The birch and the diamond willow thickened, and she had to find a way around them on what looked like a bear trail. She kept her eyes open and made noise as she crashed through the brush. Being on a thirty minute time table, she didn’t venture too far from camp, but couldn’t resist climbing the rock cropping that presented itself.
She found Lucky at the top, meditating. “Should have known you’d be up here.”
Sitting in lotus position, Lucky opened his eyes. “Hey, babe.” He smiled and nodded to the space next to him. “Take a load off.”
Lucky had a strong belief in daily meditation. What the hell, it could be just what she needed. She sat, copying Lucky, and closed her eyes. He began to hum and softly chant. Years ago when he’d climbed the Himalayas, he’d spent a winter with the Tibetan monks and embraced Buddhism. She let his soft, soothing sounds clear her mind.
The slight breeze was enough to discourage the mosquitoes and carried the sharp scent of spruce. She calmed and felt one with the mountain, as though she could hear the sap running through the trunks of the birch, the heartbeat of the earth, the breathing of the air as it traveled over the great land.
For the first time in days she felt a measure of peace.
“Better?” Lucky asked.
She opened her eyes, and the scene that greeted had her catching her breath. They were high above the treetops, and the view went as far as the eye could see.
“Yes,” she breathed the word. “That’s got to be the Yukon River down there, don’t you think?”
“Don’t know. Everything pales with you sitting next to me.” The breeze ruffled his sun-bleached hair around his heavily tanned face. He never stayed indoors if he could help it.
“Aren’t you with Nadia?” she asked.
“For now. She’s fun I’ll say that much for her.” He lifted a brow that suggested they could pick up where they left off, all she had to do was give the word.
Why was it that the men she didn’t want were willing to be with her, but not the one man she did want? Fate had a perverse sense of humor.
Lucky stood and stretched. “Ready for me to beat your pants off in this competition?”
“In your dreams.” She was glad he’d relaxed the atmosphere between them. She stood, feeling the stretch of muscles that hadn’t been pretzeled in a while. When she got back to Fairbanks, she needed to take up yoga again. “Mac wanted us back in thirty.”
Lucky grimaced. “Don’t see why the old man should be in charge.”
“Because he’s earned it.”
Mac was a former Ranger for the military. SEALs listened when he spoke. None of that would impress Lucky as he didn’t believe in using military force. In his opinion, everyone should sit in a circle, hold hands, chant, and all would be right in the world.
They hiked back to camp. A shadow passed over Nadia’s face when she saw them exit the forest together.
Oh, come on. Nadia had to know nothing had been going on between her and Lucky.
“Good, you’re here.” Mac checked his watch.
Apparently she’d made it in time, because he didn’t knock her for being late. She took a seat next to Nadia around the fire pit.
Nadia wasn’t the only one sending her daggers. Gage sat across from her, and the heat coming from his gaze rivaled the fire smoldering in the middle of the circle.
There was at least one fire she could douse right away. She leaned closer to Nadia, and in a low voice said, “I came across Lucky and walked back to camp with him. That’s all.”
As quick as the shadow had darkened Nadia’s face, it cleared. “I never should have thought any different. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for.”
Lucky sat down on the other side of Nadia after refilling his cup of coffee. “Babe,” he greeted Nadia, running his hand over her shoulders.
Nadia reached over and placed her hand on his knee.
Seemed all was right between them. Tern glanced again toward Gage whose expression was still hotter than coals. To hell with him. He had no right laying claim. Not when he’d thrown her away.
Robert settled in, and Mac began. “As you know, we had instructions in the caches we found yesterday.” He held up the GPS coordinates typed on pieces of paper. “Even though they are addressed to individuals, I suggest we stay in teams, like yesterday, to find each of them.”
“Give me a break, old man,” Robert said, rising to his feet. “What the hell kind of competition is this if we stay in teams?”
“One that you’ll live through.” Mac didn’t back down.
“We’re armed, and we aren’t novices. Quit mothering.”
“Listen you little pissant, I’m not losing anyone on my watch.” Mac shook his head when Tern opened her mouth to help dispel the argument. “Call it a gut feeling. Besides, our targets are much farther away from camp. Give me this today. We’ll reassess the situation tomorrow.”
Robert swept a glance over the group and shook his head. When no one jumped in to help him argue his case, he muttered, “Whatever.”
Mac handed out the GPS coordinates. “It doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway. Watch out for bears. This early in the season, they’re still hungry from hibernating. Remember, three shots, followed by a full second between each shot if you get into trouble.”
They disbanded after filling up water bottles and dividing what food they could take along for snacks, which wasn’t more than a few slices of cheese, smoked salmon, and biscuits for each person. One day and they were already running low on rations. Tern hoped the geocaches had more food or this high-tech treasure hunt would turn into an actual hunting party.
Gage entered their first coordinate into his GPS, and while it did its thinking, Tern got lost in the quiet and peacefulness of the scenery. Regardless that she had to spend the day with Gage at her side, she also got to spend it outdoors in God’s playground. She raised her face to the sun and breathed deep, slowly releasing her troubles into the universe. Lucky would approve.
