Chapter 6

Cayla POV:

Life as a slave was a slow death.

Cherrelle had put a collar on me. Leather, lined with silver studs. A suppressor collar.

I scrubbed floors until my hands bled.

Then the news came.

"Avalanche on the North Face!" Jeremy was screaming into his radio. "We lost signal with the Alpha!"

My heart stopped.

Grafton had gone to find the Moon Snow Lotus-a mythical flower he thought would cure Cherrelle's "poisoned blood."

I didn't think.

I ran to the garage. The guards were too busy panicking to notice the slave girl stealing a snowmobile.

The mountain was a white hell.

I drove until the sled stalled, then I walked. The cold should have killed me. But Selene, my wolf, burned through the silver collar, keeping my heart pumping.

I found him buried under a shelf of ice.

"Grafton!"

I dug him out with my bare hands. He was blue. Hypothermia.

I dragged him into a cave.

I couldn't shift. So I stripped us both down. Skin to skin.

I pressed my body against his. The Electric Touch of the Mate Bond sparked, faint but there.

"Live," I whispered. "You have to live, you idiot."

I poured my White Wolf vitality into him.

Hours passed.

When the rescue chopper arrived, Grafton was warm.

I was a husk.

Grafton POV:

I woke up in the hospital.

"He's awake!" Cherrelle chirped.

Brooks stood there, holding a tablet.

"You were buried for six hours," Brooks said. "Drone footage shows Cayla Bass found you. She kept you warm with her body heat."

I stared at the screen. The thermal image showed a small figure shielding a larger one.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Infirmary. Severe frostbite."

"She's trying to manipulate you!" Cherrelle screeched. "She probably caused the avalanche with her witch powers!"

For the first time, Cherrelle's voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"Bring her here," I ordered.

When they wheeled Cayla in, she looked like death.

"You saved me," I said.

She looked at the floor. "Duty of a pack member."

"You aren't a pack member," I reminded her, defensiveness rising. "You're a slave."

She flinched. "Then it was the duty of a slave."

I wanted to thank her. But my pride was a wall.

"This doesn't change what you did to Cherrelle," I snapped.

Cayla looked up. Her eyes were dead.

"I expect nothing from you, Alpha. Absolutely nothing."