Wolf Sings

Chapter 6

His stomach dropped as the avalanche raced past them. By the time the rumble faded, Keil had his transmitter out and switched to “seek” mode. They didn’t have much time to uncover TJ, but they did have longer than finding a human.

As long as TJ was conscious.

Keil turned to Robyn. She already had her transmitter in her hand. She was pale and her eyes seemed large enough to overwhelm her face, but she was going through each step methodically. Carefully.

He grabbed Robyn’s face in his hands, making sure she watched him.

“You know how to use your monitor?”

Robyn nodded.

“Since you can’t hear me if I shout, I want you to look at me every five paces, to be sure you’re aware of any warning I give. Understand?”

Robyn nodded again even as she shuffled away from him. She pointed up the mountain.

“Yes, you go up. If I signal ‘clear’ like this”—Keil slapped his fists together and pointed away with one hand—“I expect you to ski away as fast as you can. Understand?”

Her face grew grim and tight.

“I mean it. If you get caught in another avalanche, I won’t be able to save you both. Remember, TJ’s a werewolf. He’s stronger than a human. He’s going to be all right. Let’s go.”

The two of them skied quickly to the edge of the avalanche field and began the back-and-forth search motion to triangulate TJ’s position. Keil moved cautiously, his attention split between rescuing TJ and the need to keep Robyn safe. Letting his mate move away from him into the potential danger of another slide physically hurt.

His senses were on high alert. The sun reflecting off the snow seemed blindingly bright. The squeak of their skis on the rough snow surface became reassuring in its consistency. A few steps, a pause to check the monitor, a glance around the mountain. A flick of the eyes to see Robyn, then repeat the series.

The blinking light on his receiver grew stronger and he turned to follow its direction. The next time Robyn looked his way, he raised an arm and pointed.

Robyn double-checked her monitor and raised her arm, pointing downhill in a path that bisected across his angle.

They were narrowing the gap.

It was painfully slow work when every nerve in his body screamed for them to hurry before TJ’s air ran out. Keil took a moment to call out. “TJ!” He yelled in the direction he hoped they’d find TJ, but there was no response.

A trickle of sound reached his ears.

A low rumble in the distance.

He lifted his gaze to examine the mountains around them, fearful of what he’d see.

The peak to their left released a cornice of snow, the slide shifting a cloud of powder into the air. Quickly Keil estimated the angle of the slide, whether it would reach them, set off another slide on top of them.

The slope of the mountain curved away and Keil breathed a sigh of relief as the loose snow slipped behind a distant ridge out of sight and out of range of danger. He looked up to see Robyn watching intently for his signal. Escape or continue?

He pointed forward and Robyn nodded, trusting his judgment to continue her sweeping movements.

Her harsh shout a few moments later made his heart pound. He looked up to see her turning her ski pole into a depth probe. She pushed it through the snow to search for an air pocket or a buried body. Keil struggled up to her level, whipped off his shovel and prepared to dig.

“TJ, can you hear us?” Keil roared.

A welcomed howl rose to his ears. Keil threw up a prayer of thanks as he shoveled, Robyn working at his side. They dug into the hillside from the bottom to take advantage of the slope, trusting there would be less digging at that level. Soon Keil held out a hand to caution Robyn and get her attention.

“I don’t want to strike him. Let me dig, you watch for additional slides.”

Keil increased his speed, hearing TJ’s howl grow clearer.

“Stay back from the shovel if you’ve got the room,” Keil shouted as he swung at a furious pace. It was only a few more shovelfuls before he broke into the human-sized air pocket that contained the smaller wolf-sized body that was TJ. Keil watched as his brother scrambled out of the hole and, in his wolf body, circled around their legs in thanks.

TJ sat in front of the fire in the cabin sipping a steaming cup of hot chocolate. He’d run beside them all the way to the cabin as a wolf, his gear buried somewhere back on the hill.

“I still don’t get it. What part of ‘stay away from the right, the snow is unstable’ did you not understand?” Keil complained, dropping an extra blanket around TJ’s shoulders.

“Enough, I’m sorry. I got my lefts and rights mixed up. No harm done since Robyn made me put on the tracer. You found me, I’m fine.”

“TJ, that’s the third set of skis you’ve lost this year!”

The sound of logs crashing to the floor made both of them look up at Robyn’s stunned expression. She lifted a trembling hand to show three raised fingers, a questioning expression on her face.

“Yeah,” Keil said, “this is the third time Mr. Disaster has been in action this winter. His record is six times in a single season. I’m thinking of having a tracer permanently implanted—”

“Umm, Keil, why is Robyn glaring at me like that?”

Keil glanced up and he could have sworn he saw steam pouring out Robyn’s ears.

Just before she leapt across the room, grabbed TJ by the throat and shook him.

Hard.

“Whoa, there, Robyn.” Reaching around her, he gently grasped her forearms and loosened them from TJ’s neck. Muttering soothing words even though he knew she couldn’t hear, he settled her under his chin as her body continued to shake. “My guess is she’s a little shocked that we had to rescue you in the first place, TJ, and learning this is a typical experience in the bush with you might be more than she needed on top of everything else today.”

TJ had the grace to look embarrassed. He shuffled over and squatted to peer up at Robyn where she hid in Keil’s arms. “I’m sorry I scared you. I don’t think sometimes. I won’t do it again.”

