Warmth.

That was the first thing that he became aware of.

For so long, Jonathan hadn’t been able to feel anything. His heart had turned to ice, and so had the blood in his veins.

He was frozen. There was nothing but the perfect, crystalline cold. No pain. No desires or yearnings.

No thoughts, and no sensation.

But now, something had changed.

All of a sudden, there was warmth.

Through the cold, clear air, he heard a slow thudding, like the distant beating of a drum. Against his body, he could feel something soft.

It took long moments until he realized what it was he heard.

A heart. A human heart.

And the warmth he felt was that of a human body resting between his front paws...

There. A woman had disturbed his long slumber.

How was that possible? He had retreated so deeply into the ice that nothing and no one should have woken him.

One of his paws twitched. A shiver ran through his body. His eyes opened and closed as he fought against the change happening in him.

No, he thought, no! I am ice! I am cold, frozen, I am crystal! I don’t want to wake!

Then another shiver ran through him. Automatically, he shook himself—and just like that, the ice cracked, small pieces of splintered crystal raining to the floor all around him.

He was flesh and blood once more, for the first time in ten years.

Astonished, he shook his head.

After such a long time sleeping in the ice, the onslaught of sensation, of suddenly being able to see and feel and hear again, was almost unbearable.

He could taste the coldness of the crisp winter air on his tongue, hear the dim howling of the wind outside, see the glittering ice all around him.

It was glorious—glorious enough to almost make him forget that he’d hidden away from the world for a reason.

And then, as soon as the wonder of being alive once more had passed, he became aware of the human who had woken him.

She was still on the floor, between where his claws rested on the ice. She was bundled up in winter clothes, but even so, her golden-brown skin had an ashy undertone to it.

He could hear her heartbeat. Its sound was the slow drum that had woken him.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

It was dangerously slow.

All of a sudden, all thoughts of the past and his exile in the ice were forgotten.

Instinct made him shift before he’d even thought about it. A second later, he was kneeling next to the woman on human legs, reaching out to press his fingers to her cheek.

Her skin was icy cold, but that was not what made him flinch back.

Impossible! It can’t be!

Heat had rushed through him at the contact. His dragon had been too distracted by the long, dreamless slumber in the ice to realize who she was. But now that he was looking into her face, an old instinct had taken over, his frozen heart flooded with disbelieving joy.

My mate!

But how was that possible? He’d slept in this cave for years. He hadn’t planned to ever wake again. He hadn’t wanted to—there was nothing left for someone like him. A dragon without honor. Without a family.

He’d thought himself lucky back then that he didn’t have a mate. At least he hadn’t dragged an innocent person down with him.

But here she was. Alone—and close to freezing to death.

Carefully, he lifted her into his arms.

She moved a little, but did not regain consciousness.

I have to get her somewhere warm.

Even without his dragon’s senses, he could faintly hear her heart beating now, a sluggish, slow sound that echoed inside his own heart.

Had his soulmate found him, only to die here in his arms?

For a moment, despair threatened to overwhelm him. To find her, only to lose her without even seeing her smile at him once...

Wouldn’t it be better to retreat back into the ice, to be forever frozen here, together with her, united where no pain could ever reach him?

Then he gritted his teeth, shaking off the last of the icy-cold crystals in his heart.

“No,” he said out loud, almost surprised by the way his voice echoed through the vast cavern of ice.

It was the first time he had spoken in ten years...

He had to find somewhere warm for her. A human house, with a bed and blankets and heating.

After only a moment’s hesitation, he shifted again.

This time, it was the familiar body of his dragon—warm, living, his heart pumping hot blood through his veins.

He ignored the song of the ice all around them that had watched over his sleep for so long. Instead, he picked her up carefully with the claws of his front paw, holding her close to his chest to keep her as warm and comfortable as possible.

And then, for the first time in ten long years, he spread his wings and soared.

The feeling was glorious.

To stretch his muscles again, to feel the wind beneath his wings... For a moment, it seemed insane that he’d decided to leave all of that behind to sleep in the ice.

He beat his wings, flying up the steep incline that his mate must have slid down earlier.

The entrance was no longer blocked by snow. He’d used his powers to order the snow to hide the cave from the outside world when he’d crawled into it to sleep so long ago.

Instead, snow was scattered all around. It almost looked as if his mate had fallen in by accident.

Despite himself, he found himself smiling, which hadn’t happened in a long time.

But wouldn’t it be ironic if his mate had stumbled upon his hiding place by accident, when he’d done all he could to hide away from the world forever?

Fate has its ways, his grandmother used to say when he was a young boy.

He hadn’t believed in fate for a long, long time now. But maybe she’d been right after all.

Maybe there was hope even for someone like him...

Outside, a snow storm was howling. He drew his mate even closer, worriedly listening to the sound of her heartbeat as he rose up in the air.

Had she become lost in the blizzard? That would explain how she’d ended up nearly dead in his cave.

Maybe they should have stayed in the cave. He could have warmed her with his body...

The thought sent a sudden wave of heat through him, so that he nearly lost his balance when a new gust of wind lifted him.

Hastily, he spread his wings further, soaring on the gale through the heavily falling snow.

No. She needs a bed. She needs food. And a doctor.

He hadn’t paid any attention to the area when he’d come here to retreat into the ice.

It was a mountain high enough and remote enough that no one would ever disturb his slumber, and that had been enough for him.

There were other dragon shifters nearby—he could feel that sensation at the edge of his awareness, like a dissonant chord of music in the air. A warning to respect another dragon’s territory.

But this part of the mountain was unclaimed, and so he had retreated here, leaving behind an acknowledgment of the other dragon’s territorial rights, and the desire not to be disturbed.

