by Lexi Post
She jumped from the chair and the coat landed on her shoulders. The thrill at having done something for herself lasted a whole minute, until she tried to hook the fur together. Shoot. She’d just have to hold it closed with her arms.
Looking up at the next hook, she eyed the wool cap Sas had given her to wear. Since it was big enough for him, it wasn’t tight. She should be able to use her wrists to get it on, but the hook was again a problem.
Getting back on the chair, it took her three attempts to maneuver the hat onto her head and off the hook, but she did it. Now there was only one other very important piece of clothing to put on—the mitts. They lay on the couch where Sas had left them.
Sas’ fur coat was heavy, but it was also thick, so when she knelt on the floor next to the couch, the wood floor didn’t hurt her knees. Carefully, she moved the first mitt with her arm to turn the opening toward her. As she pushed her bandaged hand against the opening, it slid across the couch.
Shoot. If it was this hard just getting dressed to go outside, how would she function in Fairbanks?
With Sas.
She could call him, but she wanted to do this on her own. The coat and hat quickly made her hot and irritable. Taking a deep breath, she tried to find her patience. Moving the first mitt with her arm again, she turned it so the end was against the back of the couch. “Okay, let’s do this.”
She pushed her hand into the opening and the mitt slipped into place. “Yes!” Quickly, she moved the other mitt into position and pushed it on. Thrilled with the achievement, she stood, almost falling over as the weight of the bear-fur shifted. Her heart raced with her exertion. She didn’t care. She’d done it.
Walking to the door, she lifted the latch with her elbow and stepped outside into the shade of the porch. Pulling the door closed behind her was a bit trickier, but she finally did it.
Since the cabin was in the shadows which were cooler, she strode down the steps and out into the sunshine. Though she held the coat closed, the cold air creeped in as she walked. She stopped and turned her face toward the sun. Despite the low temperature, the sun still felt good.
She definitely liked the outdoors in Alaska. The air smelled so fresh and the colors were particularly bright, probably because of the reflection of the snow. She’d have to buy some warm clothes in Fairbanks so she could be outside more often.
The sound of Sas stacking the wood carried over to her on the thin air. She took a few steps to peek around the corner. His movements were fluid like he’d made them a thousand times before. The number of large logs he carried at one time had her widening her eyes. She knew he was strong, but wow.
Not wanting to interrupt because that would just slow him down, she turned and walked past the other side of the cabin, curious about why Sas didn’t add a window there. At first, she was perplexed until she walked along the side of it and it dawned on her.
The corner where the bed was located was completely in the cave. The rest of the wall was bookshelves so he had no room for a window. After living with him for a month, she’d also learned that the wall was on the northside of the cabin. It was probably colder.
She turned her back to the cabin and looked up at the mountains. It would be an amazing view from a window, but as she’d learned, survival was more important than beauty. Besides, when they could take a few steps outside and see the snow-covered mountains set against the clear blue sky any time they wanted, there was really nothing to compare.
She wandered toward the tree-filled slope opposite the cabin where the land seemed to go on forever. The pine and spruce tops gave a dark green ambiance to the whole area. She was careful to keep the cabin in view, not in a hurry to repeat her last adventure with sound in the mountains.
On the ground, she discovered Sturge’s sled tracks, still fresh in a few inches of soft snow, leading the way to his home. She turned around to look at the cabin. It was a welcoming sight, probably more so for Timber who walked everywhere.
A noise behind her caught her attention. Excitement rose as the possibility of seeing a deer or even a moose filled her. She turned slowly and froze.
A large brown grizzly bear looked at her and opened its mouth.
Fear kept her still. Her heart stopped as she stared at the bear’s teeth before he closed his mouth and shook his head.
Adrenaline filled her and she ran for the cabin.
The bear huffed behind her and as she broke from the trees she looked over her shoulder, only to trip and fall to the ground. The pain in her hands took her breath away as the bear stopped in front of her and rose to its hind legs.
She screamed.
The animal growled and started to come down on her, the head larger than her oven back home. Suddenly, it was pushed over and rolling on the ground.
Flashes of blue amid the brown fur clenched her heart. Sas! She pulled herself up as she watched the cloud of snow made by the bear and the man she loved.
He saved her life! Again!
She couldn’t let him die. Running to the cabin, she jammed the latch up with her arm and stepped inside. To the side of the window was his rifle. She yanked the mitts off with her teeth and clenched her jaw as she pulled the rifle down.
On a shelf built into the wall were the cartridges. She quickly loaded the gun, fighting the pain in her hands as the snarling outside told her Sas still fought the grizzly.
Running back outside, she stood on the porch and looked through the site. Vomit rode up into her throat as she witnessed the bear’s claws sink into Sas’ stomach. No!
She’d never shot a rifle, only a hand gun and that was at a range with a stationary target and without her hands throbbing. The last thing she wanted was to shoot Sas.
Frustrated as the two stood facing each other, Sas holding his middle, the grizzly on his hind legs roaring, she tried to aim. Sas looked wild himself, his shirt, in tatters, hung on his torso, but his eyes bored into the bear.
