Chapter Eight – Jacob

“Will we catch up with them?” Avery asked as she held her hot mug of coffee in her hands.

“We might, or at least get close. There are empty beer cans over by the hearth; I’m hoping they had a lot to drink and left late this morning. So that gives us an advantage.” Jacob nodded toward the fire, which was slowly chasing the chill out of the cabin, and her bones.

“But not enough?” Avery asked.

“Probably not. We’re a day behind them.”

“So, what do we do?” she asked.

“Do you have the map?”

Avery pulled it out of her coat pocket. “Here.”

Jacob laid it out on the counter and looked at it while he drank his coffee. She came to stand by his side, her right arm pressed against his left arm while they studied it. She didn’t pull away, and he liked feeling her close to him.

“According to Wyatt, they take this trail every time.” He ran his finger along a winding trail. “If we go this way, we cut out a long stretch.”

“But?”

“There’s a reason why most people take the long trail. It’s easy, no steep climbs, and there are several places to camp.” He ran his fingers along the paper and jabbed it at a section where the lines were close together, indicating a steep hill. “To get in front of them and gain an advantage, we will have to climb.”

“Climb?” She took a step back. “More of a climb than today?”

“Much more. But it will put us in front of them. Here.” He swung his head around to meet her eyes: she looked scared, but the set of her mouth told him she wasn’t about to turn chicken. “I’m experienced at climbing this part of the mountain. And I have all the gear we need.”

Avery looked back at the map, examining the route her drug dealers would take and comparing it to the cliff his finger still pointed to. “OK.”

“Are you sure?” Jacob didn’t want to talk her out of it, but he didn’t want her to feel pressured either.

“I trust you. If you think I can do it, then I’ll give it a go.” Avery avoided his eyes. She didn’t give her trust easily, and given the circumstances he could understand her reservations. What happened to Lonnie would also explain her prickly attitude earlier today when they had met in Mike’s store.

“You can do it. I don’t just think it, I know it.” He folded the map and handed it back to her. “I’ll fix dinner. Why don’t you go take your boots off? You need to rest up.”

“That bad, huh?” she asked, but did as she was told, the warmth of the fire beckoning to her.

“You are going to need all your strength, and you know you’re going to ache tomorrow.” He opened his pack and began to empty it.

“I ache already.” Avery rubbed her sore calves.

“Go rest. And tomorrow will be OK. When we climb, you will be tied to me, and I will never let you fall.” She looked at him sharply, and he replayed what he’d said in his head and the tone in which he’d said it. Had he allowed too much emotion to slip into his voice?

“Good, because if you do, I’ll never let you forget it.” She eased her boots off, and sighed as she wiggled her toes. “If I die, I’ll haunt you forever.”

“I’d never let you die,” Jacob said hoarsely, which earned him another quick stare.

“I’ll die of hunger if I don’t eat soon.” Her words were meant to lighten the mood and ease the tension; it worked, and he got busy preparing dinner. Jacob used some of the fresher ingredients he’d brought with him in his pack. Avery might be expecting rehydrated gloop, but he planned to serve something much more tasty.

“This is amazing.” Avery’s words when she tasted her dinner, beef stew with wild herbs, told him he’d accomplished his task.

“Thanks.” It was good, he had to admit. “My mom taught me to cook, and I try to use that knowledge to my advantage when I’m out here.”

“If ever I meet your mom, remind me to thank her.” Avery had no idea that his mom would one day be her mother-in-law. There was no way he was going to let his mate leave. But to make her stay presented a conundrum he’d been puzzling over all day. Before he could tell her she was his mate, he was going to have to tell her about shifters. But what if she freaked out?

“What about your parents?” Jacob was not going to put Avery in a difficult position before tomorrow’s climb. She trusted him, and he needed her to completely before they attempted what was a difficult climb.

“Well, I told you my dad is a police officer, and my mom teaches kindergarten.” Avery scraped her bowl clean and then ate the last of her bread. “But while we were young, my mom was a homemaker. She believed children needed to have their mom at home.”

“Any brothers or sisters?” Jacob finished his food and stretched his legs out in front of him. They were seated on the mattresses in front of the fire, their backs against the old sofa.

“A sister, she’s a nurse. We don’t see each other as much as we used to. We always seem to be on different shift patterns.” Avery held her hands out to the fire. “And you, you said you had two brothers?”

“I do, Kit, who has just recently got married, is a doctor, and Neil works for the fire department.”

“In Bear Creek?” Her tongue was thick in her mouth, and her eyelids were heavy. The warmth of the fire was sending her to sleep, and she wanted to go, to allow it to envelop her, and hold her in its soft, warm embrace.

