Something in the distance caught his eye. The wind died down, offering a brief respite from the swirling wall of white. Ivan squinted as he moved, his leg muscles working overtime when he realized the odd shadow in the snow up ahead wasn’t a shadow at all.
It was a person.
And they weren’t moving.
“Cera!”Ivan ran hard and fast as he covered the few yards between him and his precious fallen angel.
No! She’snotan angel! She’s alive with a beating heart that’s bigger and more capable of love than she knows!
His toe hit something concealed by the snow, and Ivan went down onto his knees. The denim on his knees became instantly soaked, but he ignored that—along with the biting pain in his frozen hands and windburned face—and rose back to his numbing feet and pushed himself on.
“Cera!” His overworked voice cracked as he grew closer.
She wasn’t moving. Why the fuck wasn’t shemoving?
A quick glance around him revealed she was out here all alone. Knowing there was no immediate threat nearby, he announced his arrival so she’d know she was safe.
“I’m here!” He dropped to his knees beside her. “Ah, God, baby. I’m here!”
Ivan slid his hands beneath her still form, rolling her onto her back as he lifted her into his arms. Cera’s head lolled backward, her neck resting in the crook of his frigid arm.
Her eyes were closed, her lips an unnatural, bluish tint. From the cold, or something unthinkable, he didn’t know.
Giving her a quick but thorough head-to-toe assessment, he found no injuries or wounds aside from the bruise still healing on her forehead from the explosion.
His trembling fingers flew to her pulse point. He willed himself to keep them steady, and while his hands were damn near numb from the cold, Ivan focused on finding even the slightest sign of life.
The sound of his own pumping blood filled his ears, his heart pounding painfully inside his chest as he held her close and waited.
Come on, baby. Please be with me. I fucking need you to stay with me!
Ivan’s hope began to wane. Tears froze at the corners of his eyes, and his heart was being ripped from his soul. But just as all hope seemed to be lost, he felt a faint, even tapping against the pads of his index and forefingers.
“Cera?” His eyes flew to hers, but her lids were still closed.
It was okay, though. She was going to be okay. At least that’s what he kept telling himself.
Ivan knew from his training the dangers of hypothermia. He also knew the window Cera had to get to help before permanent brain or organ damage occurred. But even if her heart stopped beating, the one benefit to the situation was the hypothermia, itself.
She’s not dead until she’s warm and dead.
It was something he’d learned back in BUD/S. Because she wasn’t dead, until she was warm and dead, and come hell or high water, he was going to make sure the latter didn’t fucking happen.
In a stumbling move, Ivan managed to push himself to his feet while lifting Cera fully into his arms. Not for the first time, he found himself thankful as hell he’d chosen to follow his dream of becoming a SEAL.
The training, discipline, and pure fight for survival he’d come to rely on had helped him through numerous, life-threatening situations. But none had been as important as this moment.
This woman.
Her.
Ivan crested the hill just as emergency personnel were exiting their flashing vehicles. Tears of relief threatened to freeze over his vision, but he blinked them away before they had a chance to rise to the surface.
“Here!” he yelled as loudly as his raspy voice would allow. “Over here!”
Several heads turned in his direction, and he was thankful as fuck that the forceful wind had dulled to a delicate whisper. Bundled men and women came running in his direction, their movements propelling him forward in his race to meet them.
Sharing everything he knew about her condition and Timothy Randall’s unknown location, he made his way over to the paramedics’ awaiting gurney. Though he hated to do it, Ivan stepped back, relinquishing her care—her life—to their trained and capable hands.