Could this old cabin hold up under a mountain of snow?
Trapped. Not underground, but still trapped nonetheless. How long would it take them to shovel their way out?
“Fuck.”
She looked back at Axel, but he was staring past the open door. Dakota stepped out onto the porch behind him and looked around. The overhang had caved in on one end. Her heart began to beat again, this time too hard.
Buried alive. A snow tomb. Won’t be found until spring thaw. Her breaths grew shallow and her vision blurred a bit.
Axel spun around and grabbed her shoulder with one hand, bending his knees to look her in the face.
“Hey. Deep breaths, honey. We’re okay.”
She pulled away from him and went back inside.
Pacing to the kitchen and back, she tried to calm herself. She looked up at the ceiling again, though she could barely see it through the dark.
“Dakota.” Axel didn’t quite shout, but it was close.
He stepped inside the cabin again.
She stopped pacing and met his eyes in the light of the kerosene lamp. “What?”
“This house was built to withstand avalanches.
We’re okay. Our great-grandfather knew what he was doing. The building’s stood strong for almost a century.”
The bathroom door opened, and Gunnar came out.
God, that was even creepier. Two brothers. Two cat-men. Buried alive with two freaking cats!
Hold it together, Dakota, she told herself.
“What now?” she asked, needing a plan. Always best to have a plan, right? She wasn’t a spur of the moment type woman. The one time she was adventurous—coming up to this cabin—and look at what happened. She licked her lips.
“We still have a fire,” Gunnar said. “And a broken window.”
She made a face as she looked across the room to a blackened picture window near the ladder to the loft and noticed a pile of snow on the floor below the broken pane. “Which means what, exactly?”
Axel set the lamp on the desk and went to Gunnar, who knelt next to the fireplace. “You’re right. The smoke is escaping, so the snow didn’t cover the chimney.” He looked up. “Less than twenty feet, then.”
“Too bad Great-granddad didn’t put an escape hatch in the loft.” Gunnar sighed. “I think there’s a roll of plastic sheeting in the storage. Let’s get the window covered before we lose too much heat.”
“How long?” she asked, getting the strong feeling they were ignoring her.
“Three days, tops,” Axel said as he picked up the lamp and headed for the door, still open, in the floor.
“Most likely a lot sooner.”
Gunnar stood up and came toward her. The only light now that Axel was in the storage room came from the very low fire. She stepped back and bumped into the countertop. He stopped walking and put his hands in his jeans pockets. Damn, those jeans fit him well, even though they were Axel’s. They looked so damn much alike it was eerie. Sure, she’d seen identical twins before, but ones that looked so much alike as adults weren’t that common.
“They’re expecting us at the rendezvous point at five tonight,” he said, his voice low and calm. “We’ve got a personal locator beacon.” Gunnar turned away and went to the packs near the door and began digging.
“We’ll put it out. It’ll go for twenty-four hours.” He pulled a cell phone-sized, electronic thingy out of the pack and held it up. “See, no problem. Here it is.
Chances are they’ll come after us as soon as they get the call from search and rescue that the beacon has been set off.” He punched a button several times…and nothing happened. “Oh fucking son of a bitch.” He turned it over, flipped open the back, and stared for a long moment in silence. Then he dove back into the pack and started a frantic search.
Axel came up the ladder, lantern in one hand and a big roll of plastic in the other. He took one look at Gunnar dumping out the contents of the pack and asked, “What the hell is going on?”
Gunnar climbed to his feet. “There’s no fucking battery in the damn PLB.”
“Okay, chill out. Calm down.” Axel set the roll of plastic against the wall and took the little yellow device from Gunnar’s hand. “I’m going to kill Reidar.
He was supposed to replace all the batteries last week.
Damn it!”
Dakota bit her bottom lip and tried to calm her racing heart. “So…we’re trapped here? Stuck? No one’s going to know we’re buried under a pile of snow? We don’t have enough wood to last three days.”
