the lift. It was empty. At some point they must have stopped letting people ascend.

  Great. A storm puts a halt to the skiers while the new girl is on the top of the mountain.

  Taking Zach’s advice, she headed to the right, keeping her skis aligned and making a wide line across the slope until she reached the tree line. Using the maneuver he’d taught her all morning, she made the sharp turn, putting most of her weight on her outer foot while lifting her inside foot just enough to keep her skis aligned. She leaned her body uphill. Easy peasy.

  She wove back across the mountain to the other side of the slope aware of two things—Zach was right behind her, and she’d made very little progress downward. If she wanted to get to the bottom before being buried in a blizzard, she needed to pick up the pace, allow for a slightly less conservative angle, and make faster turns.

  On the next turn, she lined the skis slightly more toward the bottom of the slope, immediately picking up speed. It was invigorating and scary at the same time. She survived the turn and two more just like it, proud of herself for how quickly she’d picked up this sport. She even enjoyed it.

  Perhaps she got too cocky. On the next straight line, she closed her eyes for a brief moment to enjoy the wind blowing across her face and the snow pelting her. When she blinked them open, the most ridiculous ominous cloud loomed in front of her.

  She blinked several times, hoping her eyes were deceiving her. But the cloud continued to coalesce inside the tree line. It wouldn’t have caused so much angst if it hadn’t been black—and freaky.

  It floated her direction. She twisted her head around to see if Zach was in sight. Hopefully he saw the same thing and she hadn’t lost her mind. For a second, she couldn’t see him. And then she realized he was several yards up the mountain, but his attention was on the sky.

  She whipped her head back to front and completely lost her balance as the strange cloud bore down on her, coming toward her with the same speed she careened toward it.

  She had no chance to consider turning when she hit the edge of the slope. Instead she plowed off the path and lost control of her actions between the trees.

  She screamed, dropped her poles, and threw her arms up to protect her face as she totally lost her wits and plowed deeper into the forest, wondering how on earth she managed to keep upright.

  Finally, she hit something with her left ski and tumbled forward. Both skis separated from her ski boots, just as Zach had said would happen in an emergency. She tumbled head over heels for several more yards until she finally came to a stop right in front of a huge trunk and flopped down on her back.

  Her heart pounded. She breathed so heavily she couldn’t speak. She blinked up at the sky, trying to assess if she was injured.

  “Jesus, Laurie. Are you okay?” Zach leaned over her, blocking the falling snow.

  She wondered how he got to her so fast. It could have only been moments. Then again, he was an experienced skier. He could easily weave through the trees and keep up.

  “Laurie…” He set his hands on both sides of her face. “Does anything hurt?”

  She shook her head.

  He held her face firmly. “Don’t move. You could have a broken neck.”

  “I don’t h-have a b-broken neck,” she stuttered as the cold snow instantly lowered her body temperature. “Nothing hurts. I’m f-fine.”

  He released her head and glanced down at her body. “Lift your arms for me.”

  She did so.

  “Now your feet.”

  They felt like they weighed two hundred pounds each, but she did as he said.

  That appeased him. He blew out a long breath. “I’m so sorry. I never should have brought you this high up the mountain so soon. It’s your first day.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to sitting. “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Zach, I’m fine.” She set a hand on his cheek. “Just freezing.” Her teeth chattered.

  “Yeah. You’re soaked. Probably through your ski pants and jacket.” He looked around. “I’m going to find your skis and poles.”

  She watched as he popped off his own skis and stabbed them into the snow upright beside her before climbing back through the path she’d cleared with her body. His poles lay abandoned next to her body.

  “How far back do you think they snapped off?” he shouted from several yards away. It was growing difficult to converse with the snow now coming down in droves.

  “I don’t know,” she yelled. She couldn’t process exactly when the skis had separated themselves from her boots. All she could remember was how relieved she’d been to know she wouldn’t clock herself in the head with them as she somersaulted.

  Zach worked his way back and forth, digging in the snow and coming up empty.

  Laurie sat huddled in her spot looking around. Her ass was freezing. Her entire body grew colder by the second. And she was drained of energy. She looked around and then pulled her foggy goggles off to see better. She couldn’t see any evidence of the ski slope they’d been on. How far off the path had she managed to go before coming to a stop?

  Shit.

  The snow was switching to near-blizzard conditions. She angled her head and couldn’t hear anything around her. No other skiers.

  She shuddered.

  Zach was a blur in front of her, and after several minutes, he made his way back to her side. His face was grim. “No way I’m going to find your skis in this mess.” He grabbed her chin and met her gaze. “You’re freezing.”

  She nodded, still chattering.

  He glanced around, perhaps thinking. And then his face lit up and he stood. “We’re super close to a cabin.”

  “A cabin?”

  “Yep.” He pointed deeper into the woods. “If we haven’t gone too far down the mountain, it should be right through there.”

