by Loki Renard
As the gunshot echoed across the valley, the bear fled immediately, leaving the bleeding wolf lying on the floor of the cave. The wolf could not run. It had been savaged by the bear’s teeth and claws and was making a piteous whining sound that tore at Addie’s heartstrings. It could not seem to move enough even to crawl away to die. And that was when a second horrible realization came over Addie. It was mortally wounded and the right thing to do would be to put it down.
She reloaded the shotgun, dreading what she was going to have to do. The cartridges were difficult to handle with her clumsy gloved fingers, and as she tried to push them into place, the wolf began to contort in a horrifying unnatural way. Addie had never seen an animal move in such a way before; it was almost as if the very flesh below its fur was rippling and changing in shape. It wasn’t dying… it was doing something else. Something weird and unnatural.
Addie backed up against the wall and watched, terrified as the… thing… turned into something else. The lupine growling became a strangely human sound, as the fur of the thing began to recede like grass growing backwards until there was only clear skin and the wolf was no longer a wolf, but a man. A very handsome man with flashing blue eyes, rough dark hair, and stubble across a strong chin and jaw. The wounds inflicted by the bear’s teeth and claws seemed to have melted away in the transformation, leaving his muscular body perfect… and entirely anatomically correct. Her eyes were drawn from his face to the thick cock hanging between his thighs, weighty and seemingly immense.
She put her hands to her face and forehead. Perhaps this was some kind of fever dream? Maybe she was succumbing to hypothermia?
“Hello,” he said with a rakish smile. “I’m Adam.”
Addie fainted.
* * *
Darting forward, Adam just managed to catch the girl before she hit the ground. She was light in his arms, her insensate form easily cradled.
“Well,” he murmured down at her. “What to do with you… hmmm.”
The question was not truly a question. She was young and her scent told him that she was fertile. She was also fresh blood, a rarity in the northern climes. His pack was fast risking becoming utterly inbred, so much so that even as alpha and having had his pick he had not taken a mate from among the willing females.
This young woman was intoxicating. A prize beyond any other. It had been worth risking his chances against the bear shifter for the chance to win her. They had both been watching her since her arrival, though Adam doubted the bear would have made a move if she had not gotten herself into trouble. In doing so, he had forced Adam’s hand. The alpha of the Fire Spring pack would not allow this one to slip through his fingers.
“I must thank Armel for saving you for me,” he said. “That was very kind of him, wasn’t it.”
She made a little moan in her unconscious state. Adam would have worried about her more, but given all she had seen over the past few minutes, and been through in the previous hours, he was sure her faint had been caused by exhaustion and the sheer inability of her mind to comprehend what her eyes were telling her. It was a lot to take in, a beast turning to a man. The brain wanted to reject what it was seeing. On some occasions, Adam had shifted in front of people who had gone entirely blank and ignored the event entirely. His father had always told him that he was too brash and bold, but in Adam’s experience, brash and bold got the job done. It was madness to try to fight a bear, but that had turned out pretty well for him too. The bear was gone and he was in possession of the prize—for the moment at least. The bear would be back, and Adam knew he wouldn’t likely survive a second fight. He looked down at the woman in his arms and smiled.
“Time to go home, I think.”
Chapter Three
Addie was having the strangest vision of being carried through the snow on the back of a massive wolf. It was the oddest thing, for she could feel its fur beneath her body and the cool of the winter air against her back as they moved through dark trees toward some mysterious destination. She knew it must be a dream, though it felt real. She could curl her fingers in the coarse fur and feel the softer undercoat beneath it. She could smell the musk of the wolf, not a bad smell, but a powerful wild scent. The animal was moving at an easy lope, keeping its motion smooth but swift over the snowy ground.
After a few minutes the dream faded and she was not aware of anything more until she was being settled into a soft bed, placed atop a woven coverlet that smelled of juniper berries and a faint element of the wolf’s musk.
“Sleep, girl,” a deep male voice said. She felt a large hand stroke her hair, a settling, soothing touch that made her fall into dreamless slumber. No more woods or wolves, just the sweet embrace of a soft bed and the animal knowledge that she was warm and safe.
Hours later, Addie woke. She stayed still for a moment, keeping her eyes closed, knowing she would open them to the cold wall of the mountain cave and wanting to keep the illusion of the dream going just a little longer. When she did finally open them, she saw morning light filtering through a stained-glass window set at an angle into the curved wall of the room in which she found herself. Muted colors were shed across a simple wood floor that had been carefully sanded and polished to a high sheen. The walls might have been wood too, but they were plastered over and curved over her head in a way that made her feel very snug and cozy.
“Good morning.” A woman’s soft voice drew her attention. Addie sat up to see a tall woman with silver hair braided over her shoulder carrying a tray with what looked like breakfast on it. The sound of her entering the room must have been what woke Addie up.
“Hi,” Addie said, feeling shy, though she didn’t know why. The woman was older, but quite beautiful, with a warm demeanor. “Uhm… where am I?”
“You must be confused,” the woman said. “My name is Marnie. This is my son’s house.”
