Forever, his cougar reminded him.
Forever. Definitely forever. O’Malley cupped Hannah’s face in his hands and ran his tongue along her lower lip. He wanted to hold her close and never let her go. But just as Hannah had let her brother go, he needed to let Hannah go. She needed to find her peace with what had happened to her family.
“Is there somewhere we could take this a little more private?” she asked as their kiss broke.
“Let’s go see.” He took her hand and they went around the side of the waterfall, the spray soaking them, and Hannah shivered. She looked as if she’d walked through a rainstorm as they passed the toppled over pile of stones where she’d found the first of the poker chips.
O’Malley had no idea what lay around the side of the waterfall, he’d never been here before yesterday. But he’d been over plenty of other mountains and usually, the water had formed a small cave behind the sheet of water. Whether they could reach it safely was another thing. He had no intention of risking Hannah’s life trying to squeeze behind the powerful waterfall.
O’Malley held her hand tightly as they drew closer to the falls. The sound was like the roar of a jet engine as they drew level with it. There was a row of large rocks that led behind the water, they looked well-worn, as if the people who walked the pilgrim’s way often tried to find a way behind the curtain of water.
“Shall we try?” Hannah asked.
“Why don’t you let me go first?” O’Malley asked.
“I thought we were in this together?” Hannah tightened her fingers around his.
“We are.” He kissed her cheek and then stepped onto the first rock. The surface was slippery, but the rock was stable. O’Malley stepped onto the next one, half turning to check Hannah was okay. She nodded, her teeth worrying at her bottom lip as she found her balance.
O’Malley stepped forward again. The large boulders went to the left, angling around the back of the water that fell in a continuous sheet. One more step and he could see the cave hidden behind the falls. It looked large enough for them to sit in. He could also probably venture out and grab some firewood. If he was quick getting back across the rocks, the wood should be dry enough to burn.
“It looks cozy!” Hannah yelled over the sound of the water.
“Are you okay?” O’Malley hesitated. They were in a precarious position. If either one of them slipped and fell, they would be pounded by the water tumbling from above.
“Keep going.” She urged him on, and he turned away from her, gritted his teeth, and pushed on. As the water thundered past them O’Malley focused on putting one foot safely in front of the other while keeping a tight hold on Hannah’s hand. If she fell, he would pull her back to safety.
Or fall with her, his cougar added.
O’Malley ignored the feline side of him. He didn’t want to think of falling, he wanted to focus on taking his mate behind the wall of water and into a temporary den. There they could have some privacy before Kelos arrived.
They were nearly there. Only a couple more rocks to cross. Hannah grabbed hold of him with both hands as her foot slipped on a rock. O’Malley pulled her toward him, moving forward quickly until they stood, at last, on firm ground.
“I’m soaked.” Hannah let go of his hand and shook her clothes. “At least my jacket and pants are. Luckily, the jacket hasn’t leaked.”
“You’re going to be wet when we fly back with Kelos.” He pressed his lips together. He was stupid to bring her under the waterfall. If she was wet when they flew back, she might catch a chill.
“I can take my clothes off in here and let them dry off. Then I’ll put them back on when we go back under the waterfall.” She dropped her pack onto the solid slab of rock under their feet, which had been worn away over time by the pounding water of the falls. “When we get the other side, I can quickly change into dry clothes and put my wet gear in my backpack.”
“You have all the answers.” O’Malley looked around. “There’s a fire pit over there and some dry wood. I’ll get the fire going and then go back out to find some more wood. It’ll get quite cozy in here and we can eat and rest before we fly home.”
“Or, you could just warm me with your body heat,” she suggested.
“I can warm you with my body heat, but not the food.” He laughed as she sighed and stripped off her wet jacket.
“I suppose you’d better light the fire.” She placed her jacket over a nearby boulder, spreading it out to dry while he took some kindling from his pack and lit it with his flint and steel. When he was certain the flames were not going to blow out, he fed some of the bigger pieces of wood to the fire, until a cheery glow danced across the back wall of the cave.
“I could imagine people living here centuries ago.” She peeled off her pants and held them out to the fire. Steam quickly rose from the fabric and she turned them around, alternating sides while he finished making the fire and ensured it was safe and contained by moving small rocks to form a circle.
“My cougar would like to live here with you and raise some babies. A whole bunch of them if he had his way.” O’Malley watched her expression as he spoke.
“I like the idea of raising a whole bunch of babies with you but not in such basic conditions. Maybe when they are
