Chapter 48

Kayla

Big, fat snowflakes tumbled lazily from the darkening sky. They melted the second they touched my cheeks, but were rapidly beginning to accumulate on the ground.

I shivered and wrapped my arms tighter around myself, my thin leather jacket doing little—if anything at all—to fight off the biting cold. Nicholas trudged ahead, his hands gripping the handlebars of the motorcycle as he pushed it along the narrow road.

His broad shoulders were stiff beneath his leather jacket, but he didn’t utter a single complaint.

The silence between us stretched on as we walked, broken only by the crunch of the fresh snow beneath our boots.

I kept my eyes on his back, half-expecting him to grumble at me, make some sarcastic remark about how this was all my fault, or even make some kind of teasing joke to piss me off. But he didn’t. He just kept moving, the muscles in his arms flexing with each deliberate push of the bike.

I glanced at the sky, which was now a rather ominous shade of gray. The snow was coming down harder, the fat flakes sticking to my hair and eyelashes as gusts of cold wind blew down the road.

At one point, a particularly violent gust of wind nearly knocked me over, my boots slipping on the icy asphalt. It hit Nicholas, who was walking in front of me, much harder and quite literally ripped the bike from his hands.

He cursed as the bike fell over, spilling gasoline across the ground, but still didn’t complain. I hurried over, slipping as I went, and helped him pull the bike upright. Although I didn’t think he actually needed me.

“I’m sorry for all this,” I said softly, risking a glance at him as I helped. “This is all my—”

“Don’t say it,” he cut me off, his voice gruff and low. “Because it’s not true.”

I took that as my warning to stop apologizing.

We continued walking after that, side by side now. I shivered and curled my shoulders inwards, wishing I’d brought something warmer to wear. Hindsight is 20/20, I supposed bitterly.

But then, as if on cue, the distant hum of an engine reached my ears. Both of our heads snapped up in unison, and I spotted headlights cutting through the snow. Relief flooded through me, and I began jumping up and down and waving my arms wildly.

“Hey! Stop! Please!”

But the car sped past without slowing, the driver either not seeing me or not caring enough to stop. I ran out into the middle of the road as it whizzed past and stared after it, my hands still raised, my breath clouding in the frigid air.

The taillights disappeared into the snow, leaving us alone once more.

“Son of a bitch!” I kicked at a rock on the road, sending it skittering forward. Of course, it sailed through the air and struck the side of the motorcycle with a dull thud, leaving a small dent in the polished metal. My stomach dropped.

“Shit. I didn’t mean to—”

Nicholas sighed, his shoulders drooping. “That’s par for the course, I suppose,” he said, his voice weary but not angry. He didn’t even look at me or the dent, just kept pushing the bike as if the damage didn’t bother him.

Or maybe it did and he was just way better at controlling himself than I once thought.

I stared at him, stunned. Any other man would have lost it by now, yelling or blaming me for everything. Liam certainly would have been throwing a fit by this point, calling me useless, berating me for not being able to fix this mess.

But Nicholas just… kept going. He didn’t get angry or take his frustration out on me. He just seemed focused on getting us both home safely. Still, I couldn’t help but feel bad.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, my voice barely audible over the howling wind.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said over his shoulder, his tone softer than I expected. “It’s just a bike.”

We kept walking, and my stomach sank further and further as the snow steadily piled up on either side of the road. My fingers were numb despite being stuffed into my pockets, and my breath was coming out in visible white puffs.

Soon enough, the cold had seeped into my bones, as if my jacket weren’t even there.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally broke the silence. “You should just shift and go on without me,” I said.

Nicholas stopped, turning to look at me. His amber eyes were piercing, even in the dim light. “What?”

“I’ll wait here with the bike, and you can run home in your wolf form,” I said quickly, trying to keep my voice steady even though my teeth were chattering. “You would get there faster, and you could bring back help. I’m just slowing you down.”

His expression hardened. “I’m not leaving you out here, Kayla.”

“It’s not like you wouldn’t come back for me,” I insisted, throwing my hands up in the air. “It makes more sense than both of us freezing to death out here. I’ll be fine.”

His jaw tightened, and for a moment, I thought he was finally going to yell at me. But instead, he shook his head, his voice low and firm. “You’re my Luna, Kayla. I’m staying right beside you, no matter what.”

The conviction in his words sent a strange warmth flooding through me, despite the icy wind biting at my skin. My cheeks flushed, and I looked away, embarrassed by how much his loyalty affected me.

For the first time in years, I felt… protected. Not lesser, ashamed, or like a burden simply because I didn’t have a wolf.

Just… safe.

We continued on in silence after that, the snow falling heavier around us. Eventually, the snow became so thick that the road ahead was barely visible, nothing more than a blanket of white stretching into the distance. My legs ached, and my feet felt like blocks of ice. Every step was a struggle, the cold sapping what little energy I had left.

Finally, Nicholas stopped and turned to me. “We can’t keep going like this. We should find a spot to rest and wait out the storm.”

He nodded his head to the left, I followed his gaze to the dense line of trees on the side of the road. The forest looked as dark and foreboding as ever now, the branches of the trees heavy with snow. My stomach twisted just at the thought of venturing into that darkness.

“We need to find shelter. A cave, a cabin, anything,” he continued, already pushing the bike toward the nearest cluster of pine trees. “The snow is only going to get worse, so it’s best to hunker down.”

I hesitated, wrapping my arms tighter around myself as I stared at the shadowy forest. Without a wolf, I didn’t have the night vision most werewolves took for granted. The thought of stumbling blindly through the dark, with who knows what lurking in the shadows, made my heart race.

Nicholas propped the bike against the base of a pine tree, where it would stay somewhat dry beneath the branches—although I had a feeling he didn’t really care what happened to the bike at this point.

Then he turned to me, his expression softening when he saw the apprehension on my face.

“Kayla,” he said gently, stepping closer.

“I… I can’t see in the dark.” My voice sounded small, even to my own ears. I hated how I sounded like a scared little girl, shivering and whimpering on the side of the road, while Nicholas was keeping himself perfectly together.

But he held out his hand, and when his eyes met mine, they were nothing short of warm and understanding.

“Come on,” he said, taking my hand. “I’ll be your eyes.”