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“Damn it!”

The howling wind swallowed his curse, leaving only a faint whisper in the air. In just five swift strides, he closed the gap between them. Peterson matched his strides.

He gently turned her over onto her back, swallowing another curse when shivers shook her body. Her eyes flew open and he barely dodged the knife clenched in her hand.

“It’s okay, Jayden. It’s okay, love. Peterson and I are here. We’ve got you,” he murmured, holding her wrist in his hand.

“She’s burning up,” Peterson muttered, pressing his hand to her forehead.

“No shit, wolf-brains,” she retorted before closing her eyes.

“Told you she was a fighter,” Peterson replied with a snort of laughter.

“We need to get her warm. She won’t make it through the night otherwise,” he growled.

He shrugged off the pack he was wearing at the same time as Peterson pulled the one Jayden had toward him. They searched through both, seeking any items that would make Jayden more comfortable. The backpack he had been carrying contained only a few essential items. Fortunately, they had a pair of lightweight wool blankets. He pulled them out.

“There’s not much in here,” Peterson said before he pushed Jayden’s backpack to the side and rose. “I’ll get more firewood.”

“And some moss. We can use it to make her a decent bed,” he said.

As he assessed their meager supplies, he wished they had brought more. Neither he nor Peterson expected to be gone as long as they had been. They had opted for light and fast.

“We need a frigging medical team,” he muttered.

The first thing he needed to do was get warmer clothes on Jayden. He gritted his teeth when she shrank from his touch and mumbled for him to go away. Grim determination filled him.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you warm,” he coaxed.

“Turn into a dog. That might help,” she mumbled.

He chuckled. “I may end up doing that, then you can wear my clothes along with your own.”

“Don’t-don’t re-remind me of wh-what you look like naked. I can’t stop-stop thinking about it as it-it is,” she said in a chattering voice.

He winced at the raw, scratchy sound of her voice. “So, you like what you saw. That’s good to know.”

“O-of co-course th-that’s what you’d remember,” she mumbled in a barely audible voice.

He leaned over to catch her words above the wind. His lips twitched with amusement. She was the most obstinate woman he had ever met—and his wolf loved it.

She perfect. She strong.

Yes, she is, but it won’t do us any good if we don’t get her warm.

He shrugged out of his jacket, pulled the silver blanket back despite her growling and threats, and slid it along one slender arm. The second she felt the warmth of his jacket, she was practically clawing at him to snuggle into it.

She leaned weakly against him as he pulled the other sleeve and adjusted the warm jacket around her body and zipped it. Her head fell forward against his chest and she released a raw cough.

“The water… was cold.”

He pulled the hood over her head. “I know. It was too cold for me. I let Peterson swim across,” he teased.

“Smart.”

He looked up when Peterson returned. His friend had his arms filled with branches. On top of the treasure of kindling were patches of moss.

“How is she?” Peterson asked, dropping the wood and moss he had retrieved on the ground by the fire.