“We have plenty,” Axel said, his voice low and steady. “Snow is actually a great insulator, and the cabin will stay warmer with less fire.”
“The food’s outside in the cache.” She glanced at the frozen sausage Axel had set on the table a few moments earlier. Pointing to it, she added, “That’s not enough to feed us for very long.”
“We have two weeks’ worth of dry food in storage, and lots of snow to make water with,” Gunnar said.
“We’ll be fine. Just might get tired of oatmeal and mac and cheese.” He smiled a little, and it did help calm her nerves.
“We’re okay then. Really?”
Gunnar nodded, stepped forward and reached out his hand to touch her cheek, but she stepped to the side and away from him. With a sigh, he said, “Yes, sweetheart. Really.” He turned to Axel and said, “Let’s get that hole covered before we lose any more heat.”
For the next while, the men put up the plastic, using a staple gun Gunnar retrieved from storage. She started to wonder just how much stuff they kept down there.
“So, who’s up for some breakfast?” Gunnar asked, heading for the storage room again.
The knot had loosened in Dakota’s gut, and she was hungry. “I am,” she said softly, heading over to the fireplace where there was a bit more light.
“Yeah. Me too,” Axel said. “I’ll put the water on.”
He got the old metal coffee pot from the kitchen counter and a big pot from a cabinet, and went out the door to fill them with snow. Waiting for snow to boil into hot water would take forever. She wouldn’t be eating anytime soon.
Gunnar came up the steps and closed the hatch to the storage, went to the counter and set down his armload of stuff, then came toward her. “Catch.” She grabbed the granola bar that zinged her way.
She found her first smile since the avalanche.
“Thanks,” she said as she ripped into the chewy chocolate chip bar.
Chapter Six
Gunnar put the last bowl into the dish drainer and lowered the wick on the kerosene lamp until it flickered and went out, casting the kitchen area into darkness. His heart heavy, he went to the couch and sat down on the opposite end from Axel, slouching into the corner and crossing his arms over his chest.
He stared at Dakota’s back. She had fetched a blanket and pillow from the loft, and one of his mother’s favored Agatha Christie novels from the bookshelf. She lay facing the fire, her back to them, and hadn’t said a word for the last two hours. She also hadn’t turned a page in a good five minutes, which told him she was deep in thought, not deep into the mystery.
We lost her, he said telepathically to his brother.
Maybe. Maybe not. She needs some time and space to adjust. Axel glanced around the darkened cabin.
Maybe it’s a good thing we’re trapped in here so she can’t run away.
I’m hoping that’s part of her problem. The avalanche spooked her. Then we revealed ourselves.
That’s a lot to take in at once. But the way she flinched when I tried to touch her…
Axel sighed. It definitely wasn’t the most idealistic way to go about letting her know what we are, that’s for sure. A discussion over a nice dinner. His laugh was only in Gunnar’s head, and it held no humor.
There wasn’t any other way. I had to turn.
I know, brother. And it was the right thing for saving lives. Just not the right thing for saving our sex life.
Lov
e life, Gunnar corrected. I can admit it. Can you?
Yeah, Axel said with a sigh. I love her. Who wouldn’t? Her first concern during the avalanche was Falke. Not the fact we were getting buried under tons of snow. She was worried about a cat.
Dakota sat up fast and spun around on her butt, crossing her legs and folding her arms over her middle.
Her eyes narrowed on the brothers.
“What’s wrong?” Axel asked.
“You’re talking to each other, aren’t you?” She sounded angry.
Both Gunnar and Axel nodded.
“Stop that shit right now. If you’re going to talk, talk. And why can’t I hear you? I heard you down there.” She flung her arm out, pointing to the hatch in the floor.
“Our telepathic ability is different when we are in our human form,” Axel said. “As humans, we can only communicate with family members. When we’re in catamount form, then we can urge humans to hear us so long as we’re in sight of them.”
