The scream split the night, raw and primal, bouncing off the buildings until it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Victoria’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the twisted silhouette of the Christmas tree in the town square. This season had brought storm after storm, each one colder than the last, and now this. She knew immediately this was their doing—hers and the pack’s.
“What have we done? ” she thought, her gut twisting. Her alpha had meddled with forces beyond their understanding, desperate to save their failing resort. And now a figure stumbled into view near the tree, lurching like a wounded animal.
A young girl, screaming. “What’s going on? ” a human guest asked beside her, his face pale. Before Victoria could respond, the girl collapsed in the snow, face white as death.
Victoria knelt beside her. “Are you hurt? What happened? ”
“It’s Steph,” the girl whispered through chattering teeth.
“She’s frozen in the cave like ice, like a statue. ”
Victoria’s heart stopped. Police sirens wailed in the distance. She needed to keep this girl quiet at all costs.
“The lady in white,” the girl gasped, clutching Victoria’s coat. “She took her. ”
Victoria took a breath and turned to the man beside her. Time for damage control.
“Poor thing is having hallucinations,” she told him, pointing to the girl. He nodded immediately. Of course he did. Hallucinations sounded more plausible than the truth.
Victoria had to make sure no one believed a word coming out of that witness’s mouth. Not a single soul could suspect what she’d seen was real, or the pack was done for. Three years later, Jaime winced as her sister’s shrill voice screeched through the phone. She was tucked in the small back room behind the bar, the only place with a landline.
“Stella is so excited to see you, she even made you a present,” Becca ranted on. “What am I supposed to tell her? That her Grinch of an aunt prefers her drunken customers to her own niece? ”
“You can tell Stella I’ll visit on her birthday,” Jaime said.
“I work at a ski resort, Becca. Christmas is our busiest season. The tips basically fund my year. ”
On the TV beyond the door, a reporter stood in front of the resort.
“Tragedy struck Pinewoods Ski Resort three years ago when 24-year-old Stephanie Burke went missing. ”
Jaime’s stomach clenched as the broadcast cut to a clip of her younger self, mascara streaked and frantic. Why did they have to replay this particular clip on loop every year? “Well, here’s an idea,” Becca snapped.
“Get a job near your family. We have plenty of bars here, you know. Jamie, are you listening to me? You can’t hide at that resort forever.
”
“It’s peaceful and the mountains are stunning this time of year,” Jaime cut her off firmly. “I didn’t ask you to book me a room. I never said I could come. ”
Her mother’s voice rang in her ear next.
“Jaime, honey, is that you? ”
“Mom,” Jaime said weakly. “Didn’t realize you were there, too. ”
“Are you still taking your medication?
”
“Yep. ” Jaime kept her voice light. She wasn’t. They made her feel sleepy and even less like herself.
Three years of this crap and she was through. “I’ve got to run though,” Jaime said. “Big crowd waiting on their drinks. Love you.
”
She hung up before her mom could press further, pasted on a megawatt smile, and headed out to face her customers. The bar went quiet. On the TV behind her, her younger self was still pleading on repeat. A man sitting at the counter stared from the screen to Jaime, mouth gaping.
“Oh crap,” he exclaimed drunkenly. “It’s her. It’s crazy Jamie. ”
She hurriedly grabbed the TV remote and switched to MTV.
“Did you really see an ice lady freeze your friend? ” Dave asked. Jaime ignored him. Steph’s frozen face flashed before her eyes.
*Not real*, she told herself. The whole thing had been a hallucination caused by stress, the cold, and the altitude. Dr. Goldberg said her mind created the images as a result.
He was right. Still, in her mind, Steph’s dead eyes stared in frozen terror. Always. Edward raised an eyebrow as Victoria Grant swirled her wine across from him in the hotel’s lounge.
He had to admit she was just as beautiful as he remembered—all elegant lines and arctic beauty, much like the luxury resort she was meant to inherit one day. She wouldn’t, though, not if Edward could help it. He was here investigating Jonah’s disappearance, and he believed she had something to do with it. When he figured out what, she’d have no choice but to seed this entire land over to him.
