“Please, Rachel. Don’t die.”
Color slowly seeped back to her flesh and her lips. He lowered his head to her chest. Her heart beat slowly, but without long pauses. One thump after another. Each drumbeat gaining strength. Keeping her alive. With him. The gash on her forehead faded. A miracle, but she wasn’t out of danger. He must keep her warm until the storm passed and he could get her out of there.
He gently returned her to the bed and spooned behind her. The feel of her smooth flesh, made him groan with need. His desire must wait. Such a forbidden pleasure would come to naught. After Howard survived near death, the last thing he’d want to know was Lev had forced her to be his. Yet, his wolf differed in opinion. The claim had been made. He’d tasted her intoxicating blood. Sorry, my friend.
Rachel, in a semi-awake stage, sighed in pure contentment. One moment, a huge avalanche had buried her alive and the next a big wolf had dug her out. Taken her to a deep forest where the sun’s warmth grazed her flesh with live healing heat. Together, they stood in a meadow of flowers. The dream lingered as a large warm man spooned her naked body. Warm breath on her neck. His thick arms draped around her, holding her in a strong grip, but giving her enough freedom for her to breathe. His engorged member pressed against the small of her back and her butt. Lev’s arousal. Oh, yes.
She opened her eyes. Not a dream.
Naked.
With Lev. Shit. Lev! Disoriented and unable to move, she rasped, “What is going on?”
He sprung up and grabbed a blanket to cover his rather pleased-to-be-sharing a bed erection. “You almost froze to death.” Lev straightened and smirked. “I saved your life.”
Ice cold air slapped her and reason returned to her muddled head. Escape. Avalanche. Naked. With Lev. In Nepal.
Rachel pulled the thick sleeping bag up, wishing she still had her macho Russian heartthrob heating pad surrounding her freezing flesh. She glanced around and then returned to the ripped, hard-muscled Russian Adonis. He smiled at her as if it had been his plan all along to shelter her with that glorious body of his. Cocky as ever. Then again, he did it to save her life not to catch a quick or rather long feel. That might have been wishful thinking on her part. “Oh. Th-thank you.”
“Stay covered. I’ll make some hot coffee.”
Lev turned to start a propane camp stove, exposing his muscular ass. Powerful like the hindquarters of a racehorse. No wonder he could run fast. The subzero temperatures bit through her covers, yet he walked around as if he’d never left his heated hotel room. Even if he had been raised in the tundra, no human could tolerate such severe cold temperatures. She glanced around. “We are back at the camp where you found me.”
“Yes. Until the storm passes.”
She fingered the gash on her forehead. It felt healed, more like a minor scratch rather than an open wound. Maybe, the cut hadn’t been as bad as she thought. Her attention turned to her nape. It itched and she touched it. Dented as if by a bite. “Something bit me.”
Lev snorted, mischief in his blue eyes. “You are safe now.”
Her cheeks burned. Shit. He gave me a hickey while I was knocked out. Weird, but going to drop it. If there was a next time, she wanted to be awake to experience the thrill of feeling his bite on her soft skin. “What happened to the kidnappers?”
“Don’t worry about them. They are no longer a problem.”
“As in, they are dead?” If not outright killed by the fierce bear, they certainly must have frozen if they were outside during the blizzard.
“Precisely.”
“They said a helicopter would pick them up, but not sure when.”
Lev stiffened. “The storm will buy us time.”
“True.” If they attempted flying now, they’d crash in the low visibility and stormy weather.
He grabbed her clothes and handed them to her. “Get dressed. I will make breakfast.”
She gaped. “How did my clothes dry?”
“Old Russian secret.”
“Like digging out of a killer avalanche.”
“Yes, survival skill.”
Rachel had a million questions about him. That is, if he could answer them without compromising his mission. He was definitely special ops of some type. Russian master spy? Perhaps some international team of kickass soldiers. Or as Madam Montfort stated a rougarou? The man who landed near
the entrance as a wolf before morphing back to a human could not have been a hallucination caused by the elevation. Rachel chose to accept his lame explanations for now. First, dress for warmth and avoid the temptation to press her aching nipples against his hot hard body. She nodded. “Turn around.”
With only the blanket concealing his nether regions, it accentuated his ripped abs. Lev could be the poster model for a protein or muscle supplement advertisement. He chuckled and returned to gathering freeze-dried foods.