PART 2: The Stranger in the Blizzard Found Her First
June tried weakly to lift her head.
The shadow moved closer through the snowstorm—tall, broad-shouldered, wrapped in heavy furs dusted white by the blizzard. A rifle hung across his back while frost clung to his dark beard beneath the hood.
For one terrifying moment, June thought her brother had found her.
Then the stranger knelt beside her.
His eyes dropped instantly to the blood staining the snow beneath her bare legs.
The expression on his face changed fast.
Not anger.
Alarm.
“You’re freezing to death,” he muttered.
June tried to crawl backward anyway, protecting her stomach with both arms.
“Please…” she whispered weakly. “Don’t take my baby.”
The man froze.
Wind screamed across the ravine as he stared at her—really stared at her—and whatever hardness lived in him shifted slightly.
Behind them, distant voices echoed faintly through the storm.
The traders were still searching.
The stranger looked toward the sound once.
Then back at June.
Without another word, he removed his heavy fur coat and wrapped it around her shaking body before carefully lifting her into his arms.
June gasped softly from the sudden warmth.
The man turned toward the white wilderness ahead.
And somewhere behind them—
The hunters were getting closer.
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