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He did not come back. He leaped into the sleigh, wrapped the last blanket around his legs, and looked up at the bright moon in the sky. I wondered if he could feel me staring at him. He could not sleep in that cold. And the closer we got to midnight, the more of a chance there was of being visited by a Spirit again.
I turned away until his dome fogged over. He shivered, trying and failing to stretch the blanket over his long legs. I cast toward him, wondering what he was feeling, and the misery was overwhelming. As if he’d taken a dark turn and let it swallow him. Unable to bear it, I lay down, turning my back to him again.
He’d sealed me into the dome, and I couldn’t get out if I wanted to. But when I closed my eyes, I could only see a stubborn Atlas, shivering, lips blue and cheeks flushed. Goddess be damned. I wasn’t supposed to care. He was a mark. Just a job to finish and move on. It didn’t matter, though. I already cared, and I was fooling myself for thinking otherwise.
I stood, banging on the glass, certain he could hear me and ignored it. I even screamed at him, letting my voice alert all things nearby where we were and that someone might have been in trouble. Nothing worked. I was going to have to use magic. He’d hate me more for it if his reaction to the spell circle today was any indication. This would not be the power of the True Sight. No. I would have to do something far more annoying.
I cast toward the sleigh without giving myself too much time to think about it. And when he squirmed, I held my breath, wondering if I’d be prepared enough for the backlash of an angry Atlas.
9
It wasn’t a spell that would win me any battles. Not even one that could protect me. And truly, as the man stood, his shirt slowly unraveling thread by thread, I wondered what the hell I was thinking when he was already so cold. Atlas yelped and slammed the door open, redder than an autumn apple.
“What the fuck is this?” he yelled.
I darted outside, not realizing how scary being locked in had been, until I was free. “You cannot sleep in the sleigh. It’s too cold.”
“Your solution is to take away the few bits of covering I have?” he shouted, his shirt now only a long string trailing behind him as he stomped toward me. “Get back in your dome.”
“I’m not getting in there until you do.”
Grabbing the ends of his hair, he looked at the sky and growled. Very much the wolf.
“How the fuck are you the most infuriating woman on the planet the second we’re stuck together?”
Jamming my hands on my hips, ignoring the numbing of my toes, I answered. “I saw how well that worked for you, and I decided to copy.”
Atlas’ jaw ticked as he closed the space between us, grabbing the ends of my hair as he forced me to look up at him. He was furious. Heaving breaths and hard eyes. But the second he looked into my gaze, something calmed. “This red hair is going to be the end of me.”
“Not if you freeze to death first,” I whispered, suddenly aware that I’d forgotten to stop the spell and the man was almost naked, towering over me. “We can share the heat, you stubborn, foolish man.”
I couldn’t see the mind racing behind the eyes that gave nothing else away, but I could feel all of his emotions tumbling like a ship lost in a raging sea.
I placed my palms onto his bare chest. “I know you’re mad, and I'm difficult, and this situation isn’t ideal for either of us, but if we don’t accept it for what it is, we’re going to be miserable. I’m sorry I got so upset.”
“I’m sorry for making you feel like you were unwanted. I know what that feels like, and I’m ashamed of myself. I won’t make excuses.” He swallowed, perhaps unwilling to finish his thoughts, though I knew there was more there. He continued. “There’s something here, and I don’t know how I feel about it. Or how I’m supposed to feel about it. I don’t know if it’s genuine or just this damn magic. It takes the truth out of everything.”
“I thought I was the only one that could feel it. Maybe you’re right, and that’s all it is.”
His gaze shifted between mine, his giant, frozen fingers brushing my cheeks. “Can I have my clothes back now? Or do you have more devious plans for me, Frostbite?”
I jumped away from him, casting to repair the clothing as we moved into the warmth. Any coherent thought I might have had vanished, settling within the deep grooves of his muscled chest. The ache to touch him became overwhelming as that shirt reformed, so, so slowly.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
My breath caught in my throat. “I wasn’t… I didn’t… Be less fucking attractive then.”
His lopsided grin reappeared. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Lifting a blanket from the ground, I rolled my eyes. “Just stay on your side, Wolf.”
“Again, I say, where’s the fun in that?”
“You don’t want to be half-naked and on top of me if the Spirits show up.”
He tilted his head to the side, scanning me once before answering. “I’m pretty sure I do.”
“No,” I laughed, holding out a hand. “You take that side, and I’ll take this one. We sleep apart. No touching.”
