Page 186 of The Heart of Winter

I kept repeating it, over and over. Finally, I heard a faint, broken sound—a wheezing.

I was starting to piece it together.

Winter had been lying on one mattress—and another was on top of him. Near his head, the stones were smaller—that’s where I focused my efforts, digging frantically. But where his torso should have been…

A massive stone pinned him down.

It must have been cutting off his breathing, crushing him.

Within the next minute, I managed to clear all the rocks off the top mattress—except that one.

It stretched further into the cave. I had no idea how large it actually was.

"Winter, listen to me—can you hear me? I’m going to try to lift this rock, but you need to roll out from under it. Can you do that?"

A weak, barely audible sound came in response. A strangled ‘yes’.

When I removed all the smaller stones, I grabbed the edge of the mattress and peeled it back, finally revealing Winter’s head.

His hair was coated in dust, his cheek pressed against the fabric.

I reached out, touching him gently. He flinched, just barely.

His face was flushed. He was struggling to breathe.

"Winter, stay with me. I’m going to leverage this rock, when I do, roll toward me, okay? Do you understand?"

His eyes fluttered open, just slightly. He let out another faint noise of acknowledgment.

I shifted closer to the rock crushing his chest, slipping my fingers under its edge. I braced myself, calling on everything I had.

I heaved—

And the rock barely moved.

A wave of pure terror crashed over me.

Fuck, could I even do this? That rock had to weigh a ton. Was I strong enough?

I knew that if a full-blooded alpha were here, maybe that small difference in strength would be enough to make this possible. Alphas had the strength of gorillas, they could move weights close to a ton and a half.

But was my strength really the same as a typical alpha’s? After all, my nature was dual.

But I couldn’t let myself spiral into doubt now. I tried again, putting every ounce of strength into it. The rock didn’t budge. Fuck, it felt like I’d made even less progress than the first time.

Then I saw Winter move his head slightly. His bloodshot, hazy eyes turned to me. The dust had settled enough that we could finally see each other, though not clearly.

Our eyes met, and he must have seen it. The flicker of fear and doubt in mine.

His hand gripped my ankle, then let go, pointing a shaking finger toward the cave entrance.

I knew exactly what he was telling me: that I should go. I didn’t even need the gesture, after all, I could half-read his thoughts.

The deep rumble from within the volcano was getting louder. I knew it too, if the lava started flowing down the slopes, it would definitely reach this place. The canyon we were in was an extension of another long gully running down from the volcano’s side. Lava would naturally follow such a path.

"No. Don’t even think about it. I’m not leaving here, even if it means we die together," I said firmly.

But Winter squeezed my ankle again and pointed to the cave mouth once more. I ignored him. This man had crawled half the island to save me from the freezing face of the cliff! There was no freaking way I was leaving him here.

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