“Gosh, what a surprise. Jude doesn’t like people.” He elbows me. “Well, I mean other than me. You love me,” he teases.
I laugh to hide my embarrassment, and we start the climb. It takes about twenty minutes, boots punching through the crust with each step. My thighs burn and my lungs work hard in the thin air, but the effort feels good. Liam sets a steady pace ahead of me, board tucked under one arm. He’s clearly done this climb many times.
At the top, I’m breathing hard and sweating under my jacket. The view stops me cold. The valley spreads out below, Golden Peak is a scattering of rooftops and streets nestled between the peaks. Beyond that, ridge after ridge of mountains fade into the distance. The wind is steady up here, cold enough to sting, carrying the faint mineral smell of high elevation snow.
“Not bad, right?” Liam says, watching my face.
“Not bad,” I agree as I strap in. “Feels good to be outside.”
“Yeah. It’s fucking amazing.” Liam lowers his goggles over his eyes. “You ready?”
“Hell, yes.” I grin, rolling my shoulders. “I was born to ride, baby.”
He smiles, his teeth white against his tanned face. “Last one to the bottom buys dinner. Winner gets to pick the restaurant.”
I frown. “I thought we were ordering pizza.”
“Oh, yeah. In that case, first one to the bottom picks the toppings on the pizza.”
“You’re on.”
With a hoot, he drops in first, carving a hard turn right out of the gate. Snow sprays off his edge in a clean arc, catching the sunlight. He rides aggressively, low center of gravity, quick edge-to-edge turns, confident in his weight. He knows this slope and it shows.
I follow a second later, and the board catches and releases under me, each turn sending a jolt of adrenaline up through my legs. The snow is perfect, dry powder over a firm base, responsive under my edges. The wind cuts past my ears, drowning out everything except the hiss of the board and my own heartbeat.
I lean into a toeside turn and accelerate, closing the gap between us. Liam glances back, sees me gaining, and tucks lower. The competitive edge in his posture makes me grin. I shift my weight and carve hard, arcing wide to take the steeper line down the left side.
The speed is exhilarating. Trees blur in my peripheral vision. The cold air fills my lungs and my muscles burn with each carved turn. For a few perfect seconds, nothing exists except the slope, the snow, and the rush of gravity pulling me forward.
Liam cuts across my line and I dig my edge in hard to avoid clipping him. Snow explodes off my board and peppers his jacket.
“Cheater,” I shout.
His laugh carries back to me on the wind.
We reach the bottom almost together, both of us skidding to a stop in a spray of powder. I’m panting, my legs shaking, and I feel more alive than I have in weeks.
“I won,” Liam announces, unstrapping his front binding.
“You cut me off.”
“I prefer to look at it as I took a strategic line.”
I laugh. “I prefer to look at it as you cheated, asshole.”
“So very judgy.” He chuckles, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead, his face flushed from the cold. His dark eyes glitter with amusement and he’s grinning like a kid.
I shake my head, unable to stop smiling. “Rematch. Right now.”
“I guess you love losing.” He smirks.
We hike back up and do it again. And again. By the fourth run, we’ve stopped keeping score and are just riding for the joy of it, sometimes side by side, sometimes taking different lines and meeting at the bottom. The afternoon light shifts from bright white to gold as the sun drops, lengthening our shadows on the snow. My legs are jelly and my face is numb from the wind, but I don’t want to stop.
On the last run, we ride side by side the whole way down, carving matching turns in an easy rhythm. No competition, no showing off. Just two people moving in sync down a mountain, reading each other’s speed and angle without a word. It reminds me of our wolf runs, that effortless coordination, the way we anticipate each other’s movements.
At the bottom, we sit in the snow catching our breath. The sun is low now, painting the peaks in shades of pink and orange. The air has gone from cold to biting as the temperature drops, but neither of us moves to leave.
“I had fun today,” Liam says, leaning back on his gloved hands.
