Chapter 1
Vesper's POV
The second the avalanche came down, I called my mate. Karl. Captain of the Pack Guard's First Squad.
He dug me out, carried me onto the helicopter, and told the pilot to take off before the second rescue team even got there.
He didn't know Delilah was buried in the same slide. The girl he'd never gotten over.
By the time they reached her, she'd been under the snow for three hours in twenty below.
Karl stood in the morgue all night.
He came back the next day and just gave me a small smile. "It wasn't your fault. You were carrying our pup. Of course you came first."
For a month after that, he was gentler than he'd ever been. He cleared his schedule to take me to every checkup. Cooked for me himself. Put the crib together, the dresser too. Every single thing in the nursery lined up exactly right.
I thought that avalanche had finally buried Delilah. That it had given him back to me.
Until the day I went into labor.
He sent every doctor and nurse out of the delivery room. There was a silver scalpel in his hand.
The moment he cut me open, I saw the red in his eyes.
Our pup was still crying, small and weak, and he never even looked. He threw us both into the incinerator.
"If it weren't for you, Delilah would still be alive. Your life for hers."
Then I opened my eyes, and I was back at the moment the avalanche hit.
Snow presses down on my chest. Every breath comes with a stab of pain.
My eyes snap open. There's nothing around me but dead white and the wind screaming across the slope.
My hand goes to my stomach before I can think about it. Through the thick snow gear I feel it. That small life, still moving, still there.
The heat of the incinerator is still on my skin. The hate hits so hard my chest closes up.
I'm buried shallow. It won't kill me right away, but I need to get myself out.
I work my phone out of my pocket. First name in my contacts is Karl. My mate.
His face in that delivery room flashes through my head. I don't hesitate. I call Pack Rescue Dispatch instead.
This time he can go save whoever he wants. It has nothing to do with me.
"Blacktooth Ridge, South Bowl, past the closure. Mid-size slide, people buried. I'm pregnant. Send somebody now."
I hang up and start clawing the snow off myself, handful by handful.
About half an hour later I finally punch through the snow above my head.
I drag myself out of the hole with everything I have left. Blood runs down my forehead into my eyes and everything goes blurry.
That's when rotors cut through the wind.
A black helicopter with the Pack Guard insignia sets down on the flat ground not far off. The door slides open and Karl comes out first, black tactical gear, moving fast.
He still carries himself the way he always has. His eyes sweep the slope.
I stay where I am and watch him.
He never once looks in my direction. He goes straight for a sheltered rock face less than fifty yards from me.
Someone's pushed the snow open from underneath. Delilah is sitting in it, holding her ankle, looking up at him with her eyes full of tears.
"Karl. You came. I was so scared."
"It's okay. I'm here." He pulls her into his arms, careful with her, his voice thick with guilt. "I'm sorry. I should've gotten here sooner."
I stand in the wind and watch the two of them hold onto each other, and I smile. Nothing warm in it.
His men come off the helicopter one after another and crowd in around Delilah, asking if she's okay, if she's cold.
"Delilah, that must've been terrifying." Buck, his Second, is quick with a thermal blanket.
When Buck turns his head, he finally notices me standing back there.
"Delta Karl. Over there. Vesper." Buck points at me. There's no surprise in his voice at all. Just a sneer he doesn't bother hiding.
Karl turns around. His eyes land on me.
He takes in the blood all over my face, the state of me, and his brows pull together. Something impatient flickers in his eyes.
