Cold Love

"Jameel. You'd better get home. There's a storm coming." Kumak had wandered over to make sure that Janice had enough supplies to last out the storm.

"Kumak. I think Ms. Webster is in trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"I think she went looking for me. I think these are her tracks," the teen said, pointing at the footprints.

"Why would she go out at all, let alone in this storm?"

"I was going to get an ice core. I saw storm sign and came back. She must not have known I was back."

"Oh my God! Jameel, get home. I'll find Ms. Webster." Kumak's emotions took over. It never occurred to him to organize a search party.

"Yes sir."

Kumak ran to the storage shed and grabbed some supplies; a small tent, some trail rations and water, a couple of down sleeping bags, several chemical hand warmers, and a tracker. Janice had always hated the cold so much that Kumak had never thought to let her know that every parka in the village had a short range tracking device in the lining. As long as she was within a mile of the village, she could still be found.

By the time he had gathered the supplies he needed, the wind had picked up and the snow was falling. He opted against a snow mobile, not wanting to risk running her down if he lost visibility, which was a likely occurrence. Kumak tuned the tracker to Janice's frequency and said a silent prayer of thanks when the LCD arrow lit up. He followed the arrow at a slow steady pace. He wanted to avoid what he thought of as the 'parka trap.' It was actually possible to work up a sweat in the parka that would chill you dangerously when you stopped moving.

For a while, the arrow was shifting directions. This did not worry him, as it meant that she was still moving. Moving people don't freeze to death. When it stopped moving, he had to stifle his panic. She had stopped. He had no faith that she had taken proper survival measures. With luck, she stopped because she realized she was lost. Otherwise, she was lying unconscious in the snow, dying.

"No!" he thought to himself. "She won't die. She can't die."

Kumak had come to the realization that he loved Janice Webster. He didn't know when his feelings had changed from lust to love, but he knew why he loved her. He had seen her with the children, his children, as he thought of them. She had a passion for them and their learning. She put them first, above all other things. That she was out here, freezing to death, was proof of that. So was her refusal to sleep with him. She saw the conflict that could bring as a threat to the children's learning.

His visibility was almost non-existent. The tracker's arrow was visible from only six inches away. He almost tripped over her. The kneeling form, covered in snow, loomed up, as if out of nowhere. Kumak knelt in front of her and breathed a sigh of relief at the faint bit of fog puffing from her nose. As he pulled the tent out, he was never more grateful for a bad movie than he was now. He hit the release and dropped the tent, watching it erect itself just as the tents in Michael Crichton's Congo did (he had pushed to add them to the survival gear after seeing the movie).

He tossed the pack in to keep it from being blown away and turned to drag Janice into the tent. She did not react to being dragged or to being slapped when Kumak brushed the snow off her clothes. Inside the tent, the temperature, while it was actually no higher, felt much warmer with the wind no longer a factor. He quickly stripped Janice's clothes off her, wincing at the frozen dampness of the inner layers. She had managed to overheat herself and when she stopped moving, her own sweat had frozen. Her body did not feel warm. The only good thing he could see was the lack of frostbite.

He zipped the two sleeping bags together after rolling her naked body into one of them. Then he stripped and climbed in with her. Holding her body against his, he shivered as her body, desperate for heat, sapped the heat form his own body. He activated the hand warmers and spread them in the combined bags, adding their warmth to his own. They would only heat up for 30 minutes, but they would stay warm for two hours, hopefully long enough to bring Janice out of danger. Holding her tight, Kumak concentrated on staying awake.

* * *

Janice was floating. The bitter, strength sapping cold was gone now. Was this what it felt like to be dead? She wondered if Jameel was alive. She hoped the teen had been smarter than she had been. Off in the distance she kept hearing a voice calling her name. Why couldn't it just let her alone? Kumak. Where was Kumak? She had something she needed to tell him before she died. It was too late now. He would never know how much she had come to love him. She would never be able to tell him how his infinite patience with the children was such a thing of beauty. His willingness to set his desires aside touched her heart in a way that no one else had. She hoped he would find his true love.

Janice woke up to the feel of an embrace. Someone was holding her, a male someone. She opened her eyes to see Kumak's eyes staring back at her.

"Welcome back. I wasn't sure you were going to make it."

"Kumak! Jameel! Is she okay?"

"Yes. She was already back before you left to find her."

"Thank God!" It hit her that she and Kumak were naked. "Why are we in bed together, naked?"

"Body heat. You were well on your way to hypothermia and freezing. I needed to give you every source of heat I could. My body was one of the longer lasting ones."

Janice wiggled out of his embrace. "Kumak. I... I still can't..."

"Janice. Yes you can. I resigned as superintendent. I'm not your boss anymore."

"You did? Why?"

"I love you, Janice. Your coming after Jameel is just an example of one of the reasons."

