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Sasquatch.
Yeti.
—and we’d been careful to never let them get close enough to learn more about us.
It never seemed like a mistake until now.
Shifting to human in the winter wasn’t an option. The cold kept me in my natural form, and I’d stay like this until the end of the season when all the snow had vanished from the mountains. I preferred to be this way, only shifting to human when absolutely necessary.
“I need you to trust me.” I kept talking even though she was frozen in fear and probably not understanding why a creature like me was speaking in the first place.
She let out a series of sounds that might have been words. I avoided humans when I was in my natural form, and it was possible I wasn’t able to understand them when I was like this. I reached for her. We’d figure out the language barrier once I got her someplace safe. Warm.
My home.
Her body went limp the moment I touched her.
Was she dead?No.
I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I hurt her.
Her heartbeat was faint, but it was still there.
I scooped her into my arms easily, and pressed her soft curves against my body to warm her. I was a giant like this, compared to her. As a human, I was tall and lanky, but in my natural form, every part of me was bigger, stronger, built for survival in the harshest elements.
There was no time to waste. More snow could slip from the mountain and bear down on us at any moment. The paths were covered over but I knew my way around these mountains like I’d crafted the rocks with my own paws.
I’d get her to safety, I’d get her warm, and hopefully, I’d get her to realize we knew each other.
That we were meant to be together.
Could I take a chance like this with a human? At one time in my life, it would have been laughable to even consider it. But there were no more of my kind in these mountains. Hadn’t been for decades. Every so often a rumor would pass through the forest, a bigfoot sighting, but it always turned out to be a drunk human not understanding what he’d seen.
I should’ve known better than to get my hopes up by now. It didn’t mean it would be someone to share my life with, or the castle I’d carved out of mountain rock. Every time the sighting was debunked, relief mixed with a little more loneliness every time.
There were wolves, lions, bears, and a few stallions who made their homes this deep in these mountains. I’d been friendly with some of them, but never close to any of them. Not until a wolf named Hugo asked me to work security on something called a reality show.
I’d had a lot to learn in a hurry about camera crews, drag queens, and live audiences. Hugo quickly realized I’d be most useful on my home turf, just outside Mount Deception, which many shifters called home. But I was glad I’d gotten involved withThe Mating Game, or else I would have never met Hannah. And if I’d never met her, I would’ve ignored the strange feeling in my chest when she came this deep into the mountains.
Every time she made a noise I stopped dead in my tracks, thinking she’d woken up. She wasn’t hurt. She was just in shock. I scanned the terrain ahead, realizing I had to move faster. My body was made to flourish in deep snow like this, but with a human in my arms, it slowed me down. A shifter could be lurking, watching us, knowing how valuable she was…
The incline to my home was steep. Not many dared to come this far up the mountain. Especially this time of year.
It wouldn’t be easy to get Hannah back to Sunset Springs. But people would be looking for her.
She was safe here with me.
I lay her carefully on my bed. This part of my house was simple—a bed, a chair, a fireplace, and a place to prepare food. The rest of my home spanned the inside of the mountain, but if she woke up deep inside a cavern, that could scare her. I’d show her the rest of my home when she was ready.
My heart pounded, thinking about having a woman in the house. A human.
I didn’t dare dream I’d convince her to stay.
After I kindled the fire, I went back to her on the bed. She was still sleeping. Worry washed over me, it had been too long, she should have woken up by now. I put my big hand over her face, feeling for breath, and she moaned.
Now it was my heart that skipped a beat.
Her hands were balled into fists and she shook her head, stuck in a bad dream. Or she couldn’t wake up.
