Page 48 of Frostbite

“Same.” Olive exhaled, her breath puffing into the cold air.

They reached the back of the lodge, and Olive scanned the tree line. The snow-draped forest loomed silent and heavy.

Then—

Snap.

A sharp crack cut through the air.

Both froze.

Olive’s pulse leapt.

The sound had come from the woods just beyond the clearing. It wasn’t the soft shift of snow falling from a branch.

This was something heavier, more deliberate.

Jason’s hand went to the small of her back, steadying her as his eyes searched the trees. “Stay behind me.”

Olive strained to see through the gray light.

Nothing moved. Just endless white and shadow.

“Could be an animal,” Jason murmured.

“Or not.”

They waited, listening.

Then another sound—softer this time. Footsteps, maybe. A faint shuffle.

Was it Warren?

Or a killer?

“Should we check it out?” Olive asked.

As if to answer her question, movement caught their eye.

A buck paced out from behind a tree.

Olive felt herself relax, relief filling her.

“It’s just a deer,” she murmured.

“Still, we should get inside.” Jason took her arm.

Olive didn’t argue.

They crunched through the snow, the inn’s dark shape rising ahead like a promise of safety.

But as Olive reached for the handle, she couldn’t help but to look back one last time.

The buck had wandered off.

And yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that something—or someone—remained watching from just out of sight.

CHAPTER