“Brax…” I hedge, knowing that alone wouldn’t have sent him off to live on a mountain in solitude. “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there? What else did they say to you?”
He looks into my eyes before lifting his hand to caress my cheek. “How do you already know me so well, Baby?” I see the side of his lips quirk up before his expression drops again. “Because of my size and the way I look, they implied that no woman would ever want a savage loneling like me.”
“Now I know they’re liars.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m a woman, aren’t I?”
He stares into my face, confused for a moment before I can see him understanding what I mean. “You… want me?”
“Brax, I thought I made that kind of obvious,” I say, nervously biting my lip. Because, as nervous as he might be about being rejected, I felt the same way.
“No, I need to hear it.”
“I—” I’m cut off as the ground shakes below us and a loud humming sounds throughout the air. Brax quickly turns to look back the way we came and I see his eyes widen as he jumps up with me in his arms and starts running down the mountain, “Ryker, run! It’s an avalanche!” he bellows. As I cling to his chest, I glance over his shoulder, glad to see Ryker only a step behind us. My glee immediately turns to dread as my eyes move behind him to the large avalanche of snow bounding down the mountain, straight towards us.
I don’t remember seeing anything ahead of us, so I don’t know that we have any hope of out running it.
“Brax!” I cling to him as he runs as fast as he can.
“I know, Baby, I know.” Even now, as we’re running from a mountain of snow, he’s trying to soothe me. Is it too early to tell him I love him? Is it too early to feel that? What if we’re about to die? He should probably know. I guess I’ve always been quick to jump into relationships, But there’s something about these two that just clicks. It’s like they’re missing pieces of my soul.
“Brax, we’re about to die, I need you to know something.”
“Baby, I’m not going to let you die.”
“I know, that’s one of the reasons I love you.” I boldly confess, not wanting to die with any regrets.
CHAPTER TEN
BRAXTON
Did she just say she loves me? Fuck, now I really need to figure out a way to get us off this mountain and safe from the snow. There is no way I’m going to let the woman I love die. Especially when I’ve only just found her and haven’t told her how I felt. But I refuse to do it while running down the mountain.
Her words force me to use my head and think about a way to escape the wall of snow closing in on us. There’s no way to outrun it, so we need to find a place that would shelter us from the worst of it. I scan my memories and the land in front of us, trying to think of anything that could aid in our escape.
That’s when I see it.The crack.In normal circumstances, it would be something I try to avoid at all costs. It was a large crack in the frozen terrain that went down inside the mountain. I was very certain it led to a cave system beneath, as I had seen some small animals crawl up from it. But I never wanted to risk getting stuck down there. I hate to admit it, but I have a fear of small spaces. With a frame my size, the thought of getting stuck between two sheets of ice was slightly terrifying.
“This way!” I yell as I angle myself towards it. “Up ahead,there’s a crack in the ice. It’s extremely steep, but we’ll have to move fast as the snow will close us in. If we can get deep enough, we should be able to find a tunnel beneath.
“Should be?” Ryker asks, sounding terrified.
“It’s the best I can do,” I pant out as I try to put on a burst of speed. “We can’t outrun it.”
“I’m with you, brother, this is your terrain.” Being called brother warms something inside me. Like a longing I didn’t know I had. It fuels my need to get us all out of here safely.
“Baby, how close is it?” I don’t dare to try to turn, for risk of slowing down or losing my footing.
“Maybe… 150 feet,” she guesses.
“Good girl, we’re almost there now. We’re going to make it.”
After another thirty seconds, I spot the black sliver amongst the white terrain.
“I see it!” Ryker yells from beside me.
It doesn’t take us long to close the gap. And as I start to slide down the steep embankment, I take a glance behind me and see the snow closing in at only fifty feet behind us now. I reach behind me, and thankfully Ryker seems to know exactly what I’m doing as he grips my hand with his. We don’t want to get separated. When the snow drops down here, which It will, we need to make sure we stay close.
