❄️ She's too cold.
Nova's lips were blue. Her skin pale and lifeless in Jax's arms, her chest barely rising beneath the soaked training suit clinging to her like ice.
If they didn't move now, she wouldn't make it.
Fin mindlinked.
Fin: We need a hot spring. She's going into shock.
Jax didn't look up. Just held her tighter.
Finric stepped toward him, shifting back into human form, steam curling off his bare skin as the cold hit him like a slap. But he'd stayed in wolf form the entire time he was in the water and worked up a sweat in that fight. His core temperature was holding. He could run. He could make it.
He reached down to take her.
Jax didn't let go.
"She'll die if you don't let go."
"I can run—"
"You're shaking."
Jax's jaw clenched. His entire body trembled, blood seeping from another silver wound in his thigh. His muscles were locking from the cold.
Finric's voice dropped to a growl. "That's an order, Gamma. Shift."
For a long, tense second, Jax didn't move.
Then—with a curse under his breath—he nodded, teeth bared, and shifted into wolf form. Massive. Black. He took off like a shadow over snow, heading west where the earth steamed from deep rock springs.
Finric looked down.
Nova's body was trembling in his arms.
Her wet training suit had frozen to her skin. Her hair was brittle with frost.
Too slow. Too damn slow.
He moved swiftly to a nearby tree, one marked with the symbol of the moon — the hidden emergency cache nestled among its roots. Pulling it open, he grabbed the spare training suit and a cloak inside. There wasn't much. He tugged on the bottom part of a training suit so he could run with her and grabbed the cloak for her.
No time. No shame. He didn't hesitate and unzipped the back of her training suit. Revealing the dark fabric of a sports bra beneath, still soaked and freezing.
He decided to leave the sports bra on her. They should have enough skin-to-skin contact. When his fingers grazed her skin, he felt jolts of electricity course through his body. It took him a second to calibrate. Was the mate bond that strong the first time he touched her on the cheek months ago? His wolf howled inside of him.
He wanted to hold her forever. This felt so right… yet so wrong. He was almost shocked with how frail she was. She was skin and bone and ice.
Without thinking, Fin pulled her closer against his chest — her skin on his. Her cheek pressed to his collarbone and sparks exploded at that spot along with everywhere else.
His wolf whimpered in his mind.
Xeon: She is dying. Something dark is inside of her spreading.
Finric didn't have time to dwell on what his wolf was trying to tell him. He wrapped the cloak around her, tucking it up to cover her head, shielding her from the wind. Then he whispered something soft for no one to hear.
And ran.
Faster than alpha speed. Faster than anything living should move on two legs.
Through snow and fog and ice-bright trees, his breath coming ragged, muscles burning. Because his mate was dying in his arms.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The steam rose like breath from the gods.
Jax stepped into the hot spring first, his wolf form lowering slowly, carefully, into the water. His body trembled as the heat soaked into his frozen fur. He didn't shift back immediately — couldn't. That alone confirmed Fin was right. He wouldn't have been able to carry her.
It was cold enough to paralyze a shifter. Negative degrees, at least.
The river hadn't frozen yet, but it would. Hours. Maybe less.
It took Jax another minute before he could shift back — skin pale, lip split, thigh wound still red. He looked up to see Fin running, holding Nova against his chest.
"I need your help." Fin said under his breath. He was shaking now and felt his hands and feet turning numb.
Jax nodded, jaw clenched. He moved quickly towards them wanting to get Nova warm as soon as possible.
The two of them — covered in blood, bruises, snow in their hair — looked like hell had dragged them out and thrown them into winter's mouth.
Nova's lips were blue, breath shallow. Neither of them said it aloud. But they were both thinking the same thing. The bottom half of her training suit was soaked. Frozen. They couldn't exactly strip her in this state — but if they didn't get her submerged soon…
Jax took her gently, cradling her against his bare chest while Finric stepped into the spring. His breath caught as the water enveloped him — hot against his icy skin. His fingers were blue. Arms shaking. Shifters could handle a lot. But not this. Not for long.
Jax moved quickly with her in his arms getting back into warmth. He lowered all the way into the hot spring, her head rested in the crook of his neck before he noticed.
The spring lit up beneath her. A pulse of gold. Then flickers of silver swirling outward from her body — like starlight dropped into the earth.
Fin's side — where Riven's claws had torn into him — began to knit back together.
Fin stared down at it, stunned.
Jax watched as cuts, gashes, and bruises healed rapidly on his own body. His lips parted in silent disbelief.
Nova stirred faintly, her face buried against the crook of his neck.
Then he muttered under his breath, low and hoarse: "Why am I not surprised by anything that happens with this girl anymore?"
Fin didn't answer.