I lay there trembling.
My burnt skin stung so fucking much. My exposed nerves made everything torture. My insides slowly shut down, no longer functioning thanks to being boiled and barbecued.
Whisper chirped and headbutted me, nudging against open sores.
I winced.
He’d never hurt me so badly before. Never bitten so deeply.
Why now?
Was it because the scent of my smoking body was too much for his predatory senses to ignore? Was he biding his time to eat me?
Opening my hazy eyes, I went to find his—to give him permission to put me out of my misery—but I locked onto the cave instead.
Ice.
Everywhere.
The cavern had been entombed—flash-frozen so completely, every melted wall was sealed in a thick, glacial shell. Jagged arcs of frozen steam hung suspended in the air, caught mid-boil and crystallised. The ceiling glittered like a shattered sky, while cold seeped from every direction, pressing pause, holding my apocalypse in icy stasis.
I was ruined beyond repair, but the pain faded a little as frost crackled over me, acting like a soothing bandage on my unbearable burns. The rock hissed as droplets of my golden-tinted blood landed—reacting as if acid dissolved it.
I stared dumbly.
Why was my blood no longer fully red?
How was it cutting through rock?
How the fuck am I still alive?
Whisper nudged my hip, almost sending me into the empty basin again. My gaze landed on him and...my heart stopped.
No...
His beautiful pelt was scorched to his skin—large patches of black fur burned away, leaving angry welts that cracked as he moved. His whiskers were curled into brittle spirals and his paws...fuck, they were blistered and bleeding.
My chest seized.
“Whisper...” His name scraped up my raw throat.
Rage and guilt collided, white-hot and choking.
Frost settled thicker around my joints, acting like a living brace.
I couldn’t lie here.
Not while he was injured.
I couldn’t die yet.
Not until he was healed.
Clenching my jaw, I forced my ruined body to get the fuck up.
Every part screamed in protest, muscles threatened to shred, and blood poured faster, melting the rock beneath me with smoky curls.
The sight should have terrified me; instead, it forced me to move faster.
