“You took your punishment so well,” he murmurs, brushing sweaty hair out of her face. She looks so peaceful in sleep. Krampus had hoped to take care of her in the aftermath, but she needs rest after all she’s been through. He’ll have to do it without waking her.
He leans in, nuzzling into her hair, and sniffs. She smells of sweat and dried blood and plenty of his own musky scent. But beneath all of that…
He sniffs again, and sighs in satisfaction. Her smell is clean and pure. Gone is the mouthwateringly sweet sin that tempted and tortured him all night.
He was not sure if it would be possible to cleanse it without killing her. With any other human, he would never have tried. He was so used to dealing out justice in blood and pain. But this one was… inspiring.
Enough so that he was willing to bend his own rules. According to the game, those who evade him until sunrisereceive a reward. Those who are caught receive only punishment. Diana did not escape from him. But… nor did he have to hunt her down. She came to him willingly. That was different than beingcaught.
He would have to see if the ancient magic agreed enough to follow his will. But for now, the sky is beginning to lighten. The barrier between worlds is beginning to harden again. As much as he wishes to keep this precious woman in his realm, he knows she wouldn’t survive it.
So he carries her out of the cave. Past the bloody snow and the bodies, into the warm safety of the cabin. He runs the shower for her, and washes her slowly and carefully, running his fingers through her hair as the tangles soften. She murmurs and shifts in her sleep, but she does not awaken, both from her fatigue and a heady dose of magic with sunrise’s approach.
When she is clean, Krampus follows her scent to find fresh clothes for her, dresses her and wraps her in a blanket, and sets her in front of the fireplace. Once he starts the fire, he’s satisfied she will wake warm and rested. For a minute he watches her, reassuring himself that she is safe and whole, even after everything that the Kohlers—and Krampus himself—put her through.
Then he forces himself to his feet and leaves her behind to tie up the final loose end.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
The warmth hits me first. I haven’t been so cozy since I arrived at this cabin. Maybe for a while before that. I feel so safe and comfortable that I don’t even want to open my eyes. I cuddle deeper into the blankets and breathe in the sweet, piney scent that clings to them.
Other details sink in piece by piece: the crackle of a fire nearby. The carpeted floor beneath me. It’s far more comfortable than a floor should be, even though my body is starting to remember the aches and pains of the night—including a different kind of soreness between my legs.
My eyes fly open as I finally realize what that means. I sit up, blanket slipping from my shoulders, and look around.
I’m in the cabin. The Kohler cabin, I should say, though I’m the only one here right now, and I don’t see or hear any sign of anyone else. I expected to be naked beneath the fallen blankets, but instead I’m dressed in the cozy plaid pajamas I brought for the trip. I reach up, groggily brushing hair out of my face, and dimly register that it’s soft and clean, no longer tangled and full of sticks and God-knows-what-else. My skin is clean too. I don’t feel the telltale stickiness of blood or the lingering remnants of sex between my thighs.
But when I sit back on my ankles, I wince at a throb of soreness in my ass. My back stings as the fabric of my pajamas slides over my welts. I still bear the marks of my wild night—both punishment and pleasure—which means it was all veryreal.
While I was unconscious, Krampus must have carried me here, and left me safe, clean, and warm in front of the fire.
I’m kind of sad I don’t remember any of it.
“Points for good aftercare,” I mumble to myself.
The sound of my voice reminds me just how quiet the rest of the cabin is. Even when I strain to listen, I don’t hear anyone else talking or moving around.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. If their punishments were as real as mine were, then most of the Kohlers are dead now. Which means I’m now left with the consequences.
Shit. I guess I’d better figure out how to deal with that.
I mumble a curse as I climb to my feet and stretch out my battered body. My muscles scream in protest as I shake off the stiffness and hobble out of the living room and down the hallway.
I sniff. I’m expecting the scent of drying blood, decay, or at least disinfectant. Instead, it smells like…
“Coffee?”
I follow my nose to the kitchen, where a fresh pot awaits me on the counter. I stare at the polished, fancy machine with its many buttons, utterly baffled at the thought of Krampus navigating it with his huge hands, before I remember it didn’t even exist in his realm. It must have been on a timer.
I huff a laugh at myself and pour a nice, full mug. As expected, whatever coffee the Kohlers drink is good enough to taste great black. I wrap my fingers around the warm ceramic and wander over to the window—no longer covered in metal shutters—to gaze out at the snowy landscape. I can see the spotwhere Louis’s parents died, but there are no bodies there, no blood marring the white snow. I stare at the spot a while, still, remembering the bolt in my hands, the gush of blood from Theodora’s neck. I killed someone there. The reminder churns my stomach, but the guilt is less intense today. I’ve already been punished for my sins, and Krampus deemed me worthy enough to survive despite them.
My eyes shift to fresh tire tracks through the snow; Anna must have gotten out of here before I even woke up.
As I stand in front of the window and stare out at the snowy landscape, it looks like a picture-perfect Christmas morning. The mountain is truly beautiful when I’m gazing out from behind a window, nice and warm, instead of running for my life through the snow.
I bite my lip, thinking. Remembering the way the cars disappeared, it’s clear that whatever happened last night transported all of us who were playing the game to… somewhere else.Krampus’s realm, Louis called it at one point. Maybe the bodies stayed there, too. But that still leaves one problem for me.
