He turns his intense gaze back to me, the silver eyes unreadable. The same piercing stare I’ve been dreaming of.
Unconsciously, I have drifted closer to the magnificent creature, only realizing my hand is outstretched towards him when my fingers brush against the hot, velvety plane of his abdomen, mere fuzz where before there was fur.
Grazing my fingertips over the dip and swell of each muscle, the words slip out before I can stop them. “The abdominal snowman.”
A startled laugh bubbles out of me, half-delirious from exhaustion, half-horrified at what I just said. I snatch my hand back and drop my eyes, face once again burning, but before I can retreat, he swoops in and catches my chin between his calloused finger and thumb.
He tilts my face up, forcing me to meet his gaze. His skin is warmer than even my embarrassment flushed skin. Gently he turns my face from side to side, eyes tracing over every freckleas he regards me with inscrutable intensity, and maybe a faint touch of amusement, before gently brushing a thumb over my bottom lip.
His eyes darken as he follows the movement of his finger, reigniting the earlier desire that pooled in my belly. He is looking at me like I am his next meal after all, and despite my brain screaming at me to run, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to be devoured by him. I had hoped I wasn’t going to be his snack, but now?—
A sharp inhale escapes my lips at the thought, anticipation building as I wait to see my fate at the hands of this creature. At the soft sound, his eyes turn hungry. Feral.I should pull away. Ishould.
But I can’t. And not just that, but I don’tfuckingwant to. My lips fall gently open in instinctual invitation, and I’m barely breathing as my body aches for something I don’t fully understand, something impossible. Because for being lost somewhere in the Himalayan mountains, I have never felt more found.
“Where are we?” I whisper, my voice barely audible. But I think I’m asking myself so much more. I’m asking,Dahlia, what the hell are you doing? What are you thinking?
I don’t know if he’ll answer. I don’t know if he evencan.But I do know one thing. This Migoi rescued me. He pulled me from death, shielded me from the cold, carried me into the safety of the depths of the earth itself. And for the first time in my life, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
I am not chasing down the next thing, looking for love, searching for answers. I have arrived. I amhere.
“What is this place?” I try again.
He drops his hand and looks around the cave as if seeing it for the first time through my eyes. I follow the path of his gaze, taking in the beautiful glowing pools, and, now that my eyes have adjusted to the dim lighting, the natural rock formationsand what appear to be deeper caves judging by the way some areas fade to a deep, inky black.
The cave’s warmth should comfort me, but the heavy air reminds me of my fall—the suffocating snow, the weight of death closing in. I would have died out there. I know that. Everything feels so unreal.
I need some type of connection to reassure me I’m not dead after all so I reach up, daring to lay my hand on his arm. My voice shaky with nerves, I say, “You saved me.”
Not a question, but a statement of fact.
He shoots me a very human-like smile as we stand with the steam curling up from the pool and filling the air between us. I’m not sure which is more surreal—this hidden oasis in the midst of the mountain's snowstorm or this creature, smiling at me like I just hung the moon.
But I am sure that he saved me from an icy death, and now I owe him my life. A shiver that has nothing to do with the cold has me wrapping my arms around myself.
Concern flickers in his eyes as he reaches out and tugs me by the hand to follow him, engulfing my much smaller one in his grasp. His skin is thick and rough, calloused like leather in a sharp contrast to the other parts of him I’ve been privileged to touch.
We walk along a small path that leads up and around the pool, coming even with its surface. The trail narrows, but instead of dropping my hand, he switches his grip so that I’m trailing behind him.
I can’t help but run my eyes down the thick columns of muscle that frame his spine, following them down to where they meet a perfectly sculpted ass over thighs like tree trunks. He is massive, maybe eight feet tall, judging against my height, but the large caverns may be making the proportions seem off.
Since he has yet to talk, I assume I can speak freely and say under my breath, “That ass though.”
I’m so busy enjoying the view that has no business being on a mythical creature, that when he abruptly stops I crash into his back. With a startled yelp, I lose my balance and topple straight into the glowing water. It rushes over my head, and as my heavy clothes and coat soak through, I’m pulled down deeper.
Panic claws at me, the feeling of being deprived of oxygen yet again clawing at my throat and impairing my ability to think. I thrash blindly, lungs burning, eyes shut tight under the unfamiliar water. I am so overwhelmed with the sensations and fear I can't even try to surface. I’ve been saved, only to die.
Once again strong arms wrap around me and pull me against hard and unyielding muscles. I feel my face break the surface and start choking and sputtering in my haste to take in a greedy breath.
Chapter Fifteen
Eryon - Earlier
She is waking up. The change in her breath, the subtle shift of her weight in my arms. She does not know where she is or that she is the safest she has ever been. But she will.
Before she can fully wake, I carry her into the cavern, cradled in the warm embrace of the mountain. The storm could rage on forever, and we could hide away here, just the two of us. The thought sends a secret thrill through me, and I pull her closer, savoring the feel of her against me.
I take us deeper as she shivers in my arms, closer to the warmth of the water. At the edge of the spring, I kneel and for the first time since I pulled her from the snow, I release her.
