A little niggling awareness at the base of my brain whispers that there might be one reason why my beta biology could change like that, but I’m not ready to admit it yet, even to myself.
I pace outside her nest, listening to her soft breathing, praying she’ll wake and need me, but knowing she won’t. Outside the wind settles, and I hang my head. It was never going to last.
The stupid thing is, before all this—before her heat—I was the one telling her we could never be together.
Amazing how my teeth marks on her neck and my cum leaking from her pussy gives me a new perspective. I’m such an idiot for not seeing it sooner. Not seeing her.
I let Vera sleep for as long as I can. When it becomes too quiet outside for me to keep denying that the storm has passed, I slip out and make radio contact with the emergency services center in town. The tourists made it out of the park and took shelter by the center in their camper. I can’t muster up the resentment to feel bitter about the fact their brazen attitude regarding their own safety kept me and Vera snowed in here overnight. I can’t feel anything but grateful.
It’s going to take a few hours before anyone can get up here to clear the road, so I sneak back into the cave, intending to let Vera keep sleeping. Instead I find her sitting with her knees tucked up to her chest, arms wound tight around them.
She’s dressed. I should be happy about that. I don’t want her catching cold after all, and peace of mind will be a lot easier if I’m not constantly tempted by the perfect blushing pink of her nipples or the taut slope of her waist or the silky smooth skin of her shoulders.
I force out a huff of breath, shaking my head to expel the last of her citrus-and-sugar scent from my nostrils.
“Hey,” she gives me a weak smile.
My heart squeezes in my chest. “Hey. I just got in touch with the emergency services. They’re sending a team up to get us out as soon as they can, but it could be a while. Are you hungry?”
She shakes her head, but I can clearly make out the soft grumble from her stomach. “Bas, things aren’t going to be weird between us now, are they?”
“What? No! Why would they be weird?” I ask a little too quickly. Then I sigh and scrub a hand over my face, retrieving the rucksack and rummaging for supplies to give my hands something to do. “Look, heat is a biological part of being a shifter. Perfectly natural. I was happy to do my part to help you through it.” Happy doesn’t even skim the surface of what it felt like to bury myself deep in her—
“But?”
Vera has always been way too perceptive when it comes to my feelings. It’s like she has a special knack for it. “But nothing. I wish you’d reconsider, but you’ve decided, and I won’t push you. I’ll only say there’s no time limit on my offer, OK? It stands. And if you ever change your mind…” I trail off. I said I wouldn’t push. So instead of repeating myself, I find a trail bar and lean across to hand it to her, finding a second one for my breakfast.
Silence falls between us, and I try and fail to find something to say to break the tension.
Vera gets there first. “Do you think we have time to visit the hot springs before they get the road clear? It would be nice to wash up a bit.”
She wants to wash my scent off? Of course she does. That’s perfectly natural. She’s probably sticky and uncomfortable, and the scent is so powerful I can smell it from the other side of the cave. I just hate the thought. It makes me want to start getting it on her all over again.
The hot springs are a bad idea. I know it’s a bad idea. Of course, neither of us have bathing suits. But the fact that she’ssmiling at me again is doing warm twisty things to my insides, so I just force a grin through gritted teeth. “I won’t tell the superintendent if you don’t.”
I shift and carry her on my back to the hot springs, rather than let her walk. Right now my bear is growling that she never needs to walk anywhere again, which is ridiculous, but luckily it’s so snowy still this feels justified, and I indulge myself.
I turn my back so Vera can hastily undress and slip into the water with a sigh before I shed my four-legged form and slip in beside her. The water is murky and light bubbles rise to the surface, but with the crisp, cold air the smell of sulphur is not overpowering like it can get in summer.
I look around to see Vera giving me an assessing stare. “What?”
“Was this a bad idea? It is weird now that we’ve boned?”
I choke on my laugh at her crude language, and she laughs, splashing warm water at me.
“Don’t make it weird, OK?”
“Yeah. No. I’m not.” Trouble is, now that I’ve been inside her, I don’t know how to go back to looking at her like she’s my little sister.
It’s like a switch clicked on in my brain, and now all I see is the way the tops of her small breasts rise above the level of the waterand the way the corner of her mouth curves like an invitation to kiss her.
She folds her arms across her chest, blocking my view. “So here’s what I’m thinking when we get out of here. We tell no one what happened. It’s too complicated to explain anyway. I’ll be going back to college on the weekend so that’s that. And I’ll be sure and get some heat suppressants for next month.” She nods like that sorts it, but the inside of my chest still feels all twisty, and the thought of her so far away only makes it worse.
“Won’t they want you to make up for the missed days of internship?” I’m grasping at straws, but can you blame me? I need more time with her to figure out what’s going on here. Because this is more than a couple of friends who helped each other through a tough situation.
“You mean you’re not going to sign off on them?”
“No, that’s not—I meant…” I’m making this worse.
