Falke’s Peak

He and Gunnar both nodded.

“I can’t be that woman. I don’t want to get pregnant.”

“Ever?” Axel asked, his heart nearly seizing up on him. He desperately wanted children. He’d been brought up in a big, loving family, and he wanted to expand that family, give their fathers grandchildren.

She frowned. “No, I don’t mean that. I’m just not ready. I’m only twenty-four. I…” She swallowed hard.

“No. Not ready for that. Four babies?”

A little relief ebbed through him. She wasn’t saying no forever, just for now. There was still hope. He glanced at Gunnar, then back to Dakota. “I wore a condom this last time, and if—when —we have you again, we’ll both wear protection. We’d never trap you or harm you in any way, honey. We hope you believe that.”

She nodded quickly. “I do. I know. You made that clear earlier.” Then a slow grin parted her lips. “When, not if?”

Gunnar chuckled. “When, sugar. When.”

Axel finally checked his watch. It was just after six.

If plans went as they should, their brothers would be heading out to find them very soon, being that they were now an hour behind schedule for their rendezvous at the trailhead. He’d give it about three more hours, and with luck, they’d be dug out and on their way back to Leavenworth. He prayed everyone followed the protocol they’d set up years before for this kind of emergency but had never needed to use.

Three hours. That should give them plenty of time for food and more. He pressed a fast, hard kiss to Dakota’s lips. “The when will be soon. After dinner.”

He winked, realizing he was famished and all they’d have to eat tonight was mac and cheese, some freeze-dried meat and maybe, for desert, a granola bar.

“Oh?”

Axel got up and reached for his clothes.

“Oh, yeah,” Gunnar said, then kissed her and stood up. “There’s a whole lot of that gorgeous body we still need to explore.”

She grinned up at him even as her cheeks turned a little pink.

In that instant, he knew that nothing had ever felt more right. The three of them. Not just in the sack, but being together, sharing a space, laughing, teasing.

Loving.

He pulled on his sweater and turned to look down at Dakota. “You’re okay, right? We didn’t do anything…too outrageous?”

Her grin grew, as did the sparkle in her eyes. “I’m great, Axel. Thank you for asking.” She flicked her pink tongue over her bottom lip. “I’m thinking there’s not much you could do that I’d say no to.”

Axel growled and had a hell of a time pulling himself away from simply gazing at her, even if it was just to gather up supplies to start dinner. “We’re taking you up on that in about—” he glanced at his watch, quickly calculating how long it would take to boil water and make macaroni, “—an hour.”

Dakota laughed. “I’ll be waiting.”

They’d need to hurry if they wanted one more round with her before the family arrived. He was sure the entire clan would show up for the rescue effort.

That was the kind of family they were.

* * *

Dakota rolled left, searching for one of the two warm bodies that had pressed against her for the last few hours. When she found nothing but cold floor, she rolled right, reaching out for the other one. Nothing.

She frowned and buried her face in her pillow. She was cold, and Axel and Gunnar had abandoned her.

But then her frown eased into a smile as she recalled all they’d done to her body before she’d fallen into an exhausted, satisfied heap.

Because she was cold and had to pee, she finally opened her eyes. Yep, the fire was out in the fireplace.

How odd. They hadn’t let the fire burn down since the moment they’d arrived at the cabin. Wait. She could see. There was a lot of light in the cabin. Bright, white light.

She jerked up to a seated position and yelped when she saw the group of men sitting and standing around the small table in the kitchen, lit by several halogen lanterns. Jerking the blanket to her neck, she wanted to bury herself under the rug. The entire family was there!

“Hey, sweetheart,” Gunnar said with a smile as he moved across the room toward her and away from the bundle of guys, some of whom she’d never seen before. “We’re rescued.”

Her stomach knotted. “I can see that,” she muttered through clenched teeth.

“And our dads brought some hot, freshly brewed coffee.” He knelt next to her, blocking her view of the rest of the group, and offered her a steaming cup.

She glanced down at herself, then pointedly frowned at him.

His gaze met hers. He gave her a silent, “Ah,” and turned toward the table of men. “Okay, guys. Clear out. We’ll be ready in about twenty minutes.”

As the men headed for the door, one of the two older men she hadn’t met before—albeit the family resemblance was remarkable—grumbled about

“ungrateful whelps.”

“Next time you could try digging through the six feet of snow,” one of Gunnar’s brothers said. She heard humor behind the words, but still….

“Six feet? You could have dug us out?”

Gunnar rolled his eyes.

“Hey, honey,” Axel said, stepping out of the bathroom. “I got your stuff together, and a tub of warm water in there for you to wash up.” He flung his arm out toward the bathroom.

“Six feet? We weren’t really trapped?”

Gunnar looked a bit sheepish when he gave her a little shrug and a half grin. “Well, maybe more than six, but apparently the house was pretty much the end of the avalanche zone.”

She knew her irritation wasn’t from the fact they hadn’t dug themselves out. It was because all those…cat men…had seen her half-naked, and she was sure it was obvious to every one of them what she’d been doing with their brothers or sons.

Gunnar’s and Axel’s Cheshire cat grins didn’t help matters either.

Gripping the blanket tight around her, she scrambled to her feet, gave both men a good glare then stomped into the bathroom and slammed the door.

She heard Axel mutter, “And I thought she’d be in a better mood if we let her sleep a little longer.”

* * *

Dakota’s thoughts were troubled as she buried her nose in Axel’s back, hugged him closer and kept her gloved hands tucked inside his jacket pockets.

“Not much farther,” he hollered over his shoulder and the sounds of revved motors. Unwilling to lift her face into the wind, she answered with a nod that rubbed her cold nose against his jacket.

For a moment, she smiled at the memory of two grown men playing rock, paper, scissors to see who would get to drive with her as a passenger. Gunnar lost, so he now sat in catamount form—because there wasn’t a spare set of winter clothes for him—on the back of another snowmobile, his big paws on the shoulders of one of his other brothers.

The ride back made the return trip a lot faster than their hike to the cabin. The trouble was Dakota was unsure she wanted her adventure to end.

A part of her wanted to say to hell with the rest of the world. Stay in the moment as Axel had suggested.

But that moment was over. It was time for her to face reality.

She had a life, a career, back in Vegas. Nothing had brought that home to her more than seeing the curious