“How did I get in your son’s house?” Addie’s memories were jumbled and confused. She remembered being in her tent and the snow falling hard, she remembered running for a cave, and then after that her mind was full of images of wolves and bears, dreams and maybe hallucinations.
“My son found you in the snow,” Marnie explained. “He brought you to our village.”
“I didn’t know there were any villages near my camp,” Addie said, rubbing her head. “I didn’t know there were any people out here at all, let alone whole villages.”
The woman smiled and placed the eggs and toast that were on the tray in her hands in front of Addie. “You were fortunate that there is, I think,” she said. “The snows are deep in the valley now. I do not think they will thaw until spring.”
Addie let out a little groan. Everything she owned was under that snow. “I’m stuck out here?”
“I’m afraid so, dear,” Marnie said. “Don’t worry, we are pleased to have you.”
“Thanks,” Addie said. “But the college knows I’m out here. They’ll send a rescue party, I’m sure.”
“I’m sure they will.”
Something in Marnie’s smile and tone reminded Addie of the tone people used when talking to dim children who wanted to grow up to be firetrucks. The woman seemed well-meaning, but patronizing.
“You should eat,” Marnie said encouragingly. “You must be hungry. Fighting the snow must have sapped all your strength.”
Addie stared at the tray of food, frowning. More strange ‘memories’ were bubbling up. Images of sleeping cuddled up next to a great big bear, riding on the back of a wolf. Memories couldn’t be the right term for such things, impossible as they were… “Oh!” Addie let out a little gasp as the recollection of a very naked man who had once been a wolf flashed across the screen of her mind. “I think I must be ill,” she said feebly, pushing the food away slightly. “I’m not hungry, I’m sorry.”
“That’s alright,” Marnie said, picking the tray up again. “Tell me, dear, what is your name?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Addie said. “Addie Spencer.”
“It’s nice to m
eet you, Addie Spencer,” Marnie said. “Sing out if you find yourself hungry.” She turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.
“Wait…” Addie called out a little too late. The door was already closed. Addie got up and tried the handle. To her surprise, it wouldn’t open. She had been locked in!
“Hey!” Addie banged on the door. “Let me out, please!”
There was no immediate response, a fact that made Addie mad. Marnie and her son had no way of knowing this about her, but Addie had a bad temper. It was one of the things that made working alone pretty much essential. Her short fuse was often triggered by others, and being alone at least meant she usually got her own way. She was absolutely not getting her own way now.
“Let me out!” Her demand became more strident. When it was not immediately met, she followed up with a threat. “I’ll break the window and climb out if you don’t let me out! I’ll go to the police and have you all arrested!”
There weren’t any police out there, she knew that, but making the threat made her feel better and stronger and took away some of the fear that had risen in her the moment she had realized she was locked in.
The door opened and Addie stood back, arms crossed over her chest, a smug expression on her face. The expression melted into one of surprise as she saw that it was not Marnie who had returned, but the man she had seen in the cave. She could not forget those eyes or that face. He seemed taller closer up, and he was clothed in a checked shirt and jeans, but it was definitely him.
“Breaking the window won’t be necessary, brat,” he said in a low gruff drawl.
“Brat!?” Addie snorted, glad to have something to take offense to. It distracted her from the immense weirdness going on around her. “Because I don’t like being a prisoner, you call me a brat?”
“I call you a brat because you’re being demanding and making threats in the face of our hospitality.”
“I guess you and I have a different idea of hospitality,” she said, knowing she was being prickly.
“I think you and I probably have a different idea of a lot of things,” he said with a smile. “I’m Adam.”
The same words he’d spoken back in the cave. A shiver ran through Addie as she tried to work out what was real and what wasn’t. The man was real, but maybe she’d imagined the rest of it. The bear, the wolf, the fight. Maybe that had been a hallucination before they had found her.
“You’re not a wolf, are you?” She let out a nervous little laugh as she asked the question.
His answering laugh put her at ease. “You’ve had a hard couple of days,” he said. “You’ve had some rough dreams. The door was locked to stop you from wandering off in confusion and getting lost.”
He hadn’t actually denied being a wolf, some small part of her brain noticed. But he was strongly implying that she wasn’t right in the head, and asking him to confirm that he wasn’t a wolf would probably only make her sound crazier.
“I’m not going to wander off,” she said, sitting back on the bed. “Being lost in the snow once was enough for me.”
“That’s good,” he smiled, flashing bright white teeth with prominent canines. “If you did, I’d have to track you down again.”
There was something possessive in his tone, something that called to a part of her that became all quivery in response. Adam was probably in his early thirties, several years older than her. There was just the slightest touch of gray about his stubble, she noticed. It gave him a mature air that made him seem a little older and more imposing somehow.
“My mother says you haven’t eaten,” he said, continuing the conversation in the wake of another of her nervous giggles.
“I wasn’t hungry,” Addie nodded.
“You’re too nervous to eat, I think,” he said, moving to sit next to her on the bed. It was an innocent enough motion, but his sudden proximity made the quivery feeling in her stomach grow all the more. “It’s strange to find yourself in a stranger’s house, and in his bed.”
“This is your bed?” Addie bounced up from it as if it were on fire.
