Page 42 of Primal Snow

Then, the worst truth of all.

I didn’t just submit to the beast.I wanted him.

Istillwant him. That desire clings to me, unrelenting, and I can’t push it away, no matter how much I loathe myself for it.

I don’t want to lose him…

I’ve found a strange kind of peace in his world. And I can’t imagine anything else. I feel the pull of the mountains. I feel it deep inside me, like a call I can’t ignore. It’s in my blood. In my bones.

The idea of leaving it all behind feels impossible.

I can’t go back. I can’t face them. Those people are searching for a girl who’s already lost to the wilderness.

He’s changed me. I’ve become something else, something feral and primal like him. Even the snow no longer bothers me.

I don’t belong to them anymore. There is nothing left for me in the world I once knew.

I belong to this place now.

Tohim.

An instinct that wasn’t there before awakens in me, and as another realization slams into me, my shaky hand drifts to my stomach in a subconscious gesture. What if I’m pregnant? Is there a life growing inside me? A part of him and me entwined in ways I can’t escape? What would it look like? A human? A creature like him? Something in between?

If I go back, they’ll take me apart piece by piece to figure it out. They’ll takeitapart. And hunt Yeti down,too, all necessary measures in place. They’ll lock me in a lab, strap me to a table, poke and prod until there’s nothing left of me. Until there’s nothing left ofus…

From one captivity to another.

But here? Here, I’m out of the cage.

Yeti takes care of me. Feeds me. Keeps me warm. Keeps me safe. He’s brutal, yes, but there’s a tenderness beneath it. In the way he watches me… touches me. In the quiet moments.

It’s simple when I follow his unspoken rules.

Humans are the unpredictable ones.

The helicopter drifts further away, and my eyes stay fixed on it until it vanishes completely beyond the horizon. Eventually, the sound fades into the distance. My chance is gone. I’ll never get another one.

And I’m relieved.

Left with nothing but silence once more, I take a step back into the shadows of the cave. That’s when I see him.

Yeti emerges from the trees, dragging an elk carcass by its legs. Snow dusts his massive frame, his fur matted and streaked with fresh blood, his presence as wild and untamed as the mountains themselves. In his other arm, he carries a broken tree trunk, split into smaller pieces for the fire. His eyes are locked on me with a knowing, possessive gleam in them.

He saw it. He saw everything. He knows I had a chance to escape.

But I didn’t.

He drops everything at once, and with a speed and strength that still takes my breath away, he strides towardme. In a single powerful sweep, his arm wraps around my waist and lifts me off the ground with ease. His other hand cups my cheek, his thumb tracing the curve of my jaw, his claws brushing my skin, sending shivers down my spine.

His mouth crashes against mine, his tongue forcing its way in. It’s not gentle. It’s a raw, animalistic claim that leaves no room for doubt. I moan into him, and the sound is swallowed by his growl as he moves, pinning me against the icy stone of the cave wall, his body pressing into mine. My legs wrap instinctively around his waist, pulling him closer as I feel the delicious weight of his hardening cock rubbing against me. My nipples harden, aching with need, and I arch into him, offering myself up like a willing sacrifice.

His mouth leaves mine, trailing down to my breasts. He licks, sucks, bites, leaving marks that bloom red against my skin. He slides one hand down my side and across my ass, slipping it between my legs from behind. His eyes burn with a savage intensity, and his growl deepens, reverberating through me like a storm, as he finds me already wet and eager for him

I grip his fur, my fingers tangling in the thick strands, as if anchoring myself to him. His body is all muscle, all heat, and the musky smell of him is intoxicating, his touch unlike anything else I ever felt. The vibrant life outside, the helicopter, the memories of what I once was—they mean nothing.

There’s only him—my captor, my mate, my protector. Only us, bound together in a way that no one else could comprehend.

For the first time, I don’t need to be saved. I don’t need to run. Because I am his.

---