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SUNLIGHT PIERCED THROUGH THE shadows covering us, and I blinked my eyes open to wolves sleeping above us, and Reyfyre’s arm draped across my stomach. A flash of irritation swept through me, and I turned to tell him to get away, but Reyfyre in sleep was a sight to behold.
Especially this close.
I held my breath as I studied him.
Dark lashes fanned across his high cheekbones. None of the usual lines of aggravation framed his eyes or his mouth. And his brow was as smooth as a new blanket of snow. His lips carried a rose hue that made them seem petal soft in sleep. He embodied perfection.
I wanted to reach out and run my fingers over his supple lips and through his dark hair. This was the first time since he rescued me that I had the chance to truly study the man. I flushed with unwanted heat.
He is part wraith, my mind screamed, and my gaze darted back to the wolves above us.
I jabbed my elbow into Reyfyre, and his eyes snapped open.
That vibrant blue of his irises flashed at me and then he pulled his arm away. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he rolled onto his back. His gaze stopped on the wolf pack above and those irritation lines formed at the edges of his lips.
He was still handsome, but that moment of perfection was marred by his frown.
“Go,” he hissed and waved his hand at the wolves with some intricate pattern that shot waves of magic from his fingertips.
The wolves woke with a start and then bolted as if they caught whiff of another prey to hunt.
Reyfyre curled his fingers into a fist and sighed. “Since I’ve already damned us...” He waved his hand again and I found myself on my feet, and our packs were nowhere to be seen. Our feet were only clad in boots, and I stared at him as if he were insane until he nodded over my shoulder. I spun and stared at the strange machine that sat on the snow with our snowshoes and backpacks attached to a rack on the back. Two helmets rested on the seat.
“You stole this too?”
“Yes. And I’m not sending it back. The owner of the shop was an asshole. And we’re going to run this thing until it dies from lack of fuel.” He climbed up to the machine and handed me a helmet when I stepped next to him. He started the machine and muttered under his breath. “Which won’t be quite as far as I had hoped.”
He put his helmet on before I could tell him that karma was a bitch. I climbed on the machine behind him.
“Hang on tight.” He flipped his visor closed, and I had barely enough time to wrap my arms around his waist before we took off like a bullet. I caught sight of the wolves turning our way at the sound of the engine. I squeezed tighter, and Reyfyre opened up the throttle, speeding us away and out of range for a possible attack.
The flat snow-covered land sped by, and I clung to Reyfyre as he navigated the landscape. We crossed what would have taken days on foot in a matter of hours. The whiteness before us transitioned as the sun crawled across the sky and a sparsely populated forest came into view. As we neared it, the engine began to sputter.
The snow machine slowed to a crawl, and Reyfyre turned it away from the direction we were heading. As soon as he completed the turn, the machine stopped and coughed its last breath.
I eased up my hold on Reyfyre, and he sucked in a full breath, as if my grasp had kept him from drawing any significant amount of air.
I peeled off my helmet and muttered an apology for holding on so tight.
His smirk was enough. He hung his helmet on the handlebars, slid off the machine, and untangled our packs and snowshoes from the rack behind me.
I added my helmet to the other handlebar and then swung my aching leg over the seat just as Reyfyre threw my snowshoes on the ground near the side of the machine.
“How much time did that save us?” I asked as I clipped on the shoes.
Reyfyre glanced behind us as he snapped his backpack straps in place. “I think that may have saved us something like ten to fifteen days and more importantly, this means the food we have stored will get us to the marina.” He turned the key and read the readings flashing on the screen. “We went a hundred and fifty miles before we ran out of gas, and we’ve been averaging ten to fifteen miles on foot each day.”
“So, we just cut the trip by half?”
He laughed as he held out my backpack. “Not quite that much, but it still was a chunk of time.”
I studied the machine. “And it cannot be used further?”
“Not without gas, and I’m not inclined to use magic again. Plus, if it has any sort of tracker, I’d rather leave it out here on the tundra. If we’re lucky, our tracks will be covered by the wind within a matter of minutes and maybe some fresh snow will fall to further muddle where we headed by the time they find this.” He stared at the tracks cutting through the snow behind us. The wind had already wiped some of the evidence out.
“Did you want to take the helmets?” I busied my hands with clasping my backpack in place. The weight settled on me like an old friend.
“No. I don’t want anything of theirs to be tracked to us.” Reyfyre turned toward the wood line and started in that direction.
I followed, hoping we did run across another snow machine. I liked the idea of being able to cut the time down like we had. And I’d never admit it to Reyfyre, but I really liked having my arms around him like that. Even though I was holding on for dear life at first, I did like being flush against him and feeling the thunder of our hearts beating together.
I shook the thought out of my head as the woods swallowed us and my nerves jumped on edge, waiting for the next challenge to our journey to present itself.