Dimitri whipped around to face Anya, his trembling now far removed from the desire he felt a moment ago. He let go of her wrists.

"I think we should run," Anya said in a halting whisper. She brought her hands down to her chest to nestle between them, her mouth almost brushing his as she turned to peek over his other shoulder. Dimitri was too distracted by his own terror to notice.

"No," he whispered back. "It'll chase us if we startle it. There's a cub with it."

Anya stared up at him, eyebrows raised high. "She's more worried about her baby than us. If we run in the opposite direction - "

Dimitri interrupted with a violent head shake. "No. We stay right where we are until it goes away."

Anya set her jaw. "I think we can make it."

"Are you crazy?" Dimitri hissed. "What if it thinks we're a threat? Do you honestly think we can outrun a fucking bear -"

"Shh!" Dimitri jumped when Anya clamped a hand down on his shoulder and dug in hard with her nails.

"What? What's happening?" He watched the scene behind him in Anya's wide eyes, his guts twisted into knots.

She gasped. Dimitri grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Anya, what!"

"The baby...it's coming over here." The snuffling became louder, punctuated by small snorting sounds.

Anya's eyes got even wider, if that were possible. A curse escaped her clenched teeth as Dimitri felt a gentle tug on his pant leg.

It took every ounce of willpower he had not to screech like a little girl. He stood frozen, matching Anya curse for curse as the tugging became more insistent.

They were blocked in on Dimitri's right by a thick stand of prickly bushes, but he could see a clear path through the trees a few feet down to his left.

His leg began to jerk away from his body as the curious bear cub began to gnaw on the hem.

Anya's entire body shook against him. Dimitri swallowed hard and tried to get a grip before he got them both mauled to death. He lowered his mouth to Anya's ear. "Move to your right - very slowly."

Anya nodded and did as she was told. Dimitri mirrored her movements, praying the cub would lose interest and go back to its mother, who was still sniffing around the brush only a few dangerous feet behind them.

The cub followed him with a playful growl, a sharp tooth caught in the fabric of Dimitri's pants. Anya answered the unspoken command in his grip and shuffled faster. Dimitri felt more than heard his pants leg rip.

A growl floated over Dimitri's shoulder, and he could feel the ground tremble with the vibration of it. Anya went still as a corpse and released a horrible little shriek right in his ear. Dimitri winced even as his breath stopped coming altogether.

His fingers dug into the flesh of Anya's upper arms, his chest still pressed against her even though her back was now free of the tree.

The growl came again. Much closer this time.

Dimitri squeezed his eyes shut and prayed that if death came, it did so quickly.

A tense silence stretched on. Dimitri dared to open his eyes, only to see Anya's mouth widen with a scream in what felt like slow motion. Then she turned in his hold, too suddenly for Dimitri to let her go in time.

He couldn't catch her when she fell. Since she had been the only thing keeping him upright, with one leg being yanked sideways and behind him, Dimitri followed her to the ground.

The impact ripped Dimitri's pant leg free of the bear cub's mouth, and it let out a petulant wail.

Dimitri knew they were dead now.

The maternal growl they heard before transformed into a roar that made Dimitri scramble to his feet, yanking Anya up after him.

"RUN!"

Anya screamed like she was being butchered and took off through the trees. Dimitri stumbled after her in a zigzag path, lungs burning from exertion and the constant intake of cold air.

He swore he could hear the heavy thumps of the bear's huge paws pounding the packed earth behind him, each labored breath bursting from its mouth, and he thought his heart might punch a hole through his chest.

All sense of time vanished. He could have been running for hours, for days. His whole existence became the inhaling and exhaling, the frantic pumping of his arms and legs, the straining to catch a flash of Anya's coat through the spaces between the trees.

Then Dimitri noticed he couldn't hear the galloping anymore.

He couldn't take the chance of turning around just to see a bear paw flying at his face. He forced his legs to keep moving, until Anya came back into view.

"The tree!" He pointed at the huge evergreen ahead of her with the low branches. "Climb it!"

Anya stumbled to a stop, doubling over at the tree's thick trunk. When she stood upright, he could see her incredulous look despite her distance. "Bears can climb trees, too, you idiot!"

"Just climb the goddamn tree!"

By the time Dimitri reached her, Anya was already perched high above the ground, breathing hard and peering through the tangle of bare branches for signs of a chase.

"Do you see it?" he managed between wheezes for breath as he struggled to hoist himself onto the lowest branch. He turned his head to squint up at Anya.

He raised an eyebrow when she hopped down to meet him with as much effort as it would take to step off a curb. "No," she said, "I think it's gone."

Dimitri went limp with relief and let himself dangle from his middle like a worm on a stick, chest heaving. Pulling his legs up was no easy feat, and he realized he'd surely plummet to the ground and break his neck if tried to stand up on the narrow branch. He steadied himself on on his hands and knees instead, wincing as the hard bark dug into his kneecaps and palms.

A sharp giggle brought his head up.

Anya was watching him mince toward her, her legs crossed at the ankles and a hand clamped over her mouth.

He stopped, anger flaring hot beneath his jacket. Did he miss something? Hadn't he almost died here?

"I don't see what the hell is funny - "

She burst out laughing. "If you could...see what you...look like..." she said as she gasped for air, clutching her stomach and sinking into a squat. She laughed until Dimitri caught the sparkle of tears streaming from her eyes.

It could have been nerves, but Dimitri became infected with the same ridiculous humor. A chuckle bubbled out of him, and once he started he couldn't stop.

"This isn't funny!" he yelled, which only made Anya laugh so hard she keeled over onto her side. Dimitri gave in and howled with laughter himself, until his sides became sore and he couldn't take in a breath without choking.

When her coughing subsided, Anya propped herself up against the tree trunk, still chuckling. Dimitri tried to catch his breath again as he lay flat on his stomach, his arms and legs dangling uselessly on either side of the branch.

The fear had dissipated, taking with it the tension that had only grown since the day they met, stretching between them like a taught cord always at the breaking point. The silence that settled in its wake felt heavy, yet strangely comfortable.

Too comfortable.

Anya's had relaxed her shoulders and stretched one leg out in front of her. She let her head fall to the side. A warmth radiated from her, reaching out for him. She grinned as she met his eyes and for once, she didn't frown or glare or look away.

Dimitri did. He had to. The cease-fire between them was only as strong as his resolve to keep his distance. He couldn't afford to allow that smile to make him forget.

Anya was not his business partner.

She was not his lover.

And she sure as hell would never be his friend.