For a moment, he wondered if he should seek out that other dragon and ask for help.

But dragons could be very protective of their land and their treasures. What if the other dragon thought that he meant to attack?

He couldn’t dare it, not with his mate’s life at stake.

The blizzard blew more snow into his face. At his throat, his heart stone of pale opal pulsed very weakly.

Carefully, Jonathan drew on his powers to keep his mate shielded from snow and ice. It was tiring—he’d slept for so long in the ice that his powers had diminished. And his heart stone, which helped him focus his powers, felt weakened too.

There was a flaw at the opal’s center which he’d never sensed before. Had the many years in the ice caused a crack to form in the jewel?

He’d have to find a place to land soon. Wherever that other shifter lived, it was not on this side of the mountain. And with the blizzard and the state of his mate, he doubted that he’d make it that far, even if he’d be welcome there. The long sleep had weakened him. To shift and fly already took almost more strength than he had left.

Out of the howling white all around them, suddenly a spire of rock appeared.

Just in time, Jonathan managed to dive to the left, barely escaping a crash.

Damn. That was too close.

Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be quite as lost in a snow storm. As an ice dragon, he was in his element in the cold.

But with his energy so low, it was already hard enough to concentrate on merely staying in the air...

The howling of the storm grew a little softer. The wind didn’t blow quite as hard anymore.

A moment later, Jonathan realized that by evading the rocky spire, he’d taken them into a mountain valley that now spread before them.

The ragged sides of stone protected them somewhat from the elements.

If they couldn’t find better shelter, maybe he could find a small cave down here, block the entrance with snow again and trust in the body heat of his dragon to keep his mate warm through the night...

Then he saw something at the end of the valley.

A moment later, it was gone, the storm driving more snow into his eyes.

But it had almost looked like a house.

With new determination, he kept flying through the valley, narrowing his eyes against the storm.

There!

For a split second, he’d seen its outline again. Dark and definitely man-made, it rested nestled against the rugged mountainside.

He’d seen no lights, but regardless, even a simple hut seemed like a godsend right now.

The house was deserted. There were no lights that went on when he landed in front of it, and his senses picked up nothing but old traces of humans.

If this was a holiday home, it was deserted right now.

He didn’t even bother to knock.

He stretched out his head, and then he breathed at the lock.

A stream of icy cold made sudden ice spring up and cover half of the door.

More importantly, it covered the lock, frost spreading all over the metal, which turned so cold that it gleamed blue.

A second later, there was a soft sound of something bursting inside the lock, and the metal cracked. When Jonathan gave it a careful nudge, it swung open.

Hastily, he shifted back, then carried his mate inside.

He closed the door behind him. At last, the howling of the storm receded.

Then there was another sound.

It took him a second to realize that it came from the gorgeous woman he was still carrying in his arms.

She wasn’t awake yet, but a soft sigh had escaped her lips, and he could feel her arms slightly tighten around his body.

“That’s it,” he said gently as he carried her further in. “You’re safe now. We’re getting you warm again in a moment, I promise.”

There was a fireplace, and a couch in front of it.

He carefully laid her down, then stripped off her frozen clothes to wrap her in a woolen blanket.

Fortunately, the cabin was already prepared for the return of its owners. There was wood stocked next to the fireplace, and kindling and matches.

It took him three tries, but a minute later, flames were springing up, quickly spreading warmth. He sighed in relief, rubbing his own aching fingers.

Cold shouldn’t affect him that much. It was a sign that his own energy was dangerously low.

No wonder, after ten years in the ice...

But he couldn’t rest, not yet. First, he had to make certain that his mate would be okay...

“You’ll be fine now,” he told her, spreading another blanket over her.

Her skin was still cold when he pressed his fingers to her forehead, but she was starting to warm up.

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

He didn’t even know if she could hear him, but he felt strangely reluctant to leave her, even if it was just to explore the small hut.

In the master bedroom, he found a heavy down comforter, which he dragged back to spread over her as well. Then Jonathan went to rummage through the kitchen.

No perishable groceries—but the pantry was well stocked with pasta, rice and cereal, a few cans of veggies and other staples. They’d be fine here for a day or two if the storm didn’t let up.

There was a jar of instant coffee—and next to it an unopened pack of chocolate chip cookies.

Jonathan’s stomach took that moment to growl so loudly that he almost scared himself.

He began laughing despite himself, eagerly ripping open the foil.

“I guess it has been ten years...”

The chocolate tasted heavenly. For a moment, he couldn’t believe that he’d really decided to sleep forever in the ice when there was such a thing as chocolate in the world, melting on his tongue all sweet and gooey.

He moaned in pleasure, grabbing a second cookie before he’d even finished the first.

Then, guiltily, he remembered his mate and closed the package again.

She’ll be hungry when she wakes up...

Instead, he poured himself a bowl of cornflakes. There was no milk to go with it, but right now he was hungry enough that he didn’t care.

His mate was still asleep when he returned to her side with the cookies and his cereal. The room was noticeably warmer, and when he leaned over her, he saw that her skin had lost its ashen sheen.

Instead, her skin glowed a golden brown in the light of the fire now. She’d relaxed into the blanket, the ice that had been clinging to her dark curls melted.

For a long moment, Jonathan sat there next to the couch, eating dry cereal while he looked at her in awe. It still seemed impossible that his life had changed so much in just one hour.

One moment he’d been asleep in the ice, determined to never wake again—the next he was sitting next to his mate, eating chocolate and watching her sleep.

“Impossible,” he said softly and shook his head, a reluctant smile tugging on his lips.

Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe he hadn’t been meant for the ice.

Maybe he’d been meant for her all along...