Page 10 of Saved By the Soldier

I stand and start taking photos. I lose myself in the magic of the views.

"Are you ready to move further up? I saw some tracks on our way. I'm not sure what animal yet, but we’re following something." He stands and puts the rubbish into the backpack and we move on up.

The forest is now behind us, and the terrain is even more treacherous with the snow. I don't know how I even thought I could do this on my own. I'm stubborn and would’ve found a way.

Suddenly, Luke turns around. "Shhh," he says, putting his finger over his lip. He points ahead and to the right. I look in that direction and I see wolves. They’re so beautiful. Their fur is a blue silver.

"We found them," I whisper.

I’m so excited I want to jump up and down, but I don't want to frighten them away. Luke turns to look at me and his smile is huge, too. He's excited for me and that means a lot. This stranger that I've just met wants to help me, and he's gorgeous. Maybe this is all a dream. I pinch myself a few times just to check and yes, fuck, that hurts.

He points to the right. He wants us to move closer, so that I can get better photos. I follow his lead, as silent as I can be when the most beautiful creatures are standing right in front of me. It's not just about the money I can make, it's about me looking at these wolves who have only been talked about in folktales, but seeing they are real.

Luke kneels near them and holds out his hand for me to take and he brings me next to him. "Kneel here and take some photos. I don't think we should get too close to them, but if we are quiet, they might not run away."

I snap a lot of photos. The wolves don't hear us, so they just graze away. I see a couple of pups and they are happily playing. This is photography gold.

We hear a twig break, both looking in the direction it came from. The wolves also stare in that direction.

"It must be Viktor," I say. "He must have followed our tracks." I look back at the wolves. They are ready to bolt and leave.

"We need to leave. Did you get the photos?" Luke is already standing and I see a gun in his hand. He points it to where the wolves are.

"No, don't shoot them," I scream.

He looks at me and smiles. "I wouldn't do that. These are endangered animals." He shoots into the air above the wolves to make them run away from the noise. Ingenious. Before they leave, one wolf looks at us and it looks like he nods his head. They all leave, and I hope they run until they are exhausted and off this mountain range. The problem with him shooting his gun is that Viktor's men seem to come closer.

"Follow me, Emma. We need to go back down a different way." He grabs my hand, and we make our way back into the forest. Away from Viktor and his team.

There are moments when we can hear them. There's been a bullet or two headed in our direction, but they are too far away for a direct hit and Luke has us diving in between the trees so we don't get hit. My adrenaline is spiking once more. After running for an hour, we eventually need to stop. We can't hear anyone talking behind us.

"Let’s have some water. I think we've outrun them." Luke takes out my water from my bag and I take out his water for him. We take big gulps to help us cool down. I lay the bottle on my forehead so the condensation can cool me down.

"What are we going to do now?" I look over to Luke, who is doing the same thing.

"We need to make our way back to the cabin. I just need to get my bearings and then we will go." Luke is looking at his watch and I see it has a compass on it. Then he activates something that looks like a map. I let him do his thing. Survival is what he's used, and I think being shot at in a forest and running away from the Russian poachers is more his wheelhouse than mine.

"I'll follow you anywhere, Luke."

He smiles.

"What if I took you straight back to the poachers?"

"I know you won't. I trust you." I lean against a tree, watching him smile.

"Right, it's this way. Stay close behind me and follow my every step. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you. I'm right behind you." Mind you it's not a bad view standing behind him. Why am I thinking about his ass when we are in this position? Am I desperate for a man? No, but I do want Luke. And I think he wants me too.

6

LUKE

I can't believewe’re out in the forest on the side of my mountain trying to escape Russian poachers.

How did I get into this mess? I turn to look at Emma and I remember why. There was this beauty in my cabin sheltering from the snow. She wormed her way into my heart and now I'd do anything to keep her safe. We need to get back to my cabin safely. I'm sure they've seen the cabin when they followed our footsteps in the snow. They might think it's abandoned. Then I remember, I left the fire burning so it wouldn't be cold when we got back later. Fuck!

Okay, I need to get into survival mode. It's not just me out here, Emma is here too. She needs to be safe. I can't have anything happen to her. I grab her hand and pull her in the same direction as me. I have to let go after a while so that I can find my way. It takes us about an hour and a half to get back to the cabin.

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