by Zoe Chant
"Sounds like the best option," Alec agreed. "You're sure it's that close?"
"Pretty sure."
"Then that's what we'll do." He started to remove his coat, but stopped with a grimace of pain.
"Need a hand?"
His only answer was a slight nod, barely noticeable in the flashlight's glow. Charmian knelt beside him and helped him work his way out of the coat, then peel out of his ragged, bloody shirt.
This was her first chance to see the injuries in his side. There wasn't a lot to see, though. His chest and rib cage were dark with blood, but it was drying now, clotting in clumps and covering up the injuries beneath. She couldn't tell how healed he was, but he didn't seem to be actively bleeding anymore, and that would have to be good enough.
"I need to hurry up and get shifted," Alec said. His breath huffed out in clouds. With the windows broken out, the temperature inside the Jeep had dropped to match the temperature outside.
"Yes, of course." She helped him strip out of his jeans. The right leg was the one he was favoring, but she couldn't see any signs of a severe break—no visible deformation, no lacerations. There was a lot of bruising on the lower leg and ankle.
He was also very naked and very close to her ...
And turning blue. "Go, quick, get shifted," she said, giving him a push. "I'll get this packed up and join you."
Alec pushed open the tailgate and clambered out into the snow. Full darkness had fallen, so she could barely see him; there was only the reflected light of the headlights to illuminate the area, and he was in the shadow of the Jeep. Still, it made her cringe in sympathy, seeing him kneeling naked in the snow.
And then ... he shifted.
It wasn't dramatic. She had been subconsciously expecting something flashy, a swirl of smoke or a rush of light and wind, like special effects on TV. Instead, his human body melted and flowed into a great, dark, shaggy bulk, so huge she couldn't even see all of it through the Jeep's open tailgate.
Stunned, she sat back on her heels, staring out at the great hulk of the bear.
Alec swung his head back toward her and gave a low, huffing grunt.
"Yes, yes, I'm hurrying." She left his bloody shirt behind; it wasn't worth wearing anyway. His boots and the rest of his clothes took up the remaining space in the duffle. In fact, the coat didn't fit, so she put it on awkwardly over her own. Alec was big enough that there was room to spare. She felt ridiculous, but also cozily insulated from the storm.
She crawled out into the snow. Let out to its greatest extent, the duffle's shoulder-carry strap was just big enough to go around Alec's neck. The duffle hung below his chin, making her think of the chin casks on St. Bernard rescue dogs.
"Are you sure that's comfortable?"
He nodded. The effect was very strange on the great bear's body, as was the human intelligence gleaming in his eyes.
"Well, let's go, then."
There was no point in leaving the headlights on any longer. She leaned through the driver's window to turn them off and take the key out of the ignition. After a moment's thought, she crawled back inside and found a pad of paper and a pencil in the glove box. She scribbled a brief note:
We are okay & have walked to hunter's cabin 1 mile down road towards town. There are two of us. Please send help if you find this.
She put the note in the waterproof box that had contained the flares and left it on the driver's side of the car, where it should be fairly obvious. Then she took a flashlight, tucked the other one into the pocket of Alec's coat as a spare, and began climbing the hill behind the plodding bulk of the bear.
Chapter Eleven
With Alec shuffling along and breaking trail, Charmian found it much easier to climb the hill the second time, even with his coat weighing her down and making her clumsy.
She heard a loud snort and a grunt from the bear when he stepped onto the roadway. From down here, all she could see was his shaggy ass. She scrambled the last few feet and shone her flashlight around, discovering that the steer had panicked at the bear's appearance. It had run a few yards away, then turned and faced them with its head down, as if it wanted to charge.
Alec gave a low growl.
"Yes, it's still here," Charmian sighed. "I don't think it's going to hurt us." Or, more to the point, hurt her, which was clearly what he was worried about. "Come on, let's go."
