Hagen

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  He dropped the long mic to the ground and yanked off his headset, throwing it beside the mic. “Fuck you guys. I’m out.”

  Rhea watched as Heath stormed back the way they came, a little proud of him until she looked back at the mess he left her with. The two men were still arguing. Chauncey struggled to get traction in the muddy mess Stewart knocked him into and Stewart wasn’t helping matters, bitching at Chauncey about everything he’d done remotely wrong since they got together.

  “You never open the door for me.” Stewart pointed at Chauncey. “You never pull out chairs for me.” Stewart frowned and grew silent. “Did you just use me to get this crew together? To make this trip happen?”

  Chauncey stared at him, silent.

  Rhea looked from man to man. This wasn’t anything she wanted to get in the middle of, but she could see the pain in Stewart’s eyes and it broke her heart for him. Stewart really did think Chauncey was different. That this could be something special between them. Even though it didn’t make sense, Rhea hoped the same, mostly for her friend. Stewart deserved to be happy.

  But it didn’t look like this was going to be it.

  Stewart blinked twice then turned and walked away, picking up speed as he went.

  “Shit.” Chauncey jumped up and took off after him. “Stewart, wait. It’s not what you think.”

  Rhea watched as Stewart managed to get a pretty good clip ahead of Chauncey, even uphill. In a few seconds they were out of sight. Partly because of the incline and partly because the sun was finally disappearing for the day.

  But at least the woods were quiet, and after that fiasco, she needed some quiet. Rhea looked around for a place to sit for a minute. The rocky cut in the mountain where she found Hagen last night stood to her left. She went to it, letting her hand brush over the cool stone. A large flat rock flanked the taller, more jagged back ones. Rhea sat down and scooted back, stretching her legs out, looking over the small clearing, watching the last bit of light leave the sky.

  It was beautiful. Sunsets after a storm always were. She took a deep breath of the damp, woodsy air and carefully leaned against the bumpy rock at her back. The woods were quiet and calm, helping her relax and find a little peace.

  Today was crazy.

  Good crazy and now bad crazy.

  Hagen was back at the campsite, setting up with Andy and Rick, so they could all have a place to sleep tonight. Not the place she was hoping to spend the night that’s for sure.

  Rhea closed her eyes. Maybe it was a good thing Jerrik interrupted when he did and Chauncey insisted they go back out tonight. It gave her a little time to think over what she wanted without the interference of Hagen’s body all over hers.

  Did she really want to risk finding out the hard way just how miserable a person like her could be? She’d had relationships before but in hindsight it was clear she’d always been careful when choosing a partner.

  They were always wrong.

  Not mean or abusive wrong, just wrong for her. Not totally wrong, she was usually attracted enough to them, but she was never attached. It never bothered her when it was over and they went their separate ways.

  But Hagen was different. He was the kind of man she would feel for. A man she would miss. A man she might not be able to get over.

  And maybe it wasn’t worth the risk.

  She needed to talk to him. Find some way to explain her situation without sounding crazy.

  But that could change how he felt. Her stomach tightened at the thought, twisting until she felt sick.

  Maybe it was already too late.

  Rhea swallowed hard, hoping to ease the discomfort in her gut. When that didn’t help she pressed her palm into it, pushing against the upset brought on by the thought of Hagen deciding his interest in her was limited.

  She slid off the rock and stood up. Maybe what she really needed was time away from Hagen. Chances were the group was going back to town tonight after Chauncey and Stewart’s little tiff and that would give her the opportunity to get her head on straight without him so close she couldn’t think. Plus Stewart would no doubt need her to talk him through the bump his own relationship sustained.

  Rhea’s stomach relaxed a little as she started back to camp. That was it. She needed distance to gain a little perspective. Try to unwind the rope of attachment she felt toward Hagen.

  As she reached the bottom of the incline leading back to camp, the skin on the back of her neck tightened and the hair on her nape lifted. Rhea stopped and stood still, listening. Feeling.

