by Milly Taiden
Their equipment must’ve been malfunctioning. But now she wondered. With no animal prints in the snow around the pole, something knocked it over. It could’ve been the wind, but who knew? All it meant was that she’d have to go down and replant the stick. This trip wouldn’t be as routine as she’d hoped.
She trudged back to the snow ATV and pulled out her climbing gear. Normally she enjoyed rock climbing—inside on a wall where hand and foot holds were placed in convenient spots and the rope was tied off on a five-inch metal beam. But this wasn’t her first rodeo doing the real thing.
She slipped the harness up her legs, securing it around her padded snowsuit and attached the rope with all the carabiners and tools. After hooking into the rappelling device, she double checked all knots, carabiners, and the autoblock. This process always took so damn long, twice as long as it took to just rappel down the side. But safety first.
When Juliet reached the marker, she pulled it from the snow and moved a few feet to the side to find a better place to anchor it. She pushed the stick down, feeling for the surface, but the marker kept sinking and sinking. It was almost completely under the snow and it hadn’t touched yet. “What the hell?”
She yanked it up and moved another foot over. Once again, the stick went down until the top was even with the snow. Getting frustrated, Juliet climbed a few feet and jabbed the pole through the snow to abruptly stop where it should. She recorded the number and transmitted it back to the lab with the note—I’m officially on vacation now. See you in two weeks.
Now she was puzzled and intrigued. Why did the stick not touch rock there like it did here? Only one solution: there was no rock there. It was either a very deep hole or a cave.
The Book Mountains were known for having extensive caving systems where water once eroded the rock to carve out long, winding tunnels. Could be that she found one? And if it was covered in snow, could it be no one has ever been in or even discovered it? Had she found a place on the planet where no person has ever tread? She would be the first in history to travel the rocky shaft?
With overwhelming excitement, Juliet dug away snow at the places her measurements couldn’t be taken. She felt like a puppy digging its first hole to bury a bone. The snow went farther down than she’d thought it could. A huge pile was behind her when her fingers hit rock. She moved over a bit and kept digging, she continued to scoop out white powder until she found a hole. She’d reached it!
Carefully, she leaned forward to stick her head in. She smelled wet rock and dirt. It was a cave. She slipped her gloves off and pulled her phone from a pocket. Using the flashlight, she peeked inside. She screamed with joy when seeing the rock walls continuing back.
Juliet climbed inside and found she could stand. She was rather on the short side, so that didn’t mean much to the size of the shaft. The rope pulled on her harness, keeping her from going any farther. Well, that wasn’t happening. She unclipped and laid the rope on the snow. With giddiness she hadn’t felt since her first kiss, she slowly moved into the space.
Several feet in, she saw primitive wall drawings similar to what Native Americans created in the American southwest, but these showed two-legged figures wearing furs, or what she figured was fur. One section of art depicted many humans with spears chasing a big shaggy thing with four legs. Another portrayed spears sticking out of the big shaggy thing lying on the ground. So she wasn’t the first person to discover the cave, but this was still fascinating.
While scanning the walls, her foot bumped against something that caused a loud avalanche of noise. The light revealed an old wooden box and several burlap bags with their tops closed with wire. Her foot had hit a dilapidated shovel that fell onto metal pie-pan looking items.
Crouching, she dug through the pile and realized this equipment was old enough to be used during the goldrush well over a hundred years ago. Along with shallow pans, picks, and empty bags were a couple wood boxes with screen-like material for the bottom. That was an iconic sifting box for panning in a creek. All these things were for digging and sifting for rocks.
A thought crossed her mind and she turned to the small closed chest. The leather strap wrapping the container had disintegrated in places. The rough-hewn metal buckle hung by a thread. When she touched the clip, it fell to the ground creating a poof of dust. Gently, Juliet’s shaking fingers lifted the lid and was greeted with a brilliance only gold made. Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. She could barely breathe.
The heavy top slipped from her fingers and slammed down, crumbling to wooden shards on the nuggets. Oh, shit. She jerked her arms back, not wanting to touch it again and make the whole thing fall apart. Instead, she turned to the side and poked one of the burlap bags. Her finger went through the rotting material making an exit for the golden contents to flow out. Shit. Shit. Shit.
She sat back against a cold damp wall and stared at the treasure. This was crazy. Stuff like this never happened to her. Was she dreaming? Holy hell. She wondered how it got here and why it was still here. If a miner from the goldrush era hid it here, why didn’t he come back for it? He more than likely died. This land wasn’t for the weak.
What should she do with it? She couldn’t carry it out easily with no containers, and it would be heavy! There had to be fifty or sixty pounds at least sitting there. She would have to come back and get it out without alerting anyone else. Damn, that was a million dollars!
People would kill for this find. She had to be careful how she handled this. She couldn’t walk into the bank and yell she found gold, who would help her carry it. Good way to get kidnapped again. But she’d be rich beyond belief. She could build her dream cabin on ten acres of land and live the rest of her life doing what she wanted.
