Frozen Vengeance (6 page)

“Are you cold?” He tried to keep his anger in check, but she still turned her face up to him with those large, fear-filled blue eyes.

“I don’t think I’ve been warm since you brought me here,” she muttered and her shoulders drawn back.

Good, she was exhibiting some of the spirit he’d seen earlier. That pleased him.

Colt scowled. Why should he care if she had spirit or not. He decided to change the subject before he lost his temper again. Ironic, because he was not usually quick to anger

“Why were you asking about ghosts?”

Angelica had a short inner debate about whether or not to tell Colt about her ghostly visitor, and then nixed the idea. He’d probably find some reason to make it her fault and scream at her again and didn’t know if she could take it.

“I was curious,” she muttered.

He raised an eyebrow. “Curious or scared?”

She turned back to look at their meal. “The fish smells cooked.”

Colt stepped over to the fire and Angelica scraped her chair back so fast that she felt the back legs snap under the pressure. She didn’t have a chance to scream before she landed on her back staring up at the ceiling. There was a moment of shocked silence, then she smiled, her smile turning into a laugh, and before Angelica knew it, she was laughing so hard, she couldn’t get up.

A big hand reached down and Angelica grasped it, letting Colt pull her to her feet.

“The laughter is shock, or do you think landing on your ass is that funny?”

Angelica reached up to wipe a tear away from her eye. “A little of both, maybe. The fish is burning.”

Colt spun so fast, he was a blur to Angelica’s eyes as he yanked the grate off the flames, then dropped it with a curse, shaking his hand to ease the burn.

Angelica leaned down and scooped the hot grate off the floor, then using the sleeve of her robes, she wiped down a side table, taking off the worst of the dust before putting the fish down on it. “Dinner is served.”

“So, you are immune to any form of heat or flame?” he asked as he reached for a fish, broke it, and handed a piece to Angelica.

“Most,” she admitted. She was not going to lay out all her strengths and weaknesses to the enemy, yet she had to face it. This gorgeous man
was
the enemy—he had made that clear.

Both of their heads jerked up when the distinctive howl of a wolf cut the air outside, above the screaming of the rising wind.

“That’s a wolf.”

Colt gave her a look that said,
duh.

“A wild wolf.”

Colt seemed to be finding her trepidation amusing. “This is Alaska, so you don’t

get tame wolves.”

She scowled at him. “Will they come in here?”

Colt shook his head taking a bite of his fish.

“Fair enough.” Angelica decided to follow his lead. If Colt wasn’t worried, then she wouldn’t be either.

They had long since finished eating and Colt was resting with his back against the wall, his long legs stretched out in front of him, one knee pulled up. His forearm rested on his knee. He was watching Geli as she sat as close as she could to the fire. He had a feeling that she would get into the blaze if she had a choice.

He could see her shiver occasionally, and he was annoyed to admit that he was a bit worried about her. He’d already given her his coat again, and although the room was toasty to him, she couldn’t seem to warm up.

One more way to punish her. Let her get cold here in my world.

Yeah, it was okay to want her to suffer, but to see it happening wasn’t sitting well with him. Seemed he didn’t have the balls to see a woman suffer—even this one. He almost snorted with annoyance at himself.

“Put more wood on the fire.”

She looked over at him, and her lips had a slight blue tinge to them. “There isn’t much left, and I want it to last as long as it can.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Then, he leaned his head back against the wall as if he didn’t care.

The wind howled around the house again. The storm was getting worse. Colt knew this was going to be a bad one, and the temperature would go way below freezing before the storm blew itself out.

Yep, she’s gonna suffer

“Why don’t you light yourself on fire if you’re so cold? Wont that help?” He kept his head back and his eyes closed, but he heard her snort of disgust.

“That would take more energy than I have left. You already zapped all my reserves making me open the tear.”

“Yeah, another lie you told me.” He opened his eyes and leveled his stare on her. “You said you couldn’t open one.”

“I can’t…” At his open glare of disdain, she modified what she was saying. “I’m not supposed to be able to.”

