Dark Tales 1 (6 page)

Lea shook up her soup and poured a measure of it into her cup. She sipped at it slowly while the guide moved around the group to brief them on what was happening next.

When it was her turn, Brady brushed the snow off the log and settled down next to her. He leaned over. “You are miserable, aren’t you?”

She made a face. “Yup. Just counting the hours.”

“Why are you here? You don’t seem the type to make it this deep into the woods.”

Lea chuckled. “I am not, but I promised myself that I wouldn’t pass up any opportunity to try something new. This is the something new, and I am trying it. I like the forest, though.”

He grinned. “Excellent. That is half the battle. Well, we are heading downhill for a bit, so expect to go fast or bite the dust. Don’t be afraid to shout out if you go down.”

Lea sighed. “You will be too far up to hear me. I fall over with amazing stealth.”

He smiled. “Eat something else before we go. You are burning more calories than you think.”

“Yes, sir. Whatever you say, Brady.”

He winked and got to his feet. “Call me sir.”

She watched him walk away; his outdoor clothing masked what she guessed was an impressive physique. He certainly looked like he had a lot of stamina.

She was still watching him walk away when he turned and winked at her. Her cheeks flared with a blush. Damn, he had caught her looking at his ass.

They were an hour into the afternoon trek when Lea saw the man in front of her dip over a ledge and head down a hill. By the time she got to the top, he whooshed around the corner, leaving her alone.

Lea watched her skis bend and teeter at the edge of the hill. Her knees wobbled as she eased forward, and before she could change her mind, she was over the edge, bending low and trying not to die.

She went down the hill, made her own track and kept going straight through the brush. She squeaked as the leaves slapped her skin, and she continued further and further downhill. In a panic, she managed to stop herself in a wide sprawl. Why was it that the one time she needed to fall over, she cruised for what felt like miles?

Chunks of snow had made it up her jacket and crept into her snow pants during her slide. The icy trickle ran down her inner thigh as she unclipped her skis and headed back to retrieve her poles from whatever tree had grabbed them on her way down.

Lea looked up when the first fat flake of snow landed on her nose. “Fuck.”

She followed her trail on foot, grabbing one pole at a time and moved quickly when she noticed that the path was being obliterated by the snow. Wind picked up and blew over her trail. She wanted to scream, but she moved faster, trying to keep an eye on the path she had taken to get to her current location.

Snow came down, and the wind swirled it, blinding her until she had no idea which way she was going. Tears froze onto her lashes as she continued hiking. She dropped her skis and used her poles to help her fight through the bush.

An hour later, her legs were burning and she was calling herself seventeen kinds of stupid. The sun was setting soon, and she needed to find shelter if she wasn’t going to turn into a sad story. She started looking for a place to wait out the snow.

The crisp air had lost its allure, and it was only when she saw a stone gash in a low hill that she felt she had a chance. Bat caves might be diseased, but most of what they carried was curable, and those little bodies gave off a lot of heat. She was willing to risk bats.

The exposed stone that wasn’t holding onto the snow told her it was warmer than the surrounding area. That was good as well. She kept her poles with her as she crept toward the crevice. The warmer air didn’t have the stench of dung, so she eased inside and felt a flutter of hope that she wouldn’t die in the frozen forest.

In the morning, she could orient herself and head south to the parking lot and her car. She had a compass, but with the fading light, she didn’t have time to get back to her vehicle.

If she had a map or directions, she would have tried for the cabin, but that wasn’t something that she had been offered, and she had been too shy to insist on a copy.

The warm air inside the cave was moist, and she followed the current through twists and turns to a wide pool that stretched off into the darkness.

The steam coming off the water had formed a slick surface on the stone, so she moved carefully around the heat source and tried not to consider herself lucky.

The humidity would soak into her suit and freeze her to death the next day. She had to take steps to protect her outerwear.

