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And that only makes him angrier.
He spins away and lets his fists fly, punching the air, his boots kicking snow, and the sounds wrenching from him…those deep, guttural, animalistic sounds. I haven’t heard anything like it since we were boys, when I couldn’t stop Denver from hurting him.
“Leo!” Heartache sends me out of the ravine, racing toward him. “Enough. Stop it. Calm the hell down.”
He doesn’t hear me, his tunnel vision blocking everything out. I try to grapple him to the ground, but he evades me. I don’t want to hit him again, but he dodges every attempt I make to subdue him.
Until I sweep his legs from beneath him and knock him on his ass.
The air whooshes from him, and he blinks up at me, dazed. He parts his lips, teeth clenched. Then his gaze darts to Frankie.
She stares at nothing, detached and wooden.
I can relate to the detached part, sweetheart. I’ve spent most of my life that way. But that’s me. Not you.
We need our fighter back, and I’ll take drastic measures to make that happen. But first, I need to deal with my mercurial brother and his short fuse.
“You’re finished for the night.” I offer him my uninjured hand. “I’ll take it from here.”
He starts to argue, but Frankie chooses that moment to move. Without a word or a glance our way, she jogs off, continuing her run as if Leo didn’t just lose his fucking mind.
“Get up.” I pull him to his feet and bring him in close. “I love you, but you’re making things worse. Let me try.”
“No—”
“Go home. Cool down. I’ll bring our girl back unharmed.”
“She’s not your—”
“I’ll get her talking.”
“How?”
“You’re wasting time, Leo.” I nod at the dark trail she just vacated. “She’s getting away.”
“Listen to me, fuckhole.” He grips my neck and thrusts his face into mine. “If anything happens to her—”
“You’ll kill me. Got it. Now go check on Wolf and wait for me. I won’t be long.”
“You have thirty minutes.”
“I have as long as it takes to bring her back.”
“If you can convince her to abandon this bargain—”
“Done.”
“I’m trusting you.”
He whirls away, and I take off in the opposite direction.
My legs protest as I push them into an all-out sprint, running at top speed on an empty tank. She’s faster, but I know this land and can cover every inch with my eyes closed.
There’s a rocky outcrop near the trailhead, where I spent a lot of time alone as a child. I veer toward it, hoping to intercept her there as she comes out of the valley.
A mile later, ice works its way into my lungs. The next mile ignites a headache behind my eyes. My hands sweat in the gloves, and every step reawakens the burn in my calves and thighs, reminding me how much ground I’ve covered today.
Digging deep, I find my last reserves of energy to keep running, hunting, chasing the tiny woman who turned our world upside down.
At length, I pick up her scent, lose it, and pick it up again. Closer. Closer…
I stop dead in my tracks.
Twenty yards away, she stands motionless on a white carpet of snow, staring at the sky.
Stars sparkle brilliantly, piercing through swirling ribbons of green, pink, and purple. The colors shift and blend in a celestial waltz that has dazzled and mystified countless generations.
The northern lights are as familiar to me as snow. They arrive every winter like clockwork and stay long after the doldrums set in.
But tonight, for the first time, I find them spellbinding as they cast an ethereal incandescence on Frankie’s face.
They say the aurora’s charged particles make clapping, crackling, and hissing sounds, but all I hear is the thud of my pulse and the soft crunch beneath my boots as I approach her.
Eyes wide with wonder and red hair shimmering beneath the starlight, she outshines all earthly beauty.
Captivated by her presence, I can’t ignore the relentless tug of desire rushing through me. She’s the most alluring thing I’ve ever encountered.
Freckles of snow blow across her turned-up nose and melt in her lashes, rendering her a million times more enchanting than the twinkling, twisting, multicolored sky.
She holds me hostage—limbs, lungs, eyes, heart.
Fuck me, you’re stunning. I’ve seen beauty in various forms, but nothing like this. The world alters when I look at you. The aurora is more vibrant, the air warmer, the horizon wider, and the heavens…
Heaven is so close I can reach out and touch it.
So I do.
My fingers brush the curve of a spine, the slope of a shoulder, and higher, seeking heat beneath the heavy silk of hair.
When did I remove my glove?
She doesn’t flinch when I find the soft, hot pocket of skin beneath the collar of her coat.
“Aksarnirq,” I whisper, my voice carrying on the wintry breeze. “That’s what my people call the lights.”
