Page 71 of Abdominal Snowman

“Watch your—oof.” Soren groaned. “Foot!”

Sage pulled her foot forward with a gasp. “Are you okay?” she asked, trying to look down.

“Climb, please,” Soren requested. “Watch your footing. If it glistens, it’s slick.”

Sage did as she was told, and by the end of it, they were both standing on an even taller peak. It was scarily narrow, and Sage gripped her camera with all her might as she steadied her stance and lifted the viewfinder to her eye.

It was breathtaking. The town shimmered below them, the streetlights and string lights illuminated the people and the shops. The glittering perfection of Berrysburg and the distant mountainside were perfectly visible, all through a copse of trees framing the edges of the photo. Sage kept snapping the shutter button even though she knew she’d already gotten the perfect shot.

Soren helped her get down, and only once she was finished focusing on the tiniest, single, fresh fallen snowflake did she decide she was done. For now. Her fingers were numb.

Once her camera was safely packed away, Soren held her hands between his until they felt normal again. Which, of course, she had to repay with a small kiss.

They both faced the overlook, and Sage felt like she was on top of the world. Was it Soren? The way he made her feel? Or the simple elation of using her camera for something she wanted to?

Fresh snow began to sprinkle down on them, and she understood why Soren chose to stay here. The picturesque town below offered a sort of beautiful simplicity, but the anonymity of living alone in a cabin in the woods held its own draw. A private little paradise.

“Ready to head home?” Sage asked.

She pulled her gaze from the overlook to him, and she found his face unreadable, eyes glimmering in the bright sunlight. Soren stared down at her and stepped close enough that their breaths mingled in the frosty air.

“What?” she whispered.

“I’m glad you stayed,” he said simply. “I like being with you.”

Her cheeks flushed, and she dropped her head to his chest in an effort to hide what his words did to her heart.

A gloved finger found its way under her chin, drawing her eyes back to Soren’s.

“Don’t get me wrong. You’re loud and brash and you ask far too many questions, but I love the way you look at me, and I love the way you don’t do anything the easy way. Everything is a challenge.”

Their eyes locked, Soren’s bright blue orbs boring their way through Sage’s.

When did they get so much closer, every breath brushing their chests against each other’s? Chills traced her skin, ice tingling low in Sage’s stomach.

Soren leaned closer, his lips a hairsbreadth away from hers. Sage’s eyes flicked to Soren’s, finding a question she wasn’t sure how to answer there.

She’d never felt like this. The passion and emotions she’d discovered here in the mountains, with Soren. This impossible man, abominable, finding his way into her heart and soul.

He tugged her even closer by pulling on the pocket of her jacket, and then he kissed her, and she felt like a teenager again. His lips were warm against hers, his smile tasting somehow sweeter.

Soren pulled back suddenly and froze, head tilted to the side. A cocktail of confusion and concern doused her slowly awakening arousal, and she tugged at Soren.

“What is it?”

“Don’t freak out,” he said.

“Wha—” Sage’s question was answered as she once again got to see Soren’s abominable form. He grew taller and his muscles became thicker before her eyes. Fur sprouted from his clothing as it was stretched taut before giving way as his form enlarged.

Still gaping at him, Sage took in the larger fangs and the ever taller Soren that stood before her.

“This will be easiest,” he suggested and pulled Sage against him. He tucked her head against his chest, and she wrapped her arms and legs around his waist instinctively. It all took a split second as they moved in harmony, something about the calm panic in Soren’s gaze urging her to listen, to move. With her camera bag secured, Sage felt weightless for a split second as Soren took off. Her stomach dropped, but Soren traded holding her against him like a second skin with whatever arm he needed to maneuver the forest easiest.

It wasn’t until a moment later that she realized what they were running from.

It was an avalanche. Snow was tumbling down what she could see of the mountainside, and it was only growing more intense as it gained speed. Above Soren’s pounding heart her ear was pressed against, and the rushing breath from his gasps above her, she could hear the forest and the snow tumbling behind them at an alarming rate.

She didn’t get to see much, Soren was running so hard it was still jostling her against him.