Bolt

19

BOLT

Bolt and Kara sat by the springs a bit longer to chat. It was nice to not be arguing and debating back and forth. Kara was calm, which made Bolt calm, as well. They put some of their clothes back on and sat near the steam, so Kara could stay warm.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this good,” Bolt said with a grin.

Kara touched the top of Bolt’s hand.

“It’s been a while for me too,” Kara replied.

Bolt turned to her. She grinned up at him, that sexy look still in her eye. She was a specimen to behold, and he wanted to explore every inch of her body and soul.

“Oh?” Bolt remarked, raising an eyebrow.

Kara nodded, still grinning.

“A few years maybe. A vibrator can do wonders for anyone with a v****a,” she said with a wink.

Bolt felt himself getting hard again. He placed a hand over his crotch to calm himself. The mere thought of Kara lying in the dark alone, pleasuring herself, made him want to explode.

He leaned over and kissed her shoulder instead.

“I can only imagine,” he said.

She leaned into him and closed her eyes. Her scent was fragrant, taking over his nostrils and sending a shiver up his spine.

Any thought of the mission had vanished out of his mind because of this woman. She had him under a spell, and he adored being taken over by it.

They made their way back to the team members, who were sleeping soundly. They crawled into Bolt’s sleeping bag, and Kara snuggled against him. He was surprised she would come in so freely, but he didn’t mind.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed his side, avoiding his injury. He closed his eyes and fell into a quiet sleep.

Bolt was awoken by Kara touching his face. It was a lovely sight that made him feel like he was back home in his bed.

“Good morning,” he said softly.

Kara smiled at him, then kissed his forehead. They were on their own, which made Bolt feel even more content.

“The sun is rising,” Kara said. “We should get going.”

Bolt didn’t realize that he had slept in. Usually, he was one of the first ones to awaken. It must have been the s*x that made him relax so much.

He sat up, looking around for the rest of the team. He couldn’t see anyone and figured they had already gotten ready.

Bolt stood and dressed.

“Sorry about that,” he said, buttoning up his shirt.

Kara finished packing up the sleeping bag and flashed him a grin. It was utterly adorable.

They made their way outside the cave then joined their team. He took back the map he’d given Elle and showed them where they were supposed to go to meet the chopper that would take them to friendly territory. Looking from the top of the mountain, the pickup point seemed a lot farther away than it appeared on paper.

Everyone was ready to go, and they decided to head out all together. Elle gave them a knowing look, but it wasn’t entirely disapproving.

They walked forward together. Bolt couldn't stop stealing glances of Kara’s amazing body, fantasizing about their time in the hot springs, as well as anything else that would happen later.

They trekked through heavy loads of snow, picking up the pace when the cloud became swollen with a furious storm. Bolt clocked it and mentioned it to Kara mid-afternoon.

“We should probably get hunkered down a bit earlier,” he said to her. “I can see a storm stirring up.”

Kara was sitting near a stream, filling her bottle. The rest of the team had done the same, and they talked near the pathway. Elle stayed away for the time being, which Bolt didn’t like, but he was more focused on Kara.

He crouched next to her and nuzzled her neck. She giggled and nuzzled him back. The two sat by the stream for some time before heading back out.

“So what is it about this gem that’s so important anyway?” Bolt asked.

Kara looked around as if she wanted a distraction from the conversation. It made Bolt feel a little hurt because he thought they had moved past their levels of distrust.

“It’s a very old story,” Kara began reluctantly. “It's called the Tiger’s Eye. It supposedly came from the inner core of a meteor that hit earth centuries ago. The people who discovered it thought the gods had sent it for them and placed it in the tiger statue out of the belief that it would protect them.”

Bolt pulled his knees up and listened intently. “Why a tiger?”

Kara continued, facing the stream and not Bolt. “A long time ago, the Caspian tiger roamed this part of the world. It was the fiercest, strongest, most lethal animal around. Top of the food chain, for the most part. It was the god of the Caspian tiger the natives worshipped for protection.”

Well, that explained why the enemies came armed with knives and not real weapons. They didn’t expect any danger except for the archeologists themselves. They weren’t expecting any wild animals to be around. Now that his secret was out, he wondered how the bad guys would respond. What would they come after him with the next time? There wasn’t much that killed a tiger shifter.