Falke’s Peak

“Oh, by the way, I found your shirt.”

He hadn’t known he lost it. “Oh? Where?”

She grinned. “It sort of wound up soaking in the wash bucket with the rest of the dirty dishes I never let you finish.”

Axel glanced at the kitchen and forced a chuckle out in reply. So Gunnar had told the truth about her pouncing on him.

“I took care of them while you were gone, though.

The least I could do since I interrupted you.” She eyed him with an expectant expression, so he leaned over and gave her a quick, chaste kiss.

“Thanks,” he said, “for the dishes…and the interruption.”

Her smile showed he’d pleased her with his answer.

The pair spent the rest of the day indoors, sharing lunch—hotdogs and marshmallows cooked over the flames in the fireplace—and exchanging stories about their pasts.

“I can’t imagine having so many siblings,” Dakota said with a smile and a glance at her row of Scrabble letters.

“And your parents?”

She placed two tiles on the board, changing his word, love, into lovers, and wrote down her score.

“Still in Boulder. They live in the same house I grew up in, although my old bedroom is my mother’s sewing room with a daybed for whenever I come to visit.”

“You see ’em oft—” A scratch on the door had both of them turning their heads toward the sound. Axel pushed to his feet and went to let Gunnar inside, but he didn’t miss the soft sound Dakota made.

“Is he…?”

She knelt on the couch, looking over the back of it as the puma walked in with a slow and wary stride.

Axel shut the door, and without a word—verbal or telepathic—he returned to their board game.

“He looks so sad,” she whispered as she took up her original spot across from him on the rug. The cat moved around the couch and laid down close enough to warm up by the fire, but not close enough for anyone to touch him.

Axel stared at her, surprised by her intuition. “He’ll be fine.” He noticed she didn’t rush to the cat’s aid with ointment in hand and suspected she was being cautious, but she didn’t seem fearful as it lay a few feet behind her. His gaze collided with Gunnar’s, and he gave his brother a small smile of reassurance.

She glanced up. “Your turn.”

He eyed the board, took a C from his stand and changed lovers to clovers.

“What about your parents? Do they live in Leavenworth?”

“Lost my mother a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. She really kept us all together. Having a big family can be trying at times. Brothers will fight, have disagreements, but I wouldn’t trade a one of them.” He held his brother’s gaze as he spoke. “When things are really rough, I know Gunnar and the others always have my back and will be there for me if I need them. I’d do the same for them.”

Gunnar dipped his head and then laid it on his paws. Truce.

“That’s great, Axel, having a support network like that.” She smiled, and then her grin turned cheeky.

“But don’t think it’ll earn you any bonus points with me in Scrabble. I still intend to beat you.”

He chuckled. “Bring it on.”

The rest of the evening passed quickly, peacefully.

After a dinner of venison steaks that they and the cat enjoyed, Dakota finally had the nerve to approach Gunnar, his minor injuries much less visible beneath all that fur.

“You okay, big fella?” She knelt beside him and reached out to stroke his head.

Gunnar shied away, glancing at Axel, obviously unsure whether any contact was permissible after what happened earlier.

It’s okay.

“It’s okay,” she said, echoing his thoughts. “I won’t hurt you.”

Axel sighed. He hoped what she just said was true, but he feared the worse.

Gunnar eased closer, dared to rub his moist nose against her palm and ducked his head to let her pet him.

“That’s a good kitty,” she said with obvious pleasure. “I bet you won’t mess with that mean ol’ porcupine again, will you?”

The sound Gunnar made, part snort, part chuckle, came out more like a cat’s sneeze.

So, that was your story? Gunnar asked.

With a grin, Axel shrugged. It’s somewhat true. I’ve been as prickly as one lately.

Gunnar eyed him, swished his tail and began to purr beneath Dakota’s attentive hands. Yeah, I guess I see a resemblance now.

Axel sobered. I’m sorry, Gun. I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you. She just… He shut his eyes for a second and shook his head. No, that’s no excuse. I haven’t claimed her. And she was just acting upon hints I’d given her all the way up the mountain. I shouldn’t expect you to react any differently toward her than I would’ve.

We could claim her, Gunnar suggested as he plopped down on his side and playfully pawed at her to encourage more petting. She laughed and complied.

I don’t know. That’s the biggest commitment we will ever make, and we don’t know that much about her, other than she’s from Colorado, is an only child and lives in Vegas. She works in advertising too, and there’s no telling what kind of media contacts she has.

What if we’re wrong about her and she exposes our secret?

Gunnar groaned, although it was hard to tell whether from the pleasure of Dakota’s hands or the realization of Axel’s point.

“I think Falke is spoiled,” she observed.

“If he wasn’t before, he is now,” Axel said, playing along.

But not foolish, Gunnar quipped. You’re right. Until we know for sure, we practice caution. We have to know what’s in her heart before we can make any claims. He groaned again as Dakota put herself into the belly scratching. Tell me, Ax, through all our years of friendly competition over girls in high school and women once we grew up, when was the last time you attacked me for sleeping with one?

Axel sighed . Never.

When was the last time you felt this way about a woman?

Never. Axel scraped his hand through his hair and watched Dakota gentle her ministrations and tickle her fingers over Gunnar’s chest and chin. But we’ve only known her a couple of days. She’s on vacation. She could be a very different person day-to-day. If we claimed her and then we found out that she’s not this…wonderful…

Do you believe that?

Axel stared at the fire for a long moment. Did he believe that? Dakota brought out a lust in him the likes of which he’d never known—almost uncontrollable-and she obviously did the same to Gunnar. She was tough, strong both physically and mentally. She’d rebounded from her aches and pains within a couple of hours, and she’d faced down a she-wolf and didn’t break, not one tear.

No, he admitted. I don’t believe she’s much different in the real world than she is here. She’s not faking it.

But we barely know her and have no way to predict how she’ll react to the truth about us.

Dakota yawned. “Well, consider that payback for the kneading you gave me earlier, big guy, but I think I’m