“You have quite the reputation, Alpha,” Victoria said. “They say you’re completely disinterested in finding a mate. ”
“One must settle down eventually. ” The lie tasted bitter.
Something shifted in Victoria’s posture, like a predator adjusting its stance. “In that case,” she held his gaze, heat in her ice-blue eyes, “shall we just get to it tonight? ”
Edward’s lips curled into a smirk. “Straight to mating.
Isn’t that a touch premature? ”
Victoria’s smile turned indulgent. The room felt warm, the chandelier lights bright and hypnotic. Everything seemed softer somehow.
Pleasant. Edward found himself sharing her smile, though he wasn’t quite sure why. “You’re looking a bit flushed,” Victoria pursued. “Do I?
”
“It’s not like you to be bored, Edward. ” She leaned in close. “I think the reason you’re not mated isn’t because you’re picky. It’s because you’re boring.
No one wants to spend a lifetime being bored. ”
He closed his eyes. What was he saying? His tongue felt oddly heavy.
“That you’d like to take things upstairs,” Victoria said, her foot brushing his leg under the table. Edward frowned. He didn’t remember suggesting that at all. A hotel clerk appeared.
“Excuse me, Mr. Carver. Your assistant is on the phone. He says it’s urgent.
”
“Take it in my office,” Victoria offered, her smile oddly bright in Edward’s increasingly blurry vision. He thought it was a good idea. Like everything she’d been saying for the past ten minutes. In her office, he grabbed the receiver.
“What is it? ”
“Sir, I have the Richardson Pack’s new trade agreement,” Sam said. “They’re demanding an answer tonight. Sir, did you hear what I said?
”
“Aren’t we all looking for answers? ”
“Sir, are you feeling okay? You sound drunk. ”
“Well, I’m not.
Only had two glasses of wine with Viola. ”
“You mean Victoria? ”
“Pretty sure it was Viola. ”
Alarm crept into Sam’s voice.
“Where are you exactly? ”
“Her office. ”
“Look, Alpha, you need to get out of there now. I’m pretty sure you’ve been drugged.
Please, Alpha, run. Jump through a window if you have to. Just get out. ”
Something in Sam’s tone pierced the fog.
Edward needed pain. He grabbed an ornate letter opener from Victoria’s desk and drove it into his thigh. The sharp pain brought a moment of lucidity. Window.
Run. The glass exploded around him as he crashed through. Cold air hit him like a slap, snow cushioning his fall. He forced himself up, stumbling away from the hotel.
That’s when he saw it—a massive pine tree, twisted and ancient, its branches reaching out like grasping fingers. Something about it seemed wrong. Important. He took another step toward it.
And suddenly, the ground wasn’t there anymore. He landed hard in what seemed to be a tunnel. The air was stale, thick with mold and age. Water dripped somewhere in the darkness.
Then he saw her—a young girl standing in the shadows, unmoving. “Miss? ” His voice echoed oddly. She didn’t respond.
“Are you all right? ”
He reached for her shoulder. His fingers met something solid and impossibly cold. The surface was smooth, pristine, like glass.
The girl was made entirely of ice, her features frozen in an expression of peaceful surprise, as though she’d been caught mid-breath and crystallized. The resort twinkled with lights and garlands as far as the eye could see, but Jaime was feeling more Grinchy than merry as she hefted the trash bag into the dumpster. Right about now, her mom was double-checking their packing list for the Bahamas trip while Becca and Mark wrangled an overexcited Stella into bed. “Excuse me, miss.
”
Jaime whirled around. A paunchy, middle-aged man hurried toward her, waving what looked like a photograph. “I’m looking for my daughter,” he said breathlessly. “Have you seen her by any chance?
”
The photo showed a teenage girl with long dark hair smiling shyly at the camera. “Sorry, I don’t think so. ” She turned back to the bar, but a clammy hand clamped around her wrist. “Look, I know you were friends with that other girl, Stephanie Burke,” the man said.
“The one who went missing three years ago. Maybe my daughter is with her. If you could just tell me what you saw that night. ”
Unease prickled down Jaime’s spine.
