Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 31

Survival Training.

A cold night stirs warmth, tension and desire!

Saturday, September 7th, unknown time

We had been traveling for about an hour before stopping, taking slow, methodical paths of Chloe’s choosing meant primarily for stealth and not speed. Chloe’s halt was so sudden that I nearly ran into her. Only after she’d paused did I notice her hand was lifted in the universal sign that meant stop. She crouched, and I followed suit, scooting to peer over some shrubbery to see if I could spot what killed our march.

I glanced at her, but she seemed unaware. I looked back in the direction she was staring in, and as much as I strained my eyes, I couldn’t see anything except for a couple of birds chasing each other around in a nearby tree.

“I hear something,” Chloe said in a whisper so soft that it took me a moment to work out what she had actually said.

Straining my ears, I couldn’t hear anything except the collective sounds of water dripping off leaves, piles of needles, and earth. We’d been subjected to a light drizzle since landing in this god-forsaken forest, and after a couple of hours, our clothes were thoroughly soaked, and the cold was seriously starting to work an uncomfortable chill deep into my bones. What’s worse, it would get dark in a few hours, and we had no way of knowing where the cabin was or when people would start looking for us.

Undoubtedly, Erin would start worrying when we didn’t arrive back at Astrid’s by tomorrow evening, but there was a lot of time between now and then. Anything could happen… especially when people were literally hunting you.

“I don’t hear anything,” I said.

Chloe put a finger to her lips and then backed away. I followed her behind a large evergreen, where she crouched low and gave another quick glance around before saying, “The chopper’s close. I’m going to sweep the perimeter to make sure there’s no one waiting for us. I need you to wait here.”

I nodded, hardly daring to argue with the woman who had obviously done this before.

“You see anyone other than me, you shoot,” Chloe said, glancing at the gun I was holding.

“What about Astrid?” I said. “Or the pilot.”

“I doubt they’re going to run away from me,” Chloe said. Something in her voice made me suspect that she doubted they would be in any condition to run at all.

Nodding, I leaned back against the tree trunk, checked the safety on the pistol, and then watched as Chloe stood up. She left the few possessions she carried at my feet, slung the rifle over her shoulder, and slid the knife into her belt. I gave her a once-over as she examined the path ahead. Her dirty blonde hair fell just past her shoulders when it was loose, but on the way back to the helicopter, she’d found something to tie it back. It was a shade darker due to all the rain, and strands that had escaped the ponytail were plastered to her face where they hadn’t already been tucked behind her ears.

Her thin cotton sleeveless shirt had soaked all the way through by the time I found her with the three mercenaries. It clung to her abdomen and gave a hint of toned abs, tight obliques, and a lightly muscled back, which were visible through the thin material. Her breasts were obscured by the black bra she wore under it. After killing her captors, she’d taken the shirt off the man whose neck she snapped and threw it on, obscuring her figure a little more. It was unfortunate for me but less distracting, which was probably good. There was no helping her pants, though; the tight denim she chose was soaked and clung so well that I could see every curve of her well-toned thighs and ass.

Okay, so she was still distracting.

I saw Chloe’s head move and tore my gaze off her ass to meet her brown eyes as she stared back at me, and I swear I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed that I’d been checking her out or if she was amused. She made Helen look like a bad liar.

“I’ll be back soon,” Chloe said. “No matter what you hear, unless I call for you, don’t move.”

I nodded. “Got it.”

She disappeared without another word.