Axel flew around the firehouse in a panic, running from room to room as he called out his friends’ names. “Jax!” he shouted, getting more and more desperate with every second that he couldn’t find them. “Zane!”

They weren’t inside. Axel had checked every room.

His heart was pounding in his chest as he ran back outside among the maze of ice covering the property. Everywhere he looked, there were thick streams of ice hanging over his head like giant party streamers.

There must have been a vicious fight. Valerius had really gone to town spewing out his jets of ice. Axel just hoped that his heavily outgunned friends did okay.

Both Zane and Jax were as tough as they came, but even they wouldn’t have much of a chance against a mated dragon. And the fact that there was no dead ice dragons lying around made Axel worried that his friends had lost the battle.

It was only when he checked behind the building that he found them. Or, what was left of them.

“Oh, no,” he said, rushing over.

The two shifters were each trapped in a solid block of ice. Their frozen faces were twisted in a look of shock and horror, capturing the moment that Valerius had frozen them alive.

“Zane!” he said, rushing over. He placed his palms on the cold ice as he stared into his friend’s wide eyes. The bear shifter’s skin was blue and he looked like he may be dead. Zane’s hands were raised in front of him like he was trying to stop the onslaught of ice that had consumed him.

Axel squeezed his eyes shut as he blamed himself. This is all my fault.

What was he thinking leaving them alone to face a mated dragon all by themselves? He was the one who deserved to be in the ice, not them. This was his fault.

“Jax!” he shouted as he rushed over to the frozen lion shifter. There was an angry scowl on Jax’s frozen face that gave Axel a cold shiver.

“Hang in there!” Axel shouted, trying to get his voice through the thick ice. “I’ll get you out of there.”

He had no idea if a shifter could survive being turned into a solid block of ice, and he was terrified to find out. Panic was rushing through his veins as he ran into the firehouse looking for something to help get them free. He was so worried, and that intense worry was preventing him from thinking clearly, which was why he came out with a hairdryer.

Jax was closest to the plug so he was first. It took a long time to melt the ice around his head, but Axel didn’t take one break.

First, the top of Jax’s head was free from the ice, then his forehead, then his eyes. Axel took a breath of relief when the lion shifter’s wide eyes moved, looking around in panic. The rest of his face was still trapped in the ice so he wasn’t able to tell Axel what had happened yet.

A little while later, the ice was melted around his nose, then his mouth.

“Will you hurry the fuck up?!?” Jax screamed when his mouth was finally free. “I’m fucking freezing!”

Axel gulped, beginning to wish that he had started with Jax’s feet instead. The lion shifter didn’t look happy.

“It’s on the hottest level,” Axel said with a gulp as he looked down at the hairdryer in his hand.

“Make a fucking fire!” Jax screamed. “That’s going to take forever!”

Now that Jax mentioned it, building a fire probably would have been a better idea. Axel went back inside and collected a bunch of wooden chairs and the desk they used for the computer. After smashing them to pieces he built a small fire in front of each of the shifter popsicles.

It took about half an hour before they could each break free from their melting blocks of ice.

“What the hell happened?” Axel asked after Zane and Jax had each taken a steaming hot shower to warm up. They each had a blanket over their shivering bodies as Axel handed them a hot cup of coffee with a shot of Whiskey on the side. “That will help warm you up.”

Both Zane and Jax downed the shot first before chugging the hot coffee.

“I’ll be surprised if I ever get warm again,” Zane said through chattering teeth. “I feel like my insides are frozen.”

“Because they were,” Jax said, shooting Axel a scowl. “Remember when we saw that shattered grizzly bear? His insides were frozen solid.”

A thickness settled into Axel’s throat as he thought back to earlier that day in the forest when they saw the shattered remains of the frozen bear’s dead body.

“He could have done that to us,” Zane said, looking pathetic as he held his cup of coffee in his shaking hands. “One hit to that block of ice with us inside would have shattered our frozen bodies to pieces. He spared us.”

“Thank God he did,” Axel said, swallowing hard.

Jax turned to him with a glare. “Yes,” he said in a tight voice. “Thank God is right. It’s no thanks to you.”

Axel’s chin dipped to his chest as guilt sank in. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He had abandoned his friends when they had needed him the most and they had nearly died because of it.

And it was all for nothing. He didn’t get anywhere with Hadley. If anything, he had gone backward after that failed, embarrassing attempt at a kiss.

“You should have been here,” Jax said, shaking his head as he looked at him in disgust. “I’m going to recommend to Draven that you get kicked out of the crew.”

Axel’s chest tightened with his words. The firehouse crew was all that Axel had left. It would kill him to lose it, but he knew that he had it coming.

He shouldn’t have left. He should have been there for his friends.

“Let’s not let things get out of hand,” Zane said, giving Jax a look. “If Axel had been here, he would have been frozen as well and we would have had no one to thaw us out.”