Or Jacob’s soft warm embrace. Her head dropped and rested on his shoulder. “Hey, sleepy head. Come on, it’s time you got ready for bed.” He took the bowls to the kitchen and then came back to help her up. “I’ll wash the dishes.”

“I should do that.” But she wasn’t sure she had the energy.

“No, go to bed.”

She was too tired to argue.

Ten minutes later she was in her sleeping bag, snuggled down in front of the fire. Two minutes after that, she was asleep. Vaguely, she was aware of Jacob getting into his sleeping bag next to her. In her dreams she was sure she heard his voice say good night. If she answered, she couldn’t remember; she was too comfy and too warm to think.

***

“What time is it?” Avery asked as Jacob shook her awake. She opened her eyes, but the light in the cabin told her it must be just past dawn.

“Time to get up. We need a good long day if we plan to catch up with Manny and Joe.”

“Urgh.” She moved, and her muscles complained. Her body wanted to stay here in the warmth, but her brain told her body to get its ass out of bed.

“Here.” Jacob pushed a cup of coffee into her hands, and it was only then that she realized he was already fully dressed.

“How long have you been up?” Avery struggled into a sitting position, keeping as much of herself inside her warm sleeping bag as she could, while nursing her cup of coffee.

“Long enough. I thought I’d let you sleep.” He sat down next to her. Getting out of a warm bed, and leaving her to go get the firewood, tore him in two. His need to stay with her, to breathe in her scent and know she was next to him, where she was meant to be, was almost too much to fight.

“Thanks.” She lifted her cup to her lips and groaned quietly.

“You’ll feel better once we’ve eaten and get moving again. Your muscles have tightened up, but it won’t last.” He drank his coffee and went over his plan for the day. If they made good time, and the drug dealers didn’t, there was a chance they might catch up with them later in the day.

Once they climbed the cliff, they were going to have to keep a close lookout for Manny and Joe. He could use his bear senses, but they would be much stronger if he shifted. Maybe once they got to the top of that cliff he’d tell her.

“You dozing off there, Jacob?” Avery nudged him in the ribs.

“No, I’m just thinking about how this is going to play out.” Jacob drank his coffee, and then got up, heading for the kitchen. Behind him, Avery slipped out of her sleeping bag and reached for her jeans. With some difficulty, he kept himself from turning around and watching.

“We’re going to catch those bastards and whoever else is up here. Simple.” She came to join him in the kitchen. “I am going to need more coffee.”

“Help yourself. I’ll make some oatmeal. And there’s some fresh fruit. Apples and oranges. They don’t squish so easily in the pack.” He took a pan out, into which he emptied a couple of packets of oatmeal and added water. “This tastes better than it looks.”

“Good to hear.” She ate an apple while he heated the pan and stirred its contents. “Can we eat outside?”

“Sure, the sun hasn’t taken the chill off yet, though, so get some warm clothes on.” He pointed at his pack. “I brought a few extra thermal shirts.”

“You really do think of everything, don’t you?” She pulled a shirt out of his pack and went to the small bathroom. “I’m glad I let you tag along for the ride.”

“So am I,” he said quietly, pouring the oatmeal into two bowls and refilling their coffee mugs.

“Much warmer.” Avery came back to the kitchen and they carried their breakfast outside, sitting down on the steps leading to the cabin. Avery blew out a breath, smiling as a cloud of vapor appeared before her.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Jacob asked.

“It is.” She picked up her spoon and began to eat. “I’ll enjoy it even more when we have those two in our sights.”

“There’s no rule about not enjoying the day anyway,” Jacob told her.

“I’ll do my best to try.” She blew out another breath and then turned her full attention on her breakfast.

As they ate in silence, the sun edged higher in the sky, the first rays spilling over the mountain peaks to the east, and casting a warm ruddy glow over whatever was in its path. The warmth of the rays seeped into the air, warning them that precious minutes were ticking away.

“Finished?” He took the bowls inside, and Avery followed. “I’ll wash these up while you get ready. Don’t leave anything, make sure everything is safely stored in your pack and your boots are comfy.”

“Isn’t that what they tell soldiers, to look after their feet?” Avery asked.

“Yes, and don’t march on an empty stomach.” He dried the dishes.

“I am ready to put that advice to the test.” Avery came to the kitchen and helped him clean the rest of the surfaces, then they both put their packs on their backs and headed out into the new day, neither of them knowing what it might hold.

As long as Avery was by his side, he didn’t care. They were learning to work as a team. A team that would grow in strength as they learned more about each other.

She needs to learn about me, Jacob’s bear told him.

I know. Later today, Jacob promised. He would find a way to tell her. He only hoped she wouldn’t run from him.