Page 13 of A Secret Crush Valentine’s (Holiday Shifters of Frost Mountain #9)

A Startling Confession

Hello again, this is Julia Reel, reporting from Frost Mountain, and… yep, you guessed it: It’s freezing up here. I don’t see the temperatures rising anytime soon, folks. I’d find shelter if I were you. Only a fool—or a couple of fools—would be traveling across this mountain right now.

It had grown surprisingly colder over the last couple of hours. To Julia, it felt like days since they’d stepped off the frozen lake. She wrapped the jacket more tightly around her as she trudged through the snow a few feet behind Damon. Overhead, the sun was slowly sinking in the distance, casting an orange glow across the sky.

Her stomach growled, and she bit her lip. It had been nearly a day since she had anything to eat. Between that and the fact that they’d been traveling all day, she was on the verge of collapse. But Julia wasn’t about to complain. Not to him . Talking to him was the last thing she wanted to do.

In fact, she thought, glaring at his broad back, the only reason she was still following him was because she couldn’t afford to get lost or attacked out here. Well, that and the fact that as mad as she was at him, she didn’t really feel like leaving, especially not since she’d just gotten him back after all this time.

Damon glanced over his shoulder as if to make sure she was still following. His massive body almost filled her vision. His eyes met hers, sending a shiver through her body. He continued walking, marching forward without so much as a grunt.

A dull ache throbbed in Julia’s legs. A piggyback ride from him would be great right now…

She could just imagine wrapping her arms and legs around his wide, muscular frame, drinking in his scent.

Hmm…

Her pulse quickened at the thought, so she brushed the thought aside. She’d had enough excitement and danger for one day—or one year if she was being honest. She still couldn’t believe she’d crossed that lake with him. The whole time, she’d been certain the ice would shatter and they would both fall to their doom. Even now, hours after she’d stepped off the ice, the memory still haunted her. Crossing Laudville Lake had been scary enough. But everything was 10 times more terrifying when you were stuck on a magical mountain designed to kill you.

Or when you were being hunted.

Instinctively, she craned her head to look this way and that. No Collectors in sight. She hadn’t seen them since their last attack. They probably had good heads on their shoulders and decided not to chance crossing that icy lake like she and Damon had done. Either that, or they’d simply given up the chase. For all Julia knew, they’d seen the FBI jacket she had on and decided not to pursue them out of respect for authority.

Whatever the case, they were safe for now, well, as safe as anyone could be under the circumstances.

It seemed like an eternity before Damon stopped and announced, “We’re here.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, she gazed in the direction he was pointing, and her eyes widened.

Sixty feet northwest of them was a set of caves etched into the side of the mountain. The longer she gazed at them, the more stunned Julia felt. Even the smallest cave had to be at least 10 feet wide. No telling how deep they were. For a death trap, Frost Mountain sure had some amazing sights. If they weren’t in a separate dimension, the caves could have been one of the seven wonders of the earth.

And tourists would flock here in millions, she thought, not knowing it would be a one-way trip.

“We’ll take shelter in one of those for the night,” Damon said, returning his attention to her. The sound of his voice sparked a feeling of annoyance. “We’re going to need to rest and recover our strength for tomorrow. We’re getting close to Caprichor.”

With that, he continued walking, and she followed him silently, still staring at his back. They settled in one of the larger caves, which Julia figured was just as well. At least there would be plenty of space between them.

The cave was dark, but it took Damon no longer than a minute to produce a flame brilliant enough to illuminate their surroundings. They ventured deeper into the cave, where the light couldn’t be detected from outside, and settled down. Julia took a position opposite him, grateful for the 10 feet that separated them.

“You must be hungry,” he said as he rummaged through his bag. “Have some food.”

He handed her a piece of meat wrapped in leaves, but she simply frowned at it.

“Take it,” he insisted.

“I’m not hungry,” she mumbled, even though there was a gnawing feeling in her stomach. She turned her head away, gazing instead toward the mouth of the cave.

“Don’t lie to me.” Damon’s voice was stern. “You haven’t had anything to eat. I’m hungry, so you must be, too.”

“What’s it to you?” she snapped.

He drew closer to her, and she felt her heartbeat accelerate. “I can’t afford to see you starve to death.”

“If you cared so much about my life, you wouldn’t have endangered it 16 years ago.”

The words tumbled out almost of their own accord. Damon blinked at her, and she saw surprise and hurt flicker across his face. Not that it mattered. She’d been shocked and hurt as well all those years ago, hadn’t she?

“What?” He sounded incredulous. “That’s the reason you’re mad at me? That’s what this is about?”

His words annoyed her even more. She glared at him. “So you didn’t even realize it before?”

Damon inched nearer but still maintained a careful distance. He looked like he was trying to figure out what to say. “I thought you might’ve been upset for another reason. I…” He shook his head. “Sixteen years ago…”

“We fell through the ice, and then you were gone.” Her voice quivered as she reminded him of the horror. “Just… gone. Do you know how that made me feel?” She drew her knees up to her chest. “I was scared. I was worried. I thought something had happened to you. I didn’t even know if I was going to make it.”

