Doubtful.
The only thing that could make this moment better is if I’d been here when she’d done it. When she didn’t try to contact me, I kept my distance, watching her from afar. Last night, though, when she came out onto the balcony, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be near her. Our moonlit dance was the only thing I could give her—too scared to frighten her again until I was certain she wanted me around.
Maybe I would have seen her write this, but I was summoned to help some Frosts brew a big blizzard at the tip of Burlington. I hated having to leave her, especially after holding her beneath the stars, but I still can’t risk getting banished. Not when I’m already skirting the cardinal rule.
Fuck, I’ve got it bad.
The glass gently squeaks as I write into the frost.
YES, TEMPEST.
I admire my handiwork, then notice her journal sitting open, deep grooves etched on the blank page facing me. I wave my hand, flipping to the prior entry. A dozen questions are spread across the lines, curves of black and white sketches surrounding her words.
Is your name really Jax Frost?
I chuckle to myself. She wants to know about me. That’s encouraging. Maybe a way to each other isn’t as far out of reach as everyone keeps telling me?
Taking a deep inhale, I exhale a thin layer of frost on the windowpanes. My fingertip scratches into the perfectly pristinelayer, answering each question. That is, until I come to the last one:
Have we met before?
My nail hovers over the ice-coated glass. Something snakes through the back of my mind, slithering and coiling around whatever it is I can’t see. No matter how much I want to reach in and grab what’s hidden, I can’t.
That’s…odd.
Before I get frustrated, I breeze through the other pages, staring down at various renderings of my eyes, my wolf.Me.I’m spread throughout her journal, reflections that hold a truth I don’t understand.
But I want to—and more than that, I wanther.
Jolie shudders, and I spin away from her desk to face her.The comforter crests and falls with each breath. So peaceful. I could watch her for hours. For days.
Let’s face it, I have.
I sidle up next to her, and she squirms, tugging the blanket tighter as white ghosts from between her lips. She’s so fucking beautiful it hurts. I reach out and brush back some of the hair strewn in her face. Her nose wriggles and her body shivers.
Adorable.
I’ll spend the next week along the northern tip of the East Coast, unfurling flakes and dripping icicles across four states. Slowing the meltdown for spring. I hope winter isn’t cut short. Not this year, if I have any say in the matter. Which I don’t, but a harbinger can dream. One day I will be a Lead Albidus, like my fathers, and have some sway when it comes to these things. It’s all I’ve wanted since I graduated from the harbinger’s academy over twenty seasons after my arrival, and each winter I serve themortal world brings me closer to that milestone. Of course, I’m a bit distracted now by the only thing that could eclipse my duty to the Frosts.
Jolie.
I need to do something about this desperation for her that constantly overtakes me. Each day is harder for me than the last. While no one has ever been bonded to a mortal, there has to be more to it. Fate wouldn’t have tied me to a mate only to have me pine over them for an eternity. Would she? The answer to that is something I must know.
And now I’m angry I missed this. She’s been thinking about me. That’severything.
My cheeks warm as I look up at the window covered in answers, all written from the inside.
She’ll know for certain I was here.
That thought fills me with pride, ice rushing through my veins toeverypart of me. Jolie squirms again, and I swallow down the way my body is eager for her. To caress each soft curve, thick strand of hair, raised pink scar. How I wish I could. In a way, I’m not much more than a ghost. The apparition she believes me to be, haunting the one I wish would see me most.
My very own form of unfinished business.
I peel myself from the bed, going against every part of me that wishes to soak up this closeness, one that she’d shudder away from if she were awake. At least until I can make her understand.
Hopefully, my responses will help her begin to and that small wintry mix up north will be enough for me to take a few days off without sacrificing winter’s reign. The last thing I need is for those sneaky spring Blooms to think that the East Coast is ready for them.
It’s not.
