by Zoe Chant
Angel shook her head, unable to form words. Slowly, she moved back towards the couch and sat down by his side.
His fingers brushed against her cheek. Gently, he traced the line of her cheekbone.
“You’re gorgeous,” he murmured. His fingers trailed down, brushing her collarbone.
Heat sprang up inside her once more, the tight coil of need in her belly making her ache for more of his touch. More of him.
And then their lips met again.
His hand cupped her cheek, holding her in place as he explored her mouth until she was moaning once more.
She was gripping his arm, needing something to hold on to. The sheet had dropped from her body again, and his other hand was slowly sliding up the side of her body—
“Woof!”
Lola jumped up onto the couch, and Angel reared back in sudden shock.
Lola’s wet, cold nose poked her nape.
“Yuck! Lola!”
Then Lola huffed and turned, then turned again. A moment later, she plopped down, spreading out on the couch with a little whine.
“Sorry,” Angel said with a groan.
Jonathan laughed softly and shook his head. “I guess she has decided that I’ve stolen too much of your attention already. Sorry, Lola.”
The old dog whined again. With a deep sigh, Angel turned around to pet Lola’s head.
“You couldn’t have chosen a worse time to reappear. But I’m glad you made it.”
“I think that’s our signal to stop wasting time and get up.” Jonathan leaned forward to gently pat Lola. “I’ll see if I can fix us some breakfast.”
“Thanks,” Angel said in relief. Now that she thought about it, she was hungry. More than hungry—absolutely famished.
A few minutes later, Jonathan returned with his scavenged breakfast. They had no milk—but they did have black coffee.
There was also dry cereal, a jar of peanut butter and a bag of Doritos.
“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Jonathan said and scooped up some peanut butter with a Dorito. “Mmm.”
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” she said dryly. Then her empty stomach rumbled, and she sighed.
The peanut butter did look tempting. She’d just have preferred a simple sandwich.
Or eggs and bacon. Or pancakes. Which they weren’t going to find out here on the mountain in the aftermath of a blizzard.
She took a sip of her coffee, sighing in pleasure.
Jonathan took another Dorito, scooped up more peanut butter, and then held it out with a grin.
She felt herself starting to smile. Shaking her head at him, she nevertheless leaned forward for the Dorito.
The peanut butter was delicious, creamy and smooth and sweet. The Dorito added a salty crunch that actually wasn’t bad.
Or maybe right now she was just so hungry that she’d have eaten anything. Still.
“All right, I’m convinced. Thanks for the, uh, inventive breakfast.”
She had another handful of Doritos with peanut butter, then finished it off with a bowl of dry Froot Loops.
“Once we’re out of here, I’ll treat you to a real breakfast,” he said. He gave his own Froot Loops a wistful look. “French toast with lots of strawberries. Bacon. Poached eggs. More bacon.”
“Sounds great.” Angel sighed as she eyed the jar of peanut butter. They’d finished almost half of it.
I hope we won’t be trapped in here for long. Maybe we should have rationed our food...
“So what brings you out here? Are you a ranger?”
Jonathan shook his head. He looked a little uncomfortable. He pushed his bowl away, then took a deep breath.
“I guess you have a right to know. I know it’ll be hard to believe—but I promise I wouldn’t lie to you. Not ever.”
Angel raised a brow. That sounded ominous.
Maybe he’s a criminal on the run. Only he doesn’t look like the sort of person who’d ever hurt another...
“You found me,” he said softly. He was looking at her, his eyes strangely intense, gleaming like sunlight on ice. “Do you remember? Do you remember the cave you found?”
She’d thought that she’d dreamed it. She’d been half frozen to death by that point. Surely it hadn’t been real?
“A cave,” she murmured. It was hard to remember details. “Snow. Ice. So much ice, all around me. I was so exhausted—I just wanted to curl up in the snow and go to sleep. And then—then I saw him. The ice dragon.”
Had that been real? Even now, with her memories of those moments almost completely faded, she remembered the majesty and the power of the dragon. He’d been beautiful. And so detailed that it looked like he could’ve come to life at any moment.
His paws. I saw his paws move...
But surely that had been a dream. The dragon hadn’t been real—and neither was that memory.
“I’m the dragon,” he said. His eyes looked even more brilliant now. “I’m a dragon shifter, Angel. Ten years ago, I hid in that cave. I hid from the world. And I turned into ice.”
She stared at him for a long moment.
And then she broke into laughter.
“Very funny,” she said. “No, but really. What do you do? It’s okay if you don’t want to say. I know what it’s like—I just can’t get a job in my field. Had to move back in with my parents, at my age. That’s why I came out here for the dog-sitting job. They pay well, and I want to do this intense course that’s supposed to get me into IT, and hopefully back into a place of my own—”
“I’m not joking.” Jonathan was still looking at her. He seemed completely calm—but something about his eyes was strange.
They really do look like ice. Like ice illuminated by the sun—not cold, but clear and beautiful like diamonds.
“I’m an ice dragon. The ice and snow is my element.”
