Winter Prey

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

The blizzard continued all night. Without outside communication, all Caleb could do was wait for it to end. And try to keep the memories fostered by the inactivity and isolation at bay. His second face-to-face encounter with that damned beast threatened to dislodge the barriers holding back the nightmares that had plagued him after his wife and son's disappearance. Thankfully - perhaps due to his exhaustion from lack of sleep the past few days and his injuries - the nightmares didn't intrude when he dozed off.

Doze was the operative word all night, though; he slept only off and on. He kept his back turned to the room as much as possible to forego any further conversation with Kymbria. He still hadn't forgiven her for ignoring his demands and confronting that son of a bitch. He needed to regain his strength, because the moment this blizzard let up, he intended to go straight back to the area where they had seen the creature.

He wasn't quite ready to discuss another line of thoughts going through his mind, either, especially with Kymbria. He feigned a shife in sleep and turned onto his back so he could slit his eyes and watch her pace the room.

She had never answered his question regarding hers and the windigo's communications. Never told him what her response to the beast's query meant, not even when she realized the telepathic thought had infiltrated Caleb's mind, also.

Do you know who you are? the beast had asked.

I know. My mother told me. She hadn't mentioned that part of her story to him. The entity had replied: Then you know it is your destiny to help me.

Those long legs carried her back and forth; slender hands brushed at that silky, midnight hair. Hands that could sear a man's skin despite their softness, hair that spilled across snow-white sheets in a cloud of temptation. When she knelt to place new logs on the fire, her jeans gloved an enticing rump. He couldn't turn his back again without her noticing. But hell, the way she was avoiding him as much as she could in the cabin confines, she'd never notice the erection that didn't seem to be effected by his other bodily injuries.

She left the fire and headed for the glassed in porch. As she passed the doorway, she picked up a shotgun that he recognized - the one he'd carried on the snowmobile. Knowing her familiarity with guns, he knew she would have cleaned and checked it. She sat in one of the chairs, laid the shotgun across her lap, and her head sank back. Within a few seconds, her soft snores sounded.

Caleb shut his eyes. A gust of heavy wind gushed down the chimney, startling him into alertness. The wind scattered sparks, but the fire screen caught all of them. He sighed and started to sit up. Pain immobilized him for a second, and he lay still to gaze around the cabin.

He could see Kymbria's bed from the sofa, the bed where they'd spent hours of mind-numbing pleasure. Now Nodinens lay there in the sleep of an elderly, exhausted woman who had been through hell - which she had. The bright red ball of dog snuggled up against her slight mound beneath the bedspread. The dog appeared to have bonded immediately with Nodinens, although it was possible Scarlet was avoiding the jittery Kymbria in preference to the calmer woman.

A final glance at the clock confirmed that daylight was near, but outside the winds battered the trees and cabin, driving snow and ice pellets into obstacles in their path. Coffee smell woke him a long while later, when the clock read mid-morning.

He rose from the sofa with a groan, but either he stifled it enough, or Kymbria decided to see what he could do on his own. She stayed beside the front windows, sipping her own coffee. By the time he finished two cups of coffee himself in the kitchen, he felt stronger and crossed the living room, halting several feet from Kymbria.