Page 45 of Shielded Hearts

That could only mean one thing.

He dropped the logs and sprinted up the steps. He burst into the house, calling Aspen’s name.

She rushed out of the living room, eyes wide with fear and her chest heaving at what she must hear in his voice. “What’s wrong?”

In three strides, he grabbed her by the shoulders. “We need to get out of the cabin—now! There’s an avalanche!”

She stumbled forward, the soles of her boots biting into the wood floor. Thank god she had her boots on. He snatched her coat on the way out, thrusting it into her arms as they bolted into the cold.

Snow swirled in the air around them, but her frantic voice reached him over the roar of the entire mountainside coming down.

Panic trembled in her voice. “The ground—it’s shaking!”

A low, deafening rumble rolled down the mountain, vibrating through the soles of his boots and into his chest. Ice froze the blood in his veins as he spun toward the sound.

A wall of snow thundered down the mountain, swallowing trees and everything else in its path.

There was no time for escape. They’d be lucky to survive.

The snow began to shift under their feet. Trees cracked and splintered as they were ripped out of the ground like matchsticks.

His voice boomed out over the roar. “Aspen! Move diagonal to the slide—toward the cliff’s edge!”

Her hand shot out. He clasped it, gripping tight, but the shifting snow made every step more treacherous. He was not letting her die this way. She’d battled her way back from cancer, and this would not take her out.

The snow buckled beneath them. The world tilted, knocking his feet out from under him. Aspen’s fingers were ripped out of his grasp.

“Aspen!” He flipped onto his stomach, clawing at the snow in an attempt to crawl up. His gaze darted around as he watched a wall of white engulf the cabin, obliterating it from view.

The truck disappeared next, swallowed by the pummeling slide.

Raw terror tore through his chest, threatening to swallow him too.

Aspen was gone. Swallowed by an ocean of white.

“Aspen!” His voice cracked. The wind stole his bellow. “Aspen!” He scrambled forward. “Stay calm, do you hear me? I’m coming! I’ll find you!”

Fear dug its icy fingers into him harder than it ever had on a battlefield.

* * * * *

The ground vanished under Aspen’s feet as the roar of the avalanche consumed her. The deafening roar filled her head, rattling her teeth in her jaw and her skull. The heavy weight of the entire world seemed to press down on her, making it impossible to move.

The brutal snow packed around her, squeezing her tight from every side. By some small mercy, a small pocket of air around her head allowed her to breathe. Where was she?

Where was Colt?

All sense of direction had fled the minute the world shifted under her feet and flipped and flattened her to the ground. Every instinct inside her screamed to try to kick herself free, to battle her way—

Where? Up or down? She didn’t have a damn clue where she was in relation to the universe.

She forced herself to remain still, to be calm even as terror clawed up her throat. She wiggled her fingers and found that she wasn’t touching snow. The air pocket must be larger than she thought.

She tilted her head back, gulping in shallow breaths. The snow around her ribs pressed inward, making it difficult toexpand them. Her heart thudded hard and loud in her ears. Suddenly, she realized that the avalanche had ground to a halt.

The snow was silent now. Eerie and still.

“Colt.” Her voice cracked. The sound muffled and deadened by the crypt of snow hemming her in from all sides. She lifted her hand, stretching in a direction she hoped was upward.

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