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That thought cemented as something cold and wet landed on my forehead, and bewildered, I opened my eyes. Was it raining on top of everything else? That was all we needed.

“Shit.” Eli sighed the word.

“Rain?” I asked, although as I looked around, I had surely deduced the answer for myself. It wasn’t rain that was falling around us, but large white flakes of ice.

“Snow.” His voice was grave. “And it’s falling fast. We need to move.”

“Snow?” It didn’t make sense. I’d checked the weather app dozens of times before undertaking the so-called ‘adventure’ and nowhere had any snow been mentioned. “But how?”

“This place is a micro-climate. It has its own weather systems.” He shrugged, thrusting out a hand and helping me to my feet. “Like I said, the weather can change fast out here.”

He wasn’t joking. By the time he’d picked up his bag, the ground was littered with white flakes. It reallywascoming down fast.

“How much farther to the bridge?”

Conscious of how cold the air had become around us, I shivered. The temperature had cooled when the skies grayed, but I supposed the confusion and shock of James and Miles, and the subsequent adrenaline, had meant I hadn’t really noticed until that moment.

“We still have around an hour to go.” He checked his watch. “And if this keeps up, that’ll be too far. Do you have any waterproofs in there?” He signaled to the bag still on my back.

“I think so. I packed everything James suggested.” My heart rate sped up as I said his name, sorrow mingling with the irritation the guy had produced before his untimely nosedive.

“Okay. Put them on.” He shuffled his pack from his shoulders and delved into its contents. “We’ll never stay warm if we’re wet.”

Following his lead, I slid the bag from my back and opened the drawstring. Bigger flakes cascaded over us as I searched for the waterproof jacket I’d packed, my fingers finally skimming over the mac. Trying not to dwell on his comment about the bridge beingtoo far, I tugged it from the bag and pulled it over my other layers.

By the time I glanced back at him, Eli had donned both a water-resistant jacket and a pair of trousers.

“Is that all you have?” He pointed to my raincoat.

“Yes.” My voice quivered as a fresh tremor of cold sprinted along my spine.

Fuck. With falling snow, it truly was cold, and the sporty leggings I’d worn to hasten our progress were already getting wet and sticking to my skin.

“I didn’t think.” I frowned, trying to recall if James’s missive had indicated we’d require more. “I didn’t expect snow.”

“It’s okay.” The concerned flicker in his gray eyes belied his true feelings. “You’ll be all right. Just stay with me, Erin.”

Stay with him? He must be joking.Iwasn’t going anywhere without him.

“Which way do we go?” I pressed my teeth together to prevent the impending chatter. I had a spare sweater with me but not much else, and one look at the skies suggested the snow was in for the duration.

“You’re cold.” It was more of a statement than a question. “Come here.”

He held out his arms and beckoned me forward with one hand.

“I’m f-fine,” I lied, although my feet were already moving in his direction as he unzipped the front of his jacket. Pressing my face into the heat of his sports sweater, I welcomed the warmth of his embrace as it closed around me.

“We don’t need to add hypothermia into the mix of today.” His arms tightened around me. “We need a plan B.”

“What does that mean?” Craning my neck, I met his gaze.

“It means we divert to the nearest ranger’s hut.” His eyes met mine. “Either there’ll be someone there who can help us, or there’ll be a place we can hole up until the snow has stopped.”

“A ranger’s hut?” I wasn’t even sure I knew such things existed, but it was a good plan. “Where’s the nearest one?”

“Not far from here.”

He gestured in the opposite direction from the one Chelle had taken, guilt twisting in my gut as I remembered my poor friend. She was out there on her own, and she had no real protection from the weather.

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