She frowned at them. “So all of you are cats?”
“Except Heidi,” Gunnar answered. “She lacks the proper chromosome. But she can communicate telepathically with us, just not other humans.”
“Why is that?”
He shrugged. “It just is.”
“How’d you get that way? What caused it?”
“It’s passed down through the men in our family.
The history of the catamount shifters goes back further than anyone knows.”
“And your mother?”
“Human,” Axel said.
Dakota shook her head and swiped her hand over her face. Then she groaned as she looked at Axel.
“That first time we had sex, we didn’t use protection.
I’m not going to have a litter of kittens or something, am I?”
Gunnar cleared his throat. Axel didn’t say anything.
“I am? Oh, God! What the hell did you think— No, what was I thinking? I wasn’t. I was horny. Damn it, I know better. This is why I don’t have affairs. I’m not good at it.”
That wasn’t true. She was damn good at it, Gunnar thought, but wisely chose to keep the compliment to himself. Instead, he tried to calm her by saying, “You can’t get pregnant from one time with one—” A loud, sarcastic bark of laughter came out of her before he could finish. “I haven’t heard that line since I was in the backseat of my boyfriend’s father’s station wagon when we were in eleventh grade. I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t buy it now.”
“With one shifter,” he finished.
She hesitated. “What?”
“What he’s trying to say,” Axel said, “is you aren’t pregnant.”
“And he’s so sure, how?”
“You’re human. You would need the sperm of two catamount shifters to conceive,” Axel said, his voice harder now. “I always wore a condom.”
“No, remember, you—” Her face went blank as the meaning behind Axel’s admission sank in. She slowly lowered the hand she’d raised to point toward the kitchen.
Gunnar’s stomach tightened into a knot. That was real smooth, brother!
Sorry.
Fuck! He didn’t look at Axel, but Dakota did, and she didn’t look happy.
“You… You always wore a condom?”
Axel gave one solemn nod.
When she turned her gaze on Gunnar, he could practically see the flames of furious realization licking up her cheeks. Her voice was deadly calm when she said, “Which means you didn’t.”
Gunnar shook his head.
She surged to her feet and stalked into the darkness of the kitchen, her stocking feet thudding against the hardwood flooring with her furious steps. Her breathing was loud, deep, as if she was trying to catch her breath. Gunnar glanced at Axel.
Axel stared at the fire and said, Let her work it out, Gun. Don’t say anything.
It didn’t take long. She practically shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you two? Was it all some sort of damn game? Switch places and see if the city-slicker notices?”
Gunnar winced. “No. I…” He glanced at his brother before continuing. One of them had to say something. She was “working it out” all wrong. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was supposed to remain catamount the entire time, but—” She didn’t let him explain. “Oh, man, I don’t believe this! After we did it on the table, the damn cat was making a racket. What the hell was all that crap about Falke having a run-in with a porcupine? That had to be a bunch of BS, so what? If the cat wasn’t…”
She paused and pointed at them. At Axel more so, it seemed—her movement and features less visible in the shadowy area across the room. “That was you, Axel?
Outside? While Gunnar and I—”
“Yes.” Axel got up off the couch and went toward her.
“You saw us.”
“I did, and I was pissed off at him for fucking you, because I wanted you.”
“There never was a porcupine, was there?” she asked, her voice softer. “You attacked him.”
“Yeah, I did.”
She looked at Gunnar and then back at Axel. “You scratched the hell out of your own brother?”
“Uh…we sort of scratched the hell out of each other,” Axel said. “That was me who came back inside.
Gunnar was only human for…well…for long enough to have sex with you.”
“Why the hell was he in his human body at all if he was supposed to be a cat the whole time?” she cried.
Gunnar stood, unable to stand the hurt and anger in her voice and not being able to see her. “Because I was jealous of that first kiss between the two of you. I wanted you too, but you’re our client. We were trying to abstain, but I thought he was weakening.”