  There was something there. Not close but not far either. It felt a little like before.

  Rhea turned slowly to face the direction the energy came from. She directed her camera toward the spot, hoping the night vision could help in the now dark woods. Another small drop-off made it impossible to see what was on the other side.

  But she could feel it. It was big. It was focused. It was dangerous.

  Just like before.

  Slowly she crept toward it, moving through the trees with light steps.

  This time it wasn’t getting away.

  ****

  Hagen sat on his sleeping bag, back against a tree, legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle, attempting to look relaxed.

  “You alright man?” Rick, the smaller of the two guys Chauncey hired to help lug their shit around eyed him from across the small circle of rocks still left from the fire they started when they camped here last night. “You look ready to rip someone’s head off.”

  Hagen uncrossed his arms. “I’m fine. Just not real excited to be out here tonight.”

  That was a gross understatement. Right now he could be in his bed having Rhea. Twice.

  His dick stirred, threatening to make an ass of him again.

  Hagen huffed out an aggravated breath. Now he couldn’t have her even once. Obviously couldn’t even think about having her.

  “I hear that.” Andy nodded as he flipped through a magazine, squinting in the impending darkness.

  He should just go find her. Them.

  How long did it take to get a shot of Chauncey in the woods? Not this fucking long.

  “How long does this kind of shit take?” Hagen directed the question at Rick as the man stood to rearrange his own sleeping bag.

  Rick shrugged. “Depends. I actually haven’t done too much of this.”

  Hagen looked at Andy. “What about you?”

  Andy shrugged. “No clue.”

  “You guys aren’t film people?”

  Andy shook his head. “We’re just friends with Heath.” He dropped the magazine to one side. “Chauncey needed some guys who could help carry shit and Heath asked us if we’d be interested.”

  “And this sounded interesting?”

  Andy looked around the quiet campsite. “Sounded better on paper.”

  Hagen stood up. “It always does.” He peered out across the woods, letting his agitation at Rhea’s absence fuel his beast. Just a little. Enough to see better, hear more.

  They were coming back.

  The beast in him relaxed, placated that she would be back by his side soon, where she was safe and protected.

  Hagen sat back on his bag and waited. They were only about halfway back from the spot where Rhea nearly caught him last night, using the beast in a way he never would have before he met her.

  “You like doing this?” Andy’s question pulled Hagen from his thoughts of Rhea.

  “Sometimes.” It was usually entertaining at least. Most people thought they knew what the mountains were like and felt prepared for what they expected to see and experience.

  They never were. Every season there was at least one grown man screaming like a little girl as he tore through the forest, running from ‘Bigfoot’. Sometimes it was Magni or Jerrik out in the woods, but usually it was nothing.

  That was the trick. Give them just enough so they start to see the beast everywhere. Like a scared child at night, sure the strange shape in the corner of thei
r room is a monster instead of the vacuum cleaner.

  Heath broke through the tree line, his face red. “I’m going back.”

  “Where’s everyone else?” Hagen leaned forward, looking behind the sound man for the rest of the group.

  “Who the fuck knows?” He grabbed his bag from beside Andy and pulled it on. “Who the fuck cares?” He looked at Hagen. “I need you to take me back.”

  “If he’s leaving I’m leaving.” Andy stood up and shoved the magazine from earlier in his own backpack.

  Rick followed suit.

  “Just wait one fucking minute.” Hagen grabbed Heath by the arm. “What happened?”

  “Chauncey thinks he can be as big of an ass as he wants. He’s a spoiled brat and I’m fucking sick of it.” Heath pulled from Hagen’s grip and started walking to the truck. “Are you gonna take us back or are we walking?”

  Hagen sure as hell wasn’t leaving these woods without Rhea. “Where are they?”

  Heath nodded back to the woods. “Probably still down there. Chauncey says he’s staying out there because he thinks it will come for Rhea.”