Janice reached for Kumak again. "Oh Kumak, I love you too. I thought I was dead and I never had the chance to tell you."

The two kissed, once lightly, then hard. Their mouths tried to form a permanent bond as their tongues entwined. Their kiss broke and they were looking at one another again.

"I suppose we need to be getting back?"

"Look up." The darkness outside was apparent through the translucent top of the tent. The wind still howled, rattling the tent's fabric. "I don't much feel like walking even the short mile we would have to in the dark and the wind. The village knows we're okay."

"Good. That means I don't have to wait any longer." Janice's hand snaked down and fondled Kumak's cock. "I have been wanting this inside me ever since I didn't let you." Her other hand traced lines along his chest.

Kumak caressed her back with his hands, smiling at the feminine texture. One hand delved briefly between her ass cheeks, causing Janice to moan and press back against the hand. Her hand slipped off his cock and around to his ass, pulling him closer so she could feel his cock increase in size. He kissed her again, one hand holding her head tightly to his. His cock, slowly engorging, could feel the moisture forming on the cunt lips it was resting against. The tantalizing nearness of her pussy drew a groan from him.

"I need you so much, Kumak. I need you to fuck me. I'm so empty."

He slipped one hand between them, cupping her breast and pinching the nipple. Janice gasped and thrust her chest forward. He pulled away from her crotch, making her whimper with need. His other hand took a breast and pinched as well. She bit her lip, moaning. Her hands were running through the hair of his chest, as her nipples were prodded to full erectness.

"Please," she whispered.

One hand stayed with its beloved tit while the other descended to caress her belly. Janice's hips were undulating, searching for the cock that had abandoned her. When the hand left her belly to cup her mound, she rubbed against it lewdly. His hand was quickly coated with her juice as she caressed herself against his unmoving hand. Her body began to tremble with need. Her cunt ached with emptiness.

Her hand dropped to find his cock. It was hard, with precum coating the tip. Janice caressed his shaft, smearing the precum all over it. Kumak growled at the sensation her hand created. She could feel him throb with his own desire.

"Please, take me. Fuck me. I need to feel you in me."

Kumak pressed against her, both their hands instinctively getting out of the way. With one quick shove, he impaled her on his cock. Both groaned and locked their mouths again. They rocked against one another, Kumak sliding in and out of Janice. Janice clenched her cunt, trying to trap the blessed cock inside her. Sensation rocketed through her. Kumak rolled them, bringing himself on top. His weight on her was deliriously sensuous but still allowed her to reach a hand between them to reach her clit. Her other hand reached behind Kumak and penetrated the crack of his ass. She probed, finding his hole and brushed her finger against it.

Her orgasm hit her and Janice clenched tight. Her head went back and she screamed into the howling wind. Her cunt clenched even tighter and her finger penetrated Kumak's ass. The added sensation was enough to send him over the edge. His grip on her tightened and he gave one last thrust before cumming, emptying his seed into her pussy. He clenched her tight, causing her to struggle for breath in the midst of her climax.

When her breath returned, Janice kissed Kumak again, whispering, "Don't ever leave me. I never want to be without you again."

"Mine, forever. I'll never leave you," he responded.

As the wind howled and the snow blew, the held each other, basking in the glow of their love for one another. To Janice, it was not so cold above the artic circle anymore. She thought that she might even be able to think of this white land as home sometime.

* * *

They had only needed 22 of the extra days for cold weather closures this year. Janice woke up to a sound she had not expected to hear in Kluso, the sound of dripping water as the icicles on her roof melted. The weather had warmed to above freezing. It was a perfect day. Her first year as the school's teacher had been a success. Her students had done well and Jameel's father had come to accept that his daughter was simply smart and that being so was a good thing.

After her near death in the storm, Janice had recruited one of the older men to teach a weekly lesson on survival. While she was grateful that Jameel had known what to look for and do out on the snow pack, she did not want to have any other children out there, unaware of how to survive. If someone had told her a year ago that she would take children on a wilderness field trip in pitch dark, she would have thought of calling the men with the white coats.

This special day passed in a blur of last minute activity. Before she knew it she was walking down a makeshift aisle beside father, who, along with her mom, had flown up for the wedding. Then she was standing next to Kumak and a priest was talking.

"Do you Kumak, take Janice, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor and cherish, in sickness and health, for better or worse, in the good times and the bad, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"Do you, Janice, take Kumak, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, honor and obey, for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, so long as you both shall live."

Her voice cracking in a sob, she answered, "I do."

"Then, with the authority granted by God and the State of Alaska, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

As they kissed, they were oblivious to the cheers from the students and their families that had erupted around them.

The End

*

Thanks to D. for another fine editing job. I found this languishing, my having forgotten to post it here. Enjoy.