“You’re a reporter,” she said as realization dawned. “What matters here is that another girl has disappeared from this resort,” the journalist insisted. “That makes three people in three years that we know of, all vanishing without a trace. ”
“Well, nobody asked you,” Jaime snapped.
“And Steph is fine. She sends me postcards. ”
Sure, those postcards never quite sounded like Steph, and they were always postmarked from places Steph swore she’d never visit. But everyone swore Steph was fine, and so she must be, right?
Suddenly the reporter was yanked backwards by his collar and went sprawling face-first into a nearby snowbank. “Fuck off! ” slurred a deep voice like whiskey poured over gravel. Jaime gaped at the man now standing between her and the sputtering reporter.
He was tall, unfairly tall, with dark hair curling over the collar of what was once a very nice suit. His eyes made her breath stutter—amber brown with flecks of gold, pupils so dilated they nearly swallowed the iris. “Thank you,” she ventured. He didn’t seem to hear her, transfixed by the twinkling lights strung along the bar’s roof.
He swayed alarmingly, and Jaime moved without thinking, ducking under his arm to steady him. “Who are you? ” His voice was deep and completely confused. “I work at the bar.
”
Meanwhile, the man squinted, reaching out to boop her nose with one elegant finger. “Oh,” he slurred, sounding pleased. “You’re not made of ice. ”
Jaime’s heart skipped.
Did she hear this correctly? But he was already stumbling away. She caught up to him, grabbing his arm. “Wait, please.
Did you see someone made of ice? Where? ”
“Your hair looks like fairy lights,” he declared. He was clearly not in his right mind.
She needed to book an appointment with Dr. Goldberg about this tomorrow. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re very small? ” the stranger asked.
“You’re like a pocket-sized person. ”
“Well, has anyone ever told you that you’re freakishly tall? ” she retorted lamely. Her eyes caught the dark stains on his thigh as they passed under the town square’s massive Christmas tree.
“Sir. You’re bleeding. ”
“Am I? ” The man looked down with mild interest.
“Don’t tell Sam. He gets twitchy. ”
Jaime pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn’t leave some tourist wandering around in this state and injured.
The man did just rescue her from a journalist. She owed him. “I live just around the corner,” she said, grabbing onto his arm. “I’ll take a look at that cut.
”
As they climbed the narrow stairs to her duplex apartment above the bar, Jaime found herself rambling. “I’m practically a doctor. Well, was going to be. Three years of med school counts for something, right?
”
She helped him out of his jacket, trying not to notice how well it fit across his very broad shoulders, and failing miserably. “It wasn’t really a disappearance,” she found herself saying, suddenly eager for the distraction. “She’d just been dumped that night. I made her come out to Spiders.
That’s the club up on the slopes, you know. She was crying, drinking too much. She ran out into the storm. I followed but lost her in the snow.
I remember finding this cave…” The memory hit her—that soft echoing humming, Steph’s face turning toward her, beautiful and terrible and frozen. “But none of that was real,” she said quickly, more to herself than him. “Post-traumatic stress or whatever my therapist called it. I made it all up.
”
She opened her eyes to find her guest staring at her. “A cave? ” he mumbled, eyes unfocused. “Poor kid’s probably still in there.
”
“There was humming,” the man said, sounding tired. “A sad song. ”
The first aid kit slipped from Jaime’s fingers. She didn’t mention the humming to him.
The melody flooded back, that haunting tune echoing off icy walls, drawing her deeper into the cave that night. Unconsciously, Jaime kneeled closer. But then the man declared, “Your place is very small,” and slouched deeper into her couch. Jaime rolled her eyes and went back to examining his leg.
But her determination quickly morphed into confusion because where the blood-soaked tear had been, there was only smooth skin. No cut, no scar. “It’s healed,” she breathed. The man chuckled, warm and low.
“Of course. I stabbed it at least an hour ago. ”
“Wait. You stabbed your own leg?
”
Their eyes met, and that was when it occurred to Jaime how close she and this stranger were. Christmas lights from outside cast shadows across his face, highlighting those ridiculous cheekbones. Against her will, her face went hot. “If you’re fine, then you should probably go,” she attempted, her throat feeling dry.
