Free Winter's Kiss by Felicity Heaton

death in order to pay for what he had done in giving away his daughter to a demon.”
    Those words were a harsh reality check for her. Winter was right. Her father had given her away in order to protect the village. He had hidden her future from her, weaving dreams in her mind of education and a good job in the city. Why? Why had he lied to her all those times that she had sought comfort from him and the promise of a better life? He had known all along that the man, Willem, would come back for her and her life would be over.
    It was over.
    Not only had she become a demon, but the one person she trusted implicitly had betrayed her and soon the only other person she felt she could grow to trust was going to leave too. Soon she would be alone.
    No, not alone.
    Willem would come. She closed her eyes against the thought, not wanting to picture her future as a werewolf and a slave to the man who had bitten her. Opening her eyes, she looked at Winter. If only he had bitten her. She would have willingly given herself to him. If she had realised what he was before all this had happened she would have begged him to change her, to make her like him. Perhaps that was hindsight speaking, a desire to escape her new life and world. A beautiful fantasy.
    “We must leave,” Winter said, voice low and caressing her ears. He extended a hand to her and, for the first time in what seemed like hours, she listened to what he was saying.
    We.
    Not her or him, but them, together.
    They had to leave.
    A howl cut through the sound of the wood in the houses splintering under the intense heat of flames. Instinct made her tense and she turned to face the direction it had come from. Another joined it. The first sounded again, sending a chill down her spine. Willem.
    Winter’s fingers flexed, drawing her back to them. With an anxious expression, his gaze darted around their surroundings. She could sense a difference in him as though it was a physical change. Her senses spoke of power and strength, of a man who could kill her with one blow. They told her to flee. Instead, she placed her hand into his and allowed him to help her to her feet.
    Her leg hurt. Before she could form a protest, Winter had pulled her to him and turned his back. She blushed at the thought of riding his back again and then told herself not to be so ridiculous, not when she longed to be close to him. His presence made her feel safe. His strength radiated through her. Her new instincts labelled him a threat while her heart clung to the belief that, should anything happen, he would protect her as he had tried to the night that she had been bitten.
    She hauled herself up onto his back and sighed as she settled against him. It wasn’t quite the hug she needed, but the feel of his hands holding her legs and his body against hers was comforting nonetheless. The only thing in the world that was more comforting was the thought that he might have changed his mind. He might not leave her after all.
    “Hold on,” he whispered and she looped her arms around his neck, closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his back.
    She didn’t care where he took her. If it was away from here and he was there, she would be happy. If Winter remained with her, she could bear the weight of the attack on the village and what her father had done. She could face her uncertain future and this strange new world when he was by her side.
    He started to run, leaving behind the village and the smell of fire.
    Nika whispered goodbye to her old life and tightened her hold on Winter, embracing her new one.

Chapter 6
    Winter slowed when he reached the perimeter of the Validus territory. He breathed deep of the clean forest air, desperate to clear his senses of the smell of burning flesh and the memory of fire. His hands still trembled slightly, a bare tremor that no one but him would notice, a sign that he still hadn’t fully conquered the intense fear and pain that had seized him back at the village. The screams,