They started walking down the road. She tried to stay in their tire ruts to avoid wearing herself out wading through snow, but it was hard to even see where the ruts had been. Alec didn't seem to care; he forged through the snow, pushing it aside like an ursine snowplow. After a little while, Charmian gave up and walked in his wake, lighting her path with the flashlight.
When she shone the flashlight behind them, she found that the steer was following them at what it apparently considered a safe distance. Having it at her back made her nervous, but it no longer seemed hostile towards the bear. It just didn't want to be left out in the storm alone.
She could relate.
Fighting their way through the wind and the snow was exhausting. Alec seemed indefatigable at first, but as he plowed forward, his head hung lower and lower.
"I can break trail for awhile," Charmian offered.
Alec looked back at her, his eyes gleaming in the flashlight's beam, and huffed.
"Fine. Be that way." Though she was glad he hadn't taken her up on it. She was tired enough just wading along behind him.
They almost missed the turnoff to the cabin. It had no mailbox and was marked by nothing except a break in the trees. Charmian had to turn back to be sure. "Alec, wait, come back. This is the place."
The snow on the road had been deep, but in the woods it was unbroken and came up to the middle of her thighs in some places. At least the trees helped cut the wind somewhat. The cabin, she recalled, was located on a hill above the road, visible from below. Hopefully this was the right driveway. It certainly seemed steep enough.
She was glad they hadn't tried to make it to the Lamberts' tonight. Alec was already staggering as he walked. Under normal circumstances she knew he would have been able to tramp through the woods for miles, snow or no snow, but he was still suffering from his injuries, and the accelerated shifter healing process must be exhausting him as well.
They tramped out of the woods into a clearing. It was hard to be sure if this was the cabin she remembered seeing from below, but it was certainly a cabin. The windows were dark, the snow unbroken around it.
A padlock held the door shut. Alec looked at that for a moment, then hooked it with a massive paw and tore it off.
"Oh, Alec ..." But she couldn't argue. They needed to get inside. She'd have to find out who the owners were later, and make sure their door got fixed.
Inside, the cabin was dark and ice cold, but dry and clean. Just being out of the wind was a massive relief. Charmian shone the flashlight around, picking out a table and chairs, a stove, and a ladder leading to a loft upstairs.
Alec shifted suddenly back to his human shape, making her jump. "I saw a woodshed outside."
She hadn't even thought to look. Despite his obvious intent to go outside, he was already shivering, gooseflesh rising on his bare arms. She stripped off the extra coat she was wearing. "You get dressed, and I'll bring it in."
She went outside before he could have a chance to argue, and yelped when she found the miserable-looking steer standing right off the porch, close enough to reach out and touch. Its black coat blended into the night.
Alec charged out the door, wearing the coat, but otherwise naked. "What's wrong?"
"Just our friend here, giving me a shock. Go, go, get dressed before you freeze." She shoved him back through the door. Alec, although easily large enough to stop her, allowed himself to be manhandled (or womanhandled) back into the cabin. Charmian shut the door on him.
The steer was still there. It swung its head in her direction and gave her a mournful look.
"You need to get to shelter too, don't you?"
She descended the stairs, and the steer followed her around the side of the cabin, where there was a large woodshed with an overhanging roof. It wasn't a great place to put an animal, but it was out of the wind. And most of the local ranch cattle were used to being outside in the winter; they had windbreaks and extra feed in bad weather, but they weren't barn animals. He'd probably be okay in here.
The steer seemed to agree. As soon as he was out of the wind and snow, he sank down wearily beside the wood pile.
"I'll bring you some water and something to eat, if I can find anything," Charmian promised. As she headed back to the cabin with an armful of wood, she thought, Charmian, you're talking to cattle now.
On the other hand, her boyfriend was a bear, so why not?
There was a light flickering in the cabin window now. Inside, it was still just as cold, but she discovered that Alec had lit some candles. He was kneeling in front of the wood stove with its door open. He'd found a magazine and was tearing up pages to make a fire.
