Falke’s Peak

Then a soft glow appeared, illuminating the man, and her first thought was beautiful. “Wow,” she whispered.

Then his face, his body began to blur, dissolve. His eyes…his whiskers became that of a mountain lion, a very familiar mountain lion.

She jerked her hand away, slamming her elbow against the shelving unit behind her. “Ouch!”

Blackness returned all around her, as did her fears. Her body shook. Her heart hammered against her ribs, and she could barely catch her breath, much less her scattered thoughts. Fight, flight, scream or cry. She didn’t know what to do or how to react to what she’d just witnessed. There was nowhere she could go, although that didn’t stop her from trying to lean as far away from— “What the hell are you?”

“We’re shifters.” The answer came from Axel. The strike of a match vanquished the darkness as he lit an oil lamp.

“Shifters?”

Yes, shapeshifters. I’m Gunnar, Axel’s brother.

She blinked when the voice sounded in her mind.

Shaking her head in disbelief, rubbing her temples, Dakota eyed the cat who sat tranquilly a foot or two from her. “D-did you just…?”

“We can communicate telepathically,” Axel explained.

Telepathically? She glanced at Axel and pressed her lips together to keep from echoing his words like a parrot. Then she realized something. “We? You mean you both can be…can turn into cats?”

Axel stared at her, gave her a cautious smile and nodded. Setting the lamp on the stone floor at his feet, he took one step to his left, bent down and shifted before her very eyes. The same luminosity. The same incredible, unbelievable change, as if the image of a man dissolved into that of an animal. It was miraculous. Magical. Insanely mind-boggling. And yet…

In the next heartbeat, she faced two mountain lions, but one was dressed in Axel’s clothes—a sight that made her snicker then burst out in an uncontrolled, hysterical giggle. Then she heard male laughs in her mind, and her humor fled as quickly as it materialized.

She wasn’t afraid, not now, not of what appeared to be wild predators, but she was freaked out. She’d fucked a man who was now a cat staring at her. Those eyes… Brothers. No wonder the cougar’s eyes looked so much like the man’s.

Then she remembered all of the little things she shared with Falke, things she’d no intention of telling Axel. Thankful for the dim light and hoping it helped cover the sight of her embarrassing blush, she covered her mouth with the back of her hand. “Oh, my God.”

Horrified, she stared at the cats even as they eyed her.

At least they didn’t smirk at her, as if this had all been some kind of cruel joke. Could cats smirk? No, they appeared to be more worried than smug. “I-I don’t know what to say.” Maybe she was still sleeping.

Maybe this was all some kind of twisted nightmare.

Shifters weren’t real. They belonged in novels, in Hollywood movies, not in real life.

The cold air in the room made her shiver, and she knew she wasn’t dreaming. She wished she’d had time to grab her coat. Maybe the shelter had a blanket.

We won’t harm you. The voice was Axel’s, easy to recognize, even if she hadn’t exactly heard the words spoken aloud.

She shook her head. Dakota knew that. Deep down inside, she didn’t fear for her life, at least not from them. Whether they would ever get out of this hole in the ground was another matter altogether.

She watched Axel change back to a man and noticed the look of worry remained even after he was human again. Concern marred his brow while he straightened his clothes into some semblance of order once more. She was unsure of its cause until…

We’ve never shared our secret before, Gunnar said inside her mind, something she was sure she’d never get used to. But his words struck something inside her.

“Never?” Though she asked, Axel’s slight nod was all the confirmation she needed. Their message was clear. They’d not only shown great trust in her, but they’d also protected her during the avalanche. Gunnar had made sure she was safe first before going after his brother, his own flesh and blood. What if he hadn’t made it in time?

She shuddered at that unwelcome thought, looked at Gunnar and held out her hand. He slowly eased forward to nuzzle her palm. “You changed to save me.”

The cat purred.

She dared a smile. “That’s so weird.”

“We’re not out of the woods just yet,” Axel said, drawing her attention away from Falke…uh…Gunnar.

“I won’t betray your trust,” she declared, wanting them to know that much, regardless of what happened next, even if they died in this hole without ever again seeing the light of day.

He held her gaze for a long moment. “We believe you, Dakota. It’s not that. I just mean that we’re still in danger.” Axel headed for the ladder to the overhead hatch, the only way in or out of their shelter-turned- underground-prison. “We need to get topside, see what kind of damage we’re dealing with.”

“But…”

He paused and looked back at her, waiting.

“Um, nothing.” She didn’t want to jinx him with her fears that the avalanche wiped out the cabin and buried them beneath a mountain of snow. The roar had been so loud, and combined with the other sounds…

She shuddered, envisioning the snapping of evergreens and the destruction of the cabin.

Axel shoved the hatch. It flew open with surprising ease, which caused a relieved laugh to burst from her lungs.

“Oh, thank God!” Smiling, she climbed to her feet and quickly made her way toward the ladder.

Axel cleared the last rung, turned and asked, “Can you hand me the lantern?”

“Oh, sure.” She grabbed the lamp and passed it up to him, and then climbed out of the shelter into a darkened—but surprisingly intact—cabin. A broad grin creased her face.

Gunnar leaped out of the shelter with ease and immediately made his way over to Axel’s backpack.

Axel set the lamp down and dug out a shirt and some pants, which he handed to the cougar. With the clothes in his mouth, the mountain lion headed for the bathroom.

Be right back.

Dakota shook her head. “This all seems so surreal.”

Gunnar pawed the door closed, and she turned to see Axel frowning.

“What?”

Staring not at her but the windows, he lifted the lamp once more, walked over to the front door, which was ajar. He nudged it open farther, and she followed.

He stepped out onto the porch and held the lamp aloft.

She froze just inside the doorway. They were surrounded by a wall of snow and debris. The extended roof of the porch had sheltered the door enough for Axel to open it, but a lot of snow covered the wooden planks of the porch itself.

He bent down to pick up a package of frozen sausages from a scattered pile of logs and snow.

Dakota’s heart lodged firmly in her throat. She glanced back inside the cabin. Without the lamp, it was dark as night, yet she knew it was around ten in the morning. That was when it occurred to her, when reality sank in and her earlier relief vanished. The cabin had been dark because all the windows were covered. They were buried. Under how much snow?

She looked up at the cathedral ceiling, at the loft.

Could this old cabin hold up under a mountain of snow?

Trapped. Not underground, but still trapped nonetheless. How long would it take them to shovel their way out?

“Fuck.”

She looked back at Axel, but he was staring past the open door. Dakota stepped out onto the porch behind him and looked around. The overhang had caved in on one end. Her heart began to beat again, this time too