Snowbound Snuggles Read online

  The minx remained in bed, fast asleep. Later, I’d join her for a cup of coffee. Or tea. Depending on what I uncovered in the kitchen.

  I grabbed the towel hanging over the railing when Cacey stepped into the bathroom. She stood there, staring at me, wrapped in a bed sheet. Her hair resembled a porcupine’s while her gaze traveled down my body. Well, someone was up for another round, and I wholeheartedly agreed. I dried myself off in a hurry.

  “Morning.”

  “What happened last night?” Sleep clung to her raspy voice.

  I lowered the towel from my hair. “Would you like me to show you?”

  Her focus lowered for a moment. “It was that stupid hot chocolate. I never behave that way. Henri said it would relax me, but . . . ” She ran a hand through her tangled hair, reminding me of how I held on to her strawberry-blonde locks while taking her from behind, as per her instructions. I loved every second of claiming Cacey.

  “My head aches.” Her voice was a whisper. “We need to forget last night.”

  The hurt from her words was a knife to my chest, reminding me of Laila’s rejection, a disappointment that she didn’t reciprocate my feelings. I sighed and swallowed past the dryness in my throat. “I won’t forget you, or the five times I made you orgasm.”

  Her cheeks deepened a shade of red. “Stop talking and get dressed.” She huffed and vanished into her bedroom across the hall.

  Well, at least she hadn’t chased me from the house yet, but after our sex marathon, I wasn’t sure I could walk away from her now. But something deeper pulled me to her . . . she had innocence about her, yet she carried a fierceness when it came to protecting her daughter. It reminded me of my parents, my alpha and his loyalty to protecting all wulfkin. There was no selfishness there, just pure devotion.

  I quickly dressed in my wrinkled jeans and shirt.

  Cacey reappeared, wearing black leggings and a white blouse with a frilly collar. Despite her hair patted flat, the wild curls around her shoulders were rebelling. “The worst of the weather is over, and I’m heading out.” Her intense undertone told me to go, but her lingering stare betrayed her.

  “Thanks for taking me in during the storm. And sorry we never tracked down the fox, but I’m sure he’ll come out eventually.”

  She shrugged. “I’ll leave some food and water out for him. Then I’m grabbing Tianna’s skis from the basement, and I’m leaving.”

  Her defenses were back up. She’d probably thought her ex was her mate and look how that turned out, so I understood her reaction of getting away from me fast. “Need help?”

  “Nah. All good.”

  A response tacked to the front of my mind about leaving. “I’ll be in Susi for a couple of weeks.” I cringed on the inside at how desperate I sounded. Pull your fuckin’ shit together.

  She disappeared into the corridor, unable to leave my side quick enough. Well, if that wasn’t rejection at its finest. Fuck. The early cheer now sat like a brick in my gut, weighing me down. Maybe she needed time to get her head together. My wolf demanded she was ours. Something I’d only ever heard other wulfkin talk about but never experienced myself, until now.

  The night’s warmth had now morphed into an iceberg. I’d give her space, and maybe soon she’d realize I hadn’t meant her any harm. Hopefully by the time she understood this, I wasn’t back in Hungary.

  First Laila and now Cacey. Her pushing me away hurt worse, and I’d only known her for a night. My wolf had never reacted so forcefully to anyone else.

  But in the long run, I had to return to Hungary. I’d worked too damn hard to secure my second-in-command position and trained to the point of exhaustion. Marcin was more than my alpha. He was the closest thing to a brother I had. Then why did the notion of pushing Cacey away claw at my chest?

  My wolf rumbled through me. You can protest all day. A Varlac isn’t her type. She said so herself.

  Slouched on the edge of the bathtub, I was pulling on my socks when a yelp ricocheted from somewhere in the house.

  I catapulted into the hallway where a white blur nudged open the basement door, sending it into a wide swing. I chased the fox downstairs. While I’d lost sight of the fur ball, the dread of Cacey injured tightened around my neck.

  The earlier reek of mustiness deepened at the bottom of the darkened basement.

  “Cacey?” I choked on the truckload of odors that crashed into me—mold and pungent smells.

  Shuffling sounds came from my left. I jerked in that direction. The darkness remained impenetrable. My nerves prickled.

