by Zoe Chant
Cora and Simon hurried towards the group.
"Sasha, what happened?"
"Yuri came down with altitude sickness," Sasha said, hitching Yuri's arm more firmly over his shoulder.
The drooping Yuri lifted his head long enough to snarl at them. "It's a migraine! I keep telling you! I'm fine! I don't get mountain sick! I've done this for years, I'm not some idiot newbie who couldn't be bothered to acclimatize!"
Cora winced, catching Sasha's eyes behind Yuri's back. "Get him down quick," she mouthed. She'd hiked with Yuri before. This kind of behavior wasn't like him at all.
Irrational rage and confusion were both classic signs of altitude sickness, and could be a nasty combination; Cora had dragged more than one client down the mountain kicking and screaming because they refused to recognize how sick they were.
Of course, that was still better than the people who managed to hide how sick they were right until they passed out.
Sasha nodded. "I know. He'll be fine, he's already doing better than he was higher up. With any luck, by the time we've got him down to the clinic he won't even need a doctor anymore."
Sasha might well be right about that. The symptoms of altitude sickness frequently disappeared as if by magic if you got down to a lower altitude quickly enough. Of course, if you didn't get down soon enough, it could get worse just as quickly.
"What were you even doing up there? I thought you'd already been on the summit last week."
Sasha sighed. "We were trying for a speed attempt. Left all the ropes and equipment in place last week, so we figured it'd be quick work all the way to the top. Guess we ended up going a bit too quickly."
"You need a hand getting him down?"
"We'll be fine. He's walking all right now, and there's three of us, that's plenty."
"I might go down with you anyway, actually," Simon said. "Cora, do you mind? I'm feeling kind of nauseous, I'm not sure I'm up for any more hiking today."
"Sure, no problem."
With the Veil, they'd passed the trickiest part of the climb, and the only part that really required a partner. From here on out, the South Face offered a relatively easy hike all the way to the top of the Rai Parvat—well, easy if not for the thin air at altitude, which turned every step into an effort.
But she wasn't planning to go very far up today, and the two or three hours of easy hiking she had planned she could manage on her own.
Or maybe she'd ask to join Eric after all…
But by the time she'd made sure Simon and Sasha's team were going to make it safely down the mountain, Eric had already left.
Cora swallowed down her disappointment. She was hiking up one of the most beautiful mountains in the world in perfect weather. There was no reason to feel lonely.
Chapter Three
Eric's heart had started beating faster as he'd watched Cora emerge from the top of the Veil. He'd held himself still with an effort while she'd waited for her partner to climb the rest of the way up, not wanting to distract her while she was still belaying. But then she'd finally turned to him, and he'd given her a wave.
"Good climbing!"
"You too!" she'd called back, and Eric had grinned helplessly to himself. So she had been watching him, at least a little bit.
For a moment they'd both hesitated, looking at each other, both of them smiling. Eric had just been about to get up and walk towards her when her partner had said something and she'd suddenly turned away. It'd felt like an almost physical loss of connection, like a rope getting cut. For a moment it'd sent him reeling.
By the time he'd ridden out the sudden wave of vertigo Cora had been hurrying toward a small group of hikers coming down the eastern trail.
One of them hadn't looked too well. Eric had been about to get up and see if they needed any help—it'd looked like the group had the situation well in hand, but in the mountains, extra hands never went amiss—when Josh had caught his arm.
"Eric? I don't feel so good."
He turned to his nephew, who did in fact look rather green around the face. "You okay?"
"I'm fine, I think." Josh sat down on a boulder, grimacing. "I just feel kind of sick."
"Altitude getting to you, do you think?"
"Lots of people sick down in the village. Flu season," Tenzing, one of the older Sherpas, said philosophically.
Josh groaned. "Wonderful. This is great timing for a stomach bug."
"Well, either way, we should get you off this mountain." Eric reached for his backpack.
Josh made a protesting sound. "I can get down by myself. I don't want to spoil your day, too."
"I'm not leaving you alone when you're getting sick."
Tenzing tapped his shoulder. "We go down anyway. I can take him to the village with my boys, make sure he gets down safe."
Eric hesitated for a moment, but Tenzing knew the mountain better than anyone else, and he was experienced and conscientious; Josh would be perfectly safe with him. He knew Josh would hate to be fussed over.
By the time they'd sorted through their packs and made sure Josh had everything he needed to get down safely, the situation with Cora's group seemed to have been resolved, too. Apparently Cora's partner was going down with them.
Eric hesitated. Nothing stopped him from going down to talk to her now. But somehow the thought of approaching her in front of the whole group was nerve-wracking. Would it look too pushy, like he was trying to pressure her into hiking together, now that it was just the two of them still going up? He didn't even know what her plans were. Maybe now was not the time.
Eric shouldered his pack and started up the mountain alone.
Ten minutes later, he already wished he could go back in time and kick himself. You should've gone and talked to her. The words looped round and round in Eric's mind. Around him, the snow-covered mountains glittered in the sun under a cloudless blue sky. But the beauty of the view couldn't seem to hold his attention today. Why had he chickened out? He was an idiot.