Adam reached out and took her hand, preventing her from retreating all the way across the room. “It’s alright,” he said. “You’re safe here.”
She looked at his hand encompassing hers. It was so much larger, so much more powerful, just like Adam himself. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel safe, it was the fact that every part of her was thrilling to him in a way she had never experienced before. She’d spent the last seven years of her life in a college environment with no shortage of attractive men, but Adam was more than just hot. He had presence and magnetism. His eyes drew hers, and her body began to soften under his touch. She took a step back toward him, and the tension on her arm faded a little, but not the tension between them.
“You’re very strong-willed, aren’t you,” he said in low tones. “I like that.”
Addie let out a little snort. “No, you don’t.”
Adam cocked his head to the side. “Why do you say that?”
“Nobody likes it. Maybe they like it for five minutes when it’s going in their favor, but they don’t like it much longer than that.”
“It’s not going in my favor right now,” he pointed out. “And I still like it.”
“Yeah, well, you haven’t known me long,” she said with a shrug. “Do you have a phone? I need to contact my team, let them know I’m okay. They’ll be worried.”
“We don’t have any phones up here,” Adam said. “We stay off the radar.”
Addie’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why?”
“We like it,” Adam smiled rakishly. “We prefer our own company and not being beholden to the outside world.”
“Uh huh. So what is this? Some kind of weird cult?”
Adam threw back his head and laughed. “You’re a cynic!”
“I’m sensible,” she said, pulling her hand from his. “I’ve been out here for weeks and not seen any sign of anybody. Suddenly there’s a village full of recluses who don’t even have a phone? I mean, thanks for saving my life, but I do need to touch base with my team, and get back to my stuff. I have data that needs to be compiled…”
“I’m sorry, Addie,” he said. “But it’s going to be several months before you can reach your data, or get out of the main valley. You may as well settle in for the winter.”
The answer did not please her any more coming from Adam than it had from his mother. She scowled furiously at him and pulled her hand out of his. “I’m sorry,” she said firmly. “But that won’t do. I must get back to my work and my university.”
Adam stood up from the bed and crossed the room to a second door Addie hadn’t even noticed thanks to her fixation on the one Marnie had gone through. It had thick glass panes that were frosted over and through which she could hardly see anything.
“Come on,” he said. “Come and see where you are.”
He opened the door; a cold blast of air entered the room in a sudden rush and Addie found herself looking out into the most remote landscape she’d ever encountered. The snow seemed to go on forever, merging with the horizon in the distance. The effect was an infinite world in which the village seemed to float. Lines of trees and the occasional outcropping of rock broke the immediate landscape up a little and to the north, a range of mountains rose high above them, piercing the cloudy veil.
Adam beckoned her over and her curiosity quickly won over any annoyance or fear. She stepped out onto the balcony and saw that the village was a ring of houses just like Adam’s, wooden structures that reminded her somehow of Norse work, surrounding a square that had been shoveled clear of snow and a path leading out of the village a short ways similarly shoveled. Here and there were pine trees making the village a little less sparse-looking than it might otherwise have been. Behind the village was a frozen lake upon which she could see the tell-tale swirls left by ice skates.
“Welcome to Fire Spring Village.”
“Wow,” she said, forgetting her annoyance for
a moment. It was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever seen. “This isn’t on any map, is it?”
“No,” Adam said. “And we intend to make sure it stays that way.”
“But satellites…”
He pointed upwards where thick cloud was rolling down from the mountains behind them, pouring off rocky overhangs. “This village is in a satellite shadow thanks to the mountains and the cloud cover. There are springs around the place that give off a natural heat, which also confuses them. The geology of this place means we’re effectively invisible here. We are a long way from anywhere, Addie. Some would say you’ve come past the point of no return.”
“Well, you got me here somehow,” Addie replied. “So there must be a way to get me out again.”
“I’m afraid not.”
“You’re afraid not? You mean you won’t let me leave again,” she scowled at him. “I’m being held against my will, aren’t I?”
“That depends on whether you want to stay or not,” he said, his teeth flashing in an unrepentant smile. “If you want to stay, then no, you’re not being held against your will.”
“But if I want to leave, then I am.” She shook her head in disgust and let her temper get the better of her. “Ass.”
* * *
If anyone else had spoken to Adam that way the punishment would have been swift and severe. Addie was a spoiled brat, entirely unaccustomed to the concepts of respect or submission—though he could see the instinct for both in her eyes in brief flashes of uncertainty. She was also quite beautiful, and prideful. She was utterly determined that he should not have the upper hand, no matter how obviously vulnerable she was.
The harsh alpha side of him was tempted to temporarily rescind his hospitality to teach her a lesson about reliance and dependence, but he suspected she had so little of an instinct for self-preservation she would ignore what was quite obvious about her situation—that she was depending on him to provide food, shelter, and everything else she would need. Putting her out would be like kicking a puppy into the snow. She didn’t have the skills to survive, and that meant that she needed to be looked after. Looking after her meant disciplining her, teaching her their way of life. She wouldn’t like it. He was sure she’d probably hate it, but it had to be done if he wanted to maintain order.