And still nothing.
I was about to turn around and head back to the house when the wind picked up again, and I smelled her on the breeze.
It was a combination of the soap Red kept in her shower, the strawberry shampoo in her hair, and just... her. Something sweet and earthy at the same time.
And judging by the direction the wind was blowing, she hadn't made it out to the road yet.
I backtracked toward the house, cutting into the woods near the side.
She wasn't far in.
She'd likely been gone only minutes before Daemon discovered she was gone, had heard me calling her, and moved inward as she saw me take toward the road.
I found her crouched down behind an old stack of firewood from back when we used such things. She wasn't prepared for the weather. She's layered a few of Red's clothing items on, but none of it was enough to keep her warm. Neither was the blanket she had wrapped around her.
Her body racked violently with her shivers. Even in the meager moonlight, I could see her too-pale skin, the tinge of blue to her lips, the bright red tip of her nose.
"Fuck," I hissed, rushing forward, dropping down in front of her, wrapping my arms around her to share the warmth of my coat.
A low, tortured whimper escaped her as her face nuzzled into my neck.
"Don't hurt me," she whined, her arms slipping reluctantly around me under my coat.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
"I told you I wasn't going to be a good captive."
"Yes," I agreed, reaching down to grab her under her ass, hauling her up. "You did," I said, yanking her up. "But you don't need to kill yourself to prove it," I told her, wrapping the edges of my coat as far around her as I could, then lifting her up, starting back toward the house.
"Is she okay?" Lenore asked, rushing to follow behind me as I made my way up the stairs.
"She's cold."
"I will have Ly warm up my rice packs," she told me, calling down for him to do so. "You need to warm from the center," she added.
"I thought you were supposed to chafe the arms and legs," I said, having seen it done for the homeless many times in the past.
"No," Lenore and Josephine said in unison.
"It stresses the heart," Josephine added.
"Get her into something warmer," Lenore demanded. "I will get more blankets."
I moved in front of Red's door before suddenly deciding to take her to my room.
Because I had warmer clothes.
That was the only reason.
"Here. Sit," I demanded, putting her on the bed, yanking the covers up over her as she shivered. "Don't fight me on this," I demanded when I came back from grabbing sweat clothes from the closet. I pulled back the blanket, yanked her up, then reached to pull off her shirt. "I'm not trying to stare at your tits, Josephine," I told her, frustration seeping into my words. "I'm trying to keep you alive," I added, getting a grudging sigh from her, but she let me take off her too-thin shirts, and slip on my warmest hooded sweatshirt.
The bottoms of her pants were wet from likely stepping in the small stream that wrapped around two sides of the property.
She didn't bother to fight me when I yanked them off, and one look at her made me more concerned than relieved that she wasn't making a fuss.
Her eyes seemed a little unfocused. Her breathing was weaker.
"Shit," I hissed, pulling the pants into place, slipping on the socks, then pulling the blankets up over her, trying to seal in whatever warmth I could.
"Get in with her," Lenore said, making me turn to find her coming closer with her heated rice bags, slipping them under Josephine's clothes—one on the chest, one near her groin.
"What?" I asked, shaking my head.
To that, Lenore let out a small, humorless laugh.
"I think you all forget it because you feel cold all the time, but you are all really warm. Hot even. It's like being close to a furnace. Get in there with her. You will warm her up faster than my little heat packs or the blankets alone. I will go make her something warm and sweet to drink."
I didn't bother to ask her why it should be sweet. I didn't think the coven of witches she came from got much right in the world, but it was hard to argue with them knowing more about how to recover from exposure to the elements than I did.
So I took a steadying breath, moving to the other side of the bed, pulling off my shirt and pants, then climbing in.
I thought it would be difficult, what with being naked around the woman who had been problematic for my sex drive. But the touch of her frigid skin as I pulled her over my body was enough to chase away anything but what I recognized as concern for her, maybe even fear that she wasn't going to make it.