Winter: A time for love and revenge

I hated it when Aspen was right.

The shapeshifters didn’t wait or give us a chance to get our bearings. They attacked, coming at us from all sides. It was lucky we only had five attacking us. The numbers could’ve been worse. At least now, we had a chance at getting out of this alive.

After ducking to avoid the fox leaping at me, I swiped at the front leg of the nearest polar bear, drawing blood that soon matted his fur. Fighting in wolf form was vastly different than in human form. Not only was I faster, stronger, and had better senses in this form, but I could lean back into my wolf’s instincts and let her take over when I was out of my depth.

Like now.

I wasn’t winning the fight by any means, but I managed to avoid their teeth and claws for the most part. Well, until I ducked away from a swipe from a polar bear and was able to maneuver, so I was no longer surrounded by them. ‘We need to—’ Before I could say retreat, a polar bear roared as it slashed at me. This time, when I ducked, I wasn’t fast enough, and its claws raked down my back, bringing forth a world of pain as my wolf whimpered and growled.

From my peripheral vision, I saw a fox trying to sneak up on me and take advantage of my injury. Before they could make their move, I lunged at them and clamped my teeth around their shoulder, their metallic-tasting blood filling my mouth. If I’d been in human form, I might’ve gagged, but my wolf was in charge at the moment.

‘They’re not alone; we need to retreat,’ Aspen said in my mind. I’d been so focused on moving, so I was no longer surrounded and on my throbbing back that I hadn’t heard the sounds of approaching shapeshifters coming from our left.

Even though Aspen and I were resolved to retreat, we weren’t able to do so right away, having to go through the five shapeshifters here. I earned another scratch from a fox, this time on my right side. The scratches burned just as bad as my back, but I was forced to push the pain to the side as I took off toward the trees to our right, with Aspen on my heels.

The scratches burned and tugged as I ran, and I wondered how much worse it would be hurting if my wolf wasn’t taking some of the brunt of the pain from me. Running in the snow wasn’t ideal. It slowed me down as I sprinted through the forest, weaving through trees that were now densely packed. But even with the snow working against us, we managed to stay ahead of the shapeshifters following us. All the while I ran, I didn’t focus on the direction I was headed. My only focus was on losing them.

The trees were a blur as I passed them, eventually becoming further spaced apart as they became taller and fuller. As time wore on, the snow flurries came quicker. The wind blowing through the trees became more intense, moving the snow covering the ground as it ruffled my fur.

I realized two things simultaneously. The first was that I no longer heard the sounds of the shapeshifters following us. And the second was that we had found ourselves in a building blizzard, and not just any blizzard, but one created by a winter witch.

Aspen had the same realization as me, telling me we needed to find shelter.

We’d come across a few cabins the few hours we’d been out here, but it had been a while since we’d seen one. It didn’t seem like the smartest of ideas to build cabins anywhere near winter witches’ territory. Even thirty miles away was too damn close, but then again, the humans didn’t know that.

While I hoped we’d luck out and find a cabin, I wasn’t too sure we would. To be honest, I had no clue where we were. All I knew for certain, was that we hadn’t accidentally entered the witches’ territory—I would’ve been able to smell it.

The blizzard grew worse, making it nearly impossible for me to see more than a few feet in front of me. The buffeting winds tried knocking me over, but my wolf held strong. Aspen and I moved closer together, staying only a couple of feet apart so we wouldn’t get separated. Even with all of my fur and my wolf being able to handle the extreme temperatures better than me, I was feeling the effects as time wore on. If we didn’t get out of this storm soon, I was genuinely afraid we might end up freezing to death.

I had nearly been knocked over by a particularly strong gust of wind when Aspen spoke, ‘There!’

I strained my eyes, ignoring how the wind made them burn as I struggled to make out much of anything. Following Aspen’s lead, I took a slight left turn until I finally saw a silhouette of a short cabin. Based on the shape, it wasn’t large, but we didn’t need much, just enough to get us out of the snow and away from the relentless wind.

As we neared the cabin, I was able to make out more of it. The sloped roof was covered in snow—big surprise—and the entire structure was made out of dark wood, allowing it to stand out against the snow. Next to the front door was a window that appeared to be dark, leading me to hope it was empty. The last thing we needed was humans to be occupying it. Explaining why we were naked out in this storm and where we’d come from was not a conversation I wanted to have.

It wasn’t until we were standing in front of the door that I realized we’d have to shift into human form to get inside. If this fucking thing was locked, I’d lose my shit and break the damn thing down.

Aspen didn’t hesitate like me and began the process of shifting back. Even though it was the last thing I wanted to do, I shifted back as well, letting out a small shriek at how much colder it was in this form. I’d known this before shifting, but holy fucking shit, I didn’t expect it to be this bad. The snow came up to the middle of my calves, and my feet were already prickling in the cold. Goosebumps rose all over my skin as shivers wracked my body, and I folded my arms over my chest, hunching my shoulders.

When Aspen twisted the doorknob, I let out a sigh of relief when the door swung open.

