Falling Sky [Haven Ranch 3]

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

Emry looked at Hardy is surprise, "What the hell are you doing up here?

Hardy shrugged, "I figure I might do better up here helping my mates then standing down there waiting to see you fall to your deaths."

Sky snorted, "Well, you are nothing if not honest."

Hardy sighed, "Look, I know I've been an ass, and I swear when we get down from here and find a place to bunker down, we can all talk. I've been told that listening isn't one of my strong points, so I figure I can work on that when we do. For now, I'm going to climb up a little higher, and then I'm going to get into position to get a firm hold on you. When I do, Sky, you are going to need to swing your legs until you can reach Emry. He'll grab a hold of you and then we can get back on the snowy ground."

Hardy didn't wait to hear an argument. Instead he started climbing until he found a firm branch big enough to hold his weight. Sitting on it, he tightened his legs and hung upside down,

grabbing Sky by the top of his shirt.

Sky gasped, "Are you f*****g crazy? Get off that branch like that! You’ll slip and break your f*****g neck."

Giving Sky a rare smile, Hardy replied, "Aww, you do care. Now, stop bitching and start swinging. It's getting late and we don't want to be caught outside when the sun goes down or this tree will be the least of our worries."

Sky looked at Emry rasping, "Are you ready?"

"To have my mate wrap his luscious body around me for the first time? Absofuckinglutely. Go for it." Emry replied and held out his hands.

Sky started moving his legs forward and backward and Hardy heard the branch starting to give more. Sky didn't have a chance to swing again when the branch finally snapped off the tree and he and the branch began to fall.

Hardy gripped Sky's shirt and Emry tried to grab for him as well, but he lost his balance and had to work to recover.

"Sky, grab my arm!" Hardy yelled.

Sky hung with just Hardy holding him by his shirt muttering, "I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!"

Hardy felt Sky's shirt start to tear and his headphones slipping that he had around his shoulders,

"Damn it Sky, for once, please do as I say and grab my f*****g arm!"

Sky lifted his arm high into the air but wasn't able to actually grab him. Twisting a bit, Hardy let go of one side of Sky's shirt and snatched his raised arm as quick as he could. At first Sky started

to slip and he began to scream. Hardy held on tight, breathing heavily. He felt something tearing in his shoulder, but ignored the pain as he began to swing Sky forward and backward.

"What the f**k are you doing?" Sky yelled.

Emry's arm wrapped around their mate, "I got him!"

Sky twisted around and wrapped his arms around Emry. Emry quickly moved to the sturdiest

branch and pushed his mate's back into the tree trunk. Both men were panting heavily and Sky was holding Emry for dear life.

Hardy worked his way back onto the branch and stood up. Slowly making his way towards his

mates, he said, "Let's get the hell out of this tree."

Sky snickered, "You're a Condor shifter. You should feel right at home."

"And you're a chipmunk shifter, so tell me how at home do you feel right now?" Hardy replied with humor.

Sky sighed and slid down Emry, slowly. From the look on both their faces it wasn't such a bad experience. Hardy had to admit to himself that he wished he knew what it felt like to hold his little mates. Sadly, he didn't know if he ever would.

"Okay, Emry you start down first and then Sky will follow. I'll bring up the rear." Hardy ordered.

Sky snorted, "I'm sure you'd love to try."

"Yes, I would, just not in this tree. Now get going, the sun is going down fast." Hardy replied.

Just as they started down, Hardy had a thought and began to climb higher. Sky yelled, "Too much blood to your brain, Hardy? That's up, not down."

The pain in his left shoulder was getting worse, but he knew that time was not on their side. He had to get a better view, "I need to check something out. Just get down and I'll be there in a minute."

The higher Hardy got the flimsier the tree became. Swaying with the tree, Hardy looked around.

Then he noticed what looked like a small building to the north. As quick as his arm would allow, Hardy began to descend to the ground.

"I think they're broken." Sky whined.

Emry held the headphones in his hand, "When we get back, I'll buy you a new pair."

"But these were a gift from Nigh. I don't know how he found them in hot pink, but I loved them and now they're broken." Sky said as he began to sniffle.

Hardy jumped down, saying, "Better the headphones broken, then your head."