You'll get another chance, he told himself. Kalyanpur was small enough that he'd certainly see her again.
For all his brooding, he made good progress. By two pm, he was already a good way past Camp Two. The day was still brilliantly beautiful, clear blue sky as far as the eye could see. But with the forecast they'd had this morning, he figured he'd better turn back soon. The weather could change within minutes in the Himalayan mountains. He'd take a short break and then head back down.
Eric unrolled the mat tied to his backpack and sat down to have a cup of tea from his thermos. He could hear another person coming up the mountain behind him, boots crunching in the snow. Eric lazily turned his head towards the sound, then sat up with a jolt. He recognized that green jacket.
Cora.
With her hood pulled deep into her face against the cold he couldn't see her face, but somehow the sight of her still felt instantly, beautifully familiar.
"Eric! Hi!"
He could hear the smile in Cora's voice. It made his chest feel light to know that she'd remembered his name, to know she was smiling to see him.
Of course, people tended to be friendly on the mountains. It was always good to see a human face in the middle of this quiet vastness.
But then Cora came closer, and as their eyes met, Eric felt that sense of a connection snapping into place again, something deeper than the usual camaraderie between hikers.
Cora shoved back her hood and gave him a smile that almost knocked him flat. Her freckled cheeks dimpled, and the corners of her blue eyes crinkled up.
She pointed to the empty space on the mat beside him. "Do you mind? I could use a break."
Eric instantly shifted over to make room. "Please! Would you like some tea?"
Cora sat down beside him and wrapped her hands around the mug of tea he handed her. "Mmm, that smells nice. What is it?"
Eric laughed. "Beats me. My sister's got an organic tea shop back home. She likes to test her new blends on me."
Cora took a small sip
and licked her lips in appreciation. "I'd say this one's a success."
She leaned back, planting one hand on the edge of the mat. Her shoulder brushed against his. Eric almost thought he could feel the warmth of her skin. Ridiculous, of course. There had to be about eight layers of high tech cold weather gear between them.
"You close with your family?" she asked.
"Yeah, we're a pretty close-knit—um. Group, back home."—pack, he'd almost said.
God, Eric, get it together.
He'd sound like a lunatic, talking about his 'pack' to someone who wasn't a shifter. You can't go spilling your secrets to her just because it feels like somehow you've known her forever.
"So do you have—anyone waiting for you, back home?" Cora asked, looking at him from under her lashes.
"No. I'm single." Eric's heart skipped a beat with sudden wild hope. Why do you ask?
"What about you?" Eric asked, trying to make it sound casual.
"No. There's no one." Cora's mouth tightened in a way that made him think there was a story there, and not a pleasant one, but after a moment she smoothed her face out with what looked like deliberate effort.
"So where are you from?" she asked.
"Boulder, Colorado."
"Boulder! I love it there! The climbing's amazing."
Eric felt his chest clench on a tangle of confusing emotions: half territorial pride, half a sort of terror. Cora had been practically in his backyard, and he'd had no idea. It was only luck that he'd met her here, all the way on the other side of the world.
The world seemed suddenly very large, and the chance that the two of them had met at all frighteningly small.
Cora didn't seem to notice his inner turmoil, which was just as well. Eric felt crazy enough to be having these sorts of thoughts at all. What was this about? He'd only just met her.
"Do you do a lot of climbing, back home?" Cora asked.
"Almost every day," Eric said. Like most shifters he loved being out in nature, and he'd loved climbing and hiking since he was a little kid.
"You know Rob Ellison? He runs that little climbing shop—"
"The one on 29th Street? Sure!"
The climbing and mountaineering scene was a small, tight-knit community. It turned out they had half a dozen people in common in Boulder, and quite a few out here in the Himalayas, too. They talked about that, and then started comparing notes on a few of the routes each of them had climbed.
It was the most fun Eric had ever had talking to a stranger, enough so that he completely forgot to keep an eye on his watch. And then suddenly Cora looked past him at the sky and interrupted herself midsentence.
"Whoa. I don't like the look of those clouds."
Eric followed the direction of her gaze. Clouds were blowing in around the Western ridge of the Rai Parvat. They didn't look like much at first glance, but Eric had spent enough time in the Himalayas to know that there was something off about the way they were piling up.
"Let's go down," Eric said. "You want to team up for the way back? No point taking a risk with weather like that."
"Yeah, let's," Cora said.
They kept chatting at first while they walked, making good pace despite the easy flow of their conversation. With both of them sharing a love for climbing, the mountains, and the Rai Parvat in particular, they had plenty of topics.
But the wind was already picking up speed, snatching the words from their lips and swirling eddies of snow around their feet. Pretty soon Eric found himself half-shouting to be heard over the rushing of the wind.
Eventually the wind turned into a storm, and conversation became impossible. Snow piled up heavily around their feet, torn from the side of the mountain by the force of the gales. Soon Eric was sinking in up to his knees, the heavy wet weight of the snow dragging at his feet.
Without even having to discuss it they fell into a rhythm, each of them taking the lead for a few minutes before they switched, to let each other take breaks from the heavy work of breaking a trail through the snow.
