Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

air from the falls their way. Summer brushed her hair from her face as she hiked, noting in amusement how the hairs by her forehead had curled up in the forest’s humidity.

A quarter mile from the falls, Clay’s demeanor changed. He moved closer to her, keeping in step with her perfectly, walking beside her now, not behind her like he had been earlier.

“What is it?” Summer didn’t think anything the man did was without intention.

“I’m not sure yet.”

Cryptic, but she was working, she didn’t have time to crack his evasive-man code right now.

“Alright, up ahead you’ll see Bear Creek Falls.” Summer glanced at Clay, who was looking elsewhere, back in the direction they’d come maybe. What did he see back there? She intended to find out, once she’d gotten the tourists settled.

“Please finish making your way to the falls, take some pictures and enjoy—” she glanced at her watch “—forty-five minutes on your own before meeting back here.” She motioned to a large spruce tree with a rock underneath it. “Remember, this is the Alaskan wilderness, so be cautious. Yes, there are trails and if it weren’t safe in this area, then I wouldn’t have brought you here, but you still need to stay alert and pay attention to your surroundings. Make notes of landmarks if you want to wander at all and keep an eye on the clock. I’ve given the lodge our approximate return time so someone will be coming to check on us if we aren’t back when we should be.”

Summer stayed still while the group wandered toward the falls, making their way at a leisurely pace down the trail.

When the last tourist had passed her, she turned to Clay. “What is it?”

“I told you I’m not sure yet.”

“But you suspect something.”

His face was serious, his eyes giving away nothing. He was 100 percent in police officer mode, Summer knew.

“You found something, didn’t you? We have some time. Take me with you and let’s see what it is.”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure you want to be there.”

“So what, you’re going to take me back down to the lodge, find someone to cover bodyguard duty and come back up here? It would take hours—whatever you thought you saw could be long gone. Plus, you don’t know the trail. And anyway, I thought keeping me safe was your job.”

Summer was right about one thing. His primary job was keeping her safe. Not just from physical danger, but from anything that would add to her nightmares.

The smell of decaying flesh wasn’t something you easily forgot once you’d smelled it, and Clay had before. He’d caught the first whiff on this trail about five minutes back from where they were right now and hadn’t decided how he was going to go investigate.

He didn’t want Summer to see what he suspected he would find. But he knew that there was no way to stop her from coming with him. And she was right that it made more sense not to wait until later. The faster they confirmed his suspicions, the faster they could notify the authorities and get a proper investigation started. He started walking back along the trail, and Summer followed him.

“Remind me how far this trail is from where you were attacked.”

Summer shrugged. “It depends. It would take probably about four hours following the twists and turns on the trail from where we are now, give or a take a little time, unless someone took the ridgeline.” She motioned upward. Clay wasn’t sure where they were on this mountain.

“How close are we to the top?”

“Not quite two-thirds of the way up. This is the last of the tree line. Another quarter mile or so and it’s clear mountain.”

“Have you done the ridgeline, then?” Clay suspected he knew the answer but wanted to hear it from Summer.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Were you planning to do it the other night?”

She exhaled. “No.”

“No?”

She shook her head.

“Is it possible that someone could have attacked you over on Hope Mountain and then come over here by the ridgeline, or vice versa?”

“Sure, but I don’t know why it would matter.”

Clay picked up his pace and Summer followed. “What is that smell?”

It was getting stronger the closer they backtracked to where Clay had first smelled it. The wind had shifted again, which apparently was causing Summer to notice it too.

“We’ll see in a minute,” he said with no hint of amusement in his voice.

Clay paused and motioned to the left. “Is there a trail that will get us that way?”

“Besides the ridgeline?”

Her voice still had a hint of teasing—she must not recognize the smell.

“I need a trail that goes that way, Summer.”

She seemed to finally recognize that he didn’t have any room for humor at the moment.

She studied the direction he’d pointed and seemed to finally find a way that would work. “Game trail. This way.”

She stepped in front of him but Clay caught her arm. Summer paused, then looked at his hand on her arm.

Clay released it immediately, breaking the touch. She’d been attacked just hours before, what had he been thinking?

He hadn’t been thinking at all—he’d been reacting on instinct. And he’d learned the hard way that his instincts couldn’t always be trusted.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It was fine, actually.” She was still studying her arm, where his hand had been. She looked up slowly, met his eyes and held her gaze there. “It wasn’t the same at all, the way you touched me. I could tell your intention was to keep me safe.”

She exhaled. Relieved to know her attack hadn’t scarred her more than it could have, maybe? Clay knew she was fortunate to have escaped more mental trauma. Some people weren’t so fortunate.

“I need to go first.” Clay focused back on the task at hand.

“Why?”

“Summer.” He didn’t seem to have more words than that, couldn’t find any in his mind. They hiked in silence for a minute. Then Summer spoke up again.

“Why won’t you tell me what we’re looking for?” Summer coughed. “And what