Sky looked at him with such sadness, Hardy immediately knew he had said something wrong, again. Damn, Hardy would never get this talking and feelings thing down. He didn't mean to hurt Sky's feelings or make him feel like the loss of his headphones was insignificant, but to Hardy, his life or the life of the headphones didn't even measure in the same universe. However, it seems it did to his mate.

Sighing, Hardy said, "I saw a building to the north. If we start walking now, we should make it there in the next fifteen to twenty minutes."

Sky's teeth started to chatter and so did Emry's. Hardy felt the cold just as much, but he knew they needed to keep moving. Hypothermia was an issue and none of them were dressed for this

kind of weather, "Let's go."

The three of them started walking and Sky didn't say anything as he moved through the snow. He didn't b***h and complain or say he was tired, even when he fell a couple of times. Hardy was impressed.

No one spoke a word. They all seemed to be focused on the task at hand. Getting out of the damn cold.

Just when Hardy thought they must have gone too far, the small cabin came into view. Hardy

started moving faster and Emry and Sky quickly caught up to him. Snow blocked the door and

Hardy looked around until he saw a shovel, "Grab that, will you Emry?"

Emry looked to where Hardy pointed and gave a jerky nod. Taking the shovel, Emry moved the

snow away from the door as Hardy pulled and it, "Damn it, I can't get it opened."

"Tr──try pu──pushing it." Sky stammered.

Hardy pushed and the door flew open, causing him to stumble inside. Sky and Emry quickly

followed and closed the door behind them. It was getting dark and Hardy knew they weren't out of the woods yet...so to speak. Seeing some dry wood next to the metal fireplace, Hardy quickly began to put together what he needed and looked around.

"I need something to start the damn fire with." Hardy snapped.

In the meantime, Emry had begun searching through the cabin and found some blankets

Emry brought a blanket to Sky and wrapped it around him. Sky pointed to the top of the mantle saying, "Ma──matches."

Looking where Sky pointed, Hardy saw some long fireplace matches behind a picture frame.

Grabbing them, he made quick work of starting the fire.

Standing up, Hardy looked around, saying, "We need to see what we have here. Food, clothes, anything we can use until we can figure out our next move."

"We need to get warm, Hardy. Once we do that, then we can do a seek and find." Sky said as he wrapped the blanket tighter around him.

Hardy scanned the cabin and noticed two beds with blankets, a wood burning stove with pots and pans, and a small pantry to the side. Making his way to the pots and pans, Hardy grabbed the largest one and rushed outside to scoop a bunch of snow in it. Coming back inside, he made his way to the fire and set the pan on top of it.

"What are you doing?" Emry asked.

Turning, Hardy saw Sky cuddled up on Emry's lap, both men wrapped in blankets. Damn, he

wanted in on that, "We're going to need water."

Sky snorted, "I sure hope none of it was yellow."

Hardy shook his head, "I made sure it was clean."

"It was a joke, Hardy." Sky replied softly, then said, "Thank you for what you've done. Both of you. I would have died in that tree, and trust me, I've seen movies. Did you ever see Predator?

There was this part where they climbed a tree and found these dead skeletons hanging there. That would have been me."

"You ramble the craziest s**t when you're nervous or scared." Hardy said with a shake to his head.

Shrugging, Sky replied, "What can I say? My voice soothes me."

"Damn, it's still cold in here." Emry said as he wrapped Sky up tighter with him in the blanket.

Hardy looked around, "I have an idea. Let's push the beds together, get undressed and get under the covers."

"Uh, say that again?" Sky asked in shock.

Emry unwrapped him and Sky from the blankets and went to do as Hardy said.

With Hardy's helped the two beds were pushed together and then both men started getting naked.

Hardy replied, "One of the best ways to warm up is with body heat. We get undressed and get under the covers, it won't take long and we can get dressed again once the cabin warms up."

Sky stood there and watched as Emry and Hardy undressed. Just as Hardy bared his chest, Sky

licked his lips. It was nice to know that even if Sky didn't like him, he at least enjoyed the view,

"Sky, get undressed, now."

"Fine, but if either of you try anything funny, I swear, I will neuter you." Sky muttered.

The second Hardy saw his mates in all their naked glory, he knew one thing for sure. He was in for a long, miserable night, and it had nothing to do with the cold.