Chapter Six
Redirection
Eli
––––––––
“S TAY CLOSE.”
A stark blanket of snow had carpeted the ground in only a few minutes, soaking the bottom half of her body with icy water. If I didn’t get her close to a fire soon, hypothermia would follow rapidly.
I won’t let that happen.
I wasn’t prepared to lose someone else.
“How much farther?” She sounded exhausted as I tugged her against my body. “This pack weighs a ton.”
“Let me take it.” I reached for the nearest strap.
“No.” Dodging my grasp, she almost stumbled on the uneven ground. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It wasn’t a discussion.”
As the only remaining member of my original party, and the one who was by far the cutest to begin with, I was growing fond of Erin, but there were things about me she just didn’t know.
I was a brute, used to getting what I wanted.
If we were going to be thrust into each other’s company in the short term, she’d do well to learn those lessons fast.
Pausing, I tugged at the strap to prevent her from walking away. “Give it to me.”
A crease appeared in her brow as she glanced back at me. “I can cope.”
“You’re my responsibility.” I pressed closer to her body. “And that means I take care of you.”
I saw the counter-argument gleaming in her eyes. Oh, sure... Just like you took care of the others .
But the words never reached her lips.
“Fine.” She shuffled the pack from her shoulders and thrust it at me. “Take it.”
“Or...” Staring down the defiance flashing in her gaze, adrenaline rushed through my body. ‘ Thank you for offering to take my bag for me, Eli .’”
I realized that keeping us there in the falling snow while we bantered over how to speak to one another was counter-intuitive to my goal of keeping her well, but for some reason, I couldn’t fight the urge to correct her.
I was used to getting what I wanted, but her insubordination was swelling something unexpected in me. I didn’t just want her compliance for the sake of our health and safety; I longed to put her in her place.
“What?” She stared at me as though I was mad.
“You heard me.” My voice lowered as the craving she’d stirred burgeoned. “I want to help you, but you can speak to me with gratitude and respect.”
“Oh.” She shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. Apparently, she hadn’t expected to be held to account. “Well, thank you, Eli.”
It wasn’t quite the perfect demonstration of deference I’d conjured in my mind, but a nod of my head signaled it was good enough. There would be time to deal with Erin, to get to know her better and decide why her large eyes appealed to me so much, but that moment would have to wait.
Swinging her bag onto my free shoulder, I motioned to the upcoming incline, glad I’d elected to leave James’s pack behind.
“We just need to make it up this slope and we’re home and dry.”
We’d actually be neither, but if we were lucky, the hut would be manned and there’d already be a roaring fire for her to recuperate by. If not, then I had to pray that the last ranger had left a stock of firewood because everything outside would already be soaked with snow.
“You call that a ‘slope’?” Her eyes widened as we approached.
“It’s a slope around these parts.” I might have chuckled at her shocked visage had the situation not been so serious. Whatever constituted a workout in Erin’s normal life, she’d have to dig down and endure if we were going to make it to the comparative sanctuary of the cabin. “Come on. I have your back.”
Peering around at her, I acknowledged once again just how attractive she was. Probably a few years younger than I was, she had wonderful, soft-looking skin and stunning green eyes. Perhaps I’d enjoy the impromptu stay with her more than I’d first anticipated. Spending time with such an appealing woman was certainly no hardship.
“How do you know so much about this area?” She wrapped her arms around herself as we started the ascent.
“I’m a guide, Erin.” Fixing my gaze on the zenith of the hill, I scanned the area for any sign of the hut. It was there—I knew it was—but I couldn’t yet see it. “You know that.”
Another dark shape loomed in my peripheral vision, fleetingly distracting me from the mission.
Not now ...
Jaw clenching, I tried to ignore its unnatural movements as it ducked under the bushes and crawled along the aging trunks, but even after all the practice I’d had at dealing with the ghosts of my past, it was challenging to pretend the specter wasn’t there.
Hiding behind one of the encroaching, snow-laden trees, the shadow slinked from one trunk to the next, watching our trek and stealing my focus from getting Erin where she needed to be.
“But knowing where all the park rangers hide away?” Her teeth chattered as she pushed past the latest contorted branch and traipsed on. “This is a little off the beaten track for a guide, isn’t it?”
Smirking, I added ‘smart’ to the ever-increasing list of her assets.
“Very good.” Briefly, I contemplated dodging her inquiry, but there was something about Erin that demanded my honesty. “I used to be a ranger around here. That’s why I know the park so well.”
My admission hung in the air as she struggled over the roots of a neighboring tree. Calming when the sky was a sapphire blue overhead, the trees could be cruel and grasping when the weather turned.
“You went from park ranger to tour guide?” Puzzlement glinted in those alluring eyes as she paused to catch her breath.
“That’s right.” Even I heard the defensiveness in my voice. “Is that allowed?”
“Sure.” Her eyes locked with mine. “I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”
Reaching around her, I steered her in the right direction. If I was right about the hut’s location, it would be just over the brow of the hill.
“You’ll find I’m full of surprises, Erin.”
***
Erin
––––––––
A PARK RANGER?
Eli’s previous role surprised me, although I wasn’t immediately sure why. He was certainly fit enough to be a ranger and had the presence of mind the role would require. I didn’t doubt how much he admired nature, but somehow, I recognized a dark glint in the rugged stranger, something deep and foreboding in his eyes that suggested he was more than only a guardian of the wildlife.
