Slade (BBW Bear Shifter Moonshiner Romance) (120 Proof Honey Book 5) by Becca Fanning

scene.

“Attention. Attention. Are you picking this up? Bad driver lady , come in. This is urgent.”

    It took Karina a good long while to realize where the low, dry voice was coming from. Reinicke had never even had the decency to learn her name, and Karina felt somewhat inclined to leave him hanging as his voice rattled through on the radio. It was much later in the day, approaching evening, and the crystal clear rain had been falling solidly for a good hour now. Karina clutched the radio in one damp hand, watching droplets flick off the speaker as the voice came through again.

    “Please answer me,” Reinicke said, “so I know that you’re safe.”

    His tone was softer the second time, so much so that, on anyone else, Karina might have called the sound tender. It gave her one of those funny gut twists that she was rapidly learning to ignore. She held down the button on the side of the radio, holding it a little unsurely to her lips.

    “What do you want, Ranger Boy?” she asked.

    There was a sound of static at the other end. A sigh of relief? Karina couldn’t be sure, and she couldn’t stop herself from thinking that’s what it was.

    “Listen, there’s a massive thunderstorm imminent,” Reinicke said, his tone suddenly darker. “I need you to get to the outpost before it hits. I’m here waiting, but I’ll come out and get you if-”

    “No, no,” Karina said at once, “I can make it there. I’m not having any problems with the maps now, thank you.”

    “Now?” Reinicke repeated, catching the word. “When were you having trouble?”

    He sounded amused again now, and it made Karina grumble. She clasped the radio tighter.

    “The outpost is marked off Route 12, right?” she said, glossing over his teasing question.

    “Right,” he replied, “where are you now?”

    “Never you mind,” she told him firmly. “I’m near. Gimme an hour at most.”

    The last thing she needed was him trying to come to her rescue again, no matter how unpleasant the climate was getting. Underfoot, the dry earth had gradually soaked up the water, creating a muddy layer that slipped and slid beneath her boots. The world overhead was much darker than usual too, making the trees look sinister and full of shadows. When Karina consulted her map, the large droplets of water threatened to tear a few holes in the weak paper, but she managed to make out the marker for the outpost. The swiftest way to it was to climb the next hill and walk the ridge between that peak and the one on which the outpost stood.

    That had seemed easy on paper. Karina had neglected to consult the difficulty level when she planned this sudden, rain-drenched route, and it took her the whole hour to reach the top of the considerable peak, which had looked fairly easy on the map. Still, when she reached the top, her body heavy with rainwater, she squinted through the drizzle to see the faint outline of the outpost. It was a wooden structure no bigger than an RV, built into the high hillside of the neighboring mountain. The weather up at the top was too poor to see much of it, even though it wasn’t that far away. All that stood between her and the outpost was a narrow walkway, no wider than two feet.

    It was a straight enough path, and when she tested it with her foot, it didn’t seem too muddy. Alarm bells rang in Karina’s mind even as she began to step onto the ridge, but what other choice did she have? Going back around the other way would take hours, and the storm was well and truly closing in now. The world was dark and grey, shrouded in cloud and chill breezes at that height, and Karina desperately tried to keep her focus on the outline of the building in the near distance. It was imperative not to look down.

    But she knew what was there. Even in her peripheral vision, Karina could see the sheer drop to her left and right. One side, the left, was a craggy cliff faces that was probably popular with climbers, littered with rocks that stuck