by Amelia Jade
That was the last straw; his resistance crumbled, and when she laid a lovely, delicate hand on his chest Lex couldn’t fight her off. She pushed him down onto his back, letting him move around slightly to get comfortable.
“Sleep,” she urged as he shook his head, trying to stay awake. “I promise, it’ll be okay.”
“’m supposed ‘ee the ‘ne who l’ks ‘aferr us.”
He wasn’t making any sense. What language was he speaking? Lex felt a rising wave of panic fill him, but the increased pressure of Petal’s hand on his chest served as a calming reinforcement. Focusing on her touch, he settled back into the cave floor.
The lights went out a moment later.
***
His climb out of the slumber was slow, a tepid sort of thing. Eventually Lex blinked himself awake enough to realize why he was so comfortable, and so reluctant to move.
The blanket was draped over him. As was Petal’s arm. She was spooning him. He froze in place, barely daring to breathe lest he disturb her. Slow, rhythmic breathing reached his ears. She was still asleep.
How long had he been out? His body felt somewhat reenergized, but without proper food intake he wasn’t able to be sure just how long he’d been out for. He felt somewhere around six or eight hours, but it could have been half that. Adrenaline, which was starting to course through him again, was quite adept at messing up internal timelines.
The second thing that made its way through his sleep-addled brain was the difference in temperature between his face and front of his body, compared to his back. The blanket wasn’t large enough for the two of them to completely wrap themselves up in. So it now formed a sort of C-shape, with him looking out of the opening. And his face was quite chilly.
Shit. Temperature’s dropping.
Lex had been hoping that the storm had been abating, but as it turned out, it only seemed to be getting worse. He was fairly positive night had fallen, and that would bring with it a natural cooling effect that the storm seemed to be amplifying.
That’s just not fair. The earth should be warm enough to melt the snow by now!
His first concern was for Petal. His body heat would keep her warm for now. But when he left to go get help, she was going to need something to keep her warm. The suit she was wearing just wasn’t going to do it. He wished desperately that the emergency kit had contained a regular blanket as well. Something could have been fashioned out of that to act as clothing for her.
But with nothing but the two heat-reflecting blankets, Petal was going to need a fire. Something between her and the opening. Not for the first time Lex thanked the fact that the cave actually sloped upward toward the entrance. If he kept the fire on the slope, the smoke would head upward and out of the cave, instead of filling it and choking her.
Resolved to this course of action, he gently slipped free of the blanket, dreading every motion and noise that he made. But Petal never stirred. That both reassured him, and also made him wonder if he was right to let her sleep. If she had a head injury, it could be that she was unconscious just then, and not asleep. Dithering for several seconds about what to do, Lex at least decided to trust his gut. She’d not shown any signs of injury, just a bonk on the head. First aid wasn’t a specialty of his, but he’d already resolved to take several courses after he got them back to town. He didn’t want to be put into this situation again, not knowing exactly what to do.
Right now what you need to do is act. Get the fire going, keep her warm, and then go get help for the two of you.
Action is what was needed then. Not dithering. Snarling silently, he rose to his feet and padded to the front of the cave quietly so as not to disturb her. Easing around the hanging blanket that helped to reflect the heat inward, he pushed some of the snow he’d pulled in front of the door aside.
A cool blast of frigid arctic-like air washed over his face. The temperature had dropped precipitously outside their little cave. Bracing himself, Lex crawled outside, then shoveled snow back across the entrance, using it as an insulator to keep what heat they had inside. That done he stood up and looked around. The first thing he noticed was the sky. It was clear, with stars shining brilliantly far overhead.
That made sense then. The storm had abated, but it had turned itself into a cold front instead, which was how it had been able to maintain its energy, working in tandem with the normal nightly cooling effect, and amplifying it several-fold. By morning it would have lost all its energy and his valley should hopefully return to normal.
But Lex knew it wouldn’t last.
Just another reason to get your ass in gear and get back to Surrey as fast as possible. It needs you.
Working his way upslope, figuring those trees to be drier, since it would be colder up there, Lex searched around until he found several large branches that looked like they had perhaps fallen the previous season. He added some dried pine needles to his collection by the simple expedient of shoving them into his pockets. The branches themselves had enough small bits on them to provide kindling, and he had the perfect starter to go along with the needles already.
Prizes in tow, he headed back to the cave. Behind him the branches dug deep cracks into the snow, leaving a trail that couldn’t be missed. Normally Lex would have gone back and covered them over, but today he was perfectly okay with leaving the markers. Perhaps someone in a helicopter might spot them, though it was highly unlikely that they could come looking for them on this hill. It was the complete opposite of the one they’d been driving on.
Back inside he started snapping the branches. He stayed near the entrance while doing this, putting his back between the wood and Petal to dry and dull the sound. It worked for the smaller elements, but once he started breaking the larger pieces there was just no muffling the cracks. Eventually Petal woke up.
“What’s that?” she asked, clearly still sleep-addled.
