5. Emma
5
EMMA
"No, no, no.”
The feeling of the flames on my back is horrendous. The adrenaline has gone and it's replaced with sheer pain. I know I have to find the postman. He was trying to help me and then everything exploded. Standing, I stumble over to the door, and I can't see if he made it out of the house or not. Fear is gripping me tight. What if he's dead? He was trying to help me? How can I ever cope with his death? I look outside and see him on the step leading to the house.
"Sir, sir," I say as I run toward him. He opens his eyes and grabs hold of me. His eyes open.
“Your shirt is on fire. We need to take it off now or it's going to get a lot worse for you." He sits up and takes my shirt off and the pain is like nothing I've ever felt or want to feel in the future. I scream. I scream so loudly. Once the shirt is off, the postman pulls me into him again and hugs me.
"It's going to be okay. What's your name?"
"My name's Emma." He smiles at me. And I know everything is going to be okay. He takes out his cell and calls 911. He says he needs a fire truck and an ambulance and the police. Wow, are all those going to be showing up at my house right now?
I feel my body being lifted. "Shhh, Emma. It's okay I'm moving you into the bedroom. You were screaming and I don't want you to feel like you’re alone."
I open my eyes and see Luke. I immediately relax, for one moment I thought it was the poachers. Shit, I have to tell him about them tomorrow. He places me on the bed and then moves to the other side.
"We can both stay here tonight, then you don't have to be alone."
I roll onto my side, looking at him.
"Thank you. I was nearly at the end of the nightmare."
"That doesn't matter, you were clearly triggered by our conversation. I'm sorry." He closes his eyes.
"Did you sleep at all?"
"No, not really. I think I dozed until I heard you screaming. I thought you were getting mauled by a bear."
I laugh. I can just imagine Luke hearing me scream and rushing out, ready to tackle a bear. "Do you think you'd have been quick enough to get him off me?"
"Oh, I moved quick. I don't think I've ever got out of bed that quickly." He laughs. "Try and get some sleep, then you'll feel better."
"Thanks, I just hope you don't maul me like that bear you thought was in here." I laugh.
"I can't promise that." We both close our eyes.
Waking up in the bed next to Luke doesn't feel weird. Except for the fact he's spooning me. And during the night we must have moved and now he's behind me. I try to wiggle out of his hold, but he just holds me tighter. I giggle at myself. It feels good being in his muscular arms. He seems the type to be embarrassed, though, so I try to move again.
"Where are you going? To check if the bear has gone?" I feel his body move up and down as he laughs.
"I was trying to get out so it wouldn't be embarrassing." I turn to look at him.
"What's embarrassing? That we naturally, in our sleep, started spooning? Sure, it's natural when two people are in a bed together they spoon. Right?"
I laugh. "No, I don't spoon with my girlfriends? Do you spoon with your male friends?"
"No, I don't." He lets me go, rolls over, and stands up.
"Let's get cleaned up and then have some breakfast. There’s nothing like sitting and sipping coffee and looking out of that large window. It's my favorite place to be in this world." He moves around the bed and leaves the room.
It sounds fantastic. I stretch before standing and go to the bathroom to clean myself up a bit. When I walk into the sitting room, there is a roaring fire and I can smell a pot of coffee, but I can't see Luke. Moving into the kitchen, I grab a cup of the coffee, hold it in both hands and look out of the back window.
"Holy mother of God." Luke is outside chopping wood, and I have seen nothing more attractive in my life. He is hot. But watching the power he has over the ax as it comes down in precisely the right part of the wood is just to die for. I put my coffee cup down and grab my camera. I need photos of this. I could get a lot of money for these on one of those sites that people download photos and use them for book covers and swag. I think they'd love them. But I think I want to keep them just for myself. I could get used to watching him chop logs for hours. He looks up and catches me taking a photo. He smiles and then chops the next log. I take some more pictures and sit in the chair by the window.
He comes in about twenty minutes later with some newly chopped wood. It's funny, I can feel the cold radiating off him. He stands in front of the fire for a while just to warm up.
"I see you found the coffee,” he says, smiling at me.
"I sure did. I just followed the aroma. I took some photos of you chopping the wood. I hope you don't mind."
"Of course not, just as long as you keep them for yourself and don't sell them to anyone." He winks at me.
"I know what you were thinking." He laughs. He seems much more relaxed today. Grabbing himself a coffee, he comes to sit next to me in the other chair.