With a deep sigh, she emptied the contents of her pack onto the slick stone and then peeled off her ski suit, stuffing it into the protection of her pack. At least she wouldn’t be putting on a sodden mess the next day.

Looking down at her inner layer, she made a decision. She stripped down to the thin thermal underwear and put the rest of her clothing in the pack with the compressed suit.

The cave was dark, but an odd glow was coming up from the depths of the water. With the absolute darkness in the shadows, the light actually made the room comfortable, if a little creepy.

Lea ate one of the granola bars in her pack and finished the soup before scooting to the highest and driest edge she could find. She checked the time on her phone, noted that there were still no bars and put it to sleep to save the battery. She would use the light in the morning to find her way out.

The puff of her pack was her pillow, and she settled against it to sleep.

She smiled in the darkness. “Nothing like cross-country skiing for a good night’s sleep.”

Her sarcasm kept her from crying.

* * * *

Someone was in his territory. He lifted his head to sniff and followed the light, feminine scent toward the hot spring.

The taste of her fear hung in the air, and it made him hesitate. When he stood in the shadows and watched her settling in to sleep next to the sedating spring, he had to admire her thinking with her placement. She was as dry as she could get, but if he left her there, she would not get up. The gases given off by the spring were toxic to mammals over a period of hours. The beasts knew enough to keep clear of this place.

He thought about it for a few heartbeats and watched as her breathing slowed. He had to get her, or she would not wake up.

He moved around the pool and caught her up, lifting her and cradling her against his chest while grabbing her pack in one motion.

His wide, heavy feet were silent as he stepped around the pool and retreated to the shadows where the access to his shelter was. The storm outside was going to take days. He was going to have something for his guest to eat.

He settled her in his sleeping pallet and headed outside to find some food before it all went to ground.

* * * *

Lea turned and felt softness all around her. The sound of the water was gone, and she was in deep shadows where a small glow was the only light source.

She chalked it up to being half awake and settled back into sleep.

Lea felt, more than heard, that she was not alone. There was also the tang of blood in the air. That woke her up completely.

A huge, shadowy figure was in the corner, and the sound of ripping flesh was distinctly audible. Lea shivered. This was not where she had gone to sleep.

Her pack was a few feet away, and she knew it wasn’t a dream. Her imagination never included scents of musk and blood when she dreamed.

She must have made a sound, because the shadow paused and slowly turned toward her.

She covered her mouth with her hand as she swallowed her scream.
Has to be a dream, has to be a dream, a dream, a dream.

Bigfoot was real, covered with blood and had a chunk of raw meat in his hand.

She held perfectly still, and he put the meat on a stick and parked it over the small fire in the corner of the room. He calmly dealt with the rest of the carcass, carrying it to the next room.

She was shaking with fear.

He glanced at her, huffed and passed her, covered with blood. She couldn’t see what was in the shadows, but he disappeared.

The moment he was out of her sight, she ran to the exit where he had taken the deer. Her body felt heavy, jerky. A thick animal pelt hung from the top of the wall, and as she pushed it aside, she was wrapped in frozen hell. Different carcasses were embedded in the walls. Ice was forming on the fresh meat and there were two fully clothed human bodies on the far side. There was no way out of this room.

A huff sounded behind her, and she turned slowly to see the eight-foot beast-man looking at her. He was damp and the fur on his torso frosted as she stared at him.

He let out another huff and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against him and out of the cold room.

She shivered as his hand covered her back. He urged her back into the warmth of the room she had woken in, and the blood had been cleaned up from the butchering spot. He was very fast.

The meat was starting to sizzle over the fire, and when he had her coaxed back into the fur-lined nest, she watched him twist the stick so that the other side began to warm.

With his domestic duties completed, he walked over to her.

She took in the rich brown fur, the huge dark eyes in the ugly and vaguely human face.

He pointed to the frozen room and grunted out with some difficulty. “Frozen. Death.”

