Chapter 19 #3
“And I’m not going to sit in here like a sitting duck while you walk into a herd of panicked hairballs.”
My jaw clenches.
She reaches for the release. “I’m coming.”
The growl that leaves me is so deep I feel it in my ribs. She freezes for half a second, then looks directly into my eyes.
“Oh, huff and puff all you want. The longer we sit here, the more your friends suffer.”
She looks toward the mammoths as I raise the canopy, the cold slamming into both of us. Dawn gasps as the temperature drops around us, but she doesn’t complain. I grab her small frame before she can climb down herself and vault from the cruiser.
We hit the snow. My feet sink nearly to my thighs. The cold cuts through my fur instantly. Dawn curls against me as I lift her onto one arm. For a moment, the world is nothing but white.
Snow.
Wind.
Cold.
The distant groan of shifting ice.
Then the mammoths move as the herd notices us. Every muscle in my body locks. The matriarch turns and she is enormous. Her tusks are longer than my body, and snow clings to the thick fur around her face. Her dark eyes settle on me.
Then Dawn.
A deep rumble rolls through the herd.
Dawn stiffens against my arm.
“Easy,” I whisper.
I know not whether I am talking to her or myself.
The matriarch stomps one massive foot. The ground trembles and I tighten my hold on Dawn ready to run if I need to. Another stomp and she lowers her head. For one horrible second, I think she is going to charge. My beast surges forward, ready to fight something that could crush me beneath one foot.
But I force it down. Not here. Not with Dawn. Not with Gelid behind that herd.
The matriarch snorts. A plume of vapor washes over us. Then she lifts her head and steps aside, just one step, but it is enough. The mammoths shift around her, opening a narrow passage. I stare at them.
They are letting us through. Why? My gaze drops to Dawn. She is tucked against my chest, her small body nearly swallowed by my arms. Then the thought hits me. She looks like a youngling. Maybe the matriarch thinks I am carrying one of my own. Whatever the reason, I will not question it.
I start forward … Slowly … Every step deliberate.
The mammoths tower over us on both sides. Their bodies radiating heat, but I can barely feel it beneath this intense cold. Their massive feet sink into the snow and every movement sends vibrations through the ground.
Then I hear voices. Faint. At first, I think it is the wind. Then I hear it again.
“Jeton, you are absolutely not carrying me all the way to the compound.”
Gelid.
Alive!
My chest loosens.
“I would never live it down.”
Jeton answers, his voice strained. “You are not going to live long enough to be embarrassed.”
“I will lie here and let the frost take me first.”
“Gelid, you know I am right. If you do not get your stubborn ass up, you will die here.”
I step around the last mammoth and there they are. Gelid is half-buried in snow, one leg twisted awkwardly beneath him. Blood stains the white around his side and his fur. His face is flushed, his breathing shallow.
Jeton is beside him. One arm hangs uselessly against his chest, his wrist already visibly swelling. He looks exhausted, but he is standing.
“Gelid, you old fool,” Jeton mutters. “Who will take care of your so-called babies if you freeze out here?”
“That is none of your concern! You are not at the compound enough to have an opinion.”
Jeton crouches beside him. “Grab hold of me, NOW.”
“I told you—”
“I heard you.”
Jeton shifts his good arm beneath Gelid’s shoulders. “I cannot lift you with this broken wrist; you are going to have to help me.”
Gelid groans. “Stop! You are only making it worse.”
“Then stop arguing.”
I almost laugh, then whistle. Their heads snap toward me. Jeton’s eyes widen. Gelid’s mouth drops open. For a moment, neither of them says a word. Then Gelid looks at Dawn tucked securely against my arm.
His eyes narrow.
“Is that…”
I step forward through the snow.
“Yes.”
The relief on his face when he first saw me only lasts a heartbeat before irritation replaces it.
“You brought her … your human mate out in the frost? Foolish young male, leave this instant and do not risk her life for the likes of either of us.”
Before I can say a word, the mammoths shift their sensitive ears, picking up Gelid’s distress. Then a low rumble rolls through the pass, and the temperature drops fast. The frost has found us. Both males look up at the frost coming over the top of the ridge, then back at me. I set Dawn down.
“Stay right here. Do not move. I need to get Gelid up, and I am already fighting my beast with them being this close.”
Dawn nods, looking around, her eyes wide.
Even though I know she is trying to hide it, I can see she is scared.
I make my way to the others quickly and with Jeton’s help, we clear the rest of the snow and rock from around Gelid’s leg, and then I gather him up in my large arms even though he is protesting every breath.
My beast only hears parts of what he is saying as he is still going on about the fact that I put Dawn down for him.
Jeton starts to move toward her, but the sound that leaves my throat stops him in his tracks. He holds up his hands and steps back. I am torn, and for once, I do not know what to do. I cannot carry both of them out of here, and there is no way my beast will let Jeton assist.
Just then, my world practically stops as a calf breaks away from its mother, making its way toward Dawn. I want to scream for her to run. I know the mother, if agitated, will stomp her to death, but Dawn just stands there with her hand out.
The little one approaches like they have been friends forever, nudging her playfully. The sound of Dawn’s laughter breaks through my foggy thoughts. None of the large mammoths seem upset as they watch.
“They must think she is a youngling, HaL. The calf is imprinting on her and her unique smell. That is the same little fracker I was chasing because he got loose from the outer shelters. He is the little idiot that put me in this predicament.”
“Are these mammoths around us not wild?”
He looks like he is counting the herd before answering me.
“We seem to have gained several new additions. They must have been moving because of the frost and then decided they were safer in a bigger herd, but most of these are mine.”
He lets out a sharp whistle.
The matriarch turns toward the calf and Dawn, and to my own horror, she reaches out and gently grabs Dawn around the waist with her trunk before sitting her on top of the calf.
I cannot see or hear Dawn’s reaction because of the suit that is protecting her from the elements.
Before I even realize what is happening, the entire herd starts moving toward the compound.
Dawn does exactly what I expect, she waves at me before clutching the thick fur on her new ride’s back.
“Will they hurt her?”
“She is the safest person on this planet at the moment.”
Grunting under Gelid’s massive weight, I make my way toward the cruiser.
It takes me a moment to get him inside as he is cussing me with every breath.
I retract the canopy so Jeton can sit on the side of the sled, then quickly maneuver us behind the herd, which is moving at a faster pace than I originally thought.
“Where are they headed, Gelid?”
“Juno, the lead female, is trying to get them to shelter before the frost hits. She and the others broke out of the enclosure when the little one went missing. We were on our way back when that avalanche hit. I thought I was out of the way when that stray boulder caught my leg. The second she realized I was no longer behind them, she turned back for me. She is the one who pushed the rock that broke my leg off me. I owe that old female my life.”
He pauses, grimacing as I adjust his position. “She may be just a beast, but she is loyal.”
The trip takes about half a rising, and the longer Dawn remains exposed, the more worried I become.
I should have asked her before I set her down if she was still warm, but in the chaos I forgot.
Thankfully, I can see her clearly, still sitting atop the young calf as though she has been riding him all her life.
Juno walks toward the enclosure and steps aside. One by one, the others follow her. When the calf finally heads in with Dawn still on his back, Juno once again lifts her gently with her trunk before lowering her carefully to the ground.
Dawn actually pets her.
I hear Gelid suck in a startled breath. “I have never seen Juno take to one so quickly.”