Page 5 of Jilted By Jack Frost

“I have nothing to explain.” I lift my chin in defiance, even as the wordkingdomis rattling around in my brain.

“Nothing at all? Not even as to how you find yourself in my realm?”

“Yourrealm? Listen—are you okay? I can take you back to the hospital if—” Then my eyes finally settle on something besides the two men before me and the gently cascading snow around us. Something in thedistance catches my attention, making my breath catch in my throat.

A castle. Not just any castle—a massive structure that pierces the pearl-gray sky like a crown of crystalline spires. Around it sprawls a city unlike anything I’ve ever seen, with buildings that seem to be roofed in sheets of pristine ice, their surfaces gleaming with an otherworldly blue-white radiance.

The air here feels different too. It’s crisp and sharp, carrying hints of pine and winter mint that make my nose tingle. Each breath forms a thick cloud in front of my face, and my ears pop from what must be the altitude.

The snow crunching beneath my feet isn’t the wet, heavy stuff I’m used to in Colorado—it’s powdery and dry, almost like diamond dust.

The entire scene before me feels impossible, like I’ve stepped through the pages of a fairytale. Or more accurately, ridden a damn tornado to Oz. Wherever the hell we are, it’s definitely not Salida, and it’s sure as hell not anywhere in Colorado I’ve ever seen.

“Where the fuck am I?”

“Like I said before,” the white-haired man says, “this is my kingdom.”

“Right,” I say, forcing myself to look over at him again. “And likeIsaid before, who are you?”

The silver-eyed one laughs darkly. “A bit dense, isn’t she?”

A sigh from Blue Eyes. He runs a pale blue hand down the front of his old-fashioned jacket and flicks his gaze to mine, ignoring his friend entirely. “I am Jack Frost,” he says simply, and I swear the icy hold on my heart only tightens. “And you need to leave.”

Then he turns and walks away, the black-haired friend following behind him with nothing more than a gesture.

Leaving me standing here, alone.

In an entirely different fucking realm than the one I was in fifteen minutes ago.

Chapter three

Jack

Gabriel laughs as we walk away, leaving the girl standing alone in the snow.

“I have to admit that wasn’t what I thought you meant when you sensed a disturbance outside the city.”

Disturbancehad been the easiest way to describe it at the time. Now I know that what I really meant waswarmth. It was warmth I had felt from so far away, warmth that had drawn me out of my study with nothing but a dagger and Gabriel at my side to defend myself.

Turns out there was nothing for me to defend from at all. Just a girl from the mortal realm who needs to return to it.

Immediately. Preferably before I spare even one more thoughtfor her.

“Not what I expected, either,” I mutter, fighting to keep the frost that grows on my fingertips from spreading any further.

A woman from another realm entirely. A woman who, if luck had been on my side even a bit, I never would have crossed paths with at all. But somehow, she’s here. Somehow, my mate has shown up in my kingdom.

Not your mate, I remind myself.Not unless we accept each other.

Which we won’t. She’ll be gone before I know it, a problem that will quickly fade. Something I’ll never have to worry about again.

Gabriel turns to look over his shoulder, then laughs. “Your mate is running toward us.”

“Foolish girl.”

“Or incredibly brave. As she would have to be, for the fates to bond her to you.”

I scowl.

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