The grizzly launched, grabbing Sas’ shoulder in its mouth. The sound of cracking bone filled the air before Sas’ shout of pain jolted her into action.
Giving up on aiming, she fired the gun into the air. When the grizzly refused to let go, she shot on the ground toward it, still afraid a ricochet would catch Sas. She’d read a grizzly’s jaws could break a bowling ball.
The shot to the ground got the bear’s attention. The grizzly let go and looked at her. She aimed for its chest, but its roar at her made her shake and she missed, the shot going wild. The bear dropped to its front paws and loped off into the trees.
She fired off another shot in the air to make sure it continued on its way then dropped the rifle and ran to Sas. “Oh, my God! Sas?”
He lay on his back, one hand on his stomach, the other on his shoulder and his eyes closed.
“Sas?” Tears rolled down her cheeks, her heart breaking. She couldn’t let him die. “Please Sas, be alive. I’ll take care of you.”
He opened his eyes and looked at her, the irises as black as his pupils even in the bright sunlight. No one had black eyes. She pulled her gaze from his.
Was he really alive or did his eyelids open because of some weird physical phenomenon, like her undressing when she was freezing to death? Her heart filled with anguish, too afraid to hope.
“I will live.” His deep raspy voice pulled her attention back to his face. She smiled in relief.
He may think he’d live, but not without some good medical care. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll get you help.”
He lifted his hand from his stomach to touch her face.
She pulled away, recoiling from the blood on his hand, except when she looked there was none, only bear fur. Confused, she looked down at his bare stomach, expecting to see his gaping wound, but instead there were only five red marks from the bear’s claws as if it had just grazed him.
She pulled back farther. She’d seen the claws go into his flesh through the gun sight.
He took his hand from his shoulder and braced it behind him as he
sat up. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” He reached for her arm, but she scooted back, out of his reach. His shoulder had teeth holes in it, but even as she stared, the skin closed, leaving no more than red marks.
“What are you?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Angel’s whispered words froze him, but it was the look in her wide, frightened eyes that sliced through his heart. She knew. She’d seen what he’d successfully hidden for the past nine years.
Still, he grasped at the happiness he’d experienced. “I love you.”
She shook her head as she jumped to her feet. “No. You aren’t human.” She backed up farther as he rose to his feet. “You really are a Sasquatch.”
He wanted to laugh at the absurdity, but the sound of Sturge’s dogs intruded.
“Sas! Angel! Are you all right?” The huskies barreled through the trees followed by the basket with Sturge, who pulled it to a stop. He looked at Angel. “I heard a scream and immediately turned around.” He turned to look at him. “Holy shit, Squatch! Did you tangle with a bear?”
Angel’s hysterical laughter at Sturge’s comment sent pain spasming through his chest. “Yeah, he did. And he won. Can you believe it?”
Sturge frowned at her. “There were shots.”
She nodded, still with a strange smile on her face. “I fired at the bear, in the air, on the ground to get him away.” She laughed again. “Silly me. I thought Sas would be killed.”
Sturge looked at him in confusion.
He rose to his feet. “She’s shaken.”
“Shaken? Oh, I’m more than that. I’m furious. I thought you…we even…oh, my, God.”
He took a step toward her.
“No! You stay away from me.” She turned to Sturge. “Take me to Savik. I’ll pay you whatever you want. Get you whatever you want.”
Sturge’s eyes rounded as he turned toward him.
In that moment, with her anger and disgust over all they’d shared spewing over him, he recognized the familiar burn of loathing deep inside his soul. He couldn’t speak. Angel’s horror too painful to allow words. He nodded to Sturge.
Angel hadn’t waited for his approval. She ran into the cabin and came out with her own coat in her arms. She handed it to Sturge to help her don it.
He wanted to step forward and push Sturge out of the way. That was his responsibility. He used his willpower to stay where he was.
Sturge instructed Angel on where to stand then he came back to him. “Are you okay?”
The man looked him over as if he could see the wounds that plagued him. They were far too deep to be observed or healed, but he felt them like a knife slicing through flesh. He nodded again, his gaze on Angel.
She kept her gaze averted. She could have been his repentance, his peace, but he’d overreached what fate had offered. He’d been greedy. Now would come his true punishment.
Sturge stepped behind Angel and grasped the handles of the sled. He looked at him one more time.
He couldn’t bear to see her taken away. He turned his back and walked toward the cabin.
“Mush!” One dog barked in reply and then the sound of the skates gliding over the snow filled the quiet mountainside.
He forced himself up the steps, the swishing of the sled already fading as it whisked through the trees, taking his heart with it.
~~*~~
As Sturge pulled the sled to a stop, Angela stared at the small outpost in shock, surprised by its condition. There were no more than six buildings, two of which looked in danger of falling down. The others were a mix of metal, wood and logs. The day was cloudy, making the settlement appear even more gloomy, which fit her just fine.
Sturge and Ginny had tried to make her comfortable on their couch overnight, but she’d tossed and turned, to the detriment of her hands. Her mind was restless, replaying the moments from the time she’d stumbled upon the bear to the moment when she’d discovered there was something otherworldly about Sas.