  For once Chauncey was right.

  Hagen looked in the direction of the truck, then toward the spot Stewart found the hair his body shed when he shoved the beast back where he belonged, barely making it before Rhea found him. “I’ll call Jerrik on the radio. He’ll have to come get you.”

  The truck was less than ten minutes away, five when the beast pushed him like he was now. The three men were panting in their struggle to keep up as Hagen tore through the trees, knocking down anything in his way. He would call Jerrik and then find out what in the hell was going on out there.

  If Rhea caught him this time then so be it.

  By the time he left Heath and his friends in the truck waiting for Jerrik, Hagen could feel the itch of his skin as it started to change. He rubbed at his face and picked up the pace, the beast making him faster, stronger.

  As Hagen pushed through the last bit of brush before the campsite he could hear voices. She was there. Everything was fine.

  The site came into view. Stewart and Chauncey sat on one sleeping bag. Stewart was crying and Chauncey looked ready to fall over from exhaustion. Rhea was nowhere to be seen.

  “Where is she?”

  Both men looked up at him, their mouths hanging open, eyes wide, not a sound coming from either of them.

  “Never mind.” He would kick their asses later. One fucking rule and no one could seem to fucking follow it. No one in the woods alone. Especially not her, because the woman was fearless.

  And tonight he didn’t have backup.

  She could be lying at the bottom of one of the hundreds of ravines that snuck up out of nowhere in the daytime, let alone at night. She could have tripped and twisted her ankle, unable to make it back by herself. Then there were the things that prowled the woods at night.

  His family knew firsthand how easy someone could be lost in the woods and never seen again.

  Hagen stopped and sniffed the air, trying to find her scent. The wind pushed at the back of his head. “Damn.”

  He started moving again, letting the beast come forward more, using the change he brought to be faster, think clearer. Hagen slid down the same steep drop off Rhea chased him down last night. This is where she should be.

  But she wasn’t. For the first time he could pick up her scent. It lingered in the air. He turned slowly, looking, listening, smelling, falling back on the beast and thousands of years of his family’s evolution.

  Then he smelled it.

  Death.

  There was no more restraint. No more caging the beast. He wouldn’t if he could. Whatever it took to get to her he would do.

  And deal with the fall out later.

  Adrenaline dumped into his veins as his body shifted, changing into the same beast every man in his family harbored for generations. The beast he suppressed for years. An inheritance he never wanted. Not until now.

  Hagen’s skin burned as the hair that helped protect his ancestors from weather and injury pushed free. His limbs ached as muscles spasmed and spread, growing in size and strength, tearing his clothes, stretching his flesh.

  And then he ran, letting the beast inside completely free for the first time in years. As Hagen jumped the second drop-off Rhea’s scream filled the air around him and his blood went cold. Her sweet scent tangled with the stink of death as Hagen closed in on Rhea.

  And the bear.

  He heard the hit and smelled her blood as the bear made contact. It was the only bit of her the animal would get. Hagen broke through the trees as the bear lunged at Rhea while she scrambled to get up, her camera still strapped to her shoulder.

  She screamed as his body hit the bear’s, taking it to the ground with all the strength he had. They landed hard between the carcass of a large animal the bear thought he had to fight for and the soft body of the woman Hagen knew he had to protect.

  He grabbed the bear’s muzzle with one hand and held it shut as he struggled to get the other around the animal. Claws dug into Hagen’s thigh as the bear fought against his grip, using his short legs to push against him, trying to get free.

  Hagen rolled to his back, letting the bear get on his feet. He tucked his knees up, braced his feet on the bear’s stomach and pushed, flipping the animal up and over his head. Hagen jumped up, ready to keep fighting. The bear huffed at him twice, then turned and disappeared into the woods, leaving Hagen staring after him, fighting to catch his breath.

  “What are you?”

  He turned slowly to face Rhea. She was still on the ground, blood covering her shirt. The black leggings she wore were shredded up one side. Her face was pale.