"The snow is still falling, and the storm seems to be quiet for now. We could try and climb a bit higher, but it might be dangerous."
"I don't want to put us in harm’s way, I've done that already."
"What do you mean?" He looks at me.
“When I first arrived in the forest, I was looking for somewhere to camp for the night. I was tired, and the storm was picking up. I found a spot, but I could hear people talking. So, I looked through the trees and saw men with rifles. I heard an animal cry out. I wondered if it was going to attack me. As I inched further and further into the darkness, I turned off my light, just in case it was the wolves. Grabbing my camera, I was ready to take the photo that I needed. But it wasn't wolves. No, it was much worse. It was a group of men who were harming the animals. I got down on the ground behind a tree and looked at what was happening. I knew the guy. It's Viktor Orlov and his gang of poachers. They heard me, but I outsmarted them and found somewhere to sleep for the night."
"But you were in danger, why didn't you go down the mountain to Frank?"
"Because I wanted the photos of the Blue Wolves so badly. I've been in worse situations, and I thought I’d outsmarted them, which I had because they didn't find me. So as soon as I woke up, I moved further up the mountain and ended up here."
"Do you think they know you're here? Will they come looking for you?"
"I've met Viktor Orlov and I can tell you that he’s like a dog with a bone. He won't leave until he's got what he wanted and he doesn't care how many casualties he has on the way."
"Had he caught anything?"
"Yeah, a bear. They said they were going to take it down the mountain and then come back up for the Blue Wolves. They’re looking for them too. But Luke, if they find them, they'll kill them. I just want to take photos of them. I'm not going to endanger them, they'll move on again and no one will see them for a long time."
"You should’ve told me this yesterday, Emma. I would’ve gone out looking for them and made sure they got off the mountain."
"I didn't think of it. I just needed a warm place to stay, and your cabin was so inviting that I totally forgot about them. It's like being in another world here."
"Okay, this complicates things a little. We’ll need to take weapons with us to track down the wolves, we never know if they’re going to be around or not. Is there any way they could have gone down the mountain with the bear and moved on somewhere else?"
"No, Viktor is not a man to give up on any mission. He is ex Russian military. He knows what he is doing. I'm not sure what to do, but yes he will be on this mountain looking for the Blue Wolves."
He's quiet for a while. He looks at me, and I can see his demeanor has changed. He looks like a soldier going on a mission. He stands and walks over to the fridge and pulls out some food for us to eat.
"Eat, we might not be able to stop for food, because however far we climb up the mountain we need to come down as well. We won't be camping out in this weather."
"Do you think we can do it?" I touch his arm to get him to look at me. "Luke, is it too dangerous then maybe we shouldn't do it."
He puts his hand over mine. "Emma, you've been waiting your whole life to do this. Don't back out now because of some snow." He laughs. "You've got me to help you. I know these mountains, I live here. If Viktor wants to come poach on my land, then he's got me to deal with. We’ll be fine."
My heart is racing. No one has ever backed me up with anything I've done. My friends think I'm risking my life on purpose because of my parents dying. That is not the truth. I've been like this since the day I survived the explosion and subsequent fire in my childhood home. Not that you'd really call it a home, more like a house.
I lean up and kiss him on the cheek, but he moves at the last second and I kiss him on the lips. The entire world stops turning for a split second.
I look down. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." When I dare look up, he's looking down at me.
"Babe, there is nothing to be sorry about.” I think he's going to step away, but he doesn't. He puts one finger under my chin and tips it upwards. He leans down and kisses me. It's not just a quick peck on the lips, it's amazing and when I kiss him back, I want more. God what is this man doing to me?
We pull apart, and he smiles. "I wanted to do that when I lifted you into my bed. But I thought it was inappropriate."
"I would have let you, Luke." I lean up again and give him a peck on his lips. They are plump and all I want to do is to suck it into my mouth, but I don't. I step away.
"Come on, we need to get ready for our hike today. I just hope the weather holds off long enough to let us get a bit higher today."
We pack our backpacks with food, drink, and, of course, my camera. I see Luke putting weapons in his bag and his pockets. He is certainly prepared.
"Right, Emma we aren't going to risk anything with this hike. If I think it's getting too much then we’ll turn around and come back. I don't want you arguing with me." He smiles at me. "I’m always going to be looking out for your safety. Do you hear me?"
