The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

breached the surface and she took a ragged gulp of air, her lungs and major organs burning, burning.
    Under again. Heavy coat pulling her down.
    Quiet. So cold that the shock leached from her body, leaving numbness behind. The numbness was nice, almost warm. Silence. Stillness.
    Floating. Would it be so bad just to let go?
    Hands grasped her coat and yanked her up, the sweet tranquillity broken by a cold wind. She ate air in small, razor-sharp bites. The strong grip pulled her over the ice lip of the pool, dragged her across the frozen surface of the lake. Above her she saw only white. Pain had entered every molecule of her body. Her teeth chattered so hard, she was sure she’d break them.
    A face entered her line of sight - eyes as light and icy as the frozen water, face as jagged and hard. Mac mouthed her name but she heard nothing.
    Then she saw nothing.
    Lily woke with a jolt, sitting up. “Casey!”
    Mac sat beside a fireplace, poking a stick into the embers. His back was to her and he didn’t turn. He wore only a pair of well-loved jeans, the muscles of his back working as he tended the blaze. Even his feet were bare.
    The soft blankets shifted against her body and she realized she was naked. The bed was rough hewn from logs. In fact, she was in a log cabin and everything in it looked handmade. A small cooking area - not quite a kitchen — stood to her right. There was a couch and a chair, two hulking bookshelves stacked to bursting with books. There was Mac and the fireplace.
    She hurt.
    The memory of falling through the ice flooded her mind. Flailing against the weight of her clothing. The bitter cold. Giving in to the seductiveness of the water. Her nurse’s mind flitted through the possibilities - hypothermia, frostbite? But she felt all right, if a bit chilled and sore.
    “Where am I? How did you get me here?” She flipped the blankets back and her bare feet hit the wood floor with a slap. “We have to go. Casey—”
    “Is safe,” Mac said from the fireplace without turning around. “At least for now.”
    “What do you mean?” Pause. “Goddamn it, talk to me!”
    He paused in his incessant jabbing at the fire and turned. “I found Casey. Telepathically.” He paused in his incessant jabbing at the fire and turned. His gaze swept her. “Get back into bed.” His voice had a rough edge that made her jerk away.
    Remembering she was naked, she eased back under the blankets. Oh well, he’d been the one to undress her. He’d seen it before. Being a nurse, it wasn’t like the naked body bothered her much. Mac needed to get a grip.
    “Casey is in a cave. I think I know where he is, but he can’t tell me for sure. He’s lost.” He paused. “He’s being hunted.”
    “Explain.”
    Mac turned his head away from her. “He’s being tracked by a bunch of humans. They’re hunting him like an animal. They intend to shoot him.”
    Lily’s blood went almost as cold as when she’d fallen into the lake. “That’s imposs—”
    “No, not really. It wouldn’t be the first time a group of shifter-hating humans has come up the mountain for a bit of sport. They always pick the young ones. They wouldn’t dare try this on a mature member of the pack.”
    Lily stared at him for a long moment, letting his words sink in. He had no reason to lie, even if she desperately wanted this to be one. It made sense she’d never heard of it happening before. The pack wasn’t exactly into information dissemination with humankind, not even with well-meaning, bleeding-heart nurses. “If that’s true we need to get to him before the hunters do.”
    “Not that easy.” Mac jerked his head towards the window. “Not even I can travel in this.”
    Beyond the window, it was white - a pure sheet of snow that looked like someone had taken a paintbrush to the glass. Every once in a while, the wind lulled and she glimpsed chaotic white swirling. It was a flat-out blizzard.
    “Oh no.” The panic welled and she forced it down with what she hoped was not a visible effort. “The boy . . .”
    “Is safe, like I said, for now. He found a cave and he’s in wolf form. Casey is a smart kid. He’s warm and dry for the time being.” Mac paused, his expression going tight. “Let’s hope for less for the hunters.”
    “Where are we?”
    “My home. I was leading us here when it became clear the storm was brewing. Luckily we weren’t far when you fell through the ice. How are you feeling?”
    She levered up a bit,