Page 19 of Alpha Geek

She opened her eyes to watch Tripp. Their gazes locked onto each other, and he pressed her farther into the snowbank. The icy temperature only intensified their lovemaking.

Tripp shoved into her with one final thrust, and Amelia's body released another wave of bliss as Tripp climaxed.

Instead of yelling, Tripp bit into Amelia’s neck, and she encouraged it. Her nails dug deeper into his ass, and they finished together in a surge of flesh, thrill, and satisfaction.

Afterward, they lay in the tent, breathing heavily. Tripp chuckled. “Did that make you feel better?” He brushed her hair off her face and kissed her breast. He plucked at her nipple with his tongue, and Amelia stroked Tripp’s curls.

“Yes. It did.” She smiled lazily. “You’re very good at that.”

“Not good enough to make you scream.”

“You challenged me not to. I was very creative in working around my noises.” She traced the bite mark she left on Tripp’s shoulder.

“Yes. You were.” Tripp squeezed her other breast in his hand. “You also shredded our tent.”

Amelia looked at the tent floor. She smiled. “Well, don’t challenge me to be quiet next time.”

“It was that, or have everyone know what we were doing,” Tripp teased.

“Like they don’t already know.”

“Maybe. But this was more fun.”

Amelia smiled at him. She would fix the tent floor in the morning. For now, they put the mattress over it and threw on some blankets. As they lay there, tangled in each other’s arms, Amelia tried not to let a slice of fear wriggle into her heart too deeply.

TEN

TRIPP

The bite of the evening wind latched onto Tripp’s skin. It dug into his cheeks, sinking its glacial jaw into his tender, exposed flesh. Tripp frowned; the acclimation camps had proven to be more formidable than he thought. Of course, he never expected his greatest climb to be easy.

When he and Amelia first arrived at the base camp, he had been fueled with dreams of the end. What it would feel like to stand on Mt. Everest's peak and look out onto the world, a master of his destiny.

He had never truly considered the amount of work it would take to make it up to its summit. He was a seasoned climber with equal parts passion and experience. But he had made a novice mistake. Tripp had been so wrapped up in the climb and the accident that happened to John before the climb that he did not prepare well beforehand. At least not physically. He was relying on the information he stored about the climb rather than preparing his body for the very different type of strain it would be under.

Sure, he kept to his usual workout routine, but he had completely neglected his endurance and cardio. This became more apparent as they made their first trip from base camp to Camp One. The trek was slow. His muscles stiffened against the icy whip of the wind. The ground was smooth and fickle. Even when Tripp felt stable, his legs were liable to slip from under him at any moment.

He quickly discovered how easily temperature and altitude worked against his body. His heart raced each time they made their way back and forth from one base to the other. It shortened his breath, making them come in quick tuffs of strained inhales. The air was growing thicker, like a hand that threatened to suffocate him. Still, he would much rather be suffocated without the consistent torment of stiffening joints.

Tripp kept moving, consistent and steady as a tortoise. Making their way between Camp Two and Camp Four, the climb became increasingly more difficult. His body felt ragged after each new acclimation trek. The muscles in his body seem to twist and knot in an endless cycle. Even rest did little to quell the swelling pool of fog that took over his mind by day's end.

By the time they reached Camp Three, Tripp was relying on an oxygen tank to aid his body in recovery after each climb. His lungs clung to the smooth release of oxygen, desperate to grab hold of the molecules they’d been denied.

Even so, it was the cold that blanketed everything. Every ache and pain doubled underneath the frigid burn of the negative-degree winds. The fire seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, settling into his bones when he was motionless for too long.

Oh yes, the cold was the least pleasant part of this climb.

But Amelia was the best.

At the end of each climb, Tripp would sit at camp, taking his time to allow the oxygen to make him strong enough to try to hold down food. Nausea had wrestled anything he swallowed back up, which made a recovery that much harder.

Each time they rested, Amelia sat with him. Her presence was like a drug, calming and heightening at the same time. Tripp's body warmed as their thighs touched. The concern in her eyes made him want to kiss her round pink lips.

He knew she stayed with him because she wanted to make sure he was all right. Her attentions were intoxicating, even with the most prideful part of himself exposing his weakness in front of her. He was sick and struggling to make it through acclimation, while Amelia was one of the last people he expected to need any sort of recovery. Quite the opposite. This was her element.

Amelia was a strong climber, and not only because of her enhanced shifter genetics. Though he was sure it helped quite a bit with stamina, power, and speed, it did nothing for the intimate way she surveyed the land around her.

She moved through the desolate terrain as if she had grown up here. In some ways, he supposed she did. It was something she had shared with her late father. A talent that honed her the way top athletes perfected their skills for the Olympics. She seemed to be a part of her surroundings. A beauty as dangerous and wild as the mountain itself.

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