She should have known the perfect man couldn’t be a man. She shivered. She’d never believed in aliens or mutants or Sasquatch. Whatever Sas was, it wasn’t human and that freaked her out. That she had sex with him made her want to vomit.
But as soon as that feeling passed, her heart hurt. She’d loved him. Whatever he was, she’d fallen for him harder than any man she’d ever been with. His betrayal hurt far more because of that.
“Let’s get you inside Grubber’s. You aren’t dressed for our weather.” Sturge held his arm out toward what looked like a domed metal garage of some sort.
She nodded and started up the narrow path made by previous footsteps. Shoveling was probably a hopeless endeavor up here. Sturge opened the side door for her and she walked in.
Her first impression was it was warm and it was neat. Shelves upon shelves of food and supplies were set up in rows, stretching from where she stood to the other side of the structure.
To the left, the building went on forever and she could see a table and an empty chair near the end.
“This way.” Sturge lead her down one of the aisles toward the table.
Everything was neat, but definitely not organized. There were canned vegetables piled next to hammers next to soap next to motor oil. It was a hodgepodge of merchandise, most of it dented or scraped in some way.
As they emerged from the aisle, the space opened up with tables, chairs, and a whole array of furniture, like a furniture store, including beds as well as snowplow blades and a couple of appliances.
“Angie!”
At the sound of her nickname she turned. “Mikey?” Her heart melted as her brother strode toward her.
Her eyes filled with tears, and she ran into his hug.
He held her tight as she sobbed against him, her scare and heartbreak too new to hold in.
“Shh, you’re okay now. I’m here.” Her brother’s voice reminded her of normalcy, and she cried harder.
Would she ever know what normal was again?
When she’d finally spent all her tears, she wiped her nose with the sleeve of her parka and sniffed. “What are you doing here?”
“When you didn’t return any of my calls on your trip, I started to worry. After the first three weeks, I finally decided to call the tour office. They looked you up and said you had disembarked in Alaska but didn’t return. They weren’t particularly worried until they had the staff look in your room and they discovered you hadn’t taken anything with you.”
“I hadn’t planned to stay here.”
“I didn’t think so. I figured you more for a long North Pole visit, or at the least, Greenland.”
She gave her brother a weak smile. “You know me well.” Or at least the Angie she used to be. Right now, she wasn’t sure about anything.
“Come, let me introduce you to a few people.” Her brother turned her toward the Savik inhabitants gathered around a table.
As he made the introductions, she nodded and tried to smile, but she wasn’t making a good impression, especially by keeping her arms crossed to avoid shaking hands. Besides, she was having a hard time concentrating.
Her brother turned her toward a man about her height with a receding hairline, lively hazel eyes and a substantial tummy. “And this is Grubber, the owner of this place, and my host for the last few days.”
At that name, she found her focus. “It’s nice to meet you. You’re the one with a radio.” And the one who had the blue flannel shirt Timber procured for Sas. The one in tatters though his skin wasn’t.
Grubber nodded. “I am.” He held out his hand, ignoring her closed arms.
She gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I can’t shake your hand. I suffered severe frostbite.”
As soon as she said the words, the entire atmosphere changed. Lenny, a tall, thin man who was responsible for the electricity in the outpost, immediately stood and gave her his seat. MJ, short for Mary Jo, a woman her own age with pitch black curly hair and a weathered looking face insisted she needed a coffee, while her husb
and, Four-Point, a stocky man with a long beard and hair to match, grabbed a blanket from one of the couches and put it on her lap.
Her brother took MJ’s vacated chair. “I’ve never met such nice people. They’ll do anything for you. When the pilot comes back in a couple of days, we’ll get you to the closest hospital to have you checked out. In the meantime, you’ll be in good hands.”
I was in good hands. The thought came unbidden, and she pushed it away. “It’s so good to see you.”
Her brother smiled. His light brown hair had grown a bit longer since she’d seen him a few months ago, and he had a bit of scruff on his chin, but other than that he was the same. “You’re going to have to tell me all about your adventure, but let’s wait until we’re alone.”
“I have a feeling they’re all wondering, too. I might as well entertain everyone. It’s what’s expected up here.”
“Here you go.” MJ put a cup of steaming coffee down in front of her.
At the aroma, she started to salivate. “Hmm, that smells really good.”
MJ smiled. “I had a feeling you’d appreciate that. Sas doesn’t drink coffee and Sturge said he was headed here to pick some up for Ginny, so I figured you haven’t had any in a while.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat at the mention of Sas then looked at her brother. “Could you hold it for me?”
His eyes widened as he realized the extent of her handicap. “Of course.” He picked up the cup and brought it to her mouth.
The first sip burned her tongue as he wasn’t sure how far to tip it, but she didn’t say anything about that. “Hmmm, that’s wonderful.”
MJ waved her hand. “It’s just generic coffee. We can’t be too picky up here.”
Lenny pulled over two more chairs from another table, and Grubber grabbed a third to rest his foot on.