I smile at him and lean up and kiss him again. A part of me wishes we weren't going out right now, but the photographer in me knows I’ll get some great shots and they won't be just the wolves, if we find them. I intend to take a lot of pictures of the snow and the landscape. I'm so excited.
"Let's go," he says as he opens the door for me.
"Maybe lock it today. The next people in here aren't necessarily going to be as nice as me if Viktor is around here."
"Had planned on it." I watch as he locks the door and puts the key away safely in his pocket before zipping it up. He goes ahead of me, and I follow him.
The terrain is difficult to manage with all the snow on the ground, but I follow his path, so that is much easier for me. After about two hours, he stops, stamps the snow down. "Let's sit here and rest. It's also a beautiful view from here."
I turn around and am greeted with a spectacular snowy mountain range. "It's gorgeous." I sit and take a protein bar and some water. "Do you mind if I take some photos? This is beautiful."
"Of course not, I wanted to bring you here for the view." He takes his food and water out of the bag and then hands me my camera.
I stand and start taking photos. I lose myself in the magic of the views.
"Are you ready to move further up? I saw some tracks on our way. I'm not sure what animal yet, but we’re following something." He stands and puts the rubbish into the backpack and we move on up.
The forest is now behind us, and the terrain is even more treacherous with the snow. I don't know how I even thought I could do this on my own. I'm stubborn and would’ve found a way.
Suddenly, Luke turns around. "Shhh," he says, putting his finger over his lip. He points ahead and to the right. I look in that direction and I see wolves. They’re so beautiful. Their fur is a blue silver.
"We found them," I whisper.
I’m so excited I want to jump up and down, but I don't want to frighten them away. Luke turns to look at me and his smile is huge, too. He's excited for me and that means a lot. This stranger that I've just met wants to help me, and he's gorgeous. Maybe this is all a dream. I pinch myself a few times just to check and yes, fuck, that hurts.
He points to the right. He wants us to move closer, so that I can get better photos. I follow his lead, as silent as I can be when the most beautiful creatures are standing right in front of me. It's not just about the money I can make, it's about me looking at these wolves who have only been talked about in folktales, but seeing they are real.
Luke kneels near them and holds out his hand for me to take and he brings me next to him. "Kneel here and take some photos. I don't think we should get too close to them, but if we are quiet, they might not run away."
I snap a lot of photos. The wolves don't hear us, so they just graze away. I see a couple of pups and they are happily playing. This is photography gold.
We hear a twig break, both looking in the direction it came from. The wolves also stare in that direction.
"It must be Viktor," I say. "He must have followed our tracks." I look back at the wolves. They are ready to bolt and leave.
"We need to leave. Did you get the photos?" Luke is already standing and I see a gun in his hand. He points it to where the wolves are.
"No, don't shoot them," I scream.
He looks at me and smiles. "I wouldn't do that. These are endangered animals." He shoots into the air above the wolves to make them run away from the noise. Ingenious. Before they leave, one wolf looks at us and it looks like he nods his head. They all leave, and I hope they run until they are exhausted and off this mountain range. The problem with him shooting his gun is that Viktor's men seem to come closer.
"Follow me, Emma. We need to go back down a different way." He grabs my hand, and we make our way back into the forest. Away from Viktor and his team.
There are moments when we can hear them. There's been a bullet or two headed in our direction, but they are too far away for a direct hit and Luke has us diving in between the trees so we don't get hit. My adrenaline is spiking once more. After running for an hour, we eventually need to stop. We can't hear anyone talking behind us.
"Let’s have some water. I think we've outrun them." Luke takes out my water from my bag and I take out his water for him. We take big gulps to help us cool down. I lay the bottle on my forehead so the condensation can cool me down.
"What are we going to do now?" I look over to Luke, who is doing the same thing.
"We need to make our way back to the cabin. I just need to get my bearings and then we will go." Luke is looking at his watch and I see it has a compass on it. Then he activates something that looks like a map. I let him do his thing. Survival is what he's used, and I think being shot at in a forest and running away from the Russian poachers is more his wheelhouse than mine.
"I'll follow you anywhere, Luke."
He smiles.
"What if I took you straight back to the poachers?"
"I know you won't. I trust you." I lean against a tree, watching him smile.
"Right, it's this way. Stay close behind me and follow my every step. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you. I'm right behind you." Mind you it's not a bad view standing behind him. Why am I thinking about his ass when we are in this position? Am I desperate for a man? No, but I do want Luke. And I think he wants me too.