The purity of the air, with the heat of the summer sun put her in a place so perfect that she suddenly didn’t mind the company she was forced to keep. Not when she got to do what she loved.
“Ready?” Gage asked.
“Hmm.” She nodded and gave him a smile that had him doing a double-take. The wattage of her smile had always served her well, and she shone it on him just because she could. “Lead the way.” She gestured for him to go ahead. He narrowed his eyes, and it seemed he was going to object, but then what did he have to object to? Having come to the same conclusion, he turned and traipsed into the trees.
Under the canopy of the forest it was considerably warmer. The humidity suggested they might see rain before the day was through. The breeze was absent, and after a mile, Tern took a moment as Gage hiked ahead to shimmy out of her backpack and shed her jacket, tying it around her waist. Chances were she’d need it again when she’d least expect to. Weather in Alaska was unpredictable. She’d seen it snow on days that had begun as warm as today.
When she started again, Gage was out of sight. She stepped up her pace and went around a rock cropping to find Gage charging toward her.
“What the hell are you doing? You don’t stop without letting me know.”
“I would have caught up.” She wasn’t a child.
“I turned around and you’re gone. Do you have any idea how fast you can get lost out here?”
She held up her GPS. “The last thing I’m worried about is getting lost.”
His face reddened. “Just stay behind me, damn it. And if you need to stop, let me know.”
The man needed a meditation session with Lucky. Sure couldn’t hurt his mood.
Thirty minutes had passed without them exchanging any conversation. This was getting ridiculous. They were no longer lovers, but there’d been more about Gage that Tern had liked than just his talents in the sack. He was very intelligent, and she hadn’t found a subject he couldn’t debate. She’d enjoyed
how he’d challenged her, not just physically, but mentally as well. So they could be civil, at least for the remainder of the week.
“So, what have you been up to since I last saw you?” she asked. If he said he’d gotten married she was going to kill him.
“Work,” he bit out and trudged up the slick grassy embankment, interspersed with thinning birch trees as they gained altitude.
“That’s it?” She scampered up behind him on nimble feet, ignoring the hand he’d held out to help. Her breathing was only slightly increased, while Gage seemed to struggle.
Her gaze journeyed down his body. “Work been keeping you behind a desk?”
“No.” He scowled.
“What happened to that grant you were working on? Did you get it?”
“Yes.”
“So…you went to Iceland?” Without me, she wanted to add, but didn’t. They’d talked of her going with him for part of the time he’d be over there studying the aurora during the spring if the grant went through. Was that where he’d been all this time? “How was it?”
“Cold.”
“That’s it?”
“And greener than you’d expect,” he grudgingly added. “We’ll break after we navigate the top of the ridge.”
“I’m okay to continue on, but if you need to break, it’s fine by me.” She didn’t understand this sudden need to provoke him, but she couldn’t seem to stop it either.
He grumbled something under his breath that she didn’t catch and was smart enough not to ask him to repeat. Her good mood was messing with his, making his dark and dangerous. Not that it stopped her from whistling just for the hell of it. She almost choked on a laugh when he sent her a threatening look that was supposed to shut her up.
Like that was going to happen.
Storm clouds brewed over the mountain peak they climbed, but they didn’t compare to the storm reflected in Gage’s eyes. If she were smart, she’d find cover.
Her self-preservation instincts seemed to be absent as she attempted to engage him in more conversation. “Aidan and Raven got married.” And she’d had to go to the wedding stag as he’d been her date.
“How are they?” he asked, a tentative note to his voice.
So insanely in love and giddy with their new life together that it was hard to be around them for long. “Very happy. Aidan asks about you.” Almost every time she saw him.
He grunted something she couldn’t make out.
When she’d introduced Gage to Aidan it was almost embarrassing how star-struck Gage had been. He’d had a total fan moment when he found out that the man Tern’s sister was engaged to was none other than the graphic novelist Aidan Harte. It might be stereotypical of scientists to be obsessed with comic books and their characters, but Gage fell into that category. Aidan, likewise, had connected with Gage on a scientific and philosophical level, and they’d quickly developed quite a bromance that never failed to entertain Tern and Raven.
Tern had thought for sure Gage would put in an appearance at the wedding, for Aidan if not for her. But he hadn’t.
She started whistling again, hoping to return to her previous mood, before her tumble down heartache hill.
“Stop whistling,” Gage barked, his temper obviously blacker now than before.
Was he feeling guilty? Good. “What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you get a good night’s sleep?”
He grumbled again, and the wind took his words.This time she was going to hear what he had to say.
“What’d you say?”
He turned fully to look at her. “How the hell was I going to get any sleep with you two doors down?”
Whoa. She hadn’t expected that. And just for kicks, because she was enjoying his foul mood so much, she said, “Didn’t stop me. Slept like a baby,” she lied.
He growled. Actually growled at her. The sound was so unexpected that she laughed. His look turned darker.
