The strobe light bought Elara exactly forty-two minutes.
She knew this because she was counting every agonizing second, her breath tearing through her throat in ragged, white clouds. The tree line was beginning to thin, giving way to the brutal, exposed rock and deep snowdrifts of the upper Alpine summit. The incline was growing steeper, forcing her to use her hands to scramble up the icy crags.
Her thighs burned with lactic acid, and the freezing air felt like ground glass in her lungs. But she didn't stop.
Deep within her chest, the golden thread of the bond was a lifeline. Lucian wasn't projecting fear anymore; he was projecting a steady, rhythmic cadence. One foot. Then the other. I am with you. It was as if he were lending her the limitless stamina of his own wolf, pushing her huma
