Winter: A time for love and revenge

Throughout the remainder of the night, the wind howled as it beat against the cabin. With the way the windows rattled, there were several moments I feared the windows wouldn’t hold. Despite the storm, I remained warm with the roaring fire and being curled up against Aspen. It was vastly different than all the other times we’d slept in the same bed. Those other times, we were at least lying in a bed meant for two and weren’t crammed against each other.

In all those other times, there’d be occasions where I’d wake up with my arm thrown over him, maybe a leg, but that was the extent. This time, I was all but plastered against him, seeking his warmth.

It was no surprise I slept like shit. Not only did I have the relentless and loud snowstorm beating at the cabin to keep me up, but my body was alight with desire. Just the simple act of being pressed against him without his shirt—being able to feel his muscles against me and under my hands—had me wanting him that much more. I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would’ve been had we been naked. There would be no way he wouldn’t notice my arousal.

As it stood, he probably still could’ve smelled my arousal had he been awake, which he wasn’t. While I struggled to sleep and kept shifting around, he slept like the fucking dead, not moving once throughout the night.

As the storm began calming, I eventually fell into a deep enough sleep that when I awoke, the cabin was quiet, and I was bundled up in the blankets alone. I jerked upright in bed, my gaze scanning the room until I found Aspen sitting at the small, round table. His focus was on me, and I vaguely wondered how long he’d been watching me.

“The storm over?” I asked as I stretched my arms over my head before climbing out of bed, my body stiff. The fire had dimmed, but it kept the cabin warm enough that I didn’t shiver as I headed toward the table and took a drink of his water.

“It ended a few hours ago,” Aspen finally answered, holding out a granola bar. “It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.”

He’d found a shirt, the dark gray material clinging to his torso. As I downed the granola bar, I went to run my hand through my hair, only to find tangles. What I wouldn’t give to have a brush or at the very least, a ponytail holder to tame the mess.

The bathroom only had the basics, but it at least had a toilet and a sink, and that was really all I needed. While the cabin didn’t give off the impression that it was abandoned with the lack of dust, all the furniture, and personal touches, I could tell this cabin was more of a weekend getaway rather than someone’s home.

“Have you talked to the others?” I asked as I reentered the main room, joining Aspen at the table and sitting in the other chair. He silently watched me the entire time, his face hard to read as he stroked his jaw.

“Cass and Aaron are tracking a winter witch and a few shapeshifters. The other groups have also come across shapeshifters and winter witches as well. It’s safe to say this coven was a part of the conspiracy. Sebastian is sending reinforcements as we speak, but with everyone spread out across the country, he can’t send out too many without leaving our territory undefended.” Aspen’s calm demeanor was at odds with his words.

I’d previously been relaxed back in my chair, but I was now sitting upright, wondering why the hell we were sitting around. “Way to bury the fucking lead. Why didn’t you start with that?”

“The storm hit our area the hardest,” Aspen said, glancing at the front door.

Taking his hint, I padded over to the door, twisting the lock and pushing the door open. I was met with resistance and barely able to open it a foot. When I peered through the opening, I was annoyed to find snow blocking the door’s path.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growled as I slammed the door.

My gaze darted to the curtained window and then to Aspen, who sighed in resignation. “Yes, we could technically get out through the window, but then what? The snow is deeper than I’d prefer to run through, and we’re too far away from the others to be much of a help.”

“I hate when you make sense,” I muttered as I retook my seat with a huff.

Aspen’s lips twitched as he continued silently watching me, the weight of his stare heavy. “I know. My hair looks a bit crazy.” I uselessly reached up to smooth the tangled strands, even though I knew it’d do nothing to help. I’d checked the bathroom, but unfortunately, there weren’t any combs or hair ties. This was one of the biggest downfalls of shifting into wolf form: not the lack of clothes, but hair ties.

I’ve been told multiple times that my priorities were in the wrong place, but I didn’t care.

Aspen shook his head, his lips twitching as he crossed his arms. “Your hair looks fine, Fay.”

Pursing my lips, I gave him a dubious look as I arched a brow. “We promised we’d never outright lie to each other.”

His chuckle was soft as he shook his head again. “How’d you sleep?”

My initial instinct was to say fine, but then I’d be making a hypocrite out of myself. “Terrible. I’m not cut out for sleeping on a small, lumpy bed during a storm.” I left out the part about how it was also impossible to sleep when I had the distraction that was his body against mine. It was the sweetest of tortures.

“I noticed you were moving around a lot during the night.”

I snorted, stealing his water again and drinking half of it. “How would you know, Mr. Sleeps-through-anything?”

“Only when I’m in a safe environment,” Aspen corrected, and my body stilled.

I hadn’t realized he’d woken during the night—he’d given no indication. I’d be honest, I was far more focused on tamping down my arousal and everywhere our bodies made contact than if he was awake. With how I struggled to sleep next to Aspen, you’d think I’d never had sex before. That wasn’t the case in the slightest. But I don’t think I’d ever truly cared about the other guys I’d been with, at least not in the serious and emotional way that I cared about Aspen.

“Why didn’t—” I began but cut myself off when Aspen’s head snapped toward the window abruptly. With how his relaxed posture had shifted, I sat upright and tapped into my wolf’s hearing, making out the crunching of snow outside.