"Alec, I need to give some water to that steer. He's probably really thirsty from struggling against the wind, and I don't want him to eat snow and get hypothermic."
"I saw a hand pump in the corner."
There was indeed an old-fashioned hand pump, the big iron kind with a long handle. A sink was next to it, and under the sink Charmian found a bucket. She had to work the handle for awhile before water sputtered out in a thin trickle, growing to a stream.
She carried the bucket of water to the shed for the steer. He plunged his muzzle into it, and Charmian picked up another armload of wood.
This time she got back inside to find a fire crackling inside the stove. It hadn't yet started to drive off the chill, but she relaxed a little. They weren't going to freeze.
Another three trips to the woodshed resulted in a nice pile of wood beside the stove. "That's probably enough," Alec said, his voice coming down from the loft.
"Anything interesting up there?"
"Found a couple of beds and some blankets."
"I hope these people don't mind us using their cabin."
Alec stepped to the loft railing, where she could see him. He was wearing his coat; it gapped slightly over his bare chest. "People out here in these rural parts of the county understand about emergencies. I don't think they'll mind. We can replace anything we use."
There was already some heat coming off the stove. Charmian stripped off her wet gloves, wincing as she pulled off the left one. Her wrist was staging a vehement protest against all the work she'd made it do. Still, she could use it, so she didn't think it was broken after all. Just battered in the crash, and possibly sprained.
It would be nice to stop using it, though.
"Did you see any food around?"
Alec descended the ladder carefully with an armload of blankets, favoring his bruised leg. "Some canned goods on the shelf there. They look pretty new."
"The owners must still come out and use the cabin. Probably during hunting season, which means they would have been here this fall."
Alec was right, there was a whole shelf of various food items. As well as cans of soup, beans, and tomatoes, she found crackers and flour in tightly sealed containers to keep the mice out. She located a clean saucepan on another shelf and opened some of the cans into it.
When she came over to put the pan on the stove to heat, she discovered Alec had spread out blankets beside the stove to make a sort of nest. "What's this?" she asked, smiling.
Alec returned her smile. Though it was still chilly in the cabin, he'd taken off his coat and hung it beside the fire to dry, leaving him stripped to the waist. "This means it's time for you to sit down and let someone take care of you for a change."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're soaked to the skin. I had something dry to change into, but you don't. And I can tell by the way you're holding your arm that your left wrist hurts." He patted the blanket beside him. "Sit down here, and get out of your wet things."
"If I didn't know better, Mr. Tanner, I'd think this was some kind of ploy to get me out of my clothes."
This time his smile was wide and dazzling. "Maybe."
Charmian was, as ever, unable to resist that bright grin and the sparkle in his blue eyes. She pushed the saucepan to the back of the stove where it would heat slowly, and began stripping out of her wet things. Alec was right; the snow had melted through her jeans, and her sweater was damp with the sweat of her exertion outside. No wonder she couldn't get warm.
"Brr," she complained, shivering in the chilly air as she peeled out of her clothes. She could only warm one side of herself at the stove; the other side was exposed to the wintry chill of the cabin, raising goosebumps on her arms and legs.
Alec was watching her with his usual intensity. A slight smile of appreciation curved his lips. "Get those off, and come here and warm up."
"You had me at 'warm'." She hesitated for just an instant when she got down to her underwear, but it wasn't like he'd never seen her naked. She stripped out of those, too, and hung everything on hooks on the wall behind the stove, where Alec had hung up his coat.
"Come on over here before you freeze."
"Twist my arm." She scampered over to the offered blankets. Alec had spread one to sit on, with the others wrapped around him in a warm cocoon. He lifted an arm and Charmian crawled into the blanket nest with him.
"Ooh," she said, pressing against his hard-muscled torso. One of Alec's hands wandered down to caress her ass. He was still moving cautiously, however, which made her remember how badly he'd been hurt. "Alec, can I take a look at your side?"
