Page 24

AURELIA

I can’t feel…anything. I can’t feel my face, fingers, or toes. All I can feel is the brutality of the mountain and the storm swirling around its peak. Giving up on finding my way back to the cabin, I’ve been trying to find shelter for hours, but I can’t see a thing.

There’s only a wall of white all around me.

I know after the first hour of being caught in the storm that it’s worse than any of the others. The extra protection only prolongs my death, but it won’t be enough to stop it.

I won’t survive the night.

My body aches from the violent shivering while my steps and breathing slow. When I reach the same six-foot-slanted rock I’d passed an hour ago, my soul withers and my legs collapse under me.

It’s hopeless.

I’ve been going in circles, and I can’t entirely blame the low visibility for it. I’ve been wandering aimlessly because my heart can’t decide on a direction—home or…home.

Pathetically, I leave myself lying face down in the snow so I can just die already. I know I probably shouldn’t sleep when I’m one step from death’s door, but my lids, ladened with frost and snow, are growing heavy, and I can’t walk another step.

All I need is a few minutes.

Ironically, it’s the same thing I said when I climbed into Khalil’s bed that first day at the cabin and look where it had gotten me.

Whatever.

This is long overdue. It’s not fair that I got to live when so many good people died—Cassie, Harrison, Tyler…If I wasn’t convinced that I’m a terrible person, I sure as hell know it now. Dying cold and alone, face down in the snow, seems just.

It feels like my eyes have only just closed when I hear something that makes them pop back open. My head feels like it weighs a hundred pounds when I lift it and peer through cracked eyes.

I must be dead already. There’s no one there.

“Aurelia!”

Satan, is that you?

“Aurelia!”

I’m coming, evil hell Daddy.

“AURELIA!”

Okay, don’t get pushy.

It figures I’d traded three growly, demanding alphaholes for another.

“Aurelia!”

I groan when my heart jumps in my chest, and I realize I’m not dead. That voice…I know it. I never thought I’d hear it again, but there’s no mistaking it. I’d know it anywhere.

“Aurelia!”

So, not evil hell Daddy, then.

Just one determined and loyal bodyguard. Tyler.

I gasp when I hear his voice again, leaving no room for doubt. How had he survived the avalanche? How had he found me?

“Aurelia, answer me!” He sounds further away now as if he’s turned to head a different way.

“Come back,” I croak out as Rose did in Titanic after the ship sank and she let Jack die . It feels like I’m floating alone on a door in the middle of the cold, dark sea. Only, in this version, Jack isn’t dead. He made it somehow, and he came back for me. “Tyler, I’m here!”

My voice isn’t loud enough to rise above the wind, much less reach him wherever he is.

He must be close.

That knowledge is enough to make me stand, though it takes me a full minute to climb to my feet.

“Tyler!” I scream a little louder this time. “Tyler, wait! Ty—”

My shout is cut off, and I stop when I see something large and fast dart from the left up ahead. At first, I wonder if I’m hallucinating it until I see it again, closer now and heading in the opposite direction.

“What the…”

A low, rumbling sound has the frozen hairs on my nape and arms rising as I look behind me for the source.

All I see is the snow falling so heavily that it creates a shimmering curtain of nearly solid white.

I know I’m not alone, though. I can hear pattering in the snow, and it’s coming from every direction. No matter which way I turn, I can’t pin it down. Whatever it is that’s stalking me, it’s not alone.

I can barely keep calm when I catch another glimpse of something faster and larger than a dog running past in my peripheral. I just keep walking, head down, arms wrapped around myself, hoping that this new threat is just curious and goes away now that I’m up and moving. They probably spotted me lying in the snow and couldn’t resist an easy meal in this storm.

“Tyler!” I call out again.

The only thing that answers back is a howl that expels all the air in my lungs. It’s so cold I can see my breath curling in the air in front of me.

I hear more pattering, and even though my muscles tense, I somehow know not to run. Maybe I have my short time in the cabin to thank. Each time I ran from Khalil, Seth, and Thorin, they pursued me like any beast of prey. They pinned me down, and they sank their teeth in—often literally. My running activated their need to chase, and there’s no reason to think it would be any different now.

So I keep walking with even, steady strides even though my heart is pounding and I’m terrified.