I rushed inside after Aspen, slamming the door shut and falling back against it with a groan. My back stung at the contact, reminding me of my injuries that had yet to fully heal. While the cabin wasn’t warm by any means, it was still a hell of a lot warmer than outside, with the benefit of being snow-free and not having those frigid winds that were beating against the cabin.

If I didn’t have enhanced eyesight from my wolf, I would’ve been screwed and bumped into shit, especially when I couldn’t find a light switch on the wall. As Aspen put a couple of logs into the fireplace across from the door and went to work lighting it—luckily, the logs had been inside away from the elements—I made my way over to a nearby table that only had two chairs. Even with the boost to my sight from my wolf, it was still hard to make out much in the cabin other than silhouettes.

Based on how I hadn’t been able to find a light switch, I figured the cabin didn’t have electricity and sought out candles. I managed to find a candle that was nearly a foot tall, with some matches nearby.

The candle didn’t give off too much light, but it allowed me enough to be able to find more candles to light. By the time I lit all the candles I could find, unwittingly giving the cozy cabin a romantic lighting and atmosphere, Aspen had a fire going.

Even though it was warmer here than outside and fire would eventually warm the single-roomed cabin, shivers still wracked my body. As a werewolf, I’d grown accustomed to being naked since it was a natural part of our lives. But in this moment, I wished for some clothes, any clothes, to warm myself.

Aspen approached me, and it was almost impossible to keep my focus on his face. His gaze dipped, but he wasn’t checking me out, at least not in the way I wanted. He lightly traced around the scratches on my side that weren’t all that deep anymore but still stung and itched as they healed.

“We need to clean these up,” he murmured before heading to the door at the back of the room. From my vantage, I could see it was a bathroom, hearing a faucet turn on for a few seconds before turning off. Aspen returned soon after, carrying a wet rag that he dabbed against my side. I tried to not flinch or make a sound, but I failed. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” I said from between gritted teeth as he gently dabbed the wound and the blood surrounding it. Once he was done with my side, he moved onto my back, which surprisingly hurt less.

Aspen dug through a chest at the foot of the bed before moving to another chest. I knew I shouldn’t stare at him with how he was naked, and staring was seen as rude, but I couldn’t help myself. His body was corded with muscles from years of training and turning his body into a lethal weapon.

He removed two pairs of sweatpants from the chest and a t-shirt. “These will be too big, but it’s better than nothing,” he said as he handed them to me. The black shirt came down to the middle of my thighs when I pulled it on, and for the pants to remain up, I had to tighten the drawstrings before rolling the waistband several times. But even with that, they were way too damn long. The sweatpants he pulled on fit him much better than mine.

Aspen hadn’t pulled on a shirt, and it was hard for me not to stare at him as he pulled back the quilt on the bed against the wall to the left of the front door. “We should contact the others,” I said to distract myself from the way his muscles flexed as he pulled a couple more blankets from the chest at the foot of the bed.

I climbed into the bed and found it was a little lumpier than I was used to, but it was better than nothing.

“I already did.” The bed shifted as he climbed in next to me. If I thought his bed in the packhouse was on the small side, it had nothing on this. “The storm also hit them, but I don’t think it was as strong. They’ve managed to find shelter and are waiting out the blizzard.”

With how my back and right side still stung, I was forced to sleep on my side, facing Aspen. I would’ve been forced to sleep on my side anyway with how small this bed was. Aspen wrapped an arm around my back, careful to avoid the scratches as he pulled me away from the edge so I was pressed against his side.

His body tensed when I placed my hand on his stomach and at first, I thought it was because he hadn’t wanted me to touch him. It took me a couple of seconds to realize my hand must’ve felt freezing to him. “Sorry,” I murmured, pulling my hand away, only for him to capture my hand, threading his fingers through mine.

“You’re fine.”

“Oh really?” A sly grin tugged at my lips as I pressed my freezing feet against his leg, making sure to lift the leg of his pants so my foot touched bare skin. I couldn’t stop my laughter when he jerked his leg away and swore.

“You’re an asshole.” Aspen poked me in the stomach, where he knew I was ticklish. I batted his hand away as I giggled and squealed when he didn’t stop. I nearly fell off the bed trying to get away from him and probably would’ve if he hadn’t stopped me and rolled me so I was half sprawled on his chest.

“I give up!” I panted, my sides burning from how hard I was laughing.

It wasn’t until he finally stopped with a rumbling chuckle that I realized the compromising position I was in. I was not only lying on top of him, but I was straddling his thigh. If I were to shift my hips at all, my clit would be pressed against the corded muscles of his thigh.

It was a good thing we were wearing clothes, otherwise he’d be able to feel how wet I was becoming.

I peeked up at him through my lashes and found him intently watching me. Neither of us said a word as we stared at each other. His expression was hard to read, making it next to impossible to figure out what he was thinking. It wasn’t often that I couldn’t guess what he was thinking, and it drove me crazy. The past few days, it seemed to have become a regular occurrence.

Aspen cleared his throat and broke our stare off. “We should get some rest.”

Shaking myself out of the daze, I adjusted so I was no longer lying on him. Aspen tucked my head so that it was under his chin and gently stroked my back. “Get some sleep. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” Aspen pressed a kiss to the top of my head.