“Ha!” Keil snorted. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, little brother. The sauna should be hot by now. Go get warmed up all the way. Robyn and I need to talk.”

TJ shot another concerned glance at Robyn before gathering his clothes and heading out the door.

Keil settled down on the chair by the fire, still holding Robyn in his embrace as they sat quietly together. Having her in his arms felt wonderful. She was small enough to treasure yet strong enough to react in a quick and fearless manner when faced with the emergency on the mountainside. She was going to be a fabulous mate for him.

She smelt wonderful too. He took in a deep breath and fought down the urge to throw her on the sleeping platform and rip off her clothes.

Her fingers slipped up and traced the edge of his jaw, and Keil shut his eyes to enjoy the sensations tingling through his blood. She wiggled and he looked down to see she was shaking silently, tears trickling from her eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He tilted her head back to reassure her and stopped at the expression on her face.

Sheer delight.

“What’s up, little bird?”

Robyn wiped at her eyes and crawled off his lap, stopping only to plant a kiss on his cheek. She returned to his side with her notepad, dragging up another chair so they could face each other but both still enjoy the fire’s warmth.

It may seem insane but I’m so happy right now, Robyn wrote.

“Happy? Having to rescue my brother makes you happy? Leaving him buried for once would make me ecstatic.”

A snort of laughter from Robyn made Keil smile.

“Tell me, how can having your whole world turned upside down like we’ve done to you today make you happy?”

Robyn stared at him for a minute and bent her head to write. She handed him the note pad while she signaled like she was drinking from a glass.

Keil turned to read her message as she went to the water bucket.

All my life I’ve been different. But it’s been bad different. It’s hard to share with new people. My only friends my brother and old family friends.

But you accept me right away. You trust me right away.

Your brother is an idiot right away! You’re real with me.

All that makes me very happy.

Keil lifted his head to see Robyn watching him with her big brown eyes, a soft smile on her lips.

“You have been different, but it’s not because you’re deaf. It’s because you were supposed to be a wolf. You were supposed to be around your pack who would love you and support you. That’s what’s been missing.” He took the glass she held out to him and placed it to the side with care before pulling her back into his arms.

“I won’t rush you, and you probably still have a ton of questions but, Robyn, you need to know that I’ll do anything for you. The connection between us is growing stronger, and I’m glad that I’ve found you.” He leaned down and kissed her.

Soft. Gentle. A kiss of exquisite tenderness. He put his heart into the motion, trying to tell her without words that she didn’t have to worry about him and that all the concerns of the day would work out fine in the end.

“How can I feel this connected with someone I just met?”

Keil froze.

He’d heard her voice in his mind.

Pulling back from her he stared into her eyes. He thought it would happen, but not already. They weren’t even mates yet. She hadn’t had her wolf triggered.

It was impossible.

“How did you do that?” Keil asked.

Her face grew puzzled and Keil tried to paste on a smile. It must have not worked because Robyn pulled away.

“Wait, try something for me. Tell me your favorite colour.”

After giving him the “are you insane” look she did oh-so-well, she reached for the notepad.

“No writing. Try and tell me in my head.”

Robyn stared at him. “He’s doing the crazynut thing again. I don’t have a favorite colour to tell him.”

“Everyone has a favorite colour, Robyn.”

All the colour drained from her face.“Did you hear me?”

Keil stroked her cheek and attempted to speak to her mind. “Yup, it goes well with the ‘crazynut thing’ that I do.”

Robyn scrambled backward off his lap, ending up in a pile on the floor.

“Holy shit! You can hear me. I can hear you! How is this possible, Keil?” She pulled herself up to her knees and hugged his legs tightly. Then she dragged herself upright until they were eye-to-eye. “Say something else to me.”

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

She blew a raspberry at him. “Say something intelligent.”

Instead he dove at her mouth, trailing kisses over her lips and flowing down the edge of her neck to bury his face in the V of her shoulder. “You’re beautiful and you smell like a spring meadow. Your skin feels fresh and clean like the wind blowing over the glacier. You taste like a fresh-caught fish with a good glass of wine.”

“You poet, you. You’re making me hungry.”

Keil lifted his head and stared into her eyes. “You make me hungry too, and I’m planning on doing something about it. I wanted to wait but…”

Her fingers laced into the hair at the back of his neck. “This is crazy. My body feels like I’m on fire. How can I hear you? You said this morning that mates could sometimes speak like this but we’re not mates. I mean, doesn’t that require us to have sex first?”

“It usually does, Robyn. The only thing I can think of is the adrenaline rush from the avalanche triggered you and started to link us. You’re an exceptionally strong wolf, and so am I. Not that I’m bragging or anything.”

Robyn blinked at him and he grinned back as he stood, lifted her and took a step toward the sleeping platform. He stopped and checked around the room. Shaking his head he turned back, a dark expression of longing on his face.

“Damn, I want you. But not here. Get your things together.”

“We’re going to have sex? Now?”

She was thinking so hard Keil could hear the echo of her concern bounce off the mountainside. “Now. And if that means we not only trigger your wolf, we get you pregnant at the same time, we’ll hold a double celebration. You’re my mate, Robyn. That means lots of great sex and a family to boot. Whenever it happens, sooner or later. You have any trouble with that?”

Her shy glance up into his face almost undid him.