  And she was still ready to fight.

  A can of bear spray was aimed at his face, her finger twitching on the trigger.

  “Oh my God.” She lowered the spray and tried to stand up.

  He reached for her then pulled back, not wanting to scare her any more.

  Rhea used the tree at her back for support, walking her hands up as she stood on unsteady legs, her eyes wide, the pupils growing with each passing second. She reached out, her hand shaking as it moved toward him. Gently her palm pushed against the pale brown hair covering his chest and rested over his heart.

  She gasped, staring at the place where her body touched his. “I...”

  Rhea swallowed hard and her eyes glassed over as they looked up into his.

  “I don’t feel well.”

  And then she collapsed.

  13

  Rhea stared across the room at the giant man sitting in a tiny chair, head twisted to one side, arms crossed over his broad chest as it rose and sank with each long, sleeping breath. He looked uncomfortable.

  Good. That made two of them.

  She shifted, trying to get in a less painful position with the limited amount of movement currently available to her. The gash on her hip ached. Her ribs felt like they stabbed her lungs with every inhale.

  And she had to pee.

  Using her free hand, Rhea grabbed the only thing in reach and threw it at Hagen. The pillow landed square on his face and he jumped up, hands already in fists, his blonde hair a wild tangle around his equally wild eyes.

  She glared at him. “Morning sunshine.”

  He stood perfectly still. She wasn’t even sure he was breathing. One eye barely twitched.

  If he didn’t have anything to say that was just fine. She had plenty she wanted to talk about. “What the fuck?”

  Still nothing.

  “I’m gonna need a little more from you this morning big guy.” Rhea struggled to sit up straight. He stepped toward her and she closed her eyes, trying to steel herself against his emotions. How Hagen felt didn’t matter right now. Right now he was going to have to deal with how she felt. She held one hand up. “Stop.”

  She ignored the way her perceived rejection affected him, mostly, and decided to start with the easy questions. Ones she already knew the answers
to, but hopefully it would open the door for the bigger questions she had.

  Like how he happened to end up being the beast she felt in the woods.

  “Where am I?”

  Hagen’s shoulder’s relaxed the tiniest bit. “You’re at my house.” He shifted on his feet. “In my bedroom.” His eyes darkened the tiniest bit. “In my bed.”

  Rhea’s stomach tightened. She pointed at him. “You’re going to need to take another step back.”

  He did as she asked and his energy pulled away enough to allow her head to clear a little. “How did I get here?”

  She remembered a lot about what happened last night. The important parts anyway. Like how she mistook a bear for the thing in the woods.

  And how the thing in the woods turned out to be Hagen. But not Hagen as he was now.

  “I brought you here.”

  Rhea nodded, hoping he would elaborate. Nope. It looked like she would have to press the issue. “How did you bring me here?”

  Hagen clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides, staying silent for a long time. Finally he let out a long, quiet breath. “I carried you.”

  “Okay.” They were making progress. But it was like pulling teeth and she was tired and in pain and her bladder was not interested in dragging this conversation out any longer. It was time to deal with this like a band aid.

  “So you’re Bigfoot.” It wasn’t a question. Not at this point. He needed to realize she wasn’t an idiot and just because she went into shock didn’t mean she didn’t know what happened.

  His jaw twitched. “Bigfoot doesn’t exist.”

  Hagen was going to fight this like a kid insisting it hurt less to rip the bandage off bit by tiny bit, pulling each tiny hair out individually, prolonging the discomfort. Unfortunately she wasn’t in the mood to be patient. “So what do you call the thing that saved me last night?”

  “The beast.” Hagen’s voice was quiet.

  “You’re the beast.”

  His face fell.

  The pain, his pain, sat heavy on Rhea’s chest. “Hagen.”

  He blinked hard before finally looking at her.

  “Thank you for saving me.”

  All she got was a nod.