"You can look at whatever part of me you want. I've got some suggestions."
"Just your ribs will do for now."
She pushed back the blanket. Flickering light from the fire's grate and the glow of the candle on the table didn't provide the best illumination for a medical exam. It was enough, however, that she could see the wounds had closed up. Most of the blood had been scoured away while he was in his bear form in the snow, and where once-grievous injuries had been, there was now nothing but fresh pink skin and the discoloration of old bruises. It looked as if he'd been healing for a couple of weeks.
"This is amazing," she said, touching the unbroken skin lightly with her fingertips. "No, it's miraculous. But how does it work?"
"I don't know. It's just how we are. How I've always been."
"Miraculous," she whispered again. "You're a miracle. Watching you change in the snowstorm ..."
"Did it bother you?"
Was that a hint of nervousness underlying the question? She'd come to be able to read him so well. "Not at all," she said, tipping her head back to look up at him. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."
His eyes gleamed in the firelight, and she thought for an instant of her fantasy earlier in the day—was it only a few hours ago?—about Alec stretched out in front of her fireplace, tawny in the fire's glow. This wasn't how she'd imagined it. But now she had him, half naked in the fire's glow. They'd made it through the crash and the storm, and now it only remained to warm up and reassure themselves of each other's safety.
Alec touched her face lightly, cupping her hand under her chin as if she were something incredibly rare and delicate. "You're the miracle," he murmured. "The most amazing thing I've ever seen."
In someone else's mouth, the words might seem overblown, even silly. But Alec's deep, serious voice imbued them with a depth of sincerity that took her breath away, especially when he tipped her face up with the lightest of touches and lowered his mouth to hers.
As before, she was intensely aware of the controlled passion behind his kiss, the power and strength that he held in careful restraint. Maybe it was only because she'd been so cold, but the heat of his mouth captivated her, lips and tongue so hot they seemed to burn. He sucked and nibbled at her lips until they felt hot and swollen, until she was shaking and breathless and wet—and all too aware that she was completely na
ked under the blankets, sitting in his lap.
His erection pressed against her, a hard curve standing out against his jeans. She laid a hand on it, feeling its heat.
"I think I need to get warm," she murmured against his mouth. "Hypothermia is a real danger in a snowstorm, you know."
"I think that sounds like a really good idea."
He ran his hands down her body, and she thrilled to his touch. The chilly air in the cabin, warming now with the heat of the fire, already had her nipples standing up, but now they hardened to tight nubs, burning like the rest of her for the touch of those big, sure hands.
When she reached up to wrap her arms around him, a jolt of pain from her wrist made her flinch. Alec stopped and pulled back.
"It's nothing," she said, breathless for want of him. Already her lips felt cold without his warm mouth on them.
"It's not nothing. You're in pain." He took her arm gently and examined the mottled ring of bruises, dark purplish against her brown skin. "You don't heal like I do."
"We can worry about it later—"
"Charmian." He kissed her lightly and looked down at her with concerned blue eyes. "Let me take care of you now."
With that, he laid her back on the blankets, and got up. Charmian rolled over and propped her head on her good hand, watching him walk across the floor. He was limping slightly, but not too bad. It seemed that his leg was healing along with the rest of him.
What I wouldn't give to have that ability. Now that she was no longer distracted, her wrist was throbbing.
Alec brought the duffle over to the fire and got out the medical stuff. "Here," he said, handing her a bottle of Tylenol and a tin cup of water. "Take a couple of these."
"Thank you, doctor," she said, sitting up.
"Hey, I have extensive cattle-doctoring experience. You got bandages in here, anything like that?"
"There's some gauze and an Ace bandage."
He found the Ace bandage and sat cross-legged next to her on the blankets. Smiling a little, Charmian rested her head on his leg and held out her arm. He took it in a firm but gentle hand, and began to wrap it.