The deep red embers of the stone hearth cast a warm, flickering glow across the smooth cedar logs of the cabin walls, painting the quiet room in shades of bronze and gold.Outside, the mountain storm had fallen silent, leaving the valley wrapped in a thick, unbroken layer of pristine white snow that reached halfway up the glass panes. The world beyond the pass remained entirely distant—a forgotten memory locked behind miles of frozen pine and impassable rock. Inside, the heavy air smelled of dried cedar, sweet pine smoke, and the deep, comforting warmth of our sanctuary.I lay tucked against Julian’s broad torso, listening to the slow, powerful rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my ear. His broad, calloused hand rested flat against my side, his fingers tracing slow, soothing paths over my skin with a gentle, possessive rhythm that grounded me completely.The storm has finally stopped, I whispered, resting my hand over his chest.Julian let out a low, gravelly hum, the deep vibration reso

"Put the knife down, Liam, or I put a bullet straight through his head," Vance’s voice cut through the howling wind like a serrated blade.I gripped the cold steel handle until my knuckles turned white, shielding Julian’s bleeding body with my own. "Step any closer and I swear to God I will cut your throat open!""Look at him!" Vance laughed, a bitter, cruel sound that made my skin crawl. "He is half-dead already. Look at the snow underneath him, Liam. He is bleeding out right in front of your eyes.""Shut up!" I screamed, tears freezing solid on my eyelashes. "Just shut your mouth!""Is this what you ran for?" Vance took three slow, deliberate steps through the heavy drift, his tactical rifle aimed straight at my chest. "You hid in a cabin like rats, thinking a little snow would protect you from the sector authority?""We were free," I sobbed, my voice breaking under the weight of the freezing air. "We were happy until you brought your explosives into our valley!""Happy?" Vance mock

I died under that snow, but my lungs refused to stop burning."Julian!" I choked out, a wave of freezing white spilling from my lips as I clawed wildly at the crushing darkness. "Julian, where are you!"The weight above me was suffocating, heavy as lead and cold as death, pressing the absolute last drops of oxygen straight out of my chest. I dug my bare, bleeding fingers through the packed ice, screaming until my throat tore open, desperate for any sign of warm skin beneath the frozen grave."Liam..." a faint, wet cough sounded inches from my cheek. "Stop... stop moving...""Julian!" I sobbed, frantically clearing the snow away from his face until his bloodied lips were exposed to the icy air. "You are breathing! Oh God, you are breathing!""The ledge... held..." he rasped, his eyes clouded with agonizing pressure as he struggled to draw air into his crushed chest. "Is Vance...""Forget Vance!" I yelled, digging my fingers under his dark jacket collar to clear a pocket of air around h

"If you drop that lever, we blow up together right now!"I slammed my palm over his hand, forcing the pin back into the grenade casing before the spoon could fly free."Liam, let go!" Julian bellowed, his voice splitting against the blinding glare of the chopper's searchlight. "It is the only way out for you!""It is not a way out, it is suicide!" I shrieked, tears searing my frozen skin as I wrestled the metal cylinder from his trembling grip and hurled it into the deep snow drift. "You do not get to throw your life away!""Ground targets, drop to your knees!" the loudspeaker boomed from the hovering beast above us, the heavy thrum of rotor blades whipping the whiteout into a violent cyclone. "Do not move!""Look at me, Julian!" I sobbed, falling over his chest and gripping his blood-soaked jacket with my one usable arm. "Look at my eyes right now!"Julian’s chest heaved, his dark hazel eyes burning through the haze of agony and exhaustion. "I cannot let them take you back to that he

"If you move one more inch, recruit, I will break your other arm."The holding cell felt like a concrete grave, cold and smelling of iron rust and old rain."Let me out of here!" I screamed, slamming my cuffed wrists against the heavy steel bars until the metal rattled through the dark corridor. "I need to see him! Just give me five minutes with him!""Sit down, kid," the guard at the end of the hall growled, not even bother looking up from his tablet screen. "You are shipping out in two hours. You do not get visiting rights.""He was dying when you dragged him into surgery!" My voice shattered, tearing down to raw tissue as I pressed my face against the cold iron grid. "He could be dead right now and none of you monsters would even tell me!""Keep yelling," the guard warned, his voice flat and disinterested. "See if that speeds up your transfer.""I don't care about your damn transfer!" I bellowed, tears cutting warm, salty tracks through the dried blood on my cheeks. "I traded my li