Then another thought hit her, what if this stash was fake? She scooped up a small handful and inspected it close up. It looked real, but only testing in a lab would verify. She’d send these to her lab before she left for Aruba. Hopefully, everyone was trustworthy at the lab and wouldn’t snoop and figure out where she found these nuggets. It was a chance she would have to take. With luck she’d have an answer when she got back. Holy crap, if this was real… how had no one else ever stumbled on this treasure trove? How did she get so lucky?
She was tucking the nuggets in an interior pocket of her snowsuit when a strange vibration rolled through her back and butt. Dust fell from the ceiling of the cave. The vibes became stronger to shake the ground. Holy fuck, was this the seismic activity she didn’t think real? Hallelujah, praise the powers that be! She was a believer now, no time to panic though. She had to get out, she didn’t want to be buried underground! She would never be able to do anything with the gold!
Juliet sprang to her feet and rushed to the front of the cave, panic filled her body and she found herself gasping for air as she rushed toward the hole. When reaching the entrance, a different kind of rumble, not as deep as before, traveled up her feet and legs. As she crawled through the snowy tunnel, she grabbed onto the rope to link to her harness as soon as she reached the surface.
The sunlight ahead was a welcome sight even if the second rumble hadn’t stopped yet, she felt like crying in relief. The sun hitting her face was a wonderful feeling, now she stood a chance of surviving. She twisted around to get her feet out first, and when she stood to clip the carabiner to her harness, a wall of snow smacked her in the chest, sweeping her down with the rest of the avalanche.
5
Tevrik took a deep breath of the musty, earthy air inside the cavern. It had been a while since he’d visited here. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Being cradled in Mother Earth like this soothed his anxious wolf and calmed his restless soul.
Thirteen years ago, this place had been a godsend. He’d wandered the wilderness, lost and away from his family, his pack. He could never go back. He’d allowed the unthinkable to happen and his life would no longer be the same. His future of taking his father’s position of alpha when he retired turned into a pipe dream. No one would want him to lead them.
No one would trust him with their life. Rightfully so.
Cold, bitter, and hungry, he’d stumbled onto the cave accidentally. His younger self nestled inside, out of the wind and falling snow. His wolf smelled food skittering around in crevices and behind boulders. It took some patience, but his wolf was able to catch enough rodents to stop the pain in his belly.
While he waited for the storm to pass, he trekked through the winding rock pathways, sometimes crawling on his stomach in inches-high openings between stone walls, sometimes turning sideways and sucking in his gut to get through cracks.
By the end, he’d traveled for hours through the twists and turns coming to the opening in the cave ceiling that in his mind was now sacred. This was where he vowed to himself, he would be a changed man. No longer would he be the teenager, so full of himself with no idea how the real world worked. Careless and ignorant.
He believed Mother Earth saved his unworthy ass that night, leading him to this place. She gave him shelter when he was homeless, offered him food when he was hungry, and comforted his soul when he was in torment. He promised to listen to her and learn to live by her rules. Only out of her hand would he survive.
Over the years, Tevrik dug a path, chipping away rock by rock, that allowed an easier journey through the treacherous terrain. That first time he lifted himself to peek out the opening over the ledge, he was amazed how up the mountain he had come.
Starting at the base of the incline, the excursion took him several hundred feet up through the mountain’s belly.
As he approached the location now, so many years later, the trail worn by his tread, by his hands gliding over the same rock time after time, he stopped and gazed at the sight.
A ramp split from the main tunnel, giving him an upward path along the wall to a flat ledge several feet higher than the floor of the main passage. Above that leveled rock was the three-foot gap in the ceiling. Through that elongated hole, soft light poured in like the sun’s rays shining down from behind a large cloud. If an angel came out of that light, it would not surprise him.
He sat in his usual spot under the gap with his back to the wall, the opening directly overhead. Sometimes he built a small fire if a chill had set in, but with the bright sun today, that wasn’t needed.
He reminded himself he wasn’t here because some woman in a city said he should meditate about a mate in his usual place. No. Not completely, anyway. He was here to settle the guilt in his subconscious. It had been many years since anyone had openly accused him of being a wolf killer. Fucking James and Petey.
All the memories he’d managed to suppress were back full force and he couldn’t go through those again. He hoped this magical place would once again provide him with the peace he needed.
With a deep breath, he took in the scents of the wilderness around and above him—the cave, snow, fresh air, small creatures rummaging for food on the slope, burnt wood from his previous campfires. The breath out took with it the toxic thoughts and emotions that beat and cut into him. Let it go.
For some reason, that damn message Frost showed him from the woman popped into his head. She thought she was being funny when saying his mate would fall into his lap. What a stupid thing to say to someone who wasn’t worthy of such happiness. Another breath in. Toxic out. He’d survived this long without a mate. He could go on the same way. Mother Earth would provide.
Suddenly, his body tingled. At first, he thought the vibration he felt was from a large animal running down the mountainside nearby, but he ruled that out when the rock around him shifted. That was an earthquake. There had been a few of those this past year.
Then he heard a sound that shocked him immobile for a moment. It couldn’t be. Could it? The crack and boom of a snow layer breaking free from the surface. Avalanche.
