He blinked. Need? A goddamn crane to lift them out.
“Rope? Would that help? I brought your pack.”
He blinked, his eyes focusing on the gray and brown and white composite he leaned on. “Can you tie a rope? To a tree, maybe?”
“There’s a harness.”
A harness. Of course. He nodded, unsure if she could see him.
“Okay. Be right back.”
For the first time in as long as he could remember, something warm seeped inside—not physically. Hell, suspended up here, he couldn’t do much more than follow a vein in the granite with his eyes and hope his body could hold on. Hot and cold meant nothing in this moment. But he felt it nonetheless. A change, solid and reassuring as his mom’s hand in his as a child.
“Heads up!” Leo yelled, and by the time he managed to tilt his head back and adjust his vision to something more than an inch away, she’d sent Bo’s harness down on a line. It bumped his shoulder and went lower.
Slowly, he bent and whispered agood girlinto Bo’s ear, aware of the thumping of her heart against his arm. Easing his right foot to the side, shifting his weight, and moving his arm away with his torso while keeping her in place were the three hardest things he’d ever done, but he had backup. As long as the helicopter didn’t return, he could do this.They.They could do this. “Wanna go rock climbing?” he whispered, grasping the thick nylon and quickly slipping the first straps to clip around Bo’s head. He pulled her front leg through, then slipped the other straps around her torso. A slight turn, another move, then onto her legs. “Going rock climbing, Borealis. Youloveclimbing.”
After what felt like a lifetime of threading and tightening straps, choppy breathing, and promises to a god he no longer believed in, he got her in. “She’s ready!” he called, still holding the dog’s weight.
“Okay. I’ve got her.”
Time to trust.
He shut his eyes, hard, not bothering to pray before sliding to the side and finally letting her go. After an initial drop of maybe half three inches, Bo whined and started rising.
She disappeared above. He pulled his foot from the crack, not allowing the relief to seep in yet, and climbed the few yards to the top.
“Come on.” Leo grabbed his hand and helped him to standing. Without waiting, she turned and walked into the shelter of the trees. Bo slunk along beside her, throwing him the same big-eyed look she got when he berated her for rolling in a stinky carcass or animal shit.
He tried to breathe and found his chest too tight, his throat constricted. Was the helicopter coming back? A wild look up showed him nothing but sky.
Gone. For now.
Under the trees, he sucked in deep, the oxygen hit his lungs hard.
Automatically, he slid his fingers into the fur at the nape of Bo’s neck, startled to find Leo’s hand already there. After a beat, he shifted away.
Though part of him wanted to shut his eyes on this whole damned thing, sink to the ground and hole up in the underbrush forever, he turned, seeking…
Leo’s wide-open gaze hit him with a jolt, sucked him in, and held him up like a life raft.
Fear might have drawn them together, but something entirely different sizzled in its aftermath.
The thrill of having a teammate. Of being someone’s partner.
And then, because he’d never been a liar—at least not to himself—he admitted to that other thing—the thing that led to kisses from a near stranger, on the belly, lying on the wet, cold ground, ignoring the danger hovering over them like an angel of death.
Was it just adrenaline making them act like horny teenagers who needed to do thingsnow? Or was it something else? A need to feel each other’s life force, to know they were alive? Maybe some throwback to the cavemen, some now-or-never instinct telling him the beast was gone and this might be his only chance to spread his seed.
Never mind. What was the point in worrying when they truly could be shot down any second? Dragged away? Tortured? He dug his hand deeper into the warm nest of Bo’s fur and Leo’s skin, reached out to curl his fingers around her slender neck, and pulled her in for a real kiss.
The first touch was surprisingly cool, given how electric their connection was. He pressed harder, crushed those tender lips with his hard ones, and took. Or gave. Shared.
Fuck, he didn’t know.
The aircraft went far, farther. Or did it come near? He’d look, but every muscle was straining to get closer to Leo.
Air burst from his lungs when she angled her head and moved her mouth, opened it, licked him, pushed him against the trunk, moaned. Obliterated him with tiny movements.