“Wood for a fire,” he said gently before he easily snapped the five-inch thick branch between his two hands. He worked quicker now, so that she would hopefully not think to ask how he’d managed to do that so easily.
“It’s cold.”
“No, I’m making a warm fire this time. I promise.”
Though he couldn’t see the glare without turning around, Lex felt the laser beams burning into his back.
“You must be feeling refreshed. I can see that what you call a sense of humor has returned.”
“Me too. It just felt so weird without it. I don’t know how you managed to last.”
“Neither do I.” The monotone-voiced reply could have put anyone to sleep.
Lex laughed. “It’s gotten really cold out, and you’re mostly subsisting off my body heat at the moment. When I go to get us help, you’re going to need the heat.”
“What?”
“It might get a little smoky,” he continued apologetically. “But I’m keeping the fire up here by the entrance. It’ll give you enough light that hopefully you can navigate the rest of the cave too, perhaps go farther back where the smoke doesn’t bother you. But there’s really no alternative.
“That’s not what I meant. I was referring to the part where it sounded like you said you’re going to leave me.”
“I am.”
He didn’t like the way that sounded. At all. Frowning, he rephrased his words. “I’m coming back though. It’s just so that I can go get help.”
“No.”
“But we need help.”
Petal sighed. “Not that, you daft baboon. I meant that you’re not leaving me here.”
“Then how am I supposed to get help? I mean, we could light a fire outside in the morning, hope someone sees the smoke. But that’s hours away. It’s only like three or four in the morning. By the time someone saw it and made it out here, we could be in rough shape.”
“We’re already in rough shape. An extra twenty-four hours won’t make or break us much. We have snow, we’ll trap some of it in the blanket and melt it for water. We’ve got some more of those bars, right?
”
“Only four.”
She laughed. “That’ll be plenty. We’ll be fine. A fire in the morning it is.”
Lex grimaced. He needed to get back to the valley now. But how did he tell her that, without revealing his true nature to her, or what he suspected was the true nature of the storms that had been hitting Surrey?
“I’m going for help.” He would just have to be stubborn.
“Then I’m coming with you,” she pronounced, sounding just as set in her decision as he had.
“Absolutely not.”
“What, afraid of my company now? After all this time together, you can’t stomach me any longer?”
“Why else would I want to go get us out of here sooner?” he shot back, but his words were clearly a lie. In fact, he was kind of enjoying her presence, and the thought of leaving her filled him with an odd sense of sadness. “I’m going though, Petal. I need to.” He hoped she would understand, and accept it.
“Fine, I’m going with you then.”
That hadn’t been what he meant by accepting it.
“No, you aren’t. And it’s not because I don’t want you to. If I thought we could just hike out of here, then we’d have started already. But you’d freeze before we were more than an hour out of the cave. It’s cold out there.”
She snorted. “If it were that cold out there, then I’d feel it in here. It’s chilly, yes. But it is not that cold.”
He snarled, this time audibly. “Petal. Those people who live in the extreme cold areas of our planet use igloos for a reason. The snow is actually an excellent insulator. Trust me, when I went out there to get firewood, it was cold. You will freeze and die if you try to come with me. It’s not a knock against you, it’s just a fact. You aren’t dressed for this weather.”
She shook her head hard enough he could hear her ponytail whipping back and forth. The fire was ready, but he’d yet to light it, unwilling to face her where she could see him. He wasn’t proud to admit it, but he didn’t want to look her in the eyes just then. It might give away too much about his urgency to get back.
“How come you won’t freeze then?” she shot back.
Lex went still. He hadn’t anticipated that question. The truth was, his werewolf blood kept him much warmer and made him less vulnerable to the cold. It would still be rather chilly for him, but once he started moving he’d be okay in human form, and if he took on his wolf figure, the fur would keep him comfortable. Of course, he couldn’t tell her that, now could he?
“My work suit,” he said gruffly. “It’ll keep me warm long enough to reach help. Besides, not to be rude, but I can move much faster through this terrain than you can. So I will also be outside for much less time if I go alone.”
He held his breath while she considered his answer, hoping that she wouldn’t point out the many holes in his logic.
“So I need to wait here for you?” she asked grumpily. “Alone, in a cave?”
“Unfortunately. Just stay in the cave, and you’ll be okay, all right? Don’t leave it. I wish it didn’t have to be like that, but it does. Because while I was rescuing you I checked out the nearest store, and they were fresh out of shining knight armor and horses. So I’m going to have to go a little bit farther into town and try again.”
“You know what?” she said wearily. “On second thought, I think I’ll stay here willingly. You and your sense of humor make a much better pair than we do.”
“That’s the spirit,” he said, and struck a match. Light flared into the cave, and he touched the flame to his perfect fire-starter.
The flimsy pink work-order sheets he’d had stuffed in his pocket went up immediately, brightening the cave and allowing them to look at each other in light for the first time. Although he could somewhat see in the darkness, this was much better. He turned to see Petal staring at him.
