Chapter Two – Nevis

Nevis lifted his short snout and sniffed the air. Snow. A lot of snow. The storm must have shifted south, and was heading straight for the mountains. A thrill of excitement coursed through him. His bear wanted to find a nice den somewhere and hibernate. But that was not going to happen. This trek up the mountain had been to escape his life, or more importantly, escape his father for a week or two. Nevis planned to use the time to give himself enough space to figure out what he wanted, without the pressure of duty watching over his shoulder. Hibernation was a much longer prospect, and one he would not succumb to.

His bear shook the first flakes of snow from his luxurious, thick chocolate-brown coat. The storm had moved in early, so he’d have to make do with sitting in the cabin in front of a roaring fire instead of taking photos of the mountain.

Nevis turned toward home. He wasn’t going to outrun the storm, but that didn’t matter; his bear ran hot at all times. The biting cold and heavy drifts might slow him down, but they would not stop him.

However, something else might.

His bear stopped dead in his tracks; there was something out there. Someone out there. He listened, but couldn’t hear a thing. The snow was falling heavier, muffling the sounds of the forest. An eerie calm had settled around him, but inside, he was alive, awake as if for the first time. Nevis turned away from the direction of the cabin, and struck off, heading back up the steep slope of the mountain trail, which was all but hidden underneath a thin covering of snow.

Step by step, the snowflakes in his face blinding him, he trudged towards a silent siren’s call. His brain told him that must be what it was, a beacon calling him to his doom. However, his heart told him it didn’t matter: the call, wherever it originated, had to be obeyed.

A noise in the distance penetrated the quiet. A voice, no, two voices, calling. Male. Hunting. Those were the words that flashed into his head. Hunting what?

He sensed her before he saw or heard her. She was moving stealthily through the trees, head turning to check that she was not being followed.

“We’ll find you.” A voice pierced the quiet.

Then the sound of someone crashing through the trees came to him. She’d been seen. Realization hit her, and she began to run, legs pumping, while she tried to stay on two feet as she slipped on the icy ground, made treacherous by the snow falling.

“Come here, you little bitch. We aren’t going to hurt you. I just want payment for all the time I’ve spent sucking up to you.”

She didn’t look back, grabbing onto branches, her arms catching hold of tree trunks to help keep her upright as she tried to put distance between them. The man followed, but he wasn’t so sure-footed, and he slid onto his back, giving Nevis an opportunity to strike.

Teeth bared, he let out a terrifying roar, and launched himself at the prone figure, who screamed, trying to get his feet under him as the bear bore down on its prey. Nevis stood, hovering over the man, his short snout up against the man’s face. He opened his mouth and let out a roar, spraying the man with bear saliva.

The man screamed, a sound like death. And then was silent.

The other man, who had been running in the same direction, stopped in his tracks, staring at the bear and the man, who lay still on the ground. When he broke through his fear enough to move, he turned and ran away, with his tail between his legs. His bear liked that phrase—even if the man had no tail.

Nevis paused for a moment, making sure the immediate threat to his mate had been neutralized. He huffed out a couple of lungfuls of hot air, melting the snow as it fell before him. His mate. The woman he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with, was here, on the mountain, being chased by a couple of men.

For what reason? He looked down at the man before him, but he was out cold. Nevis had no intention of waiting around for him to wake up. His duty was to his mate. He had to get her to shelter.

Disentangling himself from the man, Nevis turned to run in the direction she had gone. It took him a moment to zone in on her; she was moving away from him, having returned to stealth mode. Nevis walked through the forest, increasing his pace only enough to slowly gain on her. He was aware of the other man out there somewhere, and wanted to make sure they were not being followed.

He also did not want to frighten her. She’d been through an ordeal already, and he had no intention of adding to her fears. No, he was going to have to think carefully as to how he intended to handle the situation.

There was only one thing to do. Moving through the trees, he made enough noise to make his mate think she was being pursued by a bear. What he was really doing was herding her. If he was careful, and his luck held, he could push her close to the cabin where he was living while he photographed the mountain in all its glory.

Once there, he would cut around in front of her, shift into his human form, and happen across her. It was the perfect plan. The only problem was, his cabin was still more than five miles away and the snow was getting heavier. Even under the shelter of the trees it was falling thickly enough to make visibility almost impossible. He was worried she would not make it.

On the plus side, it meant there was no way the two men behind them could follow their tracks. Within minutes of his bear paws hitting the ground, the prints were covered by the white flakes. It was as if they had never been there.