  “Are you here?” My strained words floated through the dark. I harnessed my wolf’s sight, and like an electric charge jolting through me, my eyes shifted. Shades of dark gray and black outlines surrounded me. Stacked chairs, a huge table, boxes, skis against the wall, and even a sleigh on its side.

  A muffled moan came, followed by a gurgle from farther in the corner.

  It was as if an invisible fist knocked the wind out of my lungs. “Cacey?” If anything happened to her . . . My hands curled into knots.

  I sniffed Cacey’s honeyed scent, along with something else—a wolf smell. Faint but present. I silenced my breathing and listened.

  A rapid intake of air, then another too soon after that. Two wulfkin shared the room with me. Cacey’s fears about Daan coming for her and Tianna sent a chill through my bones.

  “One more step, and she’s dead.” A gruff male voice echoed from the back corner.

  I spun about and spotted two figures. A bulky wulfkin towering over Cacey, his arm wrapped around her throat. Too dark to see his features, but none of that mattered. If he hurt Cacey, the fuckhead would choke on his own blood once I got my hands on him.

  “Be a good mutt and fuck off. You’ve had your fun with Cacey, but she’s not your property.”

  A raging blaze burned within my veins, and the more I stared at his hulking figure, the more I shook with urgency to plow his head into the wall. “Big mistake. Do you know who I am?”

  “A fuckin’ lucky bastard if you leave now.”

  My fake laughter filled the silence, while my wolf chewed on my insides for release and to teach this intruder a lesson. “I’m the second-in-command to the Varlac alpha, and you’ve just gained yourself a spot on our hit list. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of how vicious we can be, or how we never stop hunting until we catch our prey.”

  Stillness and only the sound of hitched breaths resonated from the corner of the basement.

  “This ends one way.” I stepped closer. “Release Cacey, or I will rip you apart.”

  When the coppery tang of blood reached me, adrenaline shot through my veins like a piercing arrow, and the threads of hope that Cacey would be okay were slipping away. My wolf rushed out. I tore my clothes off and transformed, hair snapping across my body, and a howl burst free. Negotiations end now.

  With the force of a train, I lunged forward at the wulfkin and Cacey.

  A sharp nick of a blade sliced across my cheek. I ducked low and attacked. I tore into the intruder’s leg from the side, flesh and bone. Blood coated my tongue.

  His yells filled my ears.

  Cacey didn’t move out of the way, only made muffled sounds.

  A whack to the back of my head had my legs wobbling. I stood my ground even as confusion gripped me and the world spun. My bite loosened, and I stumbled backward. The intruder kicked his foot into the side of my face. I felt as if my skull split in half, my vision bounced.

  Shithead.

  Cacey’s desperate cry tugged at my heart. Despite my head and body aching, my lungs gasping for breath, I’d fight to the end before leaving Cacey at the mercy of this slime.

  “I warned you.” Dickhead’s raspy voice floated around me like a swarm of wasps. “Leave. After the count of three, she dies.”

  Shudders swept through me. Keep it together. Still, the knock to the head had made me stumble sideways. My legs faltered beneath me, trembling, threatening to give out. I couldn’t le
t him win. Couldn’t let him hurt her.

  “One.” Footsteps echoed from ahead, and I stared upward at the dark figures approaching, Cacey in front of the gutless ass who held her as a shield across his front.

  Bastard was going down. How dare he touch her. I embraced the pumping adrenaline. Suck it up and beat the asshole at his own game.

  “Two.”

  They were standing near the table. Now was my chance because living with regret wasn’t my thing and no way was this wulfkin leaving the house with Cacey.

  “Three. Time’s up, fuckhead.”

  I retreated and leapt onto the table. Then in a thunderous launch, I catapulted myself into the wulfkin’s side, driving him into a wall, praying he released Cacey.

  With claws piercing his back and shoulder, my mouth wrapped around his neck, teeth piercing flesh. My weight dragged us both backward.

  His gargled sounds gave me the satisfaction I craved. But when Cacey’s screams started, my world shattered.