Even with the extra strength and stamina of a shifter, Eric was getting exhausted. His chest burned with every breath he took. Cora trudged forward with grim determination, shoulders set against the wind. Eric watched her with awe, silently impressed by her stubborn relentlessness.
The wind shifted direction again, yanking flurries of snow from the side of the mountain until the air was nothing but a white blur. They couldn't keep going like this.
"This isn't going to work! We'll have to make camp!" Cora yelled over the roaring of the wind, as if she'd read his mind.
"You got a tent?"
"Nope! Didn't expect to stay overnight."
"Me neither." The storm hadn't been supposed to hit them for hours yet, according to the forecast. They should've had ample time to get down.
"We'll have to dig a snow cave." Eric said, suppressing a groan. It was going to be at least an hour of heavy work, digging a cave large enough for both of them to fit inside. And all that with both of them already exhausted to the bone and exposed to the brutal force of the storm.
"How about there?" Cora pointed towards the same spot Eric would've picked himself, a thick pile of snow that had collected against the side of a mountain in a spot shielded from the wind by an enormous boulder.
Eric had a small folding shovel at the bottom of his pack for just this sort of emergency. While he was still trying to dig it out from underneath everything else in his pack, Cora started attacking the snow with her ice axes, softening the hard layers.
Eric thought about offering to do the work, to let Cora get some rest. But he wasn't sure how to do so without offending her. She'd already proven herself more than capable of taking care of herself on the mountain, and he was pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate him implying she couldn't do her fair share of the work. It wasn't like he could tell her about the unfair advantage his own secret reserve of shifter strength gave him.
He finally managed to untangle his shovel from the loop of climbing rope it had gotten itself stuck in when he heard Cora let out a whoop of glee.
"Eric! Come look at this!"
Eric looked up just in time to see her boots disappearing as she wiggled down into a hole in the snow. How on Earth had she been able to dig a hole that large that quickly? Even a shifter couldn't have done that.
He squeezed himself through the small opening and froze, surprised. What had looked like a solid pile of snow was nothing but a shallow crust, concealing a crevasse cut into the rock of the mountain. He could see Cora's flashlight shining out from the natural cave. Once Eric squeezed past the narrow opening it widened into a space almost a dozen feet across.
"Look at this place, this is amazing!" Cora said gleefully.
Eric felt an answering smile spread across his own face. They'd just been saved from an hour of backbreaking digging, and they'd sleep a whole lot more comfortably and safely in here than they could've hoped for in a snow cave. The floor of the cave was flat and dry, and its narrow opening would keep them safe from the biting wind.
"This is like the Hilton of high altitude camps." Cora possessively patted the wall of the cave.
They grinned at each other in unabashed delight. Cora's eyes were crinkling at the corners, and Eric knew she felt the same giddy triumph he did.
The feeling cut through Eric like a knife. Mountaineering had always been a lonely passion for him. None of his friends, no one in his pack really understood what drew him to places like this, out into the icy mountains with their unforgiving dangers.
No one else he knew would've looked at an icy cave surrounded by a blizzard and seen a luxurious sleeping place, or understood the satisfaction he felt at having braved the elements and triumphed.
But Cora understood.
They spread their mats out side by side and sank down with identical groans of relief. After a moment, Cora reached out to fish a small gas cooker out of her pack. Eric pulled over his own pack and started unpacking as well. "You make the te
a, I make the soup?"
Cora's eyes lit up. "You brought soup? You're a miracle. All I've got is a bunch of power bars."
Inside Eric, the lion was purring with delight, as smug as any big cat who'd successfully hunted dinner for their mate.
With a sudden feeling of vertigo, Eric finally realized what that gathering heat in his chest meant.
His mate. Halfway on the other side of the Earth from home, on one of the loneliest mountains in the world, he'd finally found the woman he'd given up all hope he'd ever find.
His mate.
Don't freak out now, he told himself. Behave like a normal person. Make some small talk or something.
A minute ago, talking to Cora had felt like the most natural thing in the world. Suddenly, he couldn't think of a single thing to say.
He cast his eyes desperately around their cozy little cave. Outside, the wind was still howling, tearing at the sides of the mountain.
"That sure is some snow storm, huh."
Jesus, Eric, get it together.
He retreated outside, mostly to collect a bag full of snow to melt for their tea and soup, but also so he could take a moment to collect himself. The wind tore at his clothes, driving crystals of ice into the narrow gap between his scarf and his hood.
Eric stood in the howling storm and looked at the warm glow of light filtering out of their cave, at the promise of warmth and safety and the company of his mate. He was happier than he could ever remember being in his life.
Now he just had to find out whether Cora could ever feel the same way about him.
***
The little cave quickly warmed up from the two burning stoves and the heat of their bodies.
They had dinner sitting side by side on their mats. Cora wrapped her hands around her cup of tea, letting its warmth sink into her hands.
Eric had peeled out of his parka and the thick sweater beneath it and was now down to a thermal shirt that clung to the powerful muscles of his arms and chest. God, he was gorgeous. Cora tried to think of something to say. She couldn't just sit here and stare admiringly at him in silence like a total creep.