She could barely muffle another laugh. “I almost believed you. I can’t believe you can just say that with a straight face.” She bit back a grin. “Not a ranger then—maybe a writer? Or, no—a personal trainer?”
Ooh, what if he’s in one of those special units where they aren’t allowed to tell you that’s what they do. That makes sense.
Jonathan shook his head. “I’d show you,” he said hesitantly, “but I slept for ten years in the ice. All my powers have been drained. That’s why it almost killed me yesterday to go out. But you were in danger. I don’t know where it came from—but there was a dire wolf out there. And that blizzard didn’t seem entirely natural.”
“A dire wolf,” she echoed. “What...what’s a dire wolf?”
Uncomfortably, she remembered the awful howl. And there’d been that moment when she’d been certain that she’d seen some sort of monster. A wolf who was way too large, with terrible yellow eyes and fangs as long as her fingers...
A dream. A dream caused by nearly dying in the snow!
But it was difficult to believe that when apparently, Jonathan had seen it too.
“This doesn’t make sense.” She glared at him. “Dragons and giant wolves don’t exist. And blizzards are completely natural, especially here in the mountains in winter.”
Of course it was all too good to be true. A guy like that, who looks like that—who kisses like that... Something had to be up with that.
She took a deep breath to calm herself.
I didn’t come here for romance anyway, she reminded herself.
I was going to study day and night. Turn my life around. Get a nice, well-paid IT job, my own apartment, and a sweet, awkward, nerdy IT boyfriend. Someone who’s boring, but who won’t run around claiming to be a dragon.
“You remember the dragon,” he said, tilting his head at her. “You just said you did. Where do you think it came from?”
“It wasn’t real! I was half frozen to death. My mind made it all up.”
He made a thoughtful sound. “Then how come we both saw the dire wolf?”
“How do you know I saw it?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
/> “I felt your terror,” he said softly. “That’s how I knew I had to stop him. That he was here for you.”
“None of this makes sense.” Frustrated, she turned away from him. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.
“I’m not lying to you. I wouldn’t, not ever.”
When she turned back to face him, she saw that he had leaned forward. The light in his eyes was more intense now.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “This might wipe me out for a bit, but I’ll be fine. I promise.”
Then he pointed at his coffee cup. The coffee cup that was still half filled with steaming coffee.
A moment later, frost appeared on the outside of the cup.
Angel couldn’t move as she stared at it, frozen with disbelief.
Frost flowers spread all around the cup—and then, with a crack, the cup split.
“Whoops,” Jonathan murmured.
Angel still couldn’t take her eyes off the cup. Because now, instead of hot coffee pouring all over the table, she could see that the steaming hot coffee had suddenly become a solid block of frozen ice.
“Impossible,” she breathed.
Carefully, she reached out until she could touch it with her fingertips. The ice was so cold that her skin ached when she hastily pulled back.
Jonathan had sunk back onto the couch where Lola had now curled up into a tight circle by his legs. His eyes were half-closed, but he was smiling faintly.
“You woke me from the ice,” he murmured again. “Sorry—so tired...”
His eyes fell shut, and a second later, he was deeply asleep next to Lola.
“What the hell,” Angel muttered, looking from him to the block of solid coffee ice and back again.
Then she carefully tiptoed forward and grabbed hold of the pile of blankets, pulling them up to cover Jonathan.
Did that just really happen?
She’d watched him do it. It wasn’t a magic trick—well, it had to be magic, but it wasn’t a trick. The coffee had been hot just a second ago, and now it was ice.
Jonathan had turned it into ice. The same way he’d apparently turned himself into ice, if what he said was true.
Still shaking her head, she touched the ice again.
It was still just as cold, and just as real.
Silently, she cleared away the remnants of their breakfast. When she returned, Jonathan was still asleep.
She watched him sleeping for a while, trying to remember the ice dragon she’d seen. Was he really a dragon?
And if he was—then it also meant that the strange monster she’d seen was real.
The dire wolf.
She shivered, goosebumps springing up all over her skin.
She nudged Lola until the old dog reluctantly made space, and then curled up on the couch next to Jonathan again, trying to forget the scary, yellow-eyed wolf who might still be prowling through the snow outside.
Jonathan might be a dragon, and he might be able to turn coffee into ice—but for some reason, she still felt safe with him.
I still want him, she realized, warmth filling her when he moved in his sleep and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Maybe that was magic, too. Maybe the force of her desire should scare her.
But for some reason, despite everything that had happened, she couldn’t think of any place she’d rather be right now.
Chapter Six: Jonathan
Waking up felt a little like swimming to the surface, struggling against the weight of the deep, dark water above him.
When Jonathan finally opened his eyes, it took a moment to remember what had happened.
Angel was still in his arms. Angel was asleep, her head resting against his chest.
Angel—who now knew what he was, and who hadn’t run from him.
Warmth filled him, together with the memory of why he felt so exhausted.
He’d used his powers to show her that he really was a dragon shifter. After ten years in the ice had utterly drained him, and after he’d drained himself even further by fighting off the dire wolf.
I really need to give myself a day or two to recover, he thought ruefully.