“I was,” Axel admitted, drawing Dakota’s gaze.
Gunnar continued, “I thought I’d have better control over myself than he would. We switched places so Axel didn’t have to fight temptation so hard.”
Her gaze snapped to Gunnar’s. “Oh yeah, you really fought me off, didn’t you?”
He flinched, unable to deny her claim.
She closed her eyes and dropped her head forward.
“Sorry, that wasn’t fair of me. I know I started the whole thing, but I thought you were him.” She sighed heavily. Her words hurt, but he said nothing.
“This…I…I’m a one-man woman. I’ve never been involved, much less slept with, two men at once. And definitely not brothers.” She looked at Gunnar. “And if you went back to being a cat, you just let Axel go upstairs and sleep with me after you and I…” She shook her head, her brow wrinkling in confusion.
“How could you do that?”
Before he could answer, Dakota growled and crossed her arms again. “God! I don’t believe this. I told Falke things… you things. I suppose you told him everything I said to you when you were a cat?”
He opened his mouth to respond, but what could he say?
She glared at him, turned her attention to Axel, and then him again. “I bet you both got a good laugh out of that, didn’t you?”
“No. It wasn’t like that!” Gunnar couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t know what to say, how to apologize for tricking her. So he stepped forward, pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Something he’d wanted—needed—to do since they’d had sex. He knew she’d thought he was his brother before, but she knew who he was now. He had to kiss her, taste her and let her know he too desired her.
She put up a token protest, a small sound and a slight shove, but then pulled her arms out from between them, tipped her head a bit and settled her hands on his sides as he ate at her mouth. Her tongue dueled with his, her breath sweet from the oatmeal and maple sausages they’d had for breakfast. Gunnar held her tighter, and she melted against him, her soft curves fitting against his hard planes perfectly.
When he couldn’t breathe, was afraid he’d press her up against the counter as he’d done before, Gunnar slowly pulled back and rested his cheek against hers.
Dakota panted heavily
, her fingers digging into his sides. His cock was hard, throbbing with a need to be buried inside of her again.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, sweetheart, letting Axel go up to the loft with you while I stayed down here, alone. I will never regret having been with you, and I want to be with you again.” He sucked in one deep breath and went for it.
“And so does Axel.”
She jerked, but he held her firm against him.
“Shh. Please, listen.”
She stood tense in his arms but didn’t try to pull away again.
“We didn’t plan this. Never in our lives have we shared a woman, but we knew that someday we would.
When we find the woman we’ll spend our lives with, she will be the one woman we can both love.”
Dakota did pull back then, but not out of his arms.
“You can’t talk love to me. You lied to me. Just because we have great sexual chemistry—”
“I know, sweetheart, I know. What I’m trying to say is that this isn’t the norm for us. We don’t want you to think this was a game we’ve played before. We didn’t plan to feel the way we do, and we both hate the deception behind what happened. But we can’t change that now. All we can do is ask your forgiveness and plead for you to give us another chance.”
She turned her head and looked to the side, where Axel stood close but just out of arm’s reach.
“He’s right,” Axel said softly. “Our feelings for you are…deeper than we’ve ever experienced.”
She was scared. Gunnar could sense it in the way she held her body rigid against him now. The only thing that softened her was his kiss. But he knew sex didn’t make a relationship; trust did. And they had a hell of a hill to climb on that front after what they’d just admitted.
Axel stepped closer, until Gunnar felt his body heat. His brother then laid his hand on Dakota’s back, leaned in and kissed her cheek. Gunnar released her with his other arm and edged sideways, letting Axel get closer to her.
“We want you, honey,” Axel said. “I’ve wanted you since you walked through the door of my shop. Truth be known, we’re both relieved that you know now.
Despite the risk in revealing our secret, we’re glad you know that we are both attracted to you and care about what happens to you.” He moved closer, had one arm around her and his body pressed against her side.
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