The forest grew darker with every step. Snow crunched beneath Arielle’s boots, but the sound was muted under the heavy white blanket the storm had left behind. Her breath came in ragged gasps. Each puff fogged in the freezing air, disappearing before she could even see it.
And yet, she couldn’t stop.
Not now. Not ever.
She had found the tracks. Noah’s tracks. Boot prints pressed into the snow, twisting deeper into the shadowed woods toward the ravine. Each step burned her legs, numbed her fingers, and made her lungs scream, but Arielle didn’t care. She had no choice.
She had to find him.
Her heart thundered—not just from exhaustion—but from fear, from love, from the realization she had been running from her own feelings for too long. If she lost him, it wouldn’t just be a storm or sno