  Chapter Nine

  CACEY

  I drove my elbow into the intruder’s gut, and his arm around my neck loosened. The wulfkin had attacked me the moment I stepped down into the basement, hitting me in the head with a piece of wood. Tianna wasn’t safe, because whoever this wulfkin was, he had to be working for Daan. I’d been wrong to believe it was Vincent. I trembled with the urgency to escape. My breaths were coming too fast, every sound pounded in my skull. The house wasn’t safe. Susi wasn’t safe. Tianna . . . my throat choked, and a desperate adrenaline kicked in to fight, kick, and do whatever it took to rescue my daughter.

  Vincent’s weight hauled the wulfkin backward, but not before the intruder’s blade ripped across my collarbone. I screamed and stumbled out of his slackened grasp. Behind me, a scuffle, the coppery stench of blood, and growls. Vincent and the wulfkin exploded into a knitted tornado of shadows and snarls.

  I scrambled away and tugged on the light rope near the steps. The sudden boom of yellow light blinded me at first.

  Vincent, in his silvery wolf form, stood atop the wulfkin’s chest, snarling in his face. I hadn’t recognized the lowlife at first, but now that I laid eyes on Mark and his hooked nose, the truth crashed into me. He was Daan’s sidekick, and the world crumbled in around me. This was real. The letter from yesterday was Daan’s sick way of telling me to run because he enjoyed hunting me down. Once a jerk, always a jerk. But the bigger problem was Daan targeting Tianna.

  At first I stood there, a dark void consuming everything within me.

  Vincent morphed into his human form, his hands clasped around the wulfkin’s neck. “What are you doing here? Who are you?” His voice punched through the silence of the basement, sharp and hostile as he stared down the intruder.

  Blood trickled over my fingers from the deep cut. It didn’t matter. I rushed toward the pair and laid a kick into Mark’s ribs. “How’d you find me? Where’s Daan?”

  The wulfkin gave an awkward, half smirk, then nodded in the way he always used to back in Denmark after knowing that Daan had raised a hand to me. The kind of look that said I deserved it.

  My body shuddered, and I threw another kick into his side.

  “Want me to finish him?” Vincent’s comment jarred my attention in his direction.

  I fastened my sights on Mark, gasping for air. “Is Daan here for Tianna?” I should have gone to Anja’s last night, should have braved the storm, should have ignored Vincent. Now, ice filled my veins.

  Vincent smashed a fist into the wulfkin’s face, busting open his lip. “Answer her.”

  “Daan has the kid and a message for you.” His response sliced my heart into a billion pieces. I froze, hanging on for his next words. “Don’t go near him or the kid gets it.”

  Fear pushed against me, locking my stomach tight. For those few seconds, my life ticked like a time bomb. Helpless and terrified. Daan has Tianna. A shudder rattled through me. Tears prickled my eyes, and I spun around, running toward the stairs. I had to save her.

  A strong hand banded around my wrist, stopping me mid-step. “Wait for me.”

  I turned to Vincent, my limbs shaking and tears blurring my vision. “Tianna . . . ”

  “Give me two seconds to tie up this guy; then we go together. Trust me, Cacey. I’m on your team, and you need bandaging.”

  The kindness and concern in his eyes buffered my nerves. “I’m fine.” Despite blood trickling from my wound, time wasn’t on my side. “Every second is precious! Tianna’s life is at stake.” I wrenched free from Vincent’s grip and dashed upstairs. Outside, a knee-high wall of snow blocked the exit. With the sun not rising until eleven thirty in Susi, I was doing this in the dark. But I didn’t care. I had to get to my daughter. Now.

  I undressed. The wintery frost snapped around me, but my wolf poured through, freeing herself. Limbs stretched, and my spine elongated. The change increased the effects of the knife gash. It stung like a branding iron to my flesh. I collapsed on all fours. Golden fur coated me, sealing out the icy conditions, and encasing me in warmth.

  Tianna.

  With determination to fight death itself, I leapt over the snow barricade. The powdery stuff along the front veranda swallowed my paws.

  Tianna, I’m coming.

  I pounced into the woods, faster with each leap over trees downed from the storm. My heart beat fast beneath my ribs. My chest hollowed out. Please be all right. Please.

  The distinct scent of wild muskiness rushed up behind me on the wind. Vincent, who stood half a foot taller than me, sprinted in rhythm. We picked up speed, zipping from one tree to the next.