“Something wrong? I know you haven’t seen me in a while, but I promise, I haven’t changed.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just…you looked different there for a moment. Wilder, sort of. And when you turned, I could have sworn your eyes were yellow.”
“Oh.” He hoped his voice came off sounding like he thought she was mad. Not concerned. He’d not yet began to change, so there shouldn’t have been anything for her to see. But body language was a hell of a thing, and every now and then a human picked up on the fact that he actually moved much more like an animal than he did a human, with deliberate grace and ease.
Now was not the time for that though, and he remained still in hopes that she would lose sight of it.
“I don’t know. Whatever it was, it’s gone now,” Petal said.
He relaxed. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise. Just wait for me here. I’ll get you out of this mess.” Lex turned to head out of the cave.
“Lex.”
“Yes?” he asked, facing her again as he stayed rooted to the spot.
Petal crawled over to him, forced onto her hands and knees as the ceiling lowered near the entrance.
“Be careful,” she said softly.
Then she wrapped her hands around his neck and hugged him.
11. Lacking Patience
Petal
The fire flickered and sputtered as she put another log on it. Lex had left her with quite a supply, but since she didn’t know how long he was going to be, she was forced to use it slowly, rationing out the pieces one by one. After the initial fire he’d built had died away, warming the cave to the point she had discarded the blanket, Petal had fed each branch to it and waited. Only when the previous one had become nothing but embers did she put the next one on.
Even at this rate, she was going to go through the logs in a few hours.
Staring into the flames as they crept up the fresh wood, Petal considered everything that had happened to her since she’d come out to Surrey. What had started out as a simple business trip to oversee the recovery efforts of the local team had transformed into something else completely. A life-changing experience at a minimum, that was for certain. While she no longer feared dying, spurred on by Lex’s seemingly unshakeable confidence in their surviving the ordeal, that didn’t mean she was no longer afraid.
Quite the opposite had happened since he’d left to go get help. She’d started out just fine, sitting in the cave, watching the fire like she was doing now, and simply waiting for him to return. It could take hours, or more, for him to reach any semblance of civilization that could help. With the snow and lack of roads, he would have to find another form of transportation to get back to her.
Maybe he’d be able to rustle up a helicopter, and she could be hoisted into it as it hovered above her, just like in the movies. That would be pretty cool, and would make an awesome story to tell when she got back. Maybe the office would be able to take her more seriously if she could show them that their boss was a real person, not just some emotionless robot.
Petal blinked in surprise at her own thoughts. That was the first time she could recall ever caring what the other employees thought about her. She’d always been concerned with doing an excellent job first, and anything after that was unimportant. So why was she thinking in different terms now? The answer came to her swiftly and easily.
Lex.
He was responsible for her changed thinking. By proving to her that despite being a line worker he could hold a conversation and have an actual personality that she could laugh with, and get along with, he’d done something to her.
Despite being all alone Petal felt herself flush with embarrassment at the realization that he’d broken through some well-established stereotypes. In her mind, Petal had always been “above” anyone who was lower on the corporate hierarchy than she was. By simple fact of having a loftier title, she was obviously better than her subordinates. Including the lowest of the low, the actual line workers themselves.
But Lex had changed all that by showing her that sometimes people chose to be in certain positions, because they liked them. Because t
hey had different interests than she did. Not everyone was concerned with rising to the top, with being the boss. Like Lex, they perhaps enjoyed being outside, or working with their hands, or simply weren’t interested in the added responsibility that came the further up one moved on the imaginary ladder of a company’s employees.
Now she was forced to wonder if perhaps her assistant Mackenna did the job not because it was the only job she could get, but for other reasons. Maybe she enjoyed organizing things, and took comfort in the fact that she essentially got to organize Petal’s life the way she wanted.
“Holy shit.”
She’d never realized that, in essence, Petal danced to Mackenna’s tune. Sure, she was the one who got to make the decisions about things, and if needed she could and would overrule her assistant. But on a day-to-day basis, Mackenna told her what was on tap, where she had to go, and other important details that she picked out.
Suddenly Petal felt far less important. That applied to everyone at the office, not just Mackenna. Perhaps the programmers enjoyed their jobs not because they were nerds, but because technology interested them, especially the ability to make electronic programs. They weren’t nerds, they were creators. They literally built the systems the electricity grid was run on.
Feeling utterly humiliated about herself, Petal sank back against the wall, staring out over the fire as it slowly turned the brown wood into black and white ash.
“I’m such a huge bitch.”
The words rang true in the silence. She was a huge bitch. At some point in her past, the persona she’d adopted to deal with doubters and sexist pigs had actually become her. It was no longer a mask; it was a way of life that had seeped into far too many parts of her life.
Scared to go any further down the path of self-revelation, Petal put the thoughts away, knowing that she would have to face them later. That confrontation could wait, however, until she was back safe and sound in civilization. Then once the adrenaline wore away she could have a breakdown, drink a bottle or three of wine, and down a whole bunch of junk food while she cried herself out.