Chapter 4

Four

D rake's cock throbbed in time with the beat of the rotor blades. He clenched his fists around the cyclic and leveled out Betty for decent, trying really hard to quell the urge to belt out a soul-cleansing roar. Or punch someone, mainly his nosy little brother. "Man, I don't know if you have the best timing or the worst."

"Probably all a matter of perspective." Ethan's retort crackled over their closed coms system. "You didn't tell her, did you?"

Red tinted his vision. That perpetual nothing ever bothers me stupid, little smirk was parked on his brother's face just to taunt him. He knew damn well it irritated the hell out of him on normal days. Today, it downright made him see red.

"How could I? And why the hell did you do that?" Only in the last fifteen minutes of their flight did the turbulence level out enough for him to nail his brother with a glare that could melt polar ice caps. He needed more time to formulate a plan to tell her that her father had reached out to him a few days ago. Her being here meant the man he once hated had passed.

Being thrown together with Esme before he could get a handle on the scrambled emotional mess he called a brain sat like a pound of rocks in his gut.

"What?" Paying attention to Betty's controls, Drake maneuvered the chopper between the sea of pines and touched down in the designated spot big enough to accommodate the size of their bird.

Perfect every time.

Back to glaring at Ethan, Drake flicked the dial on the radio to call in their position. "Home base, this is Big Bear, we've landed and are on site. Base One will be in contact. Have paramedics on standby."

"Copy that, Big Bear. We'll be here. And guys, be careful up there. This looks bad." Their kid sister's ominous warning of the approaching storm took a little air out of his sails.

Base One was just the beginning and they had a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time. From here they had to hike around the base of Savage Ridge to reach where the climbers were last seen by the patrolling rescue crew with boots already on the ground.

"Playing coy doesn't suit you, Ethan. You know damn well the more time I spend with her the worse off we all are."

"Look, you told me yourself you were expecting her. You don't get answers by keeping people at a distance. No matter if you have a past with her or not. From what you say, her father called you for the favor and not the other way around. The least you're owed, hell we're all owed, are some answers."

"It's not just about that." Damn. If shit would just stop happening, he could figure out what the hell he wanted to say to her that didn't start with I wanna fuck you until we both can't go anymore . Those things required finesse, more than what he had available at the moment.

"I love Esmeralda like a kid sis, but you, brother, need to face emotions head-on or it'll take you down. The last five years have been hell with you only everyone else has been too polite in telling you."

He shot a glare at his brother.

"Yeah, I can see it written all over your face. You more than just miss her."

"How would you know?"

"I have eyeballs."

"Let's see what you'll do when it's your turn and you meet someone everyone says you can't have."

"Nah, that ain't happening. I don't give a shit what everyone says, unlike you. But back to you. Don't think I haven't seen you wallow around in your own self-doubt for the last week solid."

"That's none of your business."

"And that's not counting the last five-plus years," his brother plowed on.

In unison they performed their routine systems check and powered down Betty.

"Hey guys, so when did Esmeralda get back?"

Drake froze. What the hell? He bared his teeth and gave a long-drawn-out growl as he flicked the coms off back to home base. Now his sister and the whole of fucking headquarters knew his business and all Ethan could do was grin like an asshole.

"You did that on purpose."

"I needed backup."

Ethan may have a point, but like hell he'd feed his brother's ego. "That's low, wait until I tell mom. What kind of brother brings in the little sis for back up?"

"A smart one, that's who!" Ethan reached across and gave him a slap on the shoulder. Drake unstrapped himself from the cockpit and launched himself from the door. It was that or risk throwing a left hook into the other man's jaw.

He swiveled his gaze as his brother crossed the front of the chopper shaking his head, wearing that damn smirk. He took long strides, the snow slowing him down, when a raven-haired woman popped her head out of the tent twenty yards up the small incline to another naturally leveled area. She flashed a sweet smile and his brother froze as if caught in a spell . Well, I'll be damned. He knew that look. Not on his brother, but he recognized smitten when he saw it. Every piece of that particular puzzle snapped into place, but one. How did he not know about this before now?

