The warmth felt so good that she found herself wrapping her arms around his waist, beneath his furs, to stay as close to him as she could.

Her arm felt the hilt of his knife resting at his one side. She didn’t want to think how dangerous that could prove, but he was being kind to her right now and that was all that mattered.

Besides, she had asked her mum for help and her mum had sent someone. She would have never sent someone that would mean her harm, even if it was a barbarian.

The warmth they shared, the strength of his arm around her all served to relax her, and she found her eyes growing heavy with sleep.

A not so gentle shake woke her.

“We go.”

She shook her head, trying to clear the sleep from it. She didn’t know how long she’d slept, though she still felt heavy with sleep.

She shook her head again and asked, “Where do we go?”

He backed out of the hollow tree, no answer coming from him.

Fear raced through her. She had no idea where this stranger was taking her and she had no recourse but to blindly follow him. She almost laughed, thinking she was doubly blind at the moment.

Snow and wind snapped at her when she stepped out of the shelter, Thaw following closely, though the wind didn’t hit her as harshly as before. There was a lull in the snowstorm and the man was taking advantage of it.

It was when she realized the snow now went well past her ankle that she realized she must have slept several hours. She reached down and scooped Thaw up, fearing the deeper snow would be too difficult for him to maneuver.

To Snow’s shock and fear, the man grabbed the pup from her arms and dropped him in the snow.

“He walks.”

She barely heard him through Thaw’s barks.

“The snow will swallow him,” she argued, her head turning to look for his shadow, difficult to find through her shadowy sight.

She jumped when his hand gripped her arm.

“We go.”

He yanked her along with him and she had little choice but to keep up with him. She called out to Thaw to make sure he was close by and was relieved each time she heard his nearby bark.

It seemed like hours they walked without stopping, her limbs burning from trudging through the deepening snow.

Finally, she just couldn’t take another step and yanked her arm, calling out, “I need to stop.”

The next thing she knew she was lifted off the ground and thrown over the man’s shoulder.

Thaw protested for her, barking furiously and she was sure the small blur that followed under her dangling head was him.