Not just because it felt as if his bones were aching, something inside him dry and brittle where he’d sucked out his own life force to keep going.
But also because there was still the puzzle of the dire wolf shifter. It was weird that it hadn’t run when it realized that he was a shifter, too. Which meant that it was here for a reason.
That it was after Angel for a reason.
And as long as I keep draining myself before I have recovered, I won’t be able to protect her.
Some time during their nap, the dog had moved off the couch. Now, she was stretched out in front of the fire, her paws twitching every now and then as she dreamed.
Jonathan smiled. He was glad that she’d made it through the storm. He’d sensed a flicker of life out there, back when he’d fought off the dire wolf. But he must have collapsed in the snow before he’d had the opportunity to search for her, once the dire wolf was gone.
They needed to get moving soon. They’d be able to live off peanut butter and cookies for another day or two, if they had to, but the thought wasn’t particularly appealing.
And the blizzard had died down. The snow outside was deep, but as an ice dragon, the cold didn’t bother him much.
It would be easier if he’d be able to shift. He’d be able to just fly Angel and Lola out of here.
But shifting wasn’t going to happen until he’d fully recovered. He was so drained of his powers that turning a single cup of coffee into ice had knocked him out. Shifting at this point would probably kill him.
Hopefully the dire wolf won’t realize. Where did it even come from?
Jonathan had sensed the presence of another dragon nearby when he’d chosen this place to sleep in the ice. But surely no dragon shifter would allow a beast like the dire wolf to roam free...
Unless the dire wolf works for the dragon?
But what he’d felt from that other dragon long ago had been the usual suspicion and wariness of their people. The dragon had wanted to be left alone—just like Jonathan.
What he’d sensed of the dire wolf, on the other hand, had been rage, greed, and anger.
No dragon who wanted to be left alone by the outside world would have a dire wolf like that work for him. Especially since these mountains were popular with tourists in the winter. Sudden, inexplicable attacks would cause a lot of attention.
I need to get us out of here.
Carefully, he got up. He stretched.
He wasn’t as strong yet as he had been, but he’d be up for a trek through the snow.
They needed to get back to civilization. Angel needed to get back to looking for her second lost dog. And he needed a place to stay for a few days to replenish his energy.
Shifter healing was fast. If he’d broken a leg, the bone would have mended in a single night. Maybe two, given how weak he was right now.
But this time, it wasn’t his body that was wounded. It was his dragon’s power that was dangerously low.
Like a car with a drained battery in winter, he thought, then laughed. That was a pretty good example, actually. Maybe that would help Angel to understand.
“Feeling better?” Angel smiled up at him, her eyes lingering.
He allowed his own gaze to trail over what little of her body was exposed.
“Much better. It’ll take a while until my dragon has recovered, but as long as we don’t get into any fights, I’ll be fine.”
“Do you know where we are?” Angel got up, stopping by Lola to check on her for a moment.
“No,” Jonathan had to admit. “I don’t know anything about these mountains. But I should be able to get you back home. I wish I could shift and fly you there—but I think the weather’s good enough to make it back on foot.”
“All right.” Angel sighed deeply. “After this, I don’t want to see any snow for at least a few more years. I just hop
e that Diego made his way back home...”
“If you lost him close to home, he’ll be fine,” Jonathan reassured her. “I’ve known a few dog shifters. They’re good at tracking.”
“And Lola tracked us all the way to this place.” Angel bent down to press a kiss to the spaniel’s head. “Okay, you’ve got me convinced. A hike through the snow it is.”
Even now, it was difficult to take his eyes off her body. But maybe it was for the best that Lola had interrupted them. If they left now, they should make it back to Angel’s place before sunset.
And then, perhaps, after Angel had been reunited with Diego, he and Angel could spend some time together without constant interruptions by dogs or dire wolves. And Jonathan could continue to recover as his dragon finally got to recharge his powers.
Or maybe they won’t come back. Maybe I’ve drained myself so completely that this is it. They’ll never return.
For a moment, he felt a surge of hope at the idea, even as his dragon recoiled in horror. He’d live a human life—and he’d never have to face another dragon again.
On the other hand, without those powers, how would he keep Angel safe if the dire wolf returned...?
But that was something to worry about later. For now, they needed to get going.
***
“Are you sure it’s the right path?” Angel stopped to wipe the sweat from her brow as they crested yet another hill.
Before them spread a small, snow-covered valley. Jonathan couldn’t even remember how many of these valleys they’d crossed by this point. With the heavy layer of snow covering all life, one looked much like the other.
But they were moving—moving towards the direction of his cave. He remembered that much.
And Lola was eager to get back home as well. A few times, when they’d hesitated over which path to follow, Lola had unerringly led them forward.
“I’m certain,” he said, stopping by Angel’s side.
The mountain rose behind them now. They weren’t following a straight path down the mountain either—they were keeping to the west, hopefully heading toward the mountain slope that held the cave where he’d slept for ten long years. And there, not too far away, the mansion Angel was house-sitting had to be situated.
Even now, with his dragon’s powers nearly at zero, Jonathan could feel the nagging awareness of something powerful at his back.