"Never my ass, huh?"

Ignoring his jab, Ethan's face lit up with an animated expression he'd never witnessed before. Interesting.

Thunder rumbled an eerie warning and caught his attention. Eyes locked on the skyline; he swore under his breath. The fucking weatherman had it all wrong again, but any veteran of Alaska could tell the second the weather turned for the worse. It didn't make any sense. Why would anyone be out here with a storm this size rolling in?

Experience had everyone making double-time to find the lost hikers and get them off the mountainside in time enough to hunker down back at the headquarters of Savage Excursions & Mountain Rescue Or that was the plan if the missing hikers were still living.

Some days he wished he could get out of this town. Away from all the memories that chased him and his family. Long before he was born his father had started the mountain rescue operation and when he and his brothers were old enough they'd taken over, adding in excursions for tourists.

He didn't make it a habit of hating people. Burning bridges in life wasn't a great practice, but Morgan senior made it easy for a lesser man when her father used his money to bury their family business before leaving Savage Ridge out of misplaced rage and blame. It had taken a lot to dig out from under the shit the old man had piled on them, and there for a while he never wanted to see another Morgan in his life. But today, for one split second, he couldn't help but think about the what-ifs .

What if he hadn't been the son of a rival? What if Esme's father could have embraced their love instead of seeing it as a betrayal?

Drake groaned and strode forward, sinking to his knees in soft snow until he reached the tent. There had been at least a foot of the sugary powder covering already loosely packed snow from the way his foot sank in with little resistance.

A recipe for disaster. They set patrol up for this very reason. Whoever let those fools back there to hike should be arrested. When they returned to town, he'd have a few details to nail down, but he had an idea of who the hikers were and he'd see to it this didn't happen again and put everyone out searching for them at risk.

A pain he hadn't felt since he watched her walk out of his life settled deep in his chest. The ache of having her so damn close and to being able to say what's been on his mind for five years ate at his gut. He knew searching for the adrenaline junkies out looking for their next big fix was part of his job, but damn it. He didn't have to like it.

All these layers. He pulled at his collar. God, they were suffocating him.

Drake felt the urge to turn around and seek out the little green-eyed temptress just to prove to himself he could resist the instinct hardwired into his brain to get her in his arms and his bed.

Jealousy never occurred to him. Maybe he never felt strongly enough for a woman, but when he caught that lowlife Brax making a move, his world zeroed in on shutting that shit down fast. Only by the skin of his own hide did he manage not to pulverize the fucking asshole where he stood.

Drake braced his thick-soled boots deeper into the snow for a better grip just in time to take a gust of wind brutal enough to lift him a few inches if he were any less of a man.

Son of a bitch.

His back teeth ground together.

He stepped into the makeshift home base and all eyes locked on him. "How bad is it, Chief?" He shook hands with the leader of the Mountain Rescue who also doubled as the Firehouse Chief. In a town this small almost everyone doubled up on something.

Topography maps covered the table between them. "The avalanche took place in this section of the mountain."

His fears were slowly becoming a reality. The west sector bordered Esmeralda's father's land and stretched into no man's land along the base of the mountain. No outsider would know that, though.

Son of a bitch. He should have been paying attention to the radio this morning and not daydreaming about Irish green eyes, sweet honey, and all the luscious curves of Esmeralda Morgan. Her perfume still clung to his clothes, Ethan's too.

"Man, you okay?" Ethan clapped him on the back. He offered up a weak smile to help ease the worry lines already cutting deep ridges into Ethan's forehead.

"Let's go." Drake broke away from the crowd as everyone exited the tent.

"Fire this off if you find them before we do." Chief handed him a flare gun and nodded.

"Copy that."

"We have a little over six hours of real daylight left to find the hikers. We'll take the south side while you Savage boys take the north."

He nodded once. Fine by him.

"Ethan, I'll head up to Esme point and scout out to see if they made it clear. You take the bottom." Ethan gave a two-finger salute and tossed a two-way over to him.