Nevis pushed on, head down, weaving back and forth between the trees, making enough noise for her to hear. Enough noise to keep her moving. But he could tell she was slowing. Fatigue would turn to exhaustion, and exhaustion to hypothermia, if she stopped. Nevis knew he would have to act swiftly if she fell to the ground; he would have to risk her seeing him as a bear.

Or maybe she knew about shifters. He could hope.

He pressed forward, watching her through the trees as she put one weary but determined foot in front of the other. Confident she was not going to stop, he risked heading back in the direction he’d last seen the men. Nevis needed to know they weren’t following. If they were he would attack, or at least make them believe he was attacking. Anything to keep them from discovering the cabin.

He heard them before he saw them. The one he hadn’t flattened was pulling the other to his feet. “Come on, get up. We have to move or we’ll die out here.”

“Fuck, did you see that bear? I thought he was going to eat me,” the second man said.

“You’re lucky he didn’t. The cold weather must have made him brave. Or hungry.”

“What do we do now? We’ve lost her,” the second man said.

“Don’t worry, Bart. We don’t need her, we just need her father to think we have her.”

“You still want to go for the payoff? You must be mad, Ross.”

“Why? She’ll never make it off the mountain before the storm hits fully. You call her father, as planned, and make him believe you have us. He knows she is with me.”

“Was with you,” Bart corrected.

“He won’t know we’ve been split up, and Chrysi can’t tell him, she has no signal. We can still do this. I am not going to walk away and let the last two months be a waste of my time.” Ross was trying to persuade Bart to what? Ransom the woman, his woman? Damn. Nevis wanted to run in there and tear their throats out. But he wasn’t a killer. Not a cold-blooded killer, at least. However, he could not say how far he would go to protect his mate if they threatened her again.

“What if he wants to talk to her?” Bart asked.

“I’ll talk to him, and tell him Chrysi is hurt and can’t talk.” Ross replied. The guy seemed to have an answer for everything.

“And what if she dies out there?”

“Then I’ll play the poor, bereaved fiancé,” Ross said. “I’ll tell the old man I tried to save her. I’ve played the part for two months, I can play it a little longer.”

“I don’t like it,” Bart said. “This was supposed to be a simple plan.”

“It still is a simple plan.” Ross knocked Bart’s arm hard; the snow that had gathered on them both fell to the ground. “Make the call.” Ross pressed the satellite phone into Bart’s hands.

“Not here. Let’s get to the cave first. We need to get out of this storm.”

“Then lead on.” Ross pointed both his arms in the direction of the mountainside behind them. Nevis had explored this area; there were some good, deep caves hollowed out of a cliff face around half a mile further up the mountain. That was where they were going to find shelter, he was certain. Which meant if he could get Chrysi to the cabin, they should be safe until the storm broke in around forty-eight hours.

It was a risk, being so close to these two men, but Nevis was confident he could defend his mate against them, if they were stupid enough to go out in the storm and lucky enough to stumble across the cabin. The only giveaway would be the smell of smoke from the stove, but that would be dampened by the heavy snow. It was a risk he would have to take to keep his mate warm.

Nevis turned away from the two men and made his way back down the mountain toward Chrysi, moving silently on large padded feet. He could sense her before him; he followed the pull of her, as if their souls were connected on an invisible level.

He hated the thought of Ross and Bart blackmailing anyone. But he would deal with them later; they would not be getting off this mountain any time soon. As if to prove him right, the wind speed increased, blowing in gusts that brought snow so thick he began to look like a polar bear as it settled on him.

Luckily his bear did not need to see; his other senses were heightened, and so he traced his mate’s path, finding her clinging to a tree for support. Circling around, he shifted into his human form, immediately missing his thick bear hide.

“Hello there!” he called, walking toward her through the snow that had settled under the trees. She looked startled by his voice, and backed away as if to hide. “Are you lost?”

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“My name is Nevis, I have a cabin about a mile or so further down the mountain. It looks as if you need shelter. This storm is going to be bad.”

“A cabin?” she asked, her voice hopeful.

“Yes, there’s room for one more during the storm,” he said easily, trying to gain her trust. “The snow is only going to get worse. If you have somewhere else you can find shelter, I’d gladly guide you there.” He knew she didn’t, but the offer made him sound more sincere. He needed her to trust him.

“Thanks.” She hesitated and then let go of the tree. “The storm caught me off guard.”

“Yes, it’s going to be a rough couple of days.” He held out his hand to her. “Come on, you look frozen.”

She reached out and took his hand. Despite the thickness of her gloves, he felt the connection like a bolt of lightning through his veins. There was no doubt she was his. He only hoped he would be able to control his urge to mate with her while they were trapped in the cabin together.

She’d been through enough. He wanted to win her trust, not scare her off forever.