Page 160 of The Heart of Winter

A few minutes of effort.

A few minutes of stillness.

On and on.

Two hours passed, or so I thought.

And still…

Winter hadn’t come back.

What was going on?

He should have returned by now. Even though it was midday, it was freezing.

The sun was arctic, shining, but offering no warmth.

My anxiety kept growing. There were moments when I felt like I was losing consciousness from being overwhelmed with fear and worry. Hunger no longer bothered me so much; my body had switched into some strange mode where hunger had receded from the forefront of my awareness to the background, like a dull toothache.

I finally finished making the mush. This time, it turned out more like little rolls, or rather, something that couldn’t exactly be called a roll; more like a kind of mushy polenta. But Winter still wasn’t back. It was too strange, too suspicious.

I looked at my leg. On some strange impulse, I grabbed the cables that were supporting it and started untying them. I had to test what I suspected, what I had hoped for. I untied it, tossed the sticks aside, and slowly, using the wall for support, I managed to stand up. My head spun, and I didn’t know if it was from hunger or emotion, but I struggled to steady myself.

I tried to stand on that leg more firmly and, to my surprise, I didn’t feel any pain!

How could that be?

Had we been here eight or nine days? There was no way the leg could have healed that quickly for me not to feel any pain. So was my hunch true? Did theJoiningwith my True Mate heal me, like it was supposed to?

Shooing away my euphoric reaction to this idea wasn’t easy. But I had the feeling I shouldn’t dwell on it too much, as if every thought cost me precious calories.

I looked down the canyon. It bent slightly, and I couldn’t see the beach.

Muttering under my breath, I hesitated. Winter shouldn’t have gone to the water. I should have been the one there. Over the last few days, I had conserved my energy a bit more by staying in the cave, leaving me with a little more strength than him. He had spent hours in harsh conditions. Naturally, he was the one more exhausted.

I dressed and wrapped myself in my blankets. For the first time in a week, putting on shoes felt strange. I left the cave but hesitated, remembering the polenta. I knew I would need at least a bit of strength, so I ate half of it, left the other half on a small stone I took with me, and tucked the smallest bottle of mineral water into my jacket pocket. I headed out, following the stream toward the beach.

My heart raced. I wasn’t sure if it was from the effort or the emotions and fear. After a short while, behind the bend of the canyon, the beach came into view. Immediately, something caught my eye, and my heart clenched. It was Winter…

Oh my God, that sight broke my heart. Poor Winter…

He was curled up on the sand, soaking wet, with the seawater lapping at half of his body. Had he fallen into the water? Had a wave knocked him over?

I was almost in shock seeing him like this—realizing that lying in the water for even an hour, even just half his body submerged, almost certainly meant hypothermia.

Shaking with terror, I ran to him, praying he was still alive. As I reached him and bent over, I saw he was deathly pale, but I had the feeling he was still breathing.

Or maybe that was just hope?

Then it occurred to me that Winter couldn’t be dead, because if he were, I would be dead too. Yes, that conclusion might sound strange, like it belonged to a delirious, hallucinating mind suffering from exhaustion and hunger, but somehow the thought seemed convincing.

Why was my leg healed? It could only mean one thing: Winter and I were…True Mates.

My pulse sped up again. My mate, my treasure, my perfect, beautiful elf, alone here, left to the mercy of the elements. Tears ran down my cheeks, and my heart squeezed as I grabbed Winter under his arms and pulled him away from the water, immediately throwing off my blankets and wrapping him in them, setting aside his own drenched ones.

"Winter, Winter, open your eyes, please, wake up."

Cradling him in my arms, I begged him, but he didn’t respond. I realized I had to do something. This time I grabbed him by the shoulders. He felt so stiff and heavy. Was he always this heavy, or was I just weak? But I had the strength of an alpha, so it should’ve been easy. Still, the exhaustion was wearing me down, probably canceling out most of what my nature had given me. But it was enough to drag Winter to the stream’s mouth. He needed to warm up, but the water in the lower part was only lukewarm, so I had to pull him further in.

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