Page 48 of Shielded Hearts

Impossible. Colt was a SEAL. He had survival skills that most people couldn’t even fathom. He knew how to fight, and he was the one who told her how to survive the avalanche.

Doubt crept in. Goose bumps pebbled her body at the icy whisper in her ear—the one that told her that Colt might not have survived at all.

Gideon might have gotten to him first.

If Gideon knew exactly where to find her, that meant he had been watching the cabin. That avalanche wasn’t just an act of nature. It was a deliberate act meant to hurt her.

She and Colt walked right into the trap.

Colt, where are you?

Her mind screamed for her lover…the man who was more than just a great travel companion or fun in bed.

She cared about Colt.

Now she felt helpless, suffocated by the possibility that Colt was dead, just as she had felt trapped back on that mountain, buried in the avalanche.

Colt wouldn’t give up on her, and she wasnotgiving up on Colt.

She wasn’t giving up onthem.

Chapter Eleven

“Aspen!” Colt’s chest blazed from the frigid air and the terror that rocked him on his feet. He fisted his hands and stumbled around the yard, searching the thick layer of snow that covered any landmarks he might recognize.

Walking around was next to impossible. If he fell into a pocket of snow, he’d have almost no chance of being found.

He had to find Aspen. He’d heard her cry out a name. He heard her say…

Dammit, what the hell was the name she screamed?

Someone had pulled her out. Someone she knew.

He slowly skirted the edge of the cliff, where—judging from the path of the avalanche slide—he knew the snow would be more solid.

“Aspen!” He racked his brain for all the things he’d heard her say.

The noises had come from his right.

He turned that direction. The glare of sun on the blinding-white snow made his eyes water, and he swiped the back of his hand over them. By some grace, he’d been spared and that meant that he had a purpose in this world.

Right now, that purpose was to find Aspen and make sure she lived to fight another day.

Shadows darkened one area of the snow. Setting his boots carefully down in even steps to test that the snow would hold his weight, he made a slow but steady path toward the spot.

The outline of where her body had been buried was clearly visible, as were footsteps leading to the area.

Leading away from the area too.

Someone had dug her out.

A fist clamped around his heart. Only one set of footprints marred the snow, which meant she couldn’t have walked away on her own.

Oh god. Who the hell was this guy?

He played and replayed the sound of her voice, coming muffled on the still air.

She said a name. What was it?

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