Tevrik remained where he was. He was safe from the onslaught even with the gouge in the rock overhead. The snow would be moving too fast to fall inside. Some spray or small rocks on the bottom of the pile might drift in, something heavy enough for gravity to immediately take hold of and bring down. But that was it. Whenever the rumbling stopped, he’d make his way back to his cabin.
He watched as wisps of flying snow passed by. He knew when the mass of snow plowed over, the cave would become pitch black. As he readied his flashlight, a bright red color above grabbed his attention. As the snow covered the gap, the red mass fell through the hole, right into his lap.
Luckily his animal reflexes were sharp and fast. He caught the thing before it landed on him. But now sitting in the absolute dark, he had no idea what he held. The flashlight had been knocked out of his hand when he reached up, so that was useless. All he smelled was dirt and snow. He’d have to use his sense of touch.
The bulky thing was longish like a tree, but trees were not wrapped in red. Plus it wasn’t stiff like a trunk. It bent when he caught it.
The outer covering was some kind of plastic material that made a rasping sound when he rubbed his hand over it. Most of it felt covered in snow so he brushed away what he could. But that didn’t help any. He squeezed on the material finding it fluffy for several inches before hitting something solid.
This was ridiculous. He was never good at guessing games. He needed to find his damn flashlight. Leaning to the side, he sniffed for the acidic smell of the batteries and found it not too far away. He switched it on and looked at the red and snow-hidden balled up mass.
He pulled on the top of the red material and it rolled over. In the process, he saw a flash of a human hand. Oh shit. This was a human. Yes, now he smelled blood. The snow and clothing had blocked any scent.
He moved toward the head of the body which was tucked into the hood of the coat. Snow was packed in also. He must’ve been hit hard from the front for that to happen. Which probably meant internal injuries and possible concussion. If the dude was even alive.
As quickly and carefully as he could to avoid making the injuries worse, Tevrik pulled the hood off, letting the snow fall away, exposing the face. . .of an angel.
Her delicate jawline and high cheekbones were under a mess of mud, blood, and snow. Her lips were an unhealthy tinge of blue.
He checked for a pulse on her neck since he couldn’t hear her heartbeat over the noise of the avalanche. It was there, but weak and a bit erratic. She needed to be warmed immediately. But if he lifted her, he could hurt her more. There was no way an ambulance with a stretcher could get up here. He either carried her or she died here on the cold rock. Put that way, the choice was obvious.
Putting his flashlight in his mouth, he used both hands to pick her up and hold her close to his body. The snowsuit she wore wouldn’t allow any of his body heat to reach her, but hopefully that meant enough of her own body heat was retained to keep her from hypothermia. He’d find out when they got back to the cabin.
He could smell very little of her natural scent. When a human body was cold, the extremities were the first to freeze as the bodily functions focused on keeping the core warm. But with the little he could smell, he could tell she was human and not a shifter. That made her chances of surviving much less.
Humans were so damn fragile. Their bones snapped like twigs and their skin was practically useless against anything sharp. They bled so easily.
After several minutes of hiking downhill through the cave, Tevrik kicked open his cabin’s door and carried his load into the warm room. He laid her on the bed then stood back and looked at her in the light of day.
She was even more stunning than before. Instead of an angel walking from the sun rays, she fell from the heavens right into his lap. It was the most ridiculous yet accurate description he could come up with. He sounded like a fucking pussy but the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen had just fallen on him from heaven. Shit, he needed a drink.
He blew out a breath, thinking where to start with warming her body. He unbuttoned and unzipped the heavy overcoat then slipped it off her arms and from under her back. The overall-style snow pants came above her waist and hoo
ked over her shoulders. Smart outfit. It was the best design to keep snow away from the body in just about any condition.
When he draped the coat over the back of a chair close to the fire, he saw the letters NSIDC in white stitch. He had no clue what that stood for. With that many letters, it had to be something important. Somebody would be missing her right away.
He leaned down to the fire and rotated out a rod holding a large black pot over hot coals. He dipped a hand towel into the iron kettle to see how hot the water was. Burning his fingers, he got his answer. Stupid. He scooped a handful of snow from outside and dumped it into the pot. After stirring, the water became a pleasant temperature.
With the wet cloth, he gently dabbed at the woman’s face, wiping away the dirt and blood that had dried to her delicate flesh. Her skin was flawless except for several faded freckles across her nose which made her even cuter. His little pixie.
Her scent wafted to him and his wolf whispered mine. How the fuck? No. That matchmaker couldn’t have known, could she? His mate fell into his lap. Why did he go to the cave? He didn’t deserve to find her. He didn’t deserve to be happy.
That dark place inside him crept up. The place that told him he was worthless. He pushed the darkness down. That wasn’t a place he wanted to be in again. Besides, he needed to get this, his, woman back to town in a few hours. The snow would arrive a bit earlier than he originally thought. Not tomorrow, but tonight.
Focus returning to his patient, he noted bruising already on her face. She was going to be very sore tomorrow. He glanced down at her poofy overalls. They were good protection from the weather, but how much of a cushion did they give for broken bones. Shit. One of her legs could’ve broken off and he wouldn’t have noticed.