Don’t be silly. Wriggling my fingers to keep my blood circulating, I glanced his way. I don’t even know him.
Regardless of his qualifications for the role, I still couldn’t understand why he’d have chosen to go from ranger to guide. Surely, that was a step down the ladder.
What does it matter?
The truth was, Eli was an enigma who was helping me by looking for somewhere we could shelter from the unexpected storm. I should have been thankful—and I was—but I couldn’t shake the niggling feeling there was more to the man than he was letting on.
“There!” Excitement rose in his voice as he pointed into the distance.
Looking past his finger, a torrent of fresh flakes floated past. The snow was falling so quickly that I had to strain to see through the wall of white, but as my eyes adjusted, I could just make out the outline of what looked like a wooden building.
“That’s the ranger’s hut.” He pulled my bag tighter around his left shoulder as he marched off through the blizzard. “We’re nearly there.”
Trudging behind him, my limbs begged to differ. It didn’t matter that the hut was only meters from where we were or that the building offered hope in an otherwise seemingly bleak landscape. The only things dominating my mind were how excruciating the cold had become and how, given the state of me, even with Eli’s help, poor Chelle wouldn’t stand a chance.
Chelle.
Pain ached in my chest, fresh tears pricking at the thought of my friend. We’d disagreed about James, but that didn’t change the years of support and companionship we’d shared.
If anything happened to her—and at that juncture, short of a miracle, I couldn’t believe in any other outcome—I’d only have myself to blame. I should have made her stay with us, should have grabbed onto her and refused to let her leave.
What sort of friend permitted another to wander off into the wild alone and unprepared? What sort of friend—
“Erin.” Exasperation radiated from Eli in waves as he neared. “What’s wrong?” Now?
His tone expressed the final word he didn’t articulate.
“It’s Chelle.” I was loath to cry in front of him again—he’d think I was an utter fool. “She’ll never make it out there in this weather.”
He wrapped an arm around me, the concern in his eyes confirming the dread snaking in my stomach.
“She had her bag with her.” His voice was gentle suddenly, his tone quite unlike the man who’d demanded I demonstrate my gratitude when we’d set off in the snow. “And she’ll have waterproofs too. All being well, she’ll have wandered down to the river and found the emergency services.” His gaze rose to the sky as though he expected to see the helicopter hovering overhead. All there was to see, though, was more and more falling snow. “She’ll be okay.”
“I hope so.” I sniffed, daring to hope he could be right. I found it hard to believe she’d had the good fortune to find a ranger’s hut on her travels. I’d never have survived without Eli’s direction. I’d have been curled up under a tree somewhere, close to freezing to death.
“Come on.” Squeezing my shoulder, he took my hand and yanked me across the final few meters of snow.
Our destination was at the top of the incline in the middle of a medium-sized clearing. The structure was larger than I’d expected, but the building itself was in complete darkness and inevitably fast being buried under the expansive white blanket smothering every direction the eye could see.
Surveying the black of the hut’s windows, I was reminded of the state of my mind. I couldn’t ever remember being so cold before or feeling so wretched for whatever reprieve I was about to experience. Why should I get out of the snow when I’d condemned Chelle to freeze in it? I might not have sent her away, but I’d done nothing to make her stay. My head ached with the weight of the weary contradiction.
“Is this it?” I didn’t mean for the question to sound as ungrateful as it did. “I mean, it looks empty.”
“Yeah.” He stomped the final few feet to the wooden door and surveyed the structure. “It doesn’t look like there’s anyone at home, so we’ll just have to let ourselves in.”
Dropping both bags into the newly fallen snow, he tried the door, which, as expected, was locked. He turned and lowered to open his backpack, and I watched, fixated, as he rummaged inside. I had no idea what I expected him to pull from there—a crowbar, perhaps, or a hammer. What he produced from the pack, though, almost stopped my heart altogether.
“A g-gun?” Panic spiked anew as he tugged the offensive-looking weapon from its hiding place. “Why do you have a gun?”
“The forest is full of predators, Erin.” Lifting the gun, he released the safety gage, and instinctively, I edged away. “Especially as dusk falls. It’s sensible to keep a deterrent handy.”
“Oh.” I didn’t like the idea that he’d had a gun with him the entire time we’d been hiking, but Eli had given me few reasons to distrust him.
“It’s okay.” He sighed as though I was being ridiculous and turned toward the door. “It’s not going to hurt you. It’s going to get us inside.”
“Right.” I huddled my arms around my chest as he took aim. Glancing around as though I was doing something naughty by allowing him to proceed, I imagined someone in authority charging out of the wilderness and hauling my ass to jail.
Stupid. Squeezing my eyes shut, I chastised myself. I’m being stu—
The sentence was halted as a single gunshot rang out around the desolate clearing. Some frightened birds flapped their wings and flew away at the abrupt noise, and watching them flee, I was envious of their freedom. However ‘noble’ Eli seemed, I was stuck there with him until the snowstorm had passed, and however scary that prospect seemed, I knew I should have been thankful for the sanctuary. Whatever his attempted reassurances about Chelle, I couldn’t see how anyone would survive out in the weather for long without assistance. I could only hope his guess was correct and that wherever she’d gone, she’d stumbled into help.
He moved toward the door again, and that time was able to barge it open with his shoulder. Staring into the gloom of the desolate cabin, my heart sprinted faster. From what I could make out, the place didn’t seem idyllic.
“Come on, Erin.” Holding the door open, he beckoned me toward him. “Let’s start a fire.”