“It will warm up in here soon,” he said, laying another log on the fire.

I watched quietly as he moved around the small cabin. He went outside and brought in several large armloads of wood. Then he locked the door. Based on the fishing gear and traps hanging on one wall, we were in a hunting cabin. There was a small table with two chairs, two single beds, and some cupboards. The cabin was small and sparse, but cared for.

Storm shutters covered the two windows, but the glass still rattled when the storm shook the small building. Sleet pelted the roof and the wind howled in the chimney, making the flames dance. The roof creaked ominously, and I stared at the beamed ceiling.

“It’s the wyvern.” Nikolas fed more wood into the fire and sat back on his heels, running a hand through his wet hair. “I think it’s guarding you.”

I shivered and pulled the quilt tighter around me. My hands and feet no longer felt numb and my face tingled from the heat of the fire, but my core was still cold. Why wasn’t he freezing wearing nothing but a pair of jeans?

Nikolas went to the cupboards and returned with a man’s flannel shirt and a towel. He didn’t say anything as he pushed the quilt off my shoulders and dressed me in the overlarge shirt. The sleeves swallowed my hands, and he smiled as he rolled the fabric up to my wrists. Then he secured the quilt around me again and moved behind me until I was sitting between his legs, facing the fire.

I closed my eyes when he began to gently dry my hair with the towel. Emotions crowded my chest as it finally hit me that he was here, that we were safe and together.

“When I saw the wyvern carry you away I thought I’d lost you,” he confessed hoarsely as he worked the towel through my hair. “And then I saw you lying in the snow.”

“How did you find me?” I asked in a choked voice.

“I killed the rest of the vampires and headed in the direction the wyvern went with you. I can cover a lot of ground on foot, but there are hundreds of square miles of forest out here, and he didn’t leave a trail. It was sheer luck that I found where he landed by the river. The broken branches and footprints in the snow told me what way you’d gone.”

I stared at the flames, trying not to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t found me when he did. “What about the others? Do you think they’re okay?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “Half the vampires went after you. Chris and the others would have been able to handle the rest. I’m sure Chris contacted Westhorne, and Tristan has half of the stronghold out there looking for us by now.”

I thought about Emma and the terror in her eyes when she’d asked me to not let the vampires take her again. “I promised Emma I would keep her safe, and I left her there.”

“You didn’t leave her; you were taken. Emma will understand.” He began to rub my scalp with the towel, and I sighed and leaned against him. A gust of wind shook the cabin, reminding me how remote and alone we were.

“Do you think we’ll be safe here?”

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about. If any vampires did survive and somehow manage to find us, they are not getting past the wyvern.” As if he’d heard us, Alex walked across the roof to let us know he was still there.

Nikolas tossed the towel on the floor. “How do you feel?”

I didn’t know if he was asking about my physical or emotional state, and I wasn’t sure how to answer for either of them. My body was warmer, but there was an emptiness inside of me that made my heart ache. My whole life my power had been a part of me, and I felt lost without it. “One of the vampires shot me with a dart and now I can’t use my power,” I said in a small voice.

His body tensed. “What do you mean? It’s gone?”

“It’s there but I can’t touch it or use it. What if...?”

He wrapped his arms around me. “We’ll contact Eldeorin when we get home. It’s obviously something that affects Fae magic, and he’ll know what to do.”

Hope flared in my chest. Nikolas was right. Eldeorin was old and a very powerful healer. If anyone could fix me, it was him. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

“For you, I’ll tolerate him.” He pressed a kiss beneath my ear, and my stomach did a flip as a different kind of heat filled my body. I was suddenly very aware of the warm male body pressed against mine and my state of undress beneath the quilt.

Nikolas released me and stood, leaving me in a state of nervous confusion. He checked the fire and added more wood then went to one of the beds. When his gaze came back to me, my stomach dipped wildly, and my eyes were drawn to the firelight playing across his hard stomach and the thin line of hair running down his navel to disappear under the waistline of his jeans. I swallowed dryly and forgot to breathe.

He lifted the mattress from the bed and laid it on the floor beside me. Opening the chest, he removed more blankets and a pillow. “It’s warmer over here,” he said as he quickly made up a bed on the floor. When he was done, he pulled up one corner of the blankets for me in silent invitation.

I stared at the narrow mattress and thought about the two of us sharing it, and my pulse fluttered wildly. My hands trembled as I dropped the quilt and slid into the makeshift bed. I watched quietly as he went to the door and peered outside. Then he locked it again and doused the lantern before he came back to sit on the floor beside me. Disappointment pricked my chest.

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked him.