I walked through the dim, stone-carved corridor, the low candlelight seeping through the sheer tulle sleeves of my sapphire-blue shirt.
My mind was stubbornly preoccupied with the sweet, crisp taste of the pears from dinner and the echo of Varg's wild, fierce laughter at the table. If the monsters residing deep within my soul truly existed, they were proving to be incredibly demanding creatures tonight—and at the absolute top of their list of cravings were succulent, juicy summer pears.
The exact kind of fruit that was utterly impossible to find in this desolate realm of endless snow and thick ice. But in a single, terrifying heartbeat, the axis of my world violently tilted.
A powerful, heavily calloused hand clamped over my mouth like a suffocating seal. Before a single cry could escape my throat, my back met the unforgiving cold of the stone wall, and a pair of deeply familiar eyes stared down at me through the shadows like a stark omen of doom.
Alpha Samuel.