The sound caught in her throat when he grabbed and shook her. “Damn you.” His eyes were hot, his jaw clenched tight as though he struggled with something life-altering. “Why the hell did I have to see you again?” He cursed, yanked her close, and slanted his mouth over hers with so much pressure she couldn’t object. He held her tight enough that she couldn’t move, but everything inside her responded. Her synapses fired so fast that jolts of sexual energy sent her nerve endings into overload, melting the many reasons she should object.
He tore her backpack off her shoulders, held her flush against him as he struggled out of his with one arm and then the other. His hands were up and under her t-shirt, freeing her breasts, grabbing, molding. Another growl sounded from deep within his chest, the vibrations traveling upward. Her moan answered him, and her hands went on a grab fest of their own. Suddenly her feet dangled above the ground. Gage hiked her backward, bracing her body against a tree.
His eyes bored into hers, and he reached for the button on her cargo pants.
“Gage—” She didn’t know if she was going to protest or tell him to hurry.
“Shut up,” he said, kneeing her legs apart. “Just shut the fuck up.” He kissed her again, desperate and damned determined, igniting the same reactions deep inside her.
Too far gone for reason to raise its ugly head, Tern kissed him back, biting his lip, clawing his back with her nails in her own desperation to punish him for waiting so long, for leaving her without a word. For making her fall in love with him in the first place.
His mouth left hers to trail stinging bites down her neck. Hands rough, he yanked down her pants as he kissed down her stomach. He unlaced her boots and tugged them off, and then his mouth devoured her. A hoarse cry escaped her throat.
She couldn’t breathe. Pleasure overwhelmed, stabbed too hard, too fast as his tongue swept over her, in her. A rough sound, very wild and primal, vibrated from him into her and she almost splintered apart.
He cursed, stood, and freed himself. Hitching her legs around his hips, he plunged deep within her.
She gasped from the suddenness of having him inside her, her body clenching in an attempt to adjust. He didn’t give her time, started driving in and out, in and out, thrusting with deep, hard, fast strokes. He gave no quarter, took everything from her and demanded she give him more.
She came apart, hard and quick, her cries startling the birds above them.
Her eyes met his, and he smiled. A predatory smile filled with arrogance and satisfaction. She pushed at his shoulders, and he pushed back with his body, nailing her to the tree. He shook his head. “I’m not done.” Then he started to move again.
Her body betrayed her again, taking over her mind as sensations seduced and stupefied her into giving all that his body demanded of hers.
She came again, shuddering around him, leaving marks in his skin with her teeth, her nails. Her climax forced the onslaught of his. He groaned, the sound morphing into a strangled shout as his body emptied deep inside hers.
His head dropped in defeat onto her shoulder. His chest heaved and his heart hammered against hers. She gasped for breath, for reason.
The reality of what she’d allowed to happen—as if she’d had much of a choice—began to show itself physically.
She shoved at his shoulders. This time he stepped back, and her body wept from the absence of his. Her legs trembled, and she was grateful for the tree at her back. Though she’d be feeling the pounding she’d taken against the tree for days.
“You didn’t use a condom,” she accused. She had many accusations to make. She felt used and abused and almost laughed at the irony, but swallowed it in case the sound came out more as a sob.
He stared at her in shock. Whether it was the shock of not using protection, or the shock of what they’d just done, she couldn’t tell.
“Didn’t have one.” He yanked up his pants. “Christ, didn’t even think.”
“Yeah, a lot of that going around,” she muttered under her breath.
“You still on the pill?” He held his breath while he waited for h
er answer.
She wanted to make him sweat, but couldn’t mess with him over something so important. “Yes.” But that didn’t help the uncomfortable situation she was in currently. It was a long hike back to camp and the hot springs.
He tore open the zipper on his backpack, produced a bandana, and wetted it with water from his water bottle. “Here.”
She took it and moved away from him to clean up, and then adjusted her clothing, trying to gather her scattered thoughts and feelings while lacing and buttoning up. The torn clothes were easier to fix. Her jacket had stayed tied around her waist while he’d ripped the buttons off her shirt. She made a knot with the ends of the shirt, glad she was wearing a sports bra. If someone didn’t look too close, the bra would hopefully look like an undershirt.
When she turned back to Gage, he looked as shell-shocked and battered as she felt.
He reached out a hand. “Listen, Tern—”
A gun shot rang out, followed by another, and then another.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tern and Gage crashed through the trees and found everyone gathered around the middle of camp.
Everyone except Nadia.
“Where’s Nadia,” Tern gasped out past heaving breaths. They’d run the distance to camp as fast as they could.
“We don’t know,” Mac answered, his breathing hard. He and Robert must have just arrived too.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Alarm sent a shiver over her sweaty body. Tern arrowed in on Lucky. “Where the hell is Nadia?”
“One minute she was right behind me, the next she was gone.” Lucky said. “When I couldn’t find any sign of her, I came back to camp hoping she’d returned. When she wasn’t here, I fired off the warning.”
“I suggest we head back to the last spot you remember seeing her,” Mac said, already hitching his rifle onto his shoulder.
Death Cache Page 4
