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God, she should’ve paid attention to the changes in the wind, should’ve realized what it meant, and looked for a sheltered campsite to wait it out. She’d been too distracted, enjoying Ellis as he discovered the joy of dogsledding. But she knew better. Out here, stupid mistakes got people killed. And maybe it had. She was alive, but what about Ellis? Her dogs?
She straightened out her legs, tried to shake some feeling back into them. They had gone numb from sitting curled up in a ball for so long. Chunks of snow slid off her head and shoulders as she used the rock to pull herself to her feet. The wind was still punishing, the blast of it scraping at her eyes. She’d lost her goggles somewhere—hopefully, she still had her back-up pair with the gear on the sled. If she could find the sled.
But at least the wind was no longer strong enough to push her off her feet and the snow had stopped.
She glanced around and her stomach cramped at the sight stretched out before her. Ten feet away from the rock outcropping that has sheltered her was a cliff dropping sharply off into the tundra below. She edged closer and peeked over. Long way down and lots of sharp ice and jutting rocks the whole way. If she hadn’t grabbed that outcropping, she’d be dead. The wind would have blown her over the cliff, and no one would survive that fall.
What if…?
No.
She shut down that line of thought and backed away from the edge. If Ellis and the dogs had gone over, she’d see debris scattered below.
Unless the snow had covered it…
No.
No.
They hadn’t gone over.
Theyhadn’t.
She very deliberately turned away and scanned the empty space behind her. Nothing visible but a snowy plane littered with rocks and the tree line far in the distance. Because of the wind rolling her, twisting her around, she wasn’t entirely sure of the direction they’d come from, but the three scraggly, wind-bent pine trees to the left looked familiar. She started walking in that direction.
Evening came fast this far north and night even faster. With snow clouds obscuring the weak sun, the gray already slipped toward black. She pulled back her mitten to check her watch. Nearly five p.m. They had lost daylight to the storm.
Dammit.
She didn’t have her headlamp—it had gone the way of her goggles; probably over the cliff—leaving her precious minutes to find Ellis, her dogs, and the sled. Sunset wasn’t much after five. If she didn’t find them before dark, they were all as good as dead. Ellis wouldn’t survive the night out here and she wouldn’t survive much longer than that.
She trudged along in snow that was sometimes knee-deep and sometimes she’d take a step and sink in up to her hips. The exertion had sweat dripping down her spine, which made her shiver. Her moisture-wicking inner layer was no longer doing its job, putting her at risk of hypothermia.
Dangerous.
She paused to catch her breath and sank into snow up past her knees. She needed her snowshoes, but they were on the sled with the rest of her gear. She glanced back at her trail through the snow. She hadn’t come very far at all and she was already struggling. She looked ahead at the three scraggly trees. They might as well be on the moon.
This wasn’t going to work.
She sat down and glowered at the snow—and noticed a little puff of steam rising from about six feet away.
Breath.
The dogs!
She lurched over, all but swimming through the snow, and started digging. A head poked up. Dark ears, white face, and a pair of mismatched eyes she adored. The relief of seeing him made her lightheaded and her aching leg muscles gave out. “Norte!”
He grinned at her, popped out of the snow like spring daisy, and shook off.
Struggling to hold back her tears, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him until he tried to lick her face.
“Okay, okay. None of that!” She let go of him then and did a quick check of his body. He wiggled under her hands like he always did, his tail whipping the air like a propeller. He was fine. She had to double-check just to still her heart, but he was happy and healthy and none the worse for wear. And he was still in his harness, hooked up to the gang line. Which meant…
She tugged on the line and found Indigo next. He was curled up in a tight ball and looked up at her with relief when she brushed the snow from his head. She hugged him. “You were scared, huh? I’m so sorry, buddy.”
Diggy was next. The pup stretched like he was waking up from a luxurious nap and shook off the snow. Nugget and Chilly heard the commotion and poked their heads up as well. Then Mozart.
But Moonbeam’s harness was empty, chewed through.
