The Frozen Trail

The mountain air outside The Iron Den had dropped well below freezing, turning the thick evening fog into jagged, crystalline shards of frost that bit into my exposed skin.

Maximo walked ahead, his large, commanding frame radiating heat as he protectively guided a trembling, sobbing Agatha toward the sleek black SUV.

I followed silently behind them like a ghost, a forgotten shadow in my own husband's territory.

Maximo opened the rear door, carefully helping Agatha slide onto the heated leather seats. But before he could turn around to address me, Agatha let out a tiny, dramatic gasp, clutching her chest as she shrank back into the vehicle.

"Oh, Maximo," Agatha whimpered, her voice cracking with calculated, fragile terror as she looked out at the spacious backseat. "I... I'm so sorry, but my chest feels so incredibly tight. After what those awful rogues did to me, I feel so claustrophobic.

The car... it feels so small, so incredibly crowded. If there are too many people in here with me, I feel like I won't be able to breathe at all."

Maximo frowned, his brow furrowing with immediate concern as he leaned into the vehicle. "Agatha, it’s just me and Lucia. You’re safe now."

"I know, I know," she sobbed softly, burying her face in her manicured hands, though her eyes peeked through her fingers to look directly at me.

"But Lucia... she has such a strong, heavy scent of resentment on her right now. It’s making my wolf panic. Please, Maximo... could Lucia just wait for the secondary pack guards to bring another car? Or... or maybe she can walk ahead to the lower border checkpoint? It’s not that far, and she is so much stronger and more resilient than I am. I just need some space to breathe, or I’m going to faint."

A cold spike of disbelief struck my chest. Not that far? The lower border checkpoint was miles away through an uncharted, predator-infested mountain trail in the dead of winter.

I looked at Maximo, waiting for him to shut down her ridiculous, cruel suggestion. He was the Supreme Alpha. He knew exactly how dangerous these mountains were at night.

But as Maximo turned his head to look at me, his obsidian eyes were entirely devoid of warmth. Over his broad shoulder, I caught the split-second flash of a triumphant, vicious smirk on Agatha’s face.

Remember your mother, her silent threat echoed in my mind.

"Agatha is right, Lucia," Maximo stated coldly, his deep baritone cutting through the freezing air like a physical blade.

"You have a warrior's stamina, and your wolf can handle the cold. Agatha has just suffered a severe emotional trauma. Close the door and wait for the secondary guard vehicle, or start walking toward the southern ridge trail. I expect you back at the packhouse before midnight."

Before I could even open my mouth to speak, Maximo slammed the heavy SUV door shut. He climbed into the driver's seat, started the powerful engine, and tires kicked up wet gravel as the vehicle sped away into the dark forest, leaving me entirely alone in the pitch-black night.

I stood frozen in the middle of the road, staring at the disappearing red taillights until they were completely swallowed by the thick mountain fog. The secondary guard vehicle wasn't coming; I knew my stepsister’s games too well. Agatha would call the pack house the moment they got out of range and invent a lie to make sure no other cars were dispatched for me.

I was entirely on my own.

I pulled my thin, cheap cotton coat tighter around my shivering frame, tucked my chin into my collar, and began the agonizing walk down the rocky mountain trail. Within the first hour, the wind began to howl through the ancient pines, a brutal, roaring beast that swept down from the peaks and cut straight through my clothes like needles of ice. My breath came out in heavy, ragged white plumes.

Two hours passed. Then three.

My toes had gone completely numb inside my thin boots, and every single step felt like walking on shattered glass. My hands, already laced with faint, sensitive burn scars from the fire five years ago, throbbed with a blinding, agonizing heat from the sheer intensity of the frostbite.

I stumbled over a jagged tree root, collapsing heavily onto the frozen mud and snow.

I lay there for a long moment, my forehead resting against the ice, tears of absolute exhaustion and heartbreak freezing instantly against my eyelashes. It was so deeply unfair. Five years ago, I had walked through an actual wall of roaring flames, burning my own skin to the bone to drag Maximo to safety.

I had carried his heavy, unconscious body for miles through the dark to save his life. And now, that very same man had willingly left me to freeze to death on a mountain, all to comfort the lying monster who had stolen my bravery.

You cannot die here, Lucia, a fierce, quiet voice whispered deep within my soul. If you freeze to death tonight, Victoria will cut off your mother's medicine. You have to get up.

Using every single ounce of raw willpower left in my shivering body, I pushed myself up from the frozen ground. My knees shook violently, and my vision swam with dark spots, but I forced my frozen feet to keep moving, one agonizing step after another, deeper into the dark, punishing winter night.

By the time the sprawling stone fortress of the Brook packhouse finally appeared through the trees, it was long past midnight. My lips were a pale shade of blue, my skin was translucent with frost, and my entire body was trembling so violently I could barely stand.

I dragged myself up the sweeping concrete steps of the grand entrance, my frozen fingers fumbling weakly with the brass door handle. To my shock, the door wasn't locked. I pushed it open and stumbled into the warm, brilliantly lit black marble foyer.

"Where the hell have you been, Lucia?"

A sharp, furious voice boomed through the quiet house. I looked up through my blurry, unfocused vision to see Maximo standing at the top of the grand spiral staircase, his arms folded tightly across his chest, his dark eyes flashing with a dangerous amber tint.

"I told you I expected you back before midnight," Maximo snarled, descending the stairs with predatory, angry steps.

"The guard vehicle reported that they couldn't find you at the bar. Do you have any idea how irresponsible it is to wander off into rogue territory just to make a point? You are the Luna of this pack now, and your childish jealousy of Agatha’s safety is—"

Maximo stopped dead in his tracks.

He had finally reached the bottom of the stairs, stepping into the bright light of the chandelier, and his furious words died instantly in his throat. His dark eyes widened in sudden, absolute shock as he looked at my shivering form. He saw my blue, trembling lips, the thick layer of white frost coating my hair and eyelashes, and my raw, bleeding hands clutching my coat.

For the first time since I had met him, Alpha Maximo Brook looked completely paralyzed with horror.