“Red, I—”

“You told me I could trust you, Damon. You said nothing would happen.” She spread her arms, gesturing at their surroundings. “ This isn’t nothing. The 16 years since that afternoon aren’t nothing. Do you know how many nightmares I’ve had about what happened?”

It took her a moment to realize she was hyperventilating, her chest heaving. Before today, she didn’t think she was mad at Damon, not once in nearly two decades. Perhaps it had simply taken her that long to process everything that happened that afternoon in Laudville Lake.

“Do you have any idea how it felt hearing you tell me the same thing hours ago?” She scoffed. “It felt like high school all over again. You assuring me that everything was okay, that nothing could go wrong, asking me to trust you. It felt like, even after all those years, after everything that happened, you hadn’t learned a thing. You just put my life in danger again.”

His green eyes blinked at her. His lips were parted, but no sound came forth.

She looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze. “When you disappeared, I was broken. It didn’t end there. Half the gits on the football team hounded me for months, claiming I must have done something to you. There were even rumors that I had you locked up in a basement somewhere.” She chuckled humorlessly. “Walking across that lake was the most terrifying thing ever. And you made me do it again.”

In the silence that followed, she thought she could hear her own heart pounding in her chest. There was a shuffle as Damon drew even nearer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him staring at her.

“Red—” he began. “Julia.”

Her head whipped around faster than she could blink. He’d never called her that before.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “For everything. You’re right—I should never have asked you to cross the lake with me back then and today. I’ve put you through a lot of pain.”

He stretched his hand out. In his palm was the food he’d offered her. “I know forgiving me won’t be easy, but I don’t want you to punish yourself.” When she didn’t take the wrapped piece, he set it gently by her ankle. “Just eat. You need your strength.”

With that, he retreated to the other side of the cave, out of her reach.

Julia had a good mind to toss the food back at him. But then her stomach growled again.

She unwrapped the meat and dug in, feeling her insides scream with joy as she chewed and swallowed. She was halfway done with her food when Damon spoke again.

“I was broken too, you know,” he said.

Julia froze with the food halfway to her lips.

“For a very long time, I blamed myself,” he went on. “When I found myself on this mountain and realized you hadn’t come along with me, I thought you must have drowned in that lake.”

“Damon—”

“And that was my fault. I’d asked you to cross Laudville Lake with me.” He wasn’t looking at her; his gaze was fixed on the flames between them. “I should have known the ice wouldn’t hold us. I just… I was trying to impress you.”

Impress me? Slowly, she set her food down. Was Damon McLaurent trying to impress me ?

“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she said hoarsely. She cleared her throat and repeated herself. “I didn’t even realize how upset I was.”

“You had a right to be.”

She shrugged. “It felt like you walked into my life, lit it up, and just… left. You left me out in the cold. That’s how it felt for so long. You’d finally come into my life after wanting you for so long, and then that happened.”

Damon frowned. “A long time? I don’t think I understand… what—?”

Julia couldn’t help but chuckle. “Damon, I’ve had a crush on you since the seventh grade.”

The silence that followed was almost deafening.

He sat up straighter and blinked at her, shock flickering across his face. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

“Why would I kid about something like that?” She tried to sound as casual as possible as if she wasn’t suddenly a nervous wreck. It hadn’t really dawned on her until now that she’d just blurted out one of her biggest secrets. “Lots of girls had crushes on you back in high school. You were Mr. Popular, after all.”

He suddenly looked sheepish, which surprised her. “I never… I guess I didn’t think someone like you could ever like someone like me.”

“Why, because I was a nerd?”

“You ran a newsletter. You were brilliant, creative… and beautiful. I was just a jock. And more than half the guys on the team were jerks. You know what they say about bad apples.”

“Fair enough.” She suppressed a smile. “Why did it matter, anyway? It’s not like…” She trailed off, realization dawning on her. “Oh, my God.”

He nodded. “Yeah, since the sixth grade.”

She felt like her heart was trying to pound its way out of her ribcage. Damon scooted over, sitting against the wall next to her, and she made a conscious effort to breathe.

“You never told me, Damon.”

“I never got a chance to,” he said. “I was going to ask you to the dance that afternoon. I guess I ruined things for myself when I asked you to cross the lake with me.”

More silence passed between them. Julia found herself grinning. “And what about now? You still have a crush on me?”

She held her breath as she waited for his answer.

Damon turned to face her. “That hasn’t changed in 16 years, although I wouldn’t call it a mere crush anymore.”

“I feel the same way.” Her voice came out a few pitches higher than she’d intended, but all she cared about was the man gazing back at her, those lips of his just inches away.

His eyes lit up. “I was hoping you did.”

She’d been mad at him since they’d crossed the lake. The anger had pretty much solidified in her chest like an iceberg. When Damon kissed her, that iceberg melted.