Snowed in with the Demon Lord (Monsters and Mistletoe #11)

Chapter 1

HOLLY

The road twisted up the mountain, demanding my attention in the gloomy evening light. Despite the heating doing its best at full power, I shivered as I drove. Snowflakes whipped past on the wind in ever-thickening gusts.

I hadn’t thought this trip through. This late in the year, daylight wouldn’t last long and, even in good conditions, getting to my rented cabin would take another hour. This drive into the mountains alone was stupid, setting out so late was stupider, and not checking the weather reports? Stupidest.

“Dammit, Holly, you are not backing out now.” Talking to myself—not exactly a great sign. “The cabin’s paid for and non-refundable. I refuse to waste the money just because Jerry is a cheating scumbag.”

I did my best to focus on the road instead of the ache in my heart or the pounding in my head. The world shrank around me as the sky darkened, and my headlights didn’t help much in the thickening snow.

Cheerful Christmas music crackled from the radio, broken up by static and interference.

I preferred that to silence, if only barely.

I’d rather have played something else, but every playlist on my phone reminded me of Jerry.

The bastard had amazing taste in music. If only he hadn’t shared it with at least two other girls sucking the joy from most of my favorite songs.

I’m not thinking about him. Which might not be true, but if I kept telling myself that, maybe it’d become true. This Christmas is not in Jerry’s power to ruin. I won’t let him. I won’t.

With an awful burst of static, the music cut out mid-jingle bell, leaving me listening to the howling wind and the struggling engine.

Yeah, taking my little car up into the mountains was another poor decision, and I knew it.

When I booked the cabin for a Christmas getaway, I’d expected to be riding in an SUV.

Of course, that was with—NOPE. Not. Thinking. About. Him.

I dragged the back of my arm across my eyes, wiping away tears Jerry didn’t deserve, and imagined the lovely warm cabin waiting for me.

Fully stocked for a week away, the listing even promised to have a Christmas tree waiting for me to decorate.

It would give me a chance to rest and relax, exactly what I needed.

Get myself set up for a fresh start in the new year.

“I need some noise,” I said, trying to break my mood.

The radio stayed silent, not picking up a single station.

I tried my phone, figuring that a random online playlist would do—but I had no signal.

Fuck. Not just data, no bars at all. I dropped the phone on the passenger seat and wondered if I should turn back after all.

The snowfall got thicker, and I wondered if it counted as a blizzard yet.

No one knew where I was.

I couldn’t call anyone.

Yeah, that was the point I realized I’d fucked up. Too late to fix it, as usual. This road wasn’t safe, but I was getting close to the cabin. Turning back would be worse than pushing through.

Fuming and muttering under my breath, I kept going. Visibility dropped and dropped, and of course my GPS was useless. Soon I was navigating more by guesswork than knowledge, my headlights barely illuminating the trees beside the road.

It wasn’t long before I was paranoid that I’d missed my turning. The road should branch off to the right—had I missed it? If I had, where was I going?

Calm, Holly. Breathe. If it’s a road, it has to go somewhere. I just keep driving until I meet someone. I didn’t need to worry about running out of fuel and getting stranded. As long as I kept calm, kept my eyes on the road, and kept driving, I’d be okay.

It might have worked if something hadn’t leaped out in front of me.

I screamed and jerked the wheel, trying to avoid the horrible, fanged face with eyes glowing red.

A bear? No, bears were hibernating. A deer?

Not with fangs like that. My brain fixed on identifying the whatever-it-was while my body tried to avoid it.

Neither worked.

The car hit the creature with a bone-shaking thump, the impact sending me into a spin. The headlights flashed over trees, snow, and darkness, and I panicked. Forgetting everything I’d learned about recovering from a skid, I wrestled with the steering wheel.

I was still fighting it when the car spun off the road, and everything tumbled around me until a giant tree loomed out of the snowstorm ahead of me. A moment later, the car crashed into it.

The airbag hit me like a sledgehammer, and then—darkness.

I don’t know how long I stayed unconscious. It couldn’t have been long. The airbag still blocked my view, my poor car sat at an odd angle, and everything hurt. The pain was vague and distant, the kind that meant I was hiding the worst of it from myself.

Fumbling my seatbelt off, I pushed the deflating airbag out of the way with a litany of curses. When I saw the damage, I shut up. My vocabulary didn’t stretch this far.

I’d ended up in a ditch, which explained the weird angle. Worse, I’d ended up in a ditch, and jammed against a tree. The engine had taken the brunt of the crash, and my car wasn’t going anywhere without serious repair, which would cost more than replacing it.

I found my phone on the floor. Good news: it still worked. Bad news: I still had no signal, so calling for help wasn’t an option. Neither was staying here. The blizzard would bury me, and I’d freeze to death in