“I have to check the fire,” he murmured as he pulled away from her. “We don’t have much fuel.”
He glanced up at her and smiled shyly before he half turned to nurse the fire.
“Should I go and look for more wood?”
“I scoured the area while you were collecting the rocks and I couldn’t find any more. This should be fine for us to cook on. Then we can get into bed and share our body heat.” He grinned, his eyes dancing as he went back to his normal self.
“I’ll share your body heat. Unfortunately, I don’t have any spare.” She held out her hands to the fire and then rubbed them together. The temperature was dropping as the sun’s heat dissipated. The clear sky above would be great for stargazing, but it would mean a very cold night.
They worked together, developing a rhythm as they prepared their meal and boiled water for coffee. When it was ready, they ate in silence, savoring the quiet of the mountain, permeated by the occasional cry of a lonely bird and the crackle and spit of the fire.
It was as if they were on top of the world.
Or the last two people in the world. This must be how the first people felt. Alone in a big world.
Only she wasn’t alone. She had O’Malley, the cougar shifter.
“Will you shift for me?” Hannah asked as they finished packing everything away. The fire was nearly gone, and the cold was seeping through her many layers of clothes. The tent, or more particularly her sleeping bag, beckoned but she longed to see the other side of the man who called her mate.
In amongst worrying for Karl, the thought of exactly what that meant would creep in. Her brother’s disappearance wasn’t the only thing she needed answers to.
“Now?” O’Malley asked in surprise as he pulled his pack closed.
“Yes.” Hannah crept toward the tent. “If you don’t mind.”
“No.” His expression brightened. “Okay.”
He moved away from the fire, standing about fifteen feet away from the tent. “I feel like a kid in a school performance.”
She grinned. “It’s only me. Your mate. Aren’t we supposed to be a perfect fit?”
“We are,” he agreed.
“Then I am going to love your cougar, and this will be your perfect performance.” She batted her eyelashes. “I can applaud if that makes you feel better.”
“Clapping would just be weird,” O’Malley told her.
“Then I won’t clap.” She chuckled and pulled her knees up to her chin before wrapping her arms around her legs as if she were trying to make herself as small as possible.
“Ready?”
“Absolutely.” She held her breath as the air around O’Malley seemed to fizzle and pop. Then he was gone. For an instant, she was totally alone. For an instant, she felt like Karl must have when he took the pilgrim’s path on his own with no other person around for miles.
Then the cougar appeared. At first, she could only see a silhouette, and then it was as if someone painted on his features as his eyes and nose came into focus. Lifting his head, the tawny creature snarled and twitched his tail before stalking toward her.
A slow rumble greeted her as the large feline drew closer. She reached out her hand and the beast sniffed her hand before leaning forward and brushing his large head against her hand. She tickled him as you would tickle a cat under the chin. The rumble in his chest deepened.
“You are incredible.” She’d never been this close to such a magnificent animal. The cougar before her was sleek and strong, and O’Malley’s words came back to her. He would protect her against anything and now she that had seen the cougar, the other side of O’Malley, she knew it was true.
Seeing the cougar had also given her a new belief. If the cougar was real, then mates must be real. As she stroked his fur and planted a light kiss on his head, she was ready to give herself over to this notion once and for all. She was ready to believe.
When she lifted her head, she realized tears were streaming down her face and she’d left a wet patch on the top of the cougar’s head. “Sorry,” she murmured and then tried to dry it with her sleeve. The cougar just looked up at her with his deep sorrowful eyes that reminded her so much of O’Malley.
They were one and the same, she could see it in those eyes.
The cougar brushed his head against her cheek and then leaned on her shoulder as if he were hugging her. Hannah curled her fingers into his fur and let her tears fall. Tears for Karl’s unknown whereabouts, but mostly tears for the mom she’d lost. A mom who would never watch her daughter walk down the aisle.
As she hugged the cougar and cried, she knew that she would walk down the aisle and O’Malley would be the man waiting for her, ready to give her a happy ever after.
When her tears had subsided, she kissed the cougar again and then let him go. Emotionally drained, she kicked off her boots and slid back into the tent where she watched the cougar disappear and the man, O’Malley, returned to her.
“Are you okay?” he asked gently as he came to her, dropped to his knees, and held out his arms.
She nodded mutely and crept forward. Why had it been so much easier to cry in front of the cougar, to bare her emotions to someone who couldn’t talk? Perhaps because of habit. She’d spent so many years hiding her true emotions from the people around her. Even from herself, it was the touch, the warmth, the nearness of an animal who didn’t judge that had finally pulled
