"I've tried," he said, holding up his phone. "The signal's erratic. But—" A familiarthupping sound interrupted him, and they both sat up again, watching the horizon a second time. It took less time for a helicopter to arrive than it had for the drone to buzz its way over, and landed a safe distance away as they both waved their arms, pointed at the orange tarp near them, and shook their heads wildly.
A minute later the rescue team poured out of the huge helicopter, sweeping toward them like a small, concerned army. Jo found herself yelling, "We're fine, but be careful of the ground! It's thinning permafrost and there are caves below us!"
The team slowed immediately, taking more care, and then they were both explaining about the cave they'd fallen into, and the paintings below, more intent on protecting the archaeological site than being checked over. Finally one of the rescue team pulled their scarf down and grinned at them. "I guess you really are all right," she said. "Most people we rescue tell us about how scared they were and how glad they are to see us?—"
"Weareglad!" Jo and Colton chorused together, and Jo added, "But it'd be a crime to accidentally wreck the site beneath us."
"God forbid," the woman said cheerfully. "I'm Casey Marx, head of the search and rescue team, and we sure are glad to see you alive. We didn't find your crash site until yesterday, and you not being in it gave us some hope, but you've traveled about seventy miles through harsh terrain. Nobody expected that. Come on. Let's get you home and safe."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
'Home and safe' turned out to be 'in the hospital, getting checked over' for most of the day. Colton politely refused bloodwork because shifter genetics didn't necessarily show up as weird to human doctors, but none of them liked risking it if there was any way to avoid it. Fortunately, he and Jo were pretty clearly in good health, if a little hungry and dehydrated. There were a lot of comments about their miraculous survival, and he found himself trying to both avoid Jo's glance while also trying to catch her eye so they could share a smile over the secret of that survival.
He'd gotten on the phone to his family in the helicopter, and Jo had been right: they were in contact with the Talbotts, and already knew he'd survived, but that didn't make the call any less teary. Nor did it make their reunion any less emotional when the entire crew, all twenty-six of them, arrived in a crush just before he and Jo were released from the hospital.
By then Colton was old friends with Jo's parents, who had gotten to the hospital, along with her brother Josh, before Jo and Colton themselves had arrived. The older Talbotts—Laura and Ben—were a vivacious couple in their sixties, and Josh wasjust a couple years older than Jo herself.Hecaught Jo and Colton exchanging those glances, and a few minutes later, as his own family poured in, Colton heard him say, "So it's like that, is it?" to Jo.
Her ears turned red. "Like what? It's not like anything!"
Josh's, "Uh-huh," was the last thing Colton heard for a while, or at least, the last thing that wasn't his family crying and hugging and shouting and generally being very loud and happy that he was alive.
They're stirring again,his chimera moaned.Loudly. Can't we go back to the nice quiet mountain?
'Fraid not, buddy,Colton said gently. For once he didn't mind the extreme noise, although he did think he needed to ask if any of the other chimeras wished the whole family would be just a little bitquieterall the time. "We're fine," he told every single person in the family over and over, and when they were finally released into the parking lot, managed to acknowledge the truth to his parents: "Yeah, I had to shift, to save us. But it's okay, Mom. Jo is my fated mate."
If he thought they'd been loud before, he was deeply, profoundly mistaken. A whole new joyful shriek arose from everybody in the family who had overheard, and then like a herd of elephants, the whole Drew clan trampled over to Jo and hugged her in welcome. She cast him one wild-eyed look and he grimaced, mouthing, 'Sorry!'
Jo's voice came out of the giant hug: "Did youtellthem?"
Colton called, "I did," apologetically, and Jo submitted to being the center of adoration for several minutes while her parents turned to Colton and said, "Tell themwhat? What did we miss?"
"He and Jo are a thing," Josh announced. "True love under duress."
Jo's mom squinted at Colton, which made her look quite a lot like her daughter. "Is this aSpeedthing? Relationships developed under duress rarely last, you know."
"Please," Josh said. "Jo isn't nearly as hot as Sandra Bullock."
"Well,youwouldn't think so," their mother said with a sniff, and gave Colton a good once-over. "You could give Keanu a run for his money, though."
"That may be the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me," Colton said with a laugh. "But I appreciate your concern, and I know you'll probably doubt me when I say I'm sure this is a forever thing, not just a 'thrown together in a stressful situation,' but it is."
"I knew the first time I saw Laura," Ben Talbott said complacently. "I believe in you two kids. Now if we could just find somebody for Josh."
"Josh is perfectly happy being single," Josh said firmly. Then the Drew family washed back toward them like a tide and suddenly all the Talbotts were being included in the giant hug-fest that was Colton's family. He couldn't help watching his sisters and one of his brothers to see if lightning struck a second time—more metaphorically this time, Colton thought, reminded of how the plane had crashed in the first place—but it appeared Josh Talbott wasn't going to join the Drew family as anything more than an in-law.
Somehow, gradually, they all got into different vehicles—Jo ended up in a car with her parents, which made sense but was disappointing—and emptied the parking lot, heading out to the Talbott ranch, because they'd insisted the Drews join them there at the ranch so they could all get to know each other better. From the chat in the car, though, it sounded like they already knew each other pretty well: apparently they'd all been on the phone together almost constantly since Jo and Colton had been reported missing.
His phone, which had charged at the hospital, rang with his boss's number, and with a jolt, Colton realized he hadn't thought about the case or calling Jerry at all. He'd been too overwhelmed. He picked up with an apology ready, and Jerry's deep voice barreled over his. "Colton, thankGod.I just saw on the news you'd been rescued. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. We're fine. I'm sorry I didn't call. It's been—" Exhausting, actually: Colton hadn't realized how tired he was until just that moment. "I'll be on a flight in the morning, Jerry. I'll be useless if I try to sleep on a flight."
"Don't be ridiculous. I've pulled Elle and Marci from their cases and they're getting up to speed. Or they were," Jerry said. "Right now everybody's popping champagne and crying with relief that you're not dead. They'll be back at it in the morning. If you can make it back to step in as co-counsel that'll be fantastic, you know this better than anybody else, but they've got it under control."
A thread of tension Colton didn't even realize he'd been carrying snapped, and he slumped, eyes closed. "Thank you."
"Christ, Colton, don't thank me. I was afraid you were dead."
Colton chuckled. "So of course you had to pull somebody from another case to cover for me."