When I spot part of a branch lying in the snow, I risk stopping long enough to pick it up. It’s almost as tall as me and looks sturdy enough, so I keep my gaze on a swivel as I slowly pull the ice pick from my pocket. It’s not as big or sharp as the hunting knives the guys carry, but it’s better than nothing. Lucky me. Thorin must have forgotten this one when they hid all the weapons from me.

I start to chip away at the broken end with the six-inch spike and have just managed to make a point—though not a very sharp one—when I hear my name again.

“Aurelia!”

I gasp, and my head snaps in that direction. “Tyler?”

“Aurelia, where are you?”

“Tyler, I’m over here!”

I quicken my steps and don’t realize I’m running with my makeshift spear until I hear a snarl so vicious my steps slow abruptly until I’m standing still. A moment later, the storm seems to part, and something large and terrifying stalks from the snowy veil.

Black fur, four legs, sharp teeth, and glowing yellow eyes.

“Oh, shit.”

Wolves.

A single breath shudders out of me before I turn back the way I came. When I do, I see another wolf with white fur and blue eyes blocking the path. The wolf’s hackles raise the moment I turn, and it bares its teeth while folding its ears back.

Fear paralyzes me, so when I hear a snarl, my eyes are the only part of me that moves in the direction of the gray wolf closing in.

Teeth snapping draws my gaze to my right, to the final wolf with brown fur completing the kill circle.

My death will not be quick.

Cassie’s wasn’t.

I watched them tear her apart, and there was nothing I could do about it when I was armed with an axe. All I have now is a branch and little more than a butter knife the wolves can pick their teeth with after they’re done with me.

I flinch when the white wolf bares its teeth. Remembering how one of the wolves that attacked Cassie came after me when I tried to save her, I grip the thick branch tighter. Its blue eyes seem to track the movement, and then it snarls again.

“Just fucking do it already,” I say through gritted teeth while holding its gaze.

I don’t expect the first attack to come from the side.

I barely pivot in time to raise my arms when the gray wolf tackles me to the ground. The branch I hold at its throat is the only thing keeping it from ripping out mine as it snaps and snarls at me from above. My teeth are bared, too, as I clench them in concentration and beg my muscles to hold.

The other wolves don’t immediately attack once I’m pinned like they did Cassie. They circle, barking and growling, but they don’t go for the easy kill. I have a feeling the alpha sent the smallest one in to test me.

The powdered snow under the gray wolf’s giant paws flies up from its claws as it scrapes the ground to get closer.

One of those paws finds my shoulder, and I scream.

Sharp claws dig in and shred through my flesh, and I pray that I blackout from the pain so that I won’t feel it when the rest comes.

But I don’t.

Even when the pain is blinding and blood oozes from the wound, I stay woefully conscious.

And unlike me, the wolf shows no signs of tiring.

My arms are already trembling from the effort it takes to hold it off. If my predicament weren’t so terrifying, I’d laugh at God’s twisted sense of humor.

I survived a plane crash, three days in the wild, and six days with three feral mountain men just to be torn apart by wolves. I’d been spared those other times so that I might suffer the worst possible death.

Well, that tracks.

Even with my focus on staying alive, I can still hear Cassie’s pleas. I can still see her pretty face twisted with pain and fear as they fed on her.

Tears prick my eyes, knowing I’d failed her, but they don’t fall. They never fall.

Cassie’s dead when it should have been me.

If I hadn’t been such a bitch to Tania, if I hadn’t been so determined to destroy the life I hated so much, my uncle wouldn’t have felt the need to exile me. None of this would have happened if I’d just done that stupid interview a year ago, told my side, and moved on.

“Cassie, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t fight harder,” I plead in vain.

She’s gone just like the others.

My sobs cause my grip to loosen on the branch, and the maw of the wolf and its flesh-shredding teeth gain an inch.

As I stare death in the eye, a dark thought scales the stubborn wall my mind has built.

The glowing green eyes of the wolf are almost hypnotic as I think about how much easier it would be to let it kill me. Coward. Maybe this death will go quicker than I think. It won’t. The longer I stare, the more numb I become, and when my hold loosens on the branch this time, it’s not entirely unintentional.

