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Holly froze. The sabertooth cat was real. And it was coming directly towards her, its predatory gaze fastened on her with unnerving intensity.
Strangest of all, it wore a daypack with an ax strapped to its back, just like in the trail cam video.
She was too far gone to feel anything except detached curiosity.
“Smilodon fatalis. Awesome,” she whispered through stiff, numb lips. “The most exciting scientific discovery of the century, and with my luck, I’m going to be the first human being in 10,000 years to fall victim to a sabertooth cat.”
Then the world went away.
Chapter Three – Ice to the Rescue
Bearpaw Springs National Park
Saturday, December 3
Someone was shouting for help.
Isaac “Ice” Peters halted, his cat ears swiveling as he tried to pinpoint the location of the sounds. The calls were distant and faint, barely audible above the rush of wind through the pines and firs all around him.
If an Ordinary human was in trouble out here, they wouldn’t last long in this weather, not with a major winter snow storm picking up momentum with every passing minute.
Ice was currently in his shifted form because his thick pelt and enormous paws, adapted for Ice Age conditions, worked better than a parka and snowshoes in miserable weather like this.
Besides, after a long week of working in a restaurant kitchen, he had promised his sabertooth cat-half the opportunity to stretch its legs in the unspoiled wilderness of Bearpaw Springs National Park.
During his long, rambling hike on four paws, he’d checked out the abundant conifer stands, looking for a Christmas tree.
He’d eventually concluded that a Douglas fir he’d spotted this morning was the best one. He was currently on his way back to the grove where it stood.
He carried warm clothing in a waterproof bag strapped to his back, and an ax to harvest the tree when he located it and shifted back to human.
The miserable rain that had plagued the first few hours of his Christmas tree hunt had finally turned to driving snow. The afternoon light of this short December day was fading fast.
The faint shout came again. It appeared to originate somewhere inside the Douglas fir grove. Ice picked up his pace, loping easily down the muddy trail.
When he’d left his cabin on the Cougar Lake Ranch early this morning, he’d told himself it was stupid to dedicate his entire day off from work searching for the perfect Christmas tree in the vast, rugged forest abutting the ranch.
But this was his sister Becca’s first holiday season in her new home with her new mate, and Ice wanted to ensure that the holiday was flawless before he moved on. The two of them had spent years drifting from place to place after their stepfather drove Ice out of his home and pride, and she ran away to join him.
Since then, Becca had endured so much hardship because of Ice’s failure to protect her. Now she finally had a proper home and a happy future. Ice was determined to do everything he could to make this the best Christmas ever for her.
And then he was going to leave before he fucked it up.
He hadn’t told her yet, because he knew she would try to talk him out of his decision. And he was afraid she’d succeed. Ice liked it here. And that was dangerous.
Becca deserved to live in a place like this. A screw-up like him didn’t.
And if he yielded to temptation and stayed, sooner or later he’d mess things up for everyone. If there was one thing he’d learned in life, it was that fuck-ups were his special gift.
He reached the fir grove and turned off the pathway to enter it. Then something about one of the nearby trees caught his eye. He stopped and took a closer look.
Someone had strapped a square, dark olive plastic case to the trunk. A small black lens stared back at him below a miniature solar panel. Someone had positioned to look over the trail he’d just come down.
Fuck. Ice tried to remember if the camera had been here when he’d passed this way earlier.
Had he fucked up and gotten caught on camera?
If there was one universal law among the various shapeshifter types, it was, “Don’t get caught by Ordinaries.”
