Falke’s Peak

The cat broke eye contact with Axel, turned his head to her and swiped his rough tongue up her cheek.

Then he purred and plopped down over her lap, as if he were guarding her like a living, breathing, fanged chastity belt.

She let out a nervous laugh and looked at Axel.

Though he’d just come face-to-face with a furious wild animal, he didn’t appear frightened. No, he looked mad enough to kill the cat.

* * *

Outside, now!

Axel heard and ignored Gunnar’s demand as his brother paced back and forth near the front door in full pissed-off puma form. He set Dakota’s plate of breakfast on the table in front of her.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile for him and a worried glance at the cat. “I think he may need to be let out…to go…you know. Unless you have a supersized litter box around here somewhere.”

Axel smiled, though he couldn’t quite bring himself to laugh. “Yeah, I think you’re right.” Gunnar needed to be let out all right, but Axel didn’t relish the thought of what would happen once he was. He’d been bombarded with dire epitaphs and curses since he’d helped Dakota climb down from the loft.

Here lies Axel, the Asshole. Has a catchy ring to it, don’t ya think? Brother, if you don’t get the fuck over here, I’m not gonna wait for the headstone. I’m gonna carve that into your hide! You’re only delaying the inevitable.

Unaware, Dakota poured maple syrup on her pancakes, the yellow pat of margarine sliding off the side in a melted puddle. Then she looked up at him with an expectant smile.

“Look, I’ve already eaten, so why don’t you take your time, enjoy the meal, and I’m going to go outside too…to, uh, gather some kindling…and maybe chop more firewood. If we want to keep the fire ablaze around the clock, we’re gonna need it.”

“Okay. Be careful and hurry back.” Her grin was adorably cheeky, and he wanted to sit down beside her but knew that would only make matters worse between him and his sibling. He turned to head for the door.

“Take good care of Axel, Falke.”

Don’t worry. I will.

Axel stopped, met Gunnar’s feline gaze and sighed before grabbing his coat, opening the door and accompanying the puma outside.

Gunnar leaped off the porch and plowed a path toward the tree line about thirty yards from the cabin.

Axel knew the cat was headed for a rocky outcropping that was another twenty yards beyond there. He hurriedly fastened snowshoes onto his booted feet and grabbed the ax from the woodpile to go along with the story he gave Dakota. He wouldn’t really need it for protection from his own brother, despite the threats Gunnar leveled against him, but it was good to keep up appearances.

Gunnar’s tail swished angrily as he sprawled on a flat rock when Axel arrived.

“Okay. You wanted to talk,” Axel said, taking the offensive. “Let’s talk.”

I want to beat some sense into you, but Heidi wouldn’t appreciate having to stitch you up after I finished.

Axel propped the ax against a tree and crossed his arms. “I fucked up,” he admitted. “Are you happy now? I never should’ve kissed her, but she started it.”

You didn’t have to finish it.

“I didn’t. A certain possessive puma spoiled it.”

Lucky for you!

Feeling guilty enough as it was, he tried a counter-offensive jab of his own. “You haven’t exactly been keeping your distance, rubbing up against her thigh, playing on her sympathies and pawing her this morning.”

I’m a cougar! What was I supposed to do? Sit around licking my balls while she groaned in pain?

Maybe I should’ve let her keep thinking I’m gonna turn feral when she least expects it and have her for dinner as my main entree.

“All right. You’ve ma—” And for the record, my ‘paws’ remained on the outside of her clothing unlike someone’s hands.

Seriously, Axel. What was all that talk about, ‘She’s a client, not a target for your sex drive,’ hmm? Was that all just a bunch of bull, or do the rules only apply to the rest of us and not you?

Axel unbuckled his snowshoes, walked over to where his brother lay and sat down on an empty spot.

The ridge that gave the area its name was always windblown, the snow only a few inches deep here.

Gunnar was right. Axel had struggled with his attraction to the caramel-skinned beauty since first setting eyes on her in the shop. He thought he could handle it, despite the close quarters, better than any of his brothers. It was just five short days after all.

He hadn’t made it beyond a day and a half.

But, damn it, she’d impressed the hell out of him yesterday, and she looked so damn pretty, and kissed so fucking-That does it. We’re switching places right now.

“What?”

You heard me. It’s the only way. You know I’m right.

That kiss proved it. What if she tried again? Would you be able to turn her away?

Honestly? No, but he couldn’t admit his weakness to Gunnar. “Would you?”

Gunnar changed from cat to human and immediately began to shiver. “Fuck! It’s cold.” He jumped to his feet on the rock and rubbed his hands together. “And, yes, I could. Now, hand over those clothes.”

Resigned to make the switch, Axel stripped and shivered. While Gunnar hopped off the rock and hurriedly donned his outfit, Axel climbed onto the rock, sucked in a cold breath of air, and let the change begin. Goose bumps skittered across his bare flesh, the familiar tingles erupting at the base of his spine. The shift rippled like an electric current from his core to his extremities. His vision spotted then blurred into a kaleidoscope of colorful starbursts. He exhaled as his height shrank toward the cold stone ground, closed his eyes, and in that instant the cold climate receded, his body warmed by a thick coat of golden fur. He blinked away the last of glittery sparks from his vision and looked around with heightened senses.

Axel noticed the wound still evident on Gunnar’s thigh before his brother all but hopped into his pants.

Small and already on the mend, the pink scratch shouldn’t be a problem so long as Gunnar kept his pants on.

You’ll have to answer to my name.

“As if I didn’t have enough practice doing that when we’d switch classes back in high school. I think I can handle it.”

Gunnar combed his fingers through his hair and then put the pair of gloves on. When he turned to head back, Axel said, Don’t forget the ax and kindling.

“Got it.” He paused and glanced at Axel, who leaped off the rock and turned away from the trail back to the cabin. “Where are you going?”

For a run. I…I need to burn off some energy. And he needed time to think. Time to figure out how a city slicker from Vegas could get under his skin so fast, and what he would do once she was gone…in less than four short days.

* * *

Gunnar took his time gathering the kindling and splitting logs, but once his arms were full of wood, he could put off his return to the cabin no longer.

Despite what he’d said to his brother and his righteous anger over Axel’s apparent double standards, Gunnar wasn’t as confident in his ability to mislead Dakota about his identity. The truth was he didn’t relish the idea of deceiving her. He wanted her to know him, Gunnar, not Falke the puma or the Axel stand-in.

But he had no excuse for Axel’s departure and his arrival on Red Dog Ridge, at least not any kind of story that she’d find believable, so he must keep up appearances as his brother and find some way to get through the next few days without caving in to his more dominant male urges.

As a cat it had been both easier and more difficult—easier because he was feline and couldn’t do more than vie for the occasional tummy rub, and harder because his keen animal senses made him aware of the sexual