Static played over the radios before settling in on a station they shared with the other team members. In situations like this, time was crucial and teamwork meant lives saved.

Drake shuffled his climbing gear over his shoulder and secured the straps around his waist. Team one took the southern route and already had rounded the bend out of sight.

To his left, a vast amount of pines served as a barrier between the town and any avalanches that could possibly strike. To his right a vast sea of sparkling powder stretched out before him. Ask anyone north of the Arctic Circle and they'd tell you a million and one stories about the wilds of Alaska and how going against nature wasn't a safe bet.

"Hey guys," a newcomer's voice came in over the two-way.

His brother responded. "Come in, Remy."

Drake grinned. So that was her name. His brother would be married by spring, he knew it. The poor sap was too much in denial to see it.

"The weather station just radioed in. The guy says two hours tops before total whiteout."

That narrowed their window by a hell of a lot.

That was his cue. He wasn't leaving this mountainside until he had something to show for their efforts. God, he hoped it wasn't with body bags.

He stretched his arms and rolled shoulders.

"Copy that." Drake hooked the radio onto his backpack and turned to his brother.

"Be safe." Ethan clasped his arm and pulled him in until their foreheads touched. A strong family bond tied him and his brothers together.

"Be wild!" He tossed out a sly grin and one last squeeze to their clasped hands.

He held up his radio. "Hit me up if you find them. I'll do the same."

"See you on the flip side."

His brother started his descent as he started the climb. Finally alone, he made quick calculations. The hikers didn't have long. If they were missed by the avalanche and had any sense, they would have made their way to the nearest protection from the storm. Esme point was their best bet, and his.

He made quick work of advancing up the snow-covered trail. Strong gusts whipped around the side of the ledge. He sucked in a hard gulp of air out of surprise and fell to his knees.

Fresh snow, pine, and the approaching storm are all he could smell in the air. No signs of human life like burning wood. He loved the wild, brutal world he and his family called home for the last eighty-plus years, but it was as deadly as it was beautiful.

Beneath his weight snow crunch and his feet punched through the fresh powder now coming down harder.

A gust of wind hit his square in the face and nearly had his heart stopping.

Honey. Or at least that's how he translated the sweet smell of Esme that whipped along the wind.

Oh, God, what have you done, Esme?

He took a bend in the trail with a little more force than necessary. Drake dodged a low-hanging branch and made short work of passing a felled tree covering the path. Snow shifted underfoot and he lost his footing.

Flurries of snow spiraled in the air on a stiff ribbon of wind, bringing with it the smell of Esmeralda, confirming his fears.

He stumbled and took a nosedive into a snowdrift. What the hell? It couldn't be! Didn't that woman know how to listen?

Big, fat flakes fell harder and faster, several hitting him square in the face.

From the east, a low rumbled boom cracked through the sounds of the storm. A single flash of light caught his eye from the west.

They'd found them. A part of him eased, but he couldn't rest.

Vibrations rumbled and fed into the soles of his boots. Something was wrong.

Fear pushed him up the back trail to Esme Point faster than he'd ever moved before. Felled trees, snowdrifts... nothing slowed him down. The farther he went the stronger the scent. Every few feet the path became more precarious for a man of his size and the damn jagged rocks scraped the side of his face and tore at his thick winter wear.

He pushed harder. Each stab forced him to focus and forget the cold seeping past all the layers of clothing.

The rumbling grew louder.

Avalanche.

His heart stopped cold. Without breaking stride, he launched his full weight over the ledge. His gaze shot from side to side until he spotted her. Panic ebbed.

There she was. Safe.

The first metal band clamping around his heart released.

Movement above her caught his acute gaze. His attention flashed between her shocked expression and a mountainside that appeared to be shifting above them.

Fear and panic collided with the adrenaline in his blood and tasted like a shot of acid down the back of his throat. He opened his mouth in warning, but only a bellowed roar came out.

His focus narrowed to her vivid green eyes as they pierced his and the same fear he felt mirrored back from the woman kneeling over a pile of snow. Thunder penetrated the ground beneath him. Eyes wide, he did the only thing he could do.