"A wolf," Dick said as calmly as he could. "Don't worry, it's behind us." But then answering calls came from the left and right.
"They're all around us!" Tracy whined.
"But it's all right. They almost never attack humans."
"Almost never? I'd like something more certain than that!"
"So would I." By then Dick had heard at least a dozen other yips and growls. He knew the pack was circling, closing in. "I'd give my left nut for a good rifle and a full box of shells."
"Oh, not your left nut!" Tracy was trying hard to make light of their situation. "I have plans for that when we make camp tonight. And I'm pretty sure Jo does too."
But Dick was thinking, if we make camp tonight. What he told Tracy was true. Wolves seldom attack humans – if they're moving and appear capable of defending themselves.
"You lead for a while," he told Tracy. "Head straight for that craggy peak that looks like a witch's tit."
"O.K. But what are you going to do?"
"Bring up the rear and keep the girls moving."
"You just want to watch Jo twitch her ass," she said wryly.
"Yeah, sure… that's it." Actually, that was the furthest thing from his mind. He knew that if the wolves did attack, it would most likely be from behind.
As Tracy started off, he bent down and broke the ring of webbing off one of his ski poles. It was meant to keep the sharp-pointed shaft from sinking too deep in soft snow. Without it he might have trouble maintaining an even stride, but he could use the pole as a spear if he had too. Not much of a weapon against a pack of hungry wolves, but certainly better than nothing.
Karina came gliding up and saw the pole he'd stripped of its ring. "Oh, did it break?" she asked.
"Er, yeah. But it's all right. I can fix it. You keep moving. Catch up with your mom if you can."
"What was that awful noise I heard?" the redhead asked.
"Just some wolves," he answered calmly.
"Are they dangerous?"
"No." But Dick couldn't help thinking, they are now that we can't hear them. The yips and barks had stilled. The pack was silent, stalking. "You go on," he said. "I'll wait for Jo. Where the hell is she, by the way?" There was no sign of her yet on the trail.
"Oh, one of her skis came off a ways back. She had to tighten the binder. She'll be along soon." With that, Karina went striding off, her long red-golden hair whipped and swirled by the chilling wind.
She had not been completely fooled by his apparent calm. Karina knew there might be trouble, but she felt safe as long as her father was near. Her respect for him and the closeness she felt had increased greatly on this trip.
Karina was thinking, if I knew anyone younger who was anything like my dad, I wouldn't be a virgin right now. I'd melt in his arms and do anything he wanted me to…
As her thoughts wandered, so did her skis. Karina had almost caught up with her mother when they slowed off the trail that Tracy had left.
Karina lurched into deep, untracked snow by the side of the trail. Her leg twisted slightly and she felt her left ski pop off. Half sliding, half stumbling, she veered down-slope toward the trunk of an ice-crusted pine.
Something clanked in the snow beneath her left foot and a biting shock of pain like a lightning bolt ran up her leg. Her foot was yanked to a sudden stop, pitching her over on her side. "Yeeeooow!" she cried. The pain grew worse as she wallowed in the snow.
"What's wrong?" Tracy whirled her head in time to see the girl fall awkwardly on her side, her left leg dragging back.
Karina screamed mindless sounds and thrashed like a wounded animal, clawing frantically at her leg.
"What is it?" Dick hollered from down the trail. He could not see his daughter, but her wild screams made his blood run cold with fear. He raced toward the sound, off-stride and faltering because the pole he'd fashioned into a spear sank half its length in the snow.
Karina's high-pitched screams deepened into sobs of anguish when he reached her. "What is it, Karina? What the hell?" She jerked up her leg and then he could see the icy cold jaws of a steel trap.
That glinting steel jaw held a crushing grip on her ankle, biting in just above the top of her boot. Dick pulled off his gloves and worked his fingers between the metal bands, fighting against cold and the strength of the spring to wrench them apart.
He almost had her leg free when his numbed fingers slipped and the spring-powered jaws snapped shut again. "Aaaggghhh!" the girl cried, almost passing out as the second bolt of pain shot up her leg to burst like a rocket at the base of her brain.
In her pained, half conscious state, Karina remembered hearing a cry much like that in a fitful dream she had the night before. It was her cousin Jo she heard then, and with that she dreamed she heard her father's voice, rough and demanding. Nothing like the way he usually talked.
She remembered thinking that he must be hurting Jo, but she knew that was a dream. A bad dream. A silly nightmare. Her dad would never hurt anyone.
Dick glanced up at the darkening sky, then down at his daughter's leg still caught in the steel trap. He couldn't help thinking that God was punishing him for what he had done last night. First the storm, then the wolves, now his beloved daughter cruelly hurt and turned into tempting prey.
That's bullshit, he thought. If there is a God, he doesn't give a damn what people do. So many have done worse. They shoot and kill in pointless wars. They build missiles and bombs intended to blow whole cities off the face of the earth. He had to laugh then, a dry and bitter sound.
"Don't worry, Karina. I'll get you out." Dick used the point of his ringless ski pole like a lever to pry the jaws apart. The biting pressure eased and she jerked her leg free.
"Oh, thank God!" Karina moaned.
Dick threw the trap as far as its anchoring chain would allow. "How about a few kind words for your old man?" he teased.
"Oh, yes! Thank you, Daddy!" Karina threw her fur-sheathed arms around his neck and hugged him, planting her lips warmly on his. They moved impulsively, and this time her tongue shot out. It laced with his until he pulled away.
"Hhhmmm. Let's see it you can stand up." The sweet taste of her still lingered in his mouth. Dick forced aside the thoughts that brought to mind. He slipped his hands beneath her arms and lifted.
"Hunnngh! No, Daddy, I can't stand up. It hurts too much!"
"Is her ankle broken?" Tracy called down from the trail above.
"No, I don't think so." Dick checked with practiced hands. He'd worked on the Ski Patrol at a large winter resort when he was younger. "But she's got a nasty bruise and probably a sprain."
Karina enjoyed the warm, reassuring touch of her father's strong hands. "My knee hurts too," she said. "I must have twisted it when I fell."
"Oh?" Dick slid his hands up her legs, not thinking at all of the tingling shocks of pleasure that he sent racing through the young girl's body. Her knee was already swollen. A bad sign, considering, their limited food supply. It could easily be a week before she felt fit enough to ski again.
"I must have wrenched my hip too," Karina moaned. "It hurts all the way up there."
Dick slid his hands up her leg, but the reaction he felt was not one of pain. Karina smiled, she almost purred. She loved the touch of his hands. She would never let any of the boys she knew put their fingers so close to her crotch and feel the taut flesh of her smoothly tapered thigh.
The boys were all too grabby and rough. Her father's hands were stronger, but there was reassurance in his strength. Karina felt limp, and then she felt her pussy start to squirm and dampen itself with desire.
"Dick, is she all right?" Tracy asked sharply. The woman had suddenly realized that what she said about freedom of sexual expression was not all quite right. It bothered her greatly to watch Dick finger his daughter's crotch. It bothered her most of all because Karina obviously enjoyed it so much.