  “How the hell do you know where we are?”

  He grinned. “I’ve spent my entire life on this mountain.” He leaned down and grabbed her hands. “Can you stand?”

  She wobbled, but managed to right herself. The next question was how she was going to walk in the ridiculous boots not made for hiking.

  “Lean your weight forward on your shins when you need to rest for a minute. But let’s move as fast as we can before conditions worsen.”

  “Okay.” It was difficult to turn around and face the correct direction, let alone walk.

  Zach yanked his skis out of the snow, nestled them together, and stuck them under one arm. He tucked his poles in next to them. “I’d leave them, but I’m worried we might regret that decision later.”

  She agreed. Worst case scenario, he could always leave her and ski to the bottom for help. In fact he should do so now. “You go. I’ll stay right here.”

  He shook his head. “Not a chance in hell, baby.”

  “It will be faster than getting even more lost in this snow. Soon we won’t be able to see our tracks.”

  “Laurie, we’ll never be lost. This is my mountain. I know every inch of it. We’ll find the cabin and get inside out of the cold.” He took her hand and tugged.

  She lifted one foot and immediately worried. It was so hard to move. The snow was deep and fluffy. Every step left her buried up to her ankles. And she was so tired…

  �
��Keep moving.” Zach held her hand firmly, his grip on her glove keeping her grounded. “The faster we get these wet ski clothes off you, the faster you can warm up.”

  She lifted her face and squinted into the blinding snow.

  Zach kept moving forward, shocking her with his confidence.

  “How far do you think it is?” she shouted over the storm.

  “Not far. If we’ve passed it, we’ll work our way down the mountain to the next one. There are six of them situated along the next slope.” He kept glancing over his shoulder as he spoke. “No way we can miss them, baby. So don’t worry so hard. We’re heading straight through the trees to the parallel slope and then down.”

  She nodded. That sounded promising.

  For long minutes neither of them spoke. And then they finally stepped out of the trees.

  She blew out a long breath. At least they were on a path where they could be found now. She was shaking so badly, it was a wonder she could keep moving.

  Zach looked up hill and then down. He smiled. “I think we’re in luck. The first cabin should be inside the tree line below us.”

  She hoped so, for both their sakes. When exactly would she agree to go skiing again? She tried to smile at the thought of how perfectly her lesson had gone all morning and how horribly the day had ended. Would she forever be tainted and unwilling to get back on the lift?

  The answer to that was obvious. She would be fine. She just needed to pull herself back together and find a way to put mind over matter. Until the storm had come, she’d been doing splendidly. And she would again too. Another day.

  Luckily, Zach was right. In just minutes she saw the edge of a cabin to her left. She let her shoulders relax as they made their way toward it. “How are we going to get inside?”

  He grinned. “Hidden key.”

  More relief. And the cabin looked so quaint and inviting as she approached. When she stepped onto the tiny porch, Zach finally released her hand. He stabbed his skis and poles into the snow next to the front door and bent to fiddle with a rock next to the edge of the porch. A second later, he held up a key triumphantly and then easily opened the door.

  Laurie stepped inside. It was dark. The blinding snow made the afternoon seem like late evening. She shivered as she tugged her gloves off.

  Zach reached for the light switch on the wall. “Let’s pray the electricity is on, or we’re going to find ourselves very cold.” He flipped the switch, and a smile spread across his face. “Thank God for one small favor.”

  “Why isn’t somebody renting this?” she stepped back so he could shut the door, dropping her gloves to the floor. “Isn’t this like peak season?”

  “These six cabins have been closed for a few weeks for renovations. We should have done them over the summer, but it wasn’t until last month that several things went wrong at once. They needed new appliances and updated outlets. It takes a while to get that sort of work done in the middle of winter. They’re scheduled to reopen this weekend.”

  She looked around. The cabin was rustic and small. One room. But cozy. On the left was a sort of kitchen area with a small half-size refrigerator with a microwave on top. A little table with two chairs sat next to a sink that had about two feet of counter off one side.

  The other side of the room had a queen-size bed that made her nearly moan. She was so cold and so tired. A door next to it undoubtedly led to a bathroom. “Please tell me there’s a shower in there.” She twisted her head around to face Zach.

  He smiled again. “Yep. And if we’re lucky, there’ll be hot water.”

  She scrunched up her face.

  “Fortunately for us, the electricity has been restored, which means we should be in business.”

  “Who normally stays in these? They aren’t exactly huge.” She loved the little cabin with every piece of her soul at the moment, but she couldn’t imagine arranging a romantic getaway with someone this high up the mountain where anything could go wrong and there were so few accoutrements.

  Zach pulled off his own gloves and dropped them to the floor. He reached for her jacket next and tugged the zipper down. As he helped her out of the coat, he spoke. “They’re meant to be rustic. You’d be surprised how many people like the idea. They’re so secluded. The guests wear a backpack with just a few items, take the lift to the top of this slope, and ski down to their cabin. They can come and go from the cabin at their whim every day and stop whenever they want to rest or call it quits.”

