Chapter Five

Drea woke up in her room back in the Snow Palace once again, her face washed over with disappointment and utter sadness. She couldn't escape. She tried so hard and yet she couldn't leave the Snow Palace. Thinking back to the. events preceding the attack from the wolves, some new facts began to dawn on her. Even if she tried to escape, she wouldn't be able to. The palace was built amidst steep valleys and snowy mountains and now that she thought of it, she couldn't help but wonder if this was an intentional.

What if she wasn't the first person Logan had captured? What if he chose this place simply because people would not be able to escape. A simmering a cold dread swam down her body. Now wasn't the time to let pessimism get the best of her. She might have failed this time around but she was going to be prepared next time. All she had to do was wait and learn her terrain around the palace well.

There was a way out of here and Drea was going to find it.

She climbed down her bed, feeling the heating system fully set into her nerves and walked to the door, her steps light and soft. She pulled the door open and was met with the most dissatisfied look from Cole, her guard who was standing at the doorway, angrier than usual.

"Heyyyy." Drea greeted, raising her hand in an almost comical manner.

"You tried to run away last night." Cole mentioned, his voice practically icy with rage.

Drea swallowed. "Look, I was kidnapped from Westside, okay? Do you actually blame me?"

Cole narrowed his eyes at Drea. "Logan brought you home."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement, one loaded with intense curiosity. Like waves of water crashing against a rock, Drea's memories came flooding back. She could almost see it, vividly, the events that happened when she had the encounter with the white wolves. She could vividly remember the red-eyed wolf. She remembered the shock that had registered on her face when the wolf shifted back to Logan—back to a naked Logan.

of course. Feeling a flame of red crash into her cheeks, Drea couldn't help but look anywhere but down.

"You tried to escape and he let you live?" Cole asked again, almost with disbelief. Drea looked at him and nodded slowly.

"Yeah. He did."

A mild scoff escaped Cole's lips. Before Drea could ask him further questions, she felt a harsh and biting cold weave down her spine.

"He's on his way." Cole's low voice announced. Drea swallowed and found her way back to her bed.

Of course.

Feeling the cold pierce her even more, she increased the temperate of the heater in her room and climbed back into her bed, pulling the heavy bedsheets up to her chin.

Logan walked in, a plain and rather blank expression on his face. Unlike the last time she had seen him, he was fully clothed. Drea studied his cowboy jeans and boots underneath his plain brown sleeveless shirt. He had his hands behind his back and stood right before Drea, his eyes scanning her. Another flash of red swam up Drea's cheeks. For some reason, it felt like he could see beyond the sheets she was holding up to her neck and see beyond the clothes she was wearing. It was like he could see her.

"Are you alright?" He finally asked, not taking his eyes off her.

"Yes. Thank you." She responded. For some reason, she couldn't stop imagining him in the woods, standing before and almost above her, completely nude. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the picture out of her head. Now that he was standing right in front of her, it was all she good think of.

"Good to know." He finally said, the plain expression still resting on his face. Drea watched him slowly retrace his steps and make his way out of her room. The cold subsided immediately and Drea slowly lowered the bed sheets.

Cole stepped gently into her room, staring at her, utter surprise written on his face.

"So he really did let you go, huh?"

Drea nodded, rubbing her palm across her shoulder. She needed to start wearing more of the coats in her closet. She couldn't try another escape now so it didn't matter if the coat had her scent or not.

She was sure Logan wouldn't even need it if he wanted to find her. She rested in his arms throughout the night. He already knew what she smelled like.

"He knew you tried to escape and went after you?" Cole asked

She nodded again.

"And he rescued you and brought you back himself?"

"Yeah."

"And he didn't kill you? You tried to escape—to leave the palace and he found you and didn't kill you?"

Drea narrowed her eyebrows. She didn't exactly understand what Cole was getting at but she could feel the worry in his voice slowly start to increase.

"Yeah, I guess I was just lucky."

A low scoff escaped Cole's mouth. "Luck? Ms. Corrigan, this has nothing to do with luck."

"What?"

"You see, Logan doesn't waste any time in putting anyone who goes against his orders into the ground. He should have killed you last night after he found you. You should be dead. If he let you live, then he needs you for something."

Drea swallowed, the severity of her situation slowly beginning to come to life. She wanted to tell Cole that he didn't just rescue her. He kept her warm with his body the entire night. He carried her to a spot underneath the snowy trees and let her sleep on his warm body. But she couldn't. She couldn't expose that vulnerable moment to her guard.

"What does he need me for?" Drea asked, folding her arms.

"I don't know. But it's definitely something worse than death. Sometimes much more painful."

Another wave of dread washed down her body and she couldn't help but wonder in that moment exactly what Logan had in store for her .