“Should I? ” His fingers brushed her jaw, feather light. Then he leaned to nuzzle her neck, and Jaime gasped. “Can I ask you something?
” he slurred, sounding very drunk. “Do you think I’m boring? ”
“Oh, definitely not. ”
His wrists slid against her skin in strange, deliberate patterns, and she didn’t entirely mind.
All right, she kind of liked it a lot. “There,” he said eventually, looking pleased with himself. “You’re safe now. ”
“Safe?
When was I ever in danger? ”
Her guest sank back into the couch, a soft, lazy grin unfurling across his handsome face. “Don’t fall asleep,” Jaime warned, noticing his eyes drifting closed. “Won’t,” he muttered, promptly doing just that.
Instead of shaking him awake, she pulled the knitted blanket from the back of the couch and spread it over him. Anyone wearing a Rolex surely wasn’t here to rob her. She might as well get some sleep herself. But she was only halfway to her bedroom when she heard it.
Soft humming from the couch. Terror struck, and she froze by the door. It was the same song—the exact same haunting tune that had led her through the darkness that night, searching for Steph. It must be a coincidence, she told herself, watching the man hum to himself in his sleep.
But the melody sent ice down her spine nonetheless, and the uncomfortable pit in her stomach didn’t leave Jaime by the time she settled in bed. Outside, the first fat flakes of snow began to fall, shining like stars against the inky night sky. She watched as he stumbled into her hollow beneath the ancient pines. His blood stained her snow.
The scent was different from the others—wild and sharp, like pine needles in winter wind. Not human at all. She gathered him in arms made of snowfall, gentle as first frost, and laid him down beneath the great tree in town. One last gift before she went.
She wrapped winter around him until he stirred, ensuring he’d wake before true cold claimed him. Then she became mist and shadow, but lingered. The cold was rising. Time to return to her quiet caves, to her silent friends who never leave.
Still, she watched him longer than she should, wondering why this one felt different. Why his frozen heart called to her own. Edward jolted awake on an unfamiliar couch, assaulted by the scent of cinnamon. Fragments of the previous night filtered back—Victoria Grant’s predatory smile, the phone call with Sam, launching himself through a window.
His head throbbed as an image surfaced. A girl made entirely of ice reaching for him with crystalline fingers. “Oh, good. You’re awake.
”
His attention snapped to a petite woman watching him from across the room with storm-grey eyes. “Who are you? ” he asked, rubbing his temples. “Jamie.
” She snapped, her scent spiking with indignation—spring rain and something citrusy. “I need a phone,” Edward declared. She blinked at him. “You need—excuse me?
”
“Phone,” he repeated, spotting a bedroom behind her. “Is it in there? ”
He walked past her, then paused as another whiff of that peculiar scent hit him. Spring rain, citrus, and human.
Entirely, unmistakably human. How had he not noticed immediately this girl wasn’t a shifter? And there was something else—something familiar, his own scent wrapped intimately around hers. A memory surfaced.
Her kneeling before him, concerned eyes meeting his, and Edward deciding she should carry his scent. He’d run his wrists over her skin, marking her. Edward nearly recoiled. He’d scent-marked an unwitting human woman.
“Where exactly are we? ” he asked, dreading the answer. “Are you even part of the local pack? ”
“The what?
” The girl blinked, uneasiness increasing sharply in Edward’s mind. “You brought me here, did you not? Surely you must know who I am. ”
The girl was now looking at him like Edward wasn’t entirely right in the head.
“And how the heck should I know? Are you some sort of celebrity or something? ”
This girl had no idea who he was. Meaning she probably didn’t even work for the Grants at all.
“Then why the heck have you brought me into your home? ” he exclaimed, appalled. “I’m asking myself the same thing,” the girl muttered. “Have you got no common sense?
What if I were a dangerous criminal? ”
“Are you? ” The girl argued, making him gape. “Look,” he said, rubbing his temples.
“I’m just trying to understand what I’m doing here exactly. ”
“Last night I was harassed by a journalist,” she explained. “Anyway, you helped me get rid of him, so it didn’t feel right leaving you after that, completely disoriented. You didn’t have to help me, but you did.
