Page 15 of Frost
“I’m going into town. When the other men hear about this, you will be hunted down and slaughtered. Your head will be hung above the fireplace like the beast you are!” he hurls as if that will scare me.
Lifting the coffee table with a single hand, I launch it across the room. The wood shatters and splinters when it hits the wall above his head. Hans cowers like the bitch he is.
“I am going to enjoy ripping you limb from limb and eating your entrails, human,” I gloat as I step towards him.
He panics, picking up the glass dish on the table, where he just grabbed his keys, and thrusts it at me. It misses my head by a mile, and glass shatters behind me as it hits the wall and explodes.
A fully bellied laugh leaves my lips at his pitiful fight. “Is that the best you’ve got?”
And then my frozen heart turns to ice when I catch sight of the figure behind him. Running into the woods, without shoes or a coat, is my Snow Angel. Her blonde hair glows in the moonlight as she stumbles and struggles through the snow.
What the fuck is she doing?!
My monstrous instincts kick in—chase, hunt, claim.
My eyes snap back to Hans. He’s backed out of the doorway, his eyes trailing back and forth between me and the figure getting smaller and smaller with each second. She’s about to enter the treeline and head into the forest. I watch as she stumbles, her hand flying out to catch herself and landing in the cold snow. The drugs are clearly still in her system.Fuck. I can’t let her wander these woods alone, especially not at night, and absolutely not in the state this asshole has put her in. These woods are full of ancient and dark things.Myrkviðris no place for humans.
Hans’ lips spread into a smug smile as he takes another step towards the snowmobile. “Me or her, monster. What’s it going to be?”
TEN
ELISA
My lungs burn and my skin sears from the pain of the cold, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop. I stumble and stagger over each step, the drugs still coursing through my veins. I’m not even sure what was real and what was the drugs fucking with my mind, but I do know that I need to get away. My entire being is screaming with the need to get away, to get to safety, to put as much space as I can between me and Hans. I should have known that the whole ‘my sister will join us later’ excuse was a lie. What girl would sign up to host a foreign exchange student and then completely ignore her? Not a girl’s girl, and I really can’t stand two-faced bitches. Real women stand up for other women.
Snow crunches beneath my feet as I run into the woods. I know, I know, I already ran into the woods in a panic once thisweek but when I slipped down the hallway to the main room in order to try to find the snowmobile keys, I saw the chaos that was ensuing. My vision was blurred, and the entire world spun as the drugs distorted everything. I so badly just wanted to lie down and sleep but anything, anywhere would be safer than staying there. I’d rather be eaten by wolves or freeze to death than be torn apart by a rapist and a blue ice monster. Because seriously, what in the actual fuck? Part of my mind tries to rationalize what I saw—it must have been the drugs Hans slipped me. There’s no such thing as monsters. But a different part of me, a deep part of my soul, knows that’s a lie. What I saw back at the cabin just now was the same thing I saw in my dream, the same thing I saw in the book.
Jokul Frosti.
Demon of snow and winter.
And apparently, my savior.
The man I met earlier today must have been him in disguise. How long has he been stalking me? Watching me? And more importantly–why? Why me?
Somewhere in the distance, a crow calls out into the empty night. The sound ricochets off the trees around me, pulling me from my spiraling thoughts. My pace slows and I take stock of my surroundings. I have no idea where I am; I mean, I’m obviously somewhere in the woods but I can’t tell how far I’ve gone. Have I put enough distance between myself and the cabin? Where do I go now?
The crow calls again. I spin to face the noise.
There’s nothing there. Darkness and empty night air. A cold sense of dread creeps across my pale skin.
I’m so distracted that I don’t hear the footsteps, I don’t sense the presence stalking me—not until it’s too late.
Thick fingers slide into my hair, grasping the strands and pulling me backwards until my back hits a giant wall of muscle.Sharp talons scrape my scalp. I flail and kick but it’s no use. He holds me firmly against him, every inch where our bodies connect feels like fire and ice. My fight or flight response has kicked in, yet deep down, I’m relieved. Better the monster you know than the monster you don’t. Warm breath tickles against the shell of my ear as he leans in to talk to me.
“Don’t you know never to run from a predator, little Snow Angel?” My monster asks as his unholy tongue licks an achingly slow path up the column of my neck. My pulse pounds beneath my thin skin.
“And is that what you are? A predator?” I shouldn’t tempt the beast that has me clasped in his claws but I can’t seem to stop myself. “And I suppose I’m supposed to be the scared little bunny?”
A throaty laugh shakes his chest. “Such a smart fucking mouth.” He shoves me forward. My hands fly out to catch myself on the rough bark of the tree in front of me.
The bent forward position forces my ass out. From this angle, I can feel his hardness pressed against me. A sharp gasp leaves my lips as he rubs his aching lengths against my ass. I attempt to push off the tree and stand but ice crystals form around my wrists and wrap around the tree until I’m securely shackled.
“What the hell?” I cry out as I attempt to break the ice cuffs off but it’s no use—I’m stuck.
“You know what smart ass girls who run from their mates get?” he asks as his large hands skim the length of my upper thighs.
My core clenches at the touch. I shouldn’t want this. I just had a man attempt to assault me; I should be terrified and fighting. But right now, I feel strangely powerful, as if this brutal monster would do anything I asked and be anything I need. And that power is intoxicating. His fingers slide higher before flipping the bottom of my dress up and over my ass. The cold bites at my skin.