One last memory pierces my thoughts, but this time, it rises from the icy moat built around my heart where I trapped it.

“I like you, Sunshine. A lot.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll never stop fighting. You won’t give up like I did.”

You won’t give up like I did.

You won’t give up like I did.

You won’t give up like I did.

You won’t give up…I did.

The frozen surface of that icy moat cracks and blue flames explode from the fissure in my heart as I lift my head and shout at the gray wolf. “Fuck you!”

My injured shoulder burns when I push the branch tighter against its throat and heave my body up. I throw the wolf off me, and it skids several feet away as it scrambles to right itself. Reaching for the knife that fell when the first wolf attacked me, I have just managed to wrap my hand around the handle when another wolf lunges forward.

I can’t stop it from sinking its teeth into my arm, and I scream.

The bite of the alpha burns like acid as I tighten my grip around the knife before returning the favor. I plunge the short blade into the wolf’s black fur, and it yelps but holds onto my arms. Tearing the knife free, I stab it again, over and over, until the wolf unlocks its jaws and falls to the ground.

I forget about the other wolves as I stab their alpha over and over while it stares up at me through eyes that I realize are more golden than yellow. They feel like a mirror.

“You fucking piece of shit. You fucking bitch. You deserve this. You deserve to die. Die! Die! Just dieeeeee !”

I hear a crack in the air that pierces the howling wind and echoes through the forest. My head snaps back, and I search the gray, clouded sky for lightning but see none.

“Aurelia!”

The third attack finally comes when a heavy weight collides with my back. The gray wolf and I are limb-locked as we roll across the snow. It’s not until I hear a loud boom and the ground shudders underneath me that I notice the fallen tree.

It landed right where I was just kneeling.

I don’t even notice the weight of the wolf on top of me falling away or that it doesn’t attack until I hear it speak.

“Aurelia, what the fuck!”

Blinking, I turn my head toward the sound and see that it’s not a wolf, after all, but a man. One I never thought I’d see again.

“Tyler?”

He pauses and then says. “Aurelia, it’s me …” He says his name, but I don’t hear it over the wind.

Lifting my hand, I hold his dark cheek and smile. I barely notice that my shoulder and arm don’t hurt anymore. “Tyler,” I repeat softly. “You’re alive.”

He’s really here.

My bodyguard doesn’t respond as he shakes his head and hauls me to my feet. “Aurelia, listen to me. It’s the cold. You’ve been exposed for too long. You’re—”

A howl rents the air, and I gasp, my eyes widening as I look around for the three remaining wolves. I don’t see them, but I know they’re there.

Meeting Tyler’s gaze, I utter one word. “ Run .”

The memory of the last time I saw him—when he told me to run—enters my mind as I take off in the opposite direction with Tyler and the wolves hot on my heels. I remember in vivid detail the avalanche moving fast down the hill, the cliff that marks our dead end, and the ravine below as Tyler falls into it. I hadn’t imagined that.

How is he here?

How did he find me?

It should be impossible that he’s alive, much less okay, yet he’s here.

“Aurelia!” he calls after me.

I don’t stop.

Tyler catches up to me and takes my hand, pulling me along behind him. His hands are more callused than I remember. Why that detail sticks out at me when I’m literally running for my life is beyond me, but it feels important.

Tyler’s longer legs make it hard not to fall behind, but when I look over my shoulder and see the brown, white, and gray wolves chasing after us, I keep up. The tree falling must have scared them off long enough for him to get to me, but now the wolves have grown bold again. They snap and snarl too close behind us as we race through the forest, and I’m worried for Tyler.

Somehow, I know they’ll hurt him if they catch us.

Thorin, Seth, and Khalil—they’ll kill him for trying to take me away.

“Just shoot them!” I scream. Why isn’t he shooting them? There’s a gun right there on his hip.

Tyler looks down at me and then stops. Before I can yell at him to keep going, he lifts me into his arms. “Hold on to me, Sunshine. I’ve got you.”

Warmth spreads through me at the endearment, and it bids me to trust the man who uttered it. I wrap my arms around his neck and stare into his green eyes, which I always thought were brown. When I frown, Tyler’s jaw tightens, and he begins running again.

We’ll never outrun the mountain men nipping at our heels, so I sure as hell hope Tyler has a plan.