Page 44 of Jilted By Jack Frost

“Holy shit.” Alana stumbles backward. “What the actual fuck?”

“We need to leave. Now.” Jack extends his hand to me. “Gabriel has—”

“You came back.” The words tumble out before I can stop them. “After everything…”

“I was wrong. About all of it.” His eyes soften, even as ice continues to spread across the walls. “I need you. The realm needs you.”

Alana grabs my arm. “Vi, what’s happening?”

The building shudders again, and this time it’s not from Jack’s power. The storm outside is tearing the hospital apart.

“The patients,” I say. “We can’t leave them.”

Jack nods, his expression grim. “I can create a barrier around the building, but not for long. My power is limited here, and maintaining it will drain me quickly.”

I look at Alana, who’s staring at Jack with wide eyes. “Remember when I told you where I disappeared to? This is Jack. And yes, he’s really Jack Frost.”

“I thought you were hallucinating from hypothermia!”

“Clearly not.” I squeeze her hand. “We need to evacuate everyone to the ground floor. Jack can protect us, but we need to move fast.”

Jack’s presence fills the room with crackling energy as he channels his power. Ice spreads from his feet, but this ice glows with an opalescent light—the same way it did when I touched it in his realm. Our magic, working together.

“Your friend speaks truth,” Jack tells Alana. “I can shield you all, but we must act quickly. This storm will destroy this building if we don’t.”

Alana looks between us, then straightens her shoulders. “I’ll alert the staff. Ground floor cafeteria?”

I nod, and she runs out, nurse mode fully engaged.

Jack’s hand finds mine, his skin no longer feeling cold to my touch. “I should have trusted you, Violet.”

His words make my heart flutter, but I push the feeling down.Now isn’t the time for swooning, Jones.

“We need to focus on getting everyone safe first.” I pull my hand from his, ignoring the ache of loss. “Then we can talk about trust.”

The emergency lights flicker again as we hurry down the hallway. Jack’s massive form looks ridiculous against the standard hospital architecture—his head nearly brushes the ceiling tiles.

“These passages are absurdly small,” he mutters, ducking under a doorframe.

“Not all of us need to be giants to get things done.”

A nurse rushes past with an elderly patient in a wheelchair, doing a double-take at Jack. Her jaw drops,but she keeps moving.Good old hospital training. When weird shit happens,just keep working.

We reach the cafeteria to find Alana directing traffic like a pro, pointing staff and patients to different areas. She spots us and her eyes go wide again at Jack’s appearance.

“Your boyfriend’s looking a bit blue there, Vi.”

“He’s not my—”

A tremendous crash from above cuts me off. The building shakes, and several people scream. Jack raises his hands, and a shimmering dome of ice forms over the cafeteria ceiling. Through its translucent surface, I can see debris bouncing off harmlessly.

“Show-off,” I mutter, but I’m impressed despite myself.

“I heard that, little mate.”

Alana sidles up next to me as we help settle people. “So when you said you met someone, you didn’t mention that the hot guy was the ‘mythological winter deity’ himself.”

“Would you have believed me?”

---