Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
I don’t watch where it goes, but I hear it land in the snow a few feet away.
Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!
My head snaps up with a gasp.
Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!
I surge from the ground and back onto my feet. Khalil and Thorin must hear it, too. They sprint past me and beat me to the tracker as we all race for it at the same time.
Their cleated boots help them navigate the extra feet of snow a little better, though they still struggle, losing precious seconds. They’re already digging by the time I reach the tracker.
None of us speak as I join them.
The only thing we can do is dig.
Khalil and Thorin dig for their brother. I dig for the man I love. One of the men I love.
It feels like forever before we see even a small part of him.
His glove.
He’s still holding onto that purple flower he picked for me as if he still wanted me to have it even through death. My smile is wobbly as I take it from him and tuck it into my hair.
We manage to find his head and get his face free, but Seth doesn’t take a breath. It’s eerily silent, his face wholly still as Thorin and Khalil keep digging.
I…I can’t.
I’m stuck staring at his frozen face. His beautiful, taunting, sweet face. Seth’s eyes are closed, but no matter how long I wait, they don’t open.
No, no, no.
I’m clutching the front of his coat and shaking him before Thor and Khalil can finish getting him free. I don’t realize they’ve dug him out completely until Khalil starts dragging me away. When I punch and scream at him, he simply locks his arms around me, holding me immobile as much as comforting me while Thorin rests his head on Seth’s.
No. Not resting.
His ear is hovering above Seth’s parted lips.
Thorin’s checking for breathing.
I don’t get a chance to delude myself into thinking that maybe Seth’s just unconscious before Thorin places both hands over Seth’s chest and starts compressions.
My heart hiccups inside my chest as I look on helplessly.
I feel as useless as I had when I watched Tyler go over the cliff. Had this been what the end felt like for him? Alone in a snowy grave, suffocating to death?
“Come on, Seth,” Khalil encourages when Thorin pauses the compressions to push air into Seth’s mouth.
“Please,” I whisper in turn. “Please, please, please.”
I lose sight of him for a second when my vision blurs, and then it clears again once I feel something hot and wet trailing down my cheeks. It happens again—like a dam that’s been broken. The salty liquid spills into my mouth and over my chin. I still don’t comprehend what’s happening until Khalil swipes his thumb over my cheek.
“Goldilocks…you’re crying.”
More tears fall, and I have no idea what to do with them. Unless they’re life-giving, they’re utterly useless to me now. Khalil nudges my head with his own to comfort me and let me know he’s here, and he has me. I clutch him harder as I turn to tuck my tear-stained face into his neck.
I can’t watch anymore.
Seconds later, I hear Thorin start compressions again.
I don’t know how many times he attempts to resuscitate Seth before Khalil murmurs, “Thorin.”
“No,” he gruffly snaps.
I peek over my shoulder as Thorin pauses pumping to give him two measured breaths again.
Seth’s chest still doesn’t rise.
Through my despair, an untimely question pierces my mind, and I wonder who Thorin is trying so hard to save? His frenemy turned unlikely ally or best friend? Seth or Zeke?
I haven’t met Zeke yet, but I highly doubt the alters are one and the same to Thorin and Khalil. Seth is as real to them as he is to Zeke.
He’s real to me, too.
I hear a cough, and it doesn’t register where it came from until I clock movement and see Seth rolling over toward Thorin.
Alive.
Seth’s alive.
A sharp sound of relief tears from my throat, and then I push away from Khalil and claw through the snow to get to him.
Thorin’s brows are turned down as he peers closely at his friend. Hearing me coming, his blue gaze snaps to me, and he holds out a scarred and callused hand.
“Aurelia…wait.”
Ignoring Thorin, I place a hand on Seth’s shoulder and turn him around to face me. The moment I see his handsome face and sad green eyes, I kiss his frozen lips. Seth stiffens, but I’m too overcome with gratitude that he’s not dead to care. I just want to hold him and let him feel how much I love him.
Seth curls his hands around my arms, and I wait for him to pull me into him and nuzzle and scent me like he always does.
Instead, he shoves me back.
I’m thrown off him and into the snow while Seth scrambles away from me.