  She glanced at the kitchen. “They can’t exactly do much cooking?”

  “Yeah, but who cares? We keep the fridge and microwave stocked with precise items they already know about before they rent the cabins, and they hardly have to lift a finger. Frozen dinners. Easy meals. No responsibilities. We even haul their clothes and gear up here for them when they arrive.”

  “I guess.” She let her coat fall to the floor and worked on the zipper to her ski pants with shaky fingers. “What are the chances that refrigerator is stocked today?”

  Zach cringed. “Slim. But cross your fingers. Maybe someone has been up here replenishing since they open again in a few days.” Zach took several heavy steps across the room and opened the small refrigerator. The inside was half full. “Perfect. Good enough. We won’t starve.”

  She smiled. “Hopefully we won’t be stuck long enough to starve anyway.”

  He made his way back across the hardwood floor and fiddled with the thermostat. Instantly the heat came on, making enough noise for her to know it worked. And a vent over her head blew out cold air.

  “Give it a minute,” he said. He pointed at the love seat next to the cabin’s only window. “Sit. I’ll help you get your boots off, and then those wet ski pants.

  She flopped down quickly, her feet feeling so much heavier than they had earlier. She sighed as Zach popped the latches and tugged the boots from her feet.

  When he finished, he pulled her to standing again and eased her outer pants off her body. “Damn. You’re still wet under your winter gear.”

  “Please tell me that hot water facet runs on electricity.”

  “It does. Let me go turn it on. Give it a chance to start. Then you should shower and shift. You’ll be warmer in wolf form.”

  She nodded. He was right. Plus, they needed to get ahold of someone to let them know they were okay. They could do that in wolf form if worse came to worse. “Do you have a cell phone? Shouldn’t we call your parents?”

  “Yes.” He pulled it out of an inner pocket against his chest. “But I doubt I’ll have reception in these conditions.” He held it up and shook his head as he set it on the kitchen table behind him. “All the more reason to shift. One of us will surely be able to catch a sibling or a parent who is shifted eventually, especially when they realize we’re missing.”

  “True.” She heaved her body off the small couch and headed toward the bathroom. “I’ll get the shower started.”

  Zach grabbed her arm on the way by and hauled her against his chest. He cupped her face with one hand, his other still gripping her wrist. “I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault. You don’t control the weather.”

  “Yeah, but I never should have brought you up this high in the first place. I was getting cocky about your abilities.”

  “And my abilities were fine. You weren’t wrong.”

  “You got spooked and went off the trail, baby. That’s on me.”

  She stiffened. She’d forgotten about the weird black cloud. “Actually, that had nothing to do with you or me for that matter. Something happened up there.”

  “What?”

  She shrugged and chewed on her lower lip for a second. Would he think she was crazy? “I saw something. It seemed so real. It scared the life out of me. An apparition or something.” If she could avoid the details, she would feel less stupid.

  “You saw something?” He pulled her closer. “Like what? Was it black and smoky?”

  Her eyes shot wide, and her mouth fell open. “How did you
know? You weren’t looking. Did you see it too?”

  “No. But you need to speak to your sister about it. According to Melinda, there have been a lot of sightings of strange black smoky figures in the area. They’re part of your Native American history. Lore. Though apparently not so mythical. My oldest brother, Griffen, saw one in the woods when he was hiking with his mate for the first time. In fact, it scared the hell out of him, and he fell and got injured. Trace and his mates also were confronted by the black figures, sometimes in and around their homes.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Get a shower. We need to shift.”

  She nodded and trudged to the small bathroom, shaking harder, not from the cold but from the weird conversation.

  Chapter Five

  Laurie was relieved when the water got hot. She stripped off her clothes, quickly washed under the steaming stream, and then dried off just as fast. She exited the small bathroom with the towel wrapped around her and an armful of wet clothes to drape over the kitchen chairs.

  Zach stood in the kitchen at the microwave, pushing some buttons. He had removed all his outer clothes, and she found herself staring at his sexy body encased in tight thermals. Her heart beat faster in an instant, and her hands returned to shaking as she dropped her clothes on a chair.

  Zach turned around and stopped in his tracks. His gaze climbed up and down her body several times, leaving her shaking in nothing more than a towel. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard as she watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down.

  His tousled hair made her long to run her fingers through it.

  “It’s going to be a long night,” he muttered as he stepped toward her slowly, his eyes opening to small slits. “God, you’re sexy.”

  She didn’t move.

  She couldn’t. She wanted him to touch her with every inch of her being.

  Her nipples puckered under the towel, and she gripped it closed in a tight fist in front of her.

  She squeezed her legs together, aware of the throbbing need at her core.

  “How are we…?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.