Jax shook his head. “Maybe with three we could have—”

“Come on, Jax,” Zane said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “You were there. A whole crew of shifters wouldn’t have been able to slow him down. Axel is here now and we’re going to need him more than ever. Valerius will be back.”

“What happened?” Axel asked, wanting to know everything.

Zane’s eyes glossed over as he stared down at the coffee mug in his hand. “He just came walking up the street,” he said with a shiver, “and asked for Draven.”

“We told him that Draven had moved away three months ago,” Jax added, “but he didn’t believe us.”

“That was when he released his dragon,” Zane said, cringing with the memory.

They explained how they had tried to fight back, but he was way too strong and fast for them to handle.

“We couldn’t see,” Jax said, shaking his head. “There was ice everywhere. Coming down from the sky like blue fire that froze the instant it touched anything. How can you fight something like that?”

“We have to let Draven know,” Zane said.

“But we don’t know where he is,” Axel answered as he held his breath. “He could be anywhere in Europe right now.”

Jax looked from Zane to Axel. “I think we’re on our own for this one, boys,” he said with a look of dread on his face. “It’s time to pull out our snowsuits and sharpen our ice skates.”

Axel’s face reddened as Zane turned to him. “Can we count on you this time?”

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “Absolutely.”

“The date didn’t go well?” Jax asked with a condescending laugh.

“No,” Axel said, feeling his heart break all over again. “It didn’t.”

“Cheer up, buddy,” Jax said, giving Axel a hard slap on his shoulder. “Because you have a date with a dragon.”

Zane was watching Axel closely. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You look like you just got your heart broken. Who was that date with?”

Axel cringed. “With Hadley.”

“The girl from the auction?” Jax asked, tilting his head to the side. “I thought she went back home. Don’t tell me she came back to see you.” He laughed.

“She’s pregnant,” Axel blurted out. “And it’s my kid.”

Zane sucked in a deep breath as he leaned back in his chair. “So, that explains why you left.”

“Don’t tell me we’re going to have a fucking kid running around here now,” Jax said, looking annoyed. “I’ll quit.”

Axel just sighed. “You’ll be happy to know, Jax, that she’s going back home tomorrow.”

“Oh, thank God,” Jax whispered under his breath. His face softened when he saw how devastated Axel looked. “I mean, I’m sorry, bud. That really sucks… for you.”

“She’s leaving?” Zane asked, ignoring the rude lion shifter. “Are you going to see her again?”

“I’m not sure,” Axel said, trying to hold himself together. It wasn’t an easy task after the night he had. “She lives in Philadelphia and is planning on raising my kid there. I’ll be lucky if I see him or her once a year.”

His head drooped down and he closed his burning eyes. If only there had been a spark. If only they had connected. Axel could be telling them the news and instead of sad faces and whispered condolences, he could have been getting slaps on the back and shouts of congratulations.

“Don’t look so glum, Axel,” Jax said, trying to make him feel better in his own flawed way. “It’s better this way. Really. Kids are the worst.”

Zane rolled his eyes. “Come on, Jax. Don’t say that!”

But Axel’s curiosity was piqued. “Why do you hate kids so much?”

He had always wanted to know. Jax was always going on and on about how horrible kids were and how they would ruin your life if you were stupid enough to have any. There had to be a reason why he was so anti-children.

“They’re stinky, sticky, whinny, crying, blobs of germs,” Jax said, crinkling his nose up in disgust. “I can’t stand kids.”

“Jax didn’t have the best experience with children when he was growing up,” Zane said. “The kids in the orphanage were a little bit cruel.”

“A little bit?” Jax shouted, raising his voice higher than even he seemed to expect. “No. They were more than just cruel. They were straight out of my nightmares.”

“Not all kids are mean like that,” Axel said, wondering what happened. “You can’t hate all kids because of the actions of a few.”

“Oh, yes I can,” Jax said with a huff. “Watch me. I don’t want to be around any kids. It’s better that your little girl is not living here.”

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Axel asked. “It could be a boy.”

“That would be even worse!” Jax shouted, getting all worked up. “She’s raising the kid in Philadelphia. Let her stay there and you stay here. You dodged a bullet as far as I’m concerned.”

Axel’s head was starting to hurt from talking about this. All he wanted to do was lay in bed and drown in the beautiful obliviousness of sleep. He just hoped that he would be able to fall asleep with the way his mind was racing.

“I’m going to bed,” he said as he stood up from the table. “I’m really sorry I wasn’t there for you guys. I’ll be there next time.”

And since Valerius was still around, there probably would be a next time.

“It’s okay, Axel,” Zane said with an understanding nod. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you tonight.”

“His kid is gone and he didn’t get turned into a shifter popsicle,” Jax said with a glare. “It seems like it worked out pretty well for him.”

“You still have some ice on your head,” Axel said before smacking the lion shifter hard across the back of the head with his hand. “That’s better.”

Jax frowned as he held his head and watched Axel walk to the stairs.