Not for the first time, I wished we could communicate telepathically in human form, but unfortunately, it was a skill only our Alpha had. He could speak to our entire pack at once, with all of us in human form, no matter the distance between us.

I shared a look with Aspen, inclining my head toward the front window. He pursed his lips and gestured toward the bathroom. As he silently moved toward the front window and slid it open—the window squeaking in protest—I crept into the bathroom. The window here was smaller than the one in the main room and higher up, making me have to stand on the toilet to open it.

Just like the front window, it made a horrible grating sound from disuse, making me cringe and only open it far enough for me to squeeze through. I cringed when my bare feet sank into the deep snow that came up to my knees.

Holy fucking shit! How did it get even colder than last night? Aspen was once again right. I would have a bitch of a time running through this as a wolf. Despite being barefoot and my wolf’s senses being better than my human ones, I remained in human form so I would have an easier time moving around.

I held still, shivers already wracking my body as I listened for the intruder. The wind picked a hell of a time to start back up, hitting my face and burning my cheeks. It was hard to hear much else over the roaring wind, frustrating me to no end. The last thing I wanted to do was wander through this deep snow with no shoes. It was too much of a coincidence that the wind had picked up as soon as we got outside, which only added to my lack of desire to go roaming around.

Letting out a frustrated groan, I began trudging through the snow around the cabin, figuring I didn’t have to bother being quiet in this shitty weather. Despite being better equipped to handle the cold than a human, I knew I wouldn’t be able to remain in this freezing temperature with my lack of proper attire for long. The short-sleeved shirt was a flimsy barrier, and my feet were stinging.

As I rounded the side of the cabin, I was able to make out the faintest sounds of growling, and my pace picked up.

Because I was so focused on moving through the snow, paired with the relentless wind, I hadn’t noticed a shapeshifter creeping up on me until the last second. I dropped to the ground, sinking into the snow. As I rolled, snow got up my shirt and into my pants, but that was the least of my concerns. Rolling in the snow was a difficult feat and allowed the polar bear to clamp its teeth around my calf. My leg had been cold from the snow despite my pants, but it was nowhere near numb enough that I didn’t feel its teeth sinking into my leg. To say that shit hurt would be putting it lightly.

I squirmed in the snow, kicking at its face with my free foot to try and break its hold as it began dragging me toward the trees. Thrashing around didn’t help my cause. All it accomplished was getting snow in my face and for the wound to hurt even more.

The shapeshifter moved fast through the snow—even though they were running backward and the depth of the snow—and soon I could no longer see the cabin. Its hold on my leg had tightened, bringing forth a world of agony, and I began fearing it would snap the bones in my leg if I didn’t do something. Not only because healing a broken leg was pure agony, especially without painkillers and a healer witch to help, but because I couldn’t let it take me any further away from the cabin.

Shifting while something was biting down into your leg wasn’t advisable for multiple reasons. When we shifted, our bones snapped, reshaping themselves into the shape of a wolf. Shifting while being restrained could result in some problems shifting, and the bones might not reset into the right shape, but I was desperate.

Taking a deep breath and saying a silent prayer, I began shifting. Once my bones began snapping, the shapeshifter released my leg to try and attack me before the shift was complete. I had just finished my shift when the bear lunged for my throat and just barely missed. Unfortunately, their teeth sank into my shoulder. I snapped at them, preventing them from clamping down like they had with my leg.

Blood stained my fur, both from my new shoulder wound and my wounded back leg. Shifting into wolf form allowed me to heal faster, but it wasn’t instantaneous by any means. I was favoring my right back leg, making me an easy target.

Throughout our fight, the bear was able to get in multiple bites and scratches, getting my hind legs and my side—the same side that had been injured last night. While I may have been more banged up than the bear, and my blood was splattered across the surrounding snow, I was able to clamp my teeth around the bear’s throat and snap its neck.

Once the shapeshifter was dead, I stumbled away from their crumpled body, having a bitch of a time moving through the snow, my healing wounds not helping matters. I was thankful I had a clear trail to follow back to the cabin, but my luck soon wore out when it began snowing again. With how fast the snow was falling, I knew it was far from natural.

The path back to the cabin was quickly being covered up, and it began becoming even harder to move through the snow in wolf form. Even though I knew it was a terrible idea and that my wolf form could handle the freezing temperatures better, I ended up shifting back into human form. The snow came up to the middle of my thighs, and I struggled to move a few feet.

My entire body shook as I wrapped my arms around my chest to try and conserve whatever warmth I had left. My feet and lower legs had gone numb, and as a result, I ended up tripping and sinking into the deep snow. I struggled and uselessly tried to get to my feet, but my numbing limbs struggled to respond to my commands as the falling snow kept trying to bury me.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pull myself back to my feet. My eyelids were heavy as I struggled to keep them open. The falling snow began covering me, and I feared I’d die here when a pair of hands grabbed me and pulled me from the deep snow.

I would’ve tried fighting them if I could’ve moved my arms or legs. My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself looking up at Aspen. He cradled me in his arms against his chest, trying to shield me from the cold. His lips were moving, but with the whipping winds, I couldn’t hear a word he said. He struggled to move through the snow, but he managed to stay upright, all the while carrying me.

Even though I was no longer buried in the snow, I was still struggling to stay awake as the cabin came into view.