That was very kind of you. I just wanted to return the favor. ”
Edward blinked. No one had ever called him kind in his entire life because he wasn’t.
“I’m not kind,” he said, walking into her room to get to the phone. “And what you did was foolish. ”
After calling Owen, Edward moved to the window, where fresh snow drifted against the glass. The Grant’s Resort loomed above them, pristine and expensive.
“Jonah’s still missing,” he told Owen. “Victoria claims he’s on holidays, but that’s a load of crap. And there’s also the small matter of her drugging me. ”
“She drugged you?
” Owen’s growl reverberated through the phone. “Alpha, that’s cause for war. ”
“Let’s not be dramatic. I don’t think they meant to make me disappear.
Probably just to distract me. ”
“From what? ”
“That’s what I’d like to find out. ”
When he emerged from the bedroom, Jaime was standing frozen before the TV, coffee pot forgotten in her hands.
Her scent had turned sharp with anxiety. “Natalie Sawyer has last been seen two days ago,” the news anchor announced. “The Sawyer family had been staying at the local Pinewood Resort—the same resort from which two people have gone missing the last two years. ”
“A teenager has gone missing,” Jaime whispered, eyes fixed on the screen.
Edward’s attention was focused on the screen too. Because they were broadcasting the missing teen’s picture. And Edward had seen her before. In fact, he’d seen her last night, frozen in ice in a cave.
He was sure of it. Jaime couldn’t tear her eyes away from the screen. Natalie Sawyer smiled at the camera, dark hair in neat braids—alive, warm, unfrozen. The image flickered, and for a moment it was Steph’s face instead, with that goofy grin she always wore in photos.
Her hand trembled around Steph’s latest postcard from Miami. *Having a blast. Miss you. * The handwriting was neat, careful—nothing like Steph’s usual chaotic scrawl.
Jaime had been telling herself the difference didn’t mean anything. Just like she’d been telling herself that Jeff, the ski instructor who vanished last season, really did just take off without notice. There was no pattern. Her therapist had insisted.
Sometimes people just leave. But now a teenager was missing. The sound of loud banging on her door from downstairs snapped her attention. As she climbed down to the barfront, she recognized a familiar voice echoing through the door.
“I told you fools we should give Jaime a heads up. ”
Jaime froze. Is that her grandpa? “No way.
Becca’s voice replied. She would have told us not to come and you know it. ”
“Oh my god,” Jaime yelped internally. Her sister was here too.
She was supposed to be in the Bahamas. A pair of big grey eyes appeared behind the front window pane, widening in excitement. “Aunt Jamie! ”
Stella, her six-year-old niece, waved excitedly at her from outside.
Within moments, Jaime was face to face with the full Matthews family crisis response team assembled on her snow-dusted front porch. Her mother stood front and center, still wearing her vacation clothes. Behind her, Grandpa Joe leaned on his cane, grinning like a maniac. Rebecca, perfectly put together even in an emergency, had one manicured hand wrapped around Stella’s mitten fingers.
“Start caroling! ” Stella screeched before launching into an off-tune rendition of Jingle Bells. “What are you all doing here? ” Jaime asked, hurriedly ushering her family inside.
Grandpa Joe’s kiss landed warm on her cheek as he passed. “If you won’t come to the Bahamas, the Bahamas will come to you. ”
Her mother paused to squeeze her shoulder, and Jaime tried not to flinch at the familiar weight of concern in her touch. “We’ll be staying with you if that’s all right,” her mother asked.
Jaime guided them upstairs, her duplex suddenly feeling suffocating. Then Mark’s lawyer’s attention to detail caught the TV still flashing Natalie’s photo. “Is somebody missing? ” Her mother’s voice trembled.
Rebecca cut in before Jaime could reply. “Don’t tell me this is why you didn’t want to leave. Because of some random disappearance. ”
Jaime’s nails dug into her palms.
There it was. That familiar mix of concern and judgment in their eyes, like they were all waiting for her to snap. “Honey, I told you staying at this station wasn’t a good idea,” her mother said. “How can you get better when…”
“I am better!
” The words burst out sharper than intended. “Look, I didn’t decide to stay here because of the missing girl. This news just came up this morning. How could I have known?
”
Silence descended, heavy and awkward. Only Stella’s off-key humming broke it. That and the sudden damning sound of running water from the bathroom. “Aunt Jamie,” Stella piped up.
“Why is your shower on? ”
Jaime had completely forgotten about the man. Before she could formulate a response, Rebecca’s hawk-like gaze zeroed in on the Italian leather shoes by the couch. Her eyes widened.
“Do you have someone over? ”
“No, I don’t! ” Jaime’s voice rose an octave. “Then what is this?
” Grandpa Joe asked, waving a tailored jacket that probably cost more than Jaime’s monthly rent. Jaime snatched it back with a shriek. Her mother’s voice changed, taking on a breathless quality. “Baby,” she whispered.
“Do you have a boyfriend? ”
“Is that why you didn’t want to come on the family holiday? ” her mother insisted. “Because you wanted to spend the holidays with your new boyfriend?
”
The bathroom door opened with a rush of steam, and time seemed to slow down. A second later, her mystery guest stood in the doorway, dark hair tousled from the shower, water droplets trailing down abs that looked like they were carved from marble. His towel was slung so low on his hips it should be illegal. “Do you have any spare clothes?
” he asked casually, then blinked at her frozen family. “Hello,” he added, managing to sound both polite and amused. Jaime grabbed his arm, trying very hard not to notice the warm, damp skin under her fingers, and yanked him back into the bathroom. “No way that’s her boyfriend,” she heard Rebecca whisper to Mark as she closed the door.
“He’s way too hot for her. ”
Steam clouded the bathroom mirror as Edward braced his hands against the sink. Two confirmed disappearances on Grant territory: the teenager from last night, and Jonah. His wolf bristled at the thought.
The Grants’ silence on the matter spoke volumes. No alerts to neighboring packs, no requests for assistance. If the Grants weren’t asking for help, it was because they already knew what was happening. Victoria’s attempt to drug and compromise him made more sense in this light—a clumsy effort to force his pack off their land before he could dig deeper.
Then there was the matter of the cave. The girl in the ice had seemed so real. He needed to find that cave again, preferably while fully conscious. But first, he needed an excuse to stay.
The Grants wanted him gone by sundown. Jaime’s determined expression crumpled the moment the bathroom door closed behind them. Her eyes kept darting between his face and chest. “You wanted a word?
” Edward prompted. She awkwardly cleared her throat. “Yes, well… I have a request. Would you mind pretending to be my boyfriend?
For a bit. Just to get them off my back. A couple days at most. No, hours.
Half an hour. ” She backpedaled at his expression. “You just need to shake a few hands, lie about our first date, and then we’ll be out of here. ”
Edward opened his mouth to protest, but his thoughts caught up with him.
A relationship with a local would give him the cover he’d been looking for. The Grants couldn’t possibly object to him staying in town to court someone. And Jaime, being human and unconnected to pack politics, would seem perfectly innocent. “I’ll do it,” he said just as she started stammering apologies.
“Wait, what? ” She stared at him like he’d grown a second head. Actually, he’d go one step further. He wouldn’t just say he was dating her.
He’d claim she was his fated mate. That would justify his supposed urgency to stay near her. No wolf would ever think to question another’s fated mate bond. “Why would you do that?
” The girl’s throat bobbed nervously. “You know, we wouldn’t. I mean, nothing would happen for real, right? ”
Her obvious distress made him a little ashamed.
“To be honest, it would actually help me as well if…”
The door clicked open. “Jaime,” her sister called through. “Are you planning on hiding in here forever? ”
Edward grabbed her hand.
“Let’s go. ”
“What are you doing? ” Jaime yelped. “Get dressed!
You’re not meeting my family half-naked again. ”
“But my pants are torn,” Edward replied in what he felt was a very reasonable manner. Given the look she gave him, she didn’t seem to think so. The morning sun turned the fresh snow into a field of diamonds, dazzling against the cloudless sky.
Jaime sneaked a glance at Edward as they approached the chairlift station. Even in his borrowed boots and ruined designer suit, he moved with the ease of someone who’d never doubted his place in the world. She, on the other hand, looked like a walking marshmallow in her puffy lavender unicorn-patterned snow boots. “We should use this time to get to know each other,” she said firmly.
“Build our cover story. ”
The chairlift swayed gently as they ascended, but Edward remained silent, his dark eyes scanning the slopes with unsettling intensity. “What do you do for fun? ” Jaime asked.
“I must have taken this lift last night,” he mused. “Yes, that makes sense. Otherwise, my clothes would have been more damaged. ”
“Okay, next question.
How did we meet? ”
He shrugged, still distracted. “Do you know of any caves near the Grant Hotel? ”
The word *cave* sent ice through her veins.
She couldn’t think about caves. Couldn’t let herself wonder if Natalie was there, frozen like Steph. Not with her family watching her, waiting for her to crack. “Who asked who out?
” she blurted. “Never mind. I asked you. Obviously.
”
That finally earned his attention. “Obviously? ” He arched an eyebrow. The Grant Hotel emerged through the mist like a fairy tale—soaring stone towers and gleaming windows perched atop the mountain.
“What do you know about this place? ” Edward asked. “The hotel? Not much.
The Grants own the resort and everything else for miles. They’re like royalty around here. ”
“Is that so? ”
Jaime’s voice trailed off as she spotted a woman who looked like she stepped out of a fashion magazine.
“See that stunningly beautiful girl? That’s Victoria Grant. Oh my god, she’s coming over. ”
“Hello, Edward,” Victoria’s voice was honey over ice.
“Glad to see you in one piece. Where’d you run off to last night? ”
Edward’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. Victoria’s brows arched.
“Should I have the staff pack your things? ”
“That won’t be necessary,” he said, his voice suddenly commanding. His hand settled on Jaime’s lower back. “This is Jaime.
We met last night. ”
Victoria’s gaze sharpened, and she sniffed the air. Her ice-blue eyes widened. “Did you scent—?
”
“I did,” Edward cut her off with a brilliant, dangerous smile. “I’ve grown quite fond of Jaime. I knew from the moment we met that we’d share a deep connection. Almost like our souls connected.
”
Victoria’s face went chalk white. “You mean she’s your fated? ”
“That’s right. ” Edward’s arm tightened around Jaime’s waist.
“Jaime is mine. And I’m not leaving. ”
Victoria growled, a sound that raised the hairs on Jaime’s arms, then stormed off. Jaime, still frozen in Edward’s embrace, stared after her.
“Something is happening here she doesn’t understand. ”
“She didn’t buy it,” Edward muttered against her hair. “What? ”
“She didn’t buy it.
You and I. I need the Grants to believe it. ”
“Why? ”
His lips lowered to her ear.
“I’m investigating her and her father. ”
The words hit like ice water. “What? Her father?
”
Edward clapped a hand over her mouth. “Be discreet. ”
“Don’t talk to me like that. ” She slapped his hand away.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said. Jaime blinked. “Kiss me? ”
“Victoria isn’t stupid, and your nervous rambling isn’t helping.
”
“What if I don’t want you to kiss me? ” she challenged. “Then I wouldn’t force you. But don’t expect me to play along if…”
Jaime yanked him down by his scarf, crushing her mouth to his.
For a moment, it was overwhelming. He was so much larger than her, one hand spanning her waist while the other cradled her head. She felt delicate, safe, owned by the way he held her. There was a mechanical tint to it all, like Edward was doing what he was supposed to do and not what he actually wanted to do.
So she threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled. The sound he made—raw and completely spontaneous—shot straight through her. For just a moment, control seemed to slip in the way his lips parted, in the way his grip tightened. Then he pulled away, straightening his jacket.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” he said smoothly, avoiding her eyes. His voice was slightly rougher than before, and it didn’t escape Jaime’s notice. In the distance, Victoria watched them with golden eyes, which Jaime was certain had been blue a second ago.
