She tightened her grip, terrified the wind might simply rip him away if she didn’t anchor herself to him. Then she heard a faint, shrill noise.
“Jake,” she murmured, the word catching in her throat. Her lips felt numb, her thoughts scattered like the snowflakes swirling around them.
“I know where he is,” James answered, his voice vibrating through his chest. “I found the cave before I found you. He and Bash are okay.”
Then they were moving. Doreen cradled in his arms as James walked with sure-footed confidence through the blinding snow. Each step carried them closer to the whistle’s piercing sound, which grew louder as they approached.
The forest was a maze of white, identical trees blurring together, but James never hesitated, never faltered in his path.
Doreen pressed her face against his neck, drawing warmth from his skin. Would she have found her way back to Jake on her own? She hated how easily the thought gutted her. How close she’d been to failing the boy who trusted her completely.
The storm had stolen all landmarks, erased all signs of her earlier passage. She might have wandered alone, going around in circles until exhaustion claimed her.
But she wasn’t alone. The realization washed over her like a wave of warmth despite the frigid air. She would never be alone again with this bear of a man in her life. The mate bond wasn’t just words or some mystical concept. It was this, two people finding each other against impossible odds, holding on when everything else fell away.
“Almost there,” James murmured against her hair, his breath warm against her frozen skin.
The whistle’s shrill call grew clearer now, cutting through the howling wind. When James rounded a snow-covered ridge, the small cave entrance appeared, firelight flickering from within. Jake stood at the opening.
“Hello? Is somebody there?”
Jake’s voice. The sweetest sound she’d ever heard.
Doreen’s heart stuttered; she hadn’t realized how terrified she’d been of never hearing that voice again. She struggled to lift her head from James’s chest as relief hit her so hard it nearly knocked the breath from her lungs.
“Jake!” she called, her voice weaker than she’d intended.
A sharp bark greeted them. Even the snow and the cold and the cave could not dent Bash’s enthusiasm.
“Jake! Bash!” James’s voice carried with surprising power. “It’s us. We’re here!”
“Deputy Pike?” Jake’s answer came immediately, his voice cracking with relief. “We’re in here! In the cave!”
James ducked through the opening, and suddenly the roar of the wind fell away. The warmth of a small fire flickered across the stone walls, casting dancing shadows that felt like a miracle after the endless white of the storm.
“Aunt D!” Jake’s voice broke on her name as he scooted toward them, his small face pale in the light of the fire.
The moment James set her down, Jake crashed into her, wrapping his arms around her waist as if afraid she might disappear again.
Every horrible scenario she’d been pushing down surged at once—cold, silence, an empty cave—and then he was there. Solid. Real. Safe.
Bash pressed against her legs, whining and licking her cold hands, his whole body wiggling with joy and concern.
Doreen pulled Jake into her arms, her throat tight with emotion. “You did so well,” she whispered, pressing kisses to his hair, his forehead, his cold cheeks. “You kept the fire going, just like I showed you. You stayed safe. You did everything right.”
Her voice shook with pride so fierce it startled her.
Jake buried his face against her neck, his small body trembling. “I knew you’d come back,” he said.
“You kept blowing the whistle,” Doreen said, wishing she shared his faith in her. She pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. “You and Bash are so smart.”
Bash nudged between them, his warm tongue swiped across Jake’s cheek.
“Bash is smart. Even though sometimes he pretends he’s not. He protected me,” Jake said, pride warming his voice. “He stayed right next to me the whole time, just like you told him to.”
James crouched beside them and ran a gentle hand over Bash’s head. “Good boy,” he murmured, then turned to Jake with equal approval in his eyes. “And you—you were so brave. You kept the fire going this whole time?”
Jake nodded, straightening a little under James’s praise. “Aunt D used the matches from the kit you gave me. Then I kept adding small sticks, just like Aunt D said.”