He pointed to the exit he had used to bathe. “Water. Death for people. You sleep. You dead.”

He was making a lot of effort to speak, and she understood against her own better judgment.

“I can just go.”

He shook his huge head. “Storm. Days.”

She blinked in surprise. “What?”

“Not safe. Storm days. You die.”

Days?

She shrank back while her mind spun. “Why save me? There are two dead men in the cave.”

A bright smile came into his huge eyes. “They slept. They died. You slept and alive. Very soft.”

She blinked at the warmth in his tone, forced around the fangs that were visible when he spoke.

It was obvious that communication was difficult, so she eased toward him. “I am in your bed. You need it more than I do.”

He grunted. “Stay. We share.”

She wasn’t quite sure what he meant until he moved toward her, crowding her against the wall. He pulled her against him and rolled so that she was watching the small flames that were cooking her meal. She was pretty sure it was for her, as his teeth had shown he was more than capable of going directly to the source.

One of his huge hands was around her ribs with a thumb between her breasts. The other was around her hips. He let out a happy sound and pulled her in until the soft fur on his body was nestled against her back.

Lea shivered nervously, but it soon became obvious that he was willing to leave her on her own. He wanted to sleep.

His chin was on top of her head, and she fought the slow rhythm of his breathing. It was no use, she was still drowsy, and he took her with him into sleep.

The smell of food woke her, and to her shock, her bedmate was crouched by the fire, turning the meat.

Lea smiled slightly. Bigfoot had bedhead.

She sat up as he pulled the meat away from the fire. It looked fully cooked, which could only mean she had been out for hours.

He huffed when he saw her sitting up and beckoned her in close. With his long fingers, he peeled off strands of meat and offered them to her.

She was hungry, but taking the meat from his hands seemed weirdly ritualistic. It was plain but hot, and she collected all the pieces from him, slowly nibbling until hunger overcame manners.

She consumed the portion and licked her lips. “I am guessing that the water isn’t safe.”

He huffed again and walked to the wall near the spring. He brought back a leather skin that sloshed. He carefully enunciated, “Snow.”

She smiled and found the opening, drinking carefully but keeping one eye on her host.

“Now I need to ask about where I can... uh... relieve myself?”

He made another huffing noise and beckoned her to follow him. He took her through a hall, and she could feel the heat from the spring. A deep alcove had a small waterfall and a wide pit below it.

He pointed, and it was instruction enough. He lumbered back down the tunnel, but she could feel him waiting for her.

She had to strip from the waist down to crouch without soaking her clothing, and after cleaning up in the warm waterfall, she tried to tug the insulated Lycra back into place over skin that wasn’t cooperating.

She washed her hands and soaked her head, trying to clear it. With wet hair and feeling a little more in control of her body, she returned to her host.

He blinked his eyes slowly when she came around the corner. The dim light must have been enough for him. He trailed his fingers down her wet hair and down to where her nipples were straining at the fabric from the cold and damp.

A tiny zing of pleasure went through her at the touch. She moved back, and he huffed, wrapping a hand behind her and pulling her back into the living area.

Lea didn’t fight him. He had torn a deer limb from limb with his bare hands. Her safety and survival was at his whim.

For all of her modern-woman philosophies, she didn’t think she would have to worry about him wrecking her reputation in the real world, so as long as doing what he wanted didn’t hurt her, she would go along with him.

No one would ever believe her anyway.

He stood her next to the nest of furs and knelt in front of her. He tugged at her clothing. “Go.”

She glanced between his thighs and saw something twitching. “Can’t I just...” She made a motion toward his groin.

He pulled at her shirt again. “Go.”

Lea pulled her shirt off and then bent to peel her leggings away. Her bending took her perilously close to his rising cock, and her senses went into overdrive, taking in the heat coming from his body and the salty, musky scent that came to greet her. It had the wild smell of forest loam in the autumn, a strangely specific scent, but that was what she smelled.