“Explain?”

She let out a sigh. “I’m not old enough to have the full use of my abilities. Although in principle, I know how to do it, my full immortality and powers haven’t come yet, or I thought they hadn’t.”

“How old are you?” He was curious on how young did the phoenix start doing… what she had done.

Angelica looked down. “I’m twenty-three.”

He sucked in a breath. She was a child in his eyes.

“Aren’t you a bit young to be using men like that?”

That made her snap her head up. “I’m an adult.”

“Not in my book.”

“And how old must I be to be considered an adult in your book.”

There was that spirit again. He smiled.

“Oh, at least fifty.”

She made a huffing sound, and he almost laughed.

“That’s not adult, that’s antiquated.”

“What if I told you that I’m two-hundred years old?”

“I’d ask if you knew T-Rex, personally.”

Colt burst out laughing—it was such a shock that he silenced it almost immediately. “Try get some sleep, Gelibean. We have far to travel when the storm clears.”

He watched Geli gathering any piece of fabric that didn’t disintegrate in her hands and make a—what could only be called a nest on the floor as close to the fire as possible. He hid his amusement behind a blank expression as she muttered to herself while she worked. He was sure he heard the word
jerk
more than once.

If she thought this was a punishment, she had no idea what he had in mind where her real punishment was concerned.

When she’d made her bed, she glared at him and flopped down onto the accumulated bedding, which made her sneeze.

Colt felt a laugh escape his lips.

“You think this is funny? You drag me here to this cold hell and you think a sneeze is funny. I’m probably going to get pneumonia.”

“Don’t be a drama queen. You are an Eternal and you can’t get pneumonia.”

“I’m just saying…” she sputtered and turned her back to him, probably deciding that she didn’t want to amuse him anymore. She flopped down again and curled into a tight ball.

Colt watched her with a smile playing on his lips. She was feisty, and he found he liked that about her. He liked that she talked back to him even though she was at a distinct disadvantage in their situation. If she feared him, she didn’t show it. He dozed off with the smile still on his lips.

* * * *

Angelica couldn’t seem to wake up properly. She was so cold, and her nose filled with the smell of death. She turned her head away from the smell and tried to open her eyes. They opened a crack, then slammed shut again as if someone had put weights on her eyelids.

The cold was invasive, burrowing into her body like some flesh-eating worm, leaching all the warmth her body could create. Her heart pounded and she tried to curl up tighter, instinctively protecting her vital organs from the seeping chill.

“Lay s-s-s-stil.” The hissing whisper reached her ears and Angelica started to shiver uncontrollably. An icy hand rested on her arm, sucking heat from her, and she was powerless to stop it. “S-s-s-so warm.”

“Go away.” She muttered, and it seemed to work, the chill vanishing from her arm, but she could still smell death. She knew the cold would come back and she knew it was the ghost she’d seen earlier. For some reason, the creature had latched onto Angelica, and it wanted to steal her warmth. Perhaps it was trying to steal her life force, but she was past the point of caring.

All Angelica wanted to do was sleep. Her mind going to some place warm, where the sun shone and birds sang in big green trees.

* * * *

Colt woke up with a start.
Something was wrong.
He kept his eyes closed and relied on his sense of hearing. He could hear the wind gusting outside, making the whole structure shake and groan, it sounded like it was going to come falling down. He could hear the wolves calling—they were closer—but what woke him was Geli’s mumbles. She was restless moving and rolling in her makeshift bed.

He opened his eyes and looked over at her. “Angelica, will you shut up, I’m trying to slee—”

She rolled toward him and he saw her lips were a darker blue. Her skin had taken on the same unhealthy tinge. She was still asleep, but shivers wracked her body.

Colt lunged forward on his knees toward her. He laid a hand on her cheek and she groaned in her sleep. Her skin was as cold as a frozen river.

Guilt wracked him.
How could I let it get this bad?

It was obvious that phoenix did not thrive in cold climates. He had to warm her up, but first he had to wake her.

“Geli…” His voice was low, not wanting to startle her awake. She gave no response.

“Gelibean, you have to wake up for me.”

“That’s a stupid name, so I won’t respond to it.”

Her voice slurred as if she’d had too much to drink and he knew that hypothermia had set in.

“Let me sleep, Colt.” She opened her eyes and glared up at him. “Colt…what a stupid name for a polar bear shifter. You aren’t s horse.”

Colt realized she was far-gone. “I’m named after the gun, not the horse,” he told her as he leaned back and started unbuttoning his shirt.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Her eyes flared with—what he assumed—was panic, and she sat up straight.

“I need to warm you up, and the best way to do that is skin to skin.” He didn’t add that she’d already seen everything of him there was to see, and more. The thought rankled enough without having to be voiced.

“Well you can stop right there. I’m not getting naked with you.”

“Why? It’s not like you haven’t before,” he spat out.

“As a matter of fact…” Her eyes started to close and she tipped to the side.

Colt ripped his shirt off his arms and grabbed her, pulling her into the heat of his chest.

She tried to fight him for a moment, then sighed and burrowed into the warmth that was pouring off his skin. “Why are you so warm? It feels so good. If I could purr, I would.”

“Now, I know, you are delirious.” He muttered, but he couldn’t stop the smile that curled the corners of his lips. “I need to undress you. That way you’ll get warmed up faster.”

“Please, Colt. No…”

Her voice was so fragile, sounding so insecure—so unlike the Angelica he was getting to know—that he couldn’t deny her what she wanted.

“Fine, but get as close as you can, you need my body warmth, or the hypothermia could do some serious damage.”

He felt her nod her head against his chest, so he lay them down and curled around her body as much as he could, forming a large man-shaped cocoon around the freezing phoenix.

Chapter Six

A lack of warmth brought Angelica back from the twilight world of dreams. Colt’s heat was absent. She sat up and looked around the living room. The fire stoked again, the flames burning a merry greeting in the grate, but there was no sign of Colt.

“Colt?” she called as she stood and stretched. No answer.

She walked over to the staircase and called his name again. Nothing.

He must have gone out for some reason
.
Maybe to find more wood.

Angelica gave a mental shrug and went back to the warmth of the fire. She leaned in toward the heat, extending her hands so she could soak it in. Cold was
not
fun for her. How the people that lived in this icy hell could stand it, she didn’t know.

“I thought you would never wake.”

The male voice behind her made Angelica shriek and spin around. She stepped back and nearly put her foot into the fire.

In front of her stood a man, about five-foot-eight-inches. He had dark hair that he slicked back from his forehead and a handlebar mustache.

His clothing was strange—a tailored jacket and pants that looked like they were wool, with a white shirt, a vest that matched the suit and a bow tie.

“Who are you?”

“You may call me Michael, ma’am.” He dipped his head and raised his hand to grasp the front of his coat.

“Okay…Michael. I repeat. Who are you, and while you are at it, how about you tell me where you came from?”

“I should be asking you what you are doing in this town,” he said with a smile that made Angelica think he could be quite charming when he chose.

Then, his words sunk in. “This place is deserted, has been for a long time by the looks of it. We stumbled into it.”

Then, light from the window filtered in and for a moment, Michael became translucent.

“Oh, my…” Angelica gasped and tensed. “You are the ghost I saw last night.”

“Astute of you, ma’am. Yes, I am, in fact, the spirit you encountered last night, but do not fear. I mean you no harm.”

“I’m not scared of you.”
Did my voice just tremble, damn.

“Good, because I owe you debt of gratitude.”

“Geli.” Colt’s voice came from the entry as he came into the house. In his hands was the bundled up shirt and Angelica knew he must have been out catching breakfast.

He frowned, and looked around the room. “Who are you talking to?”

Angelica’s head snapped to where Michael has been standing, but he was gone, vanished like mist in the sun.

I’m not going to admit I’ve been having a conversation to a possible figment of my imagination, or even weirder, a ghost.