"The kind that will kill us if we're caught in it."
Ellie grew quiet, and I felt sure her shiver this time had more to do with fear than temperature.
"I'm sorry," I said, the words rough in my throat. "This is my fault. I should have anticipated the turn in the weather. I'm supposed to protect you, and instead I've put you in danger."
"Rickon." Her hand cupped my cheek, warm despite the chill. "Stop. You've protected me from the moment we met."
"But..."
"No buts." Her fingertips traced along my jawline, her bright green eyes boring into mine. "You can't control the weather. You can't make storms not happen. What you can do—what you have done—is everything humanly possible. Well, everything Gudari-ly possible." A small attempt at levity again, trying to lighten the weight between us. "I feel safer with you than I've ever felt with anybody. Ever. In my whole life."
The admission struck something deep in my chest and made my wings stutter for just a half-beat before I corrected. She meant it. I heard the truth of it in her voice, felt it in the way she pressed closer against me.
"Even now?" I asked quietly. "When I'm flying us into a storm?"
"Especially now. Because I know you'll keep me safe." She paused, and when she spoke again, her voice was softer. "I trust you."
Three words. Simple words. But they settled over my heart like a benediction, like a promise, like something precious and fragile that I would guard with everything I had.
Her hand did not leave my face, stroking along my jawline.
Her touch sent electricity through every nerve ending, making something primal and possessive rise up in my chest. My skin seemed to come alive wherever her fingers lay, as though I'd been numb before and was only now remembering what it felt like to be touched with tenderness.
The memory of last night flooded back—her soft body beneath mine, all curves and warmth and yielding sweetness. The way she tasted, like honey and desire and something uniquely Ellie. The soft moans she'd made when I'd used my mouth on her, the way her fingers tangled in my hair, the breathless way she'd gasped my name. I'd pleasured her until she'd shattered apart in my arms, and the sound of my name on her lips as she found her release had been the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard.
My wings gave an involuntary flutter at the memory, and heat pooled low in my belly despite the frigid air around us, causing my cock to stiffen.
Not helpful. Not when we were fighting for survival, not when I needed every ounce of concentration to keep us aloft and find shelter before the storm hit.
But goddess help me, I wanted her. I wanted to land somewhere safe and warm and spend hours mapping every inch of her body with my hands and mouth. Wanted to hear those moans again, feel her arch beneath me, watch her face as pleasure took her.
I wanted to claim her properly, completely, the way a male claimed his mate.
Focus, I commanded myself savagely. She'd given me her trust. The least I could do was keep us alive long enough to deserve it.
I scanned the terrain below, searching for anything—a barn, an overhang, even a dense enough stand of trees that might offer some protection. But there was nothing. Just endless wilderness, the dark mass of forest stretching in every direction like an ocean frozen in time.
We'd passed a small town an hour ago. I considered turning back, trying to find an abandoned building, somewhere with walls and a roof that would hold. But that was an hour of flying directly into the wind. An hour that would drain my strength and expose Ellie to even more frigid temperatures.
The decision weighed on me, heavy as stone. Turn back to the known, or press forward into uncertainty?
I was on the verge of banking into a turn, of choosing the devil I knew over the one I didn't, when something caught my eye.
A glimmer. Brief, almost imperceptible—moonlight reflecting off something metallic just beneath the treeline.
My heart kicked against my ribs. I adjusted our trajectory, angling down through the darkness, my night vision sharpening as we descended. The shimmer resolved itself into a shape. A silver metal roof, barely visible through the dense canopy.
I swooped lower, my wings spread wide to slow our descent.
A log cabin. Small and tucked into a clearing so overgrown it was nearly invisible from above. The structure looked old but solid, the logs darkened with age and weather. One window was partially boarded, and the porch sagged slightly on one side, but the roof and walls appeared intact.
I circled once, then again, extending my senses outward. My ears caught the rustling of small creatures—rodents, perhapsa raccoon, the flutter of roosting birds disturbed by our approach. But nothing larger. No human heartbeats, no scent of recent occupation. Just the smell of old wood, pine sap, and earth.
"Is that...?" Ellie spotted it too.
"Shelter." I couldn't keep the relief from my voice. "Hold on."
I landed in the clearing beside the cabin, my wings sweeping back as my feet touched frozen earth. The moment I released the harness straps, Ellie was scrambling down, her boots hitting the ground with a soft thud.