  Just knowing a powerful Varlac stood by my side injected me with a new surge of energy.

  Forest debris and snow were tossed beneath my paws. Quick breaths escalated even faster as the forest became a blur on either side of me. Adrenaline propelled me into a race against time. My mind went numb. Tianna, I’m coming.

  Up ahead, a wolf broke cover from the dense woods and halted in our path. When I caught a glimpse of white ears, I knew it could only be one wulfkin—Anja.

  My heart slammed into my ribcage. I shoved my wolf back as I ran toward her, shifting into my human form. She transformed too.

  One strangled word poured from my mouth. “Tianna?”

  Anja’s eyes were frozen, robbed of their usual merriment. Pale cheeks, glistened eyes, trembling lips said it all.

  My knees hit the snow as my world dissolved. If I lost Tianna, I’d die. My shoulders sagged. I gasped for breath. “No, please, no.”

  Tears covered my cheeks. Darkness gathered into my mind, blackening my thoughts. I should’ve come for her as soon as I saw the note. Why hadn’t I? I could’ve borrowed winter coats for her and me from Anja. Questions jumbled in my mind, each one slicing through me.

  Vincent was there, a hand around my waist, lifting me to my feet, but I could barely feel his touch.

  “Where is she?” Vincent asked Anja what I couldn’t. My focus was the rawness beneath his words. Anja’s hiccupped breaths. Eight months we’d lived in Susi. Tianna fit into the pack family. I adored my job, our easy life, and the friendliness. How had Daan tracked us?

  My body shook as I stared at the sharp indents of our footsteps in the surrounding snow. The drum of my heart pounded in my ears, and something cut into my hands. My fingernails had dug into my palms, drawing blood.

  Anja wiped her red eyes. “Sh-she went missing this morning. My girls came for breakfast while Tianna slept in, but when I went to check on her, she wasn’t there. The window was open. Why would she run away?” Hugging herself, she sharply drew in her next inhale. Her words were a train, linked to one another, shooting past at lightning speed. “I was searching the forest and making my way to you since the phones aren’t working. So sorry, Cacey. We’ll find her. Kids, they take off sometimes when they’re scared.”

  My insides twisted into a warped knot of thorny vines, scraping me raw. “She didn’t run away. Daan took her.” And my body folded over, last ni
ght’s meal resurfacing. I stumbled away from the pair as everything came flooding out. Why didn’t I follow my instincts last night? “It’s my fault.”

  “Who’s Daan?” she asked.

  “It’s her ex. She’s been hiding from him.” Vincent was near me in an instant, holding my hair, his hand rubbing my back. But I felt like a ghost, like nothing around me was real.

  Anja gasped and sniffled, wiping her eyes. “Shit, Cacey. We’ll find her. I promise.”

  “Daan will pay.” With Vincent's attention back on Anja, he said, “Take me to your house. I’ll find tracks. A scent.”

  “It’s good to have you home, Vin.” Anja’s words quivered.

  Vincent offered me a strained smile, something I doubted I’d ever be able to do again.

  I brushed past them both and threw myself into wolf form, sprinting for Anja’s house. Maybe Vincent was right, and I’d find a clue. And when I got hold of Daan, I would make good on my promise to rip out his spine.

  Chapter Ten

  VINCENT

  My wolf flooded through me, fur spreading across my body. I hurtled after Cacey on all fours with Anja behind us. The crispness of winter and pine trees soured the back of my throat. Daan—a dead wulfkin walking. Cacey’s tears were shards of my soul, and that only drove me faster.

  As a Varlac, I accepted my vow to protect wulfkin. In my short time with Cacey, I’d seen her caring nature and how she strove to save her daughter. Not to mention, she had nurtured my mom back to health. Everything about her drew me closer. So shit, yeah, this was personal. I wouldn’t let anyone harm her or Tianna. Plus, this was my hometown, and it meant the world to me that every wulfkin who lived there felt safe.

  I jumped over a dead log. Cacey’s golden fur glinted beneath the low moon, her form fleeting amid the trees. We emerged into a clearing where we found a two-story cabin. The lights from the windows gleamed like a dozen lighthouses guiding lost ships.