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She felt the pull to him ahead and knew she was close. She could see figures in the darkness, guards perhaps, and the storm picked up just as she got closer. Harsher wind, more snow that messed with her visibility.

And then something grabbed hold of her and jerked her out of the sky.

She squawked loudly as she tried to right herself, but some sort of magical tether wrapped around her body. She hit the ground and was immediately pulled into someone’s arms.

She tried to claw whoever was holding her with her talons, but he was stronger than she was. He laughed and walked toward the figures in the dark.

“Silly bird, you flew right into the trap on the way to find your mate. What a surprise.”

She tried to get free, but he held her too tightly. Her lungs burned as she tried to breathe, her wings aching as they pressed against her back.

A door opened and a male walked out, and she didn’t have to see him clearly to recognize him: Jack Frost.

“Oh yeah, this is her,” he said, his voice all sinister smiles.

“Can you get them already?” the male holding her asked.

Frost reached into her wings, pushing her feathers around, and then he grabbed and tugged hard.

She gasped, her owl letting out a hoot of dismay as the feathers tore free.

Pain shot through her wings and she struggled harder, trying to rake the male holding her with her talons, but his grip stayed iron tight.

Frost held up the feathers and smiled, his face carved in shadows from the spill of pale light beyond him. “Beautiful.”

“The mate has arrived,” another male said as he stepped through the open door of the cavern. He wore dark clothes, and deep purple magic swirled around him like smoke. Nightmare.

True’s heart lurched.

She wished she could talk, but she was trapped in her owl form, unable to do anything but screech furiously.

Frost put her feathers into a pouch and tucked it into his pocket. “Now, let’s get you inside. You flew all this way to save your mate.” He tilted his head, his eyes flashing. “It’s sweet, really.”

“Foolish,” Nightmare said.

“Yes,” Frost agreed with a nod. “But shifter truemates do foolish things all the time.”

Her heart slammed against her ribs as panic surged through her. Winter!

She fought harder, twisting and clawing at the male holding her.

“She’s fighting me,” the male said with a grunt.

“Well, that’s what people in love do,” Frost said. He laid a hand on True’s head and she felt a rush of cold sweep over her, freezing her joints and making her vision blur. “You’re just what I need, little bird. Let’s get you to your mate.”

Her owl shrieked in dismay as unconsciousness took over, her last thought on her mate and the words she’d almost said but had held back because the moment hadn’t felt right.

Would she ever get the chance now?

Winter, I love you.

Then everything went black.

Winter woke colder than he’d ever been in his life: teeth chattering, limbs numb, and his spine feeling frozen inside him. As his hazy vision cleared, he saw iron bars covered with frost and stone walls glittering with ice. He was chained to the wall with ice-covered shackles, and his skin burned from the cold.

He was confused for only a heartbeat, and then he knew he was in Frost’s underground dungeon, far from Northernmost.

True.