Page 26 of Primal Snow

“Let me go, you fucking brute!” I scream, pounding my fists against his furry back.

He doesn’t even flinch.

Instead, he lets out a guttural growl that shakes through his chest. The sound vibrates against my body, leaving an electric trail of dread behind, and I freeze, realizing just how helpless I am.

It’s possessiveness as though he were screaming,Mine!A primal declaration that I belong to him, whether I like it or not.

He climbs back up the mountain, carrying me like a prize he’s claimed, all proud and shit. Each step is deliberate, his balance remains perfect despite the uneven ground. The world is nothing to him but a playground.

All I can see is the endless white behind us. Somewhere out there, freedom is waiting. But here I am, slung over the shoulder of a literal monster, being dragged back to his lair. Tears blur my vision as the stark realization sets in—I was never meant to escape.

And now he’s angry.

Ohhh, he’sfurious.

As soon as we’re back in the cave, his growls echo off the icy walls like thunder, rattling deep in my chest. It’s not just fury, but also frustration, even disappointment, almost like he’s trying to say,What the hell were you thinking?Or maybe it’s me, scrambling to add a speck of humanity to his behavior.

But he did save my life. Twice now—first, when that moose on the road could have caused a major and potentially deadly accident. Three times, if I count him warming me up after I almost froze to death in the snow… though, he was the one who caused that situation bykilling my friends.

Reminding myself of that fact—which I’m clearly trying to erase from my memory—I reach up, grasping for one of the icicles hanging from the ceiling. It’s just within my fingertips, brittle-looking and sharp. If I can snap it off, maybe I can drive it into his back. But the ice is thick, solid, refusing to break under my weak grip. My fingers slip uselessly over the frozen surface, my arms burning with effort. He doesn’t even notice. He just keeps moving, carrying me deeper into his lair without pause or hesitation—like my resistance isn’t even worth acknowledging.

His movements are sharp and purposeful, each step radiating with barely contained rage. He doesn’t bother with any gentleness—but has ever? His massive hands tear the ruined jacket from my body, the fabric deteriorating under his claws, before he tosses me back into the cage like a disobedient animal.

“You’re a goddamn psycho!” I scream, scurrying to sit up, my heart hammering in my chest.

He’s on me in an instant, pinning me to the cold ground, trying to mount me in a savage domination showoff. My body fights instinctively, writhing beneath him, but it’s like wrestling with a boulder. His weight presses me down, unyielding and suffocating.

I was supposed to have a romantic getaway and lose my virginity to my perfect, sexy boyfriend. He took that away from me. I won’t let him take anything more.

I react before I think.

My hand reaches for the bones scattered next to us, and I blindly pick the longest, thickest one—a thigh, perhaps? I swing at him unexpectedly, and I can’t tell who is more surprised—him or me.

The crack against his skull is sickening, reverberating up my arm as if I’ve struck pure steel. I must knock him pretty hard since he stumbles back, and the bone breaks in half on impact. Not wasting even a second, I leap forward to stab him with the sharp edge of the part still in my hand. I aim for his throat, but he blocks me, and it sinks into his raised arm. He snaps his teeth as dark blood pools from the spot, though it’s more irritation than pain because he pulls it out smoothly and flings it away like it’sa toothpick. This isn’t nearly enough to stop him. It never was.

But he bleeds. And that means, there’s a way to kill him.

The force of his roar is deafening, and it hits me like a physical blow. Now he’sreallyangry. The walls of the cave seem to shudder with the sheer magnitude of his fury, loose bits of frost raining down from above. His face is so close to mine, and his eyes burn like lava. I haven’t seen him this riled before, not when he was after me, not when he was ripping Chase to shreds. I don’t even have the courage to flinch. I’m rooted to the spot, terrified.

His breathing comes in harsh bursts, and the rise and fall of his massive chest is like bellows stoking a fire. One clawed hand flexes at his side, twitching as if he’s restraining himself from tearing me apart. The other brushes over the wound I gave him, and he looks down at the smear of blood on his palm with a slow, simmering rage.

Then he rises to his full height, towering over me, and his hand wraps around my hair. His claws scrape against my scalp, sending a fresh jolt of pain down my neck. He yanks me upward with such force that I yelp, clawing at his wrist. His breath hisses through his teeth like steam escaping a pressure valve, low and dangerous.

Dragging me after himself, he moves to grab the shackles from the corner of the cage, and my stomach drops at the mere clinking sound. I try to get away, pressing my back against the icy bars, but it’s no use. His grip tightens like iron, unyielding and merciless, as if he’sdetermined to remind me just how fragile I am next to him.

“Wait! Stop! Don’t—”

He doesn’t listen. He never does.

The cold, heavy iron bites into my chafed wrists again as he shackles me with ease, his strength making it pointless to resist. Then, with a sinister gleam in his eyes, he reaches up for a thicker chain, suspended from the beam above.

“No! No, please! Please!” I scream, my voice cracking with desperation, but it only seems to amuse him.

His lips curl back in something between a snarl and a grin, revealing sharp fangs glinting in the dim light. In a single motion, his claws thread one chain through the other with practiced ease. The links rattle ominously as he yanks the loose end of the hanging chain, pulling it taut. My feet leave the ground as I’m lifted into the air, my body stretched and helpless, the sharp edges of the shackles digging into my wrists.

But he doesn’t care. His eyes bore into me, wild and furious, and the muscles in his arms flex as he gives the chain another sharp tug so that my body is perfectly level with his face. Then he steps back, tilting his head as he admires his handiwork. He scans me from head to toe, and a low rumble of satisfaction escapes his throat.

“Fucking hell! Let me down, you sick monster!” I shout, thrashing against the restraints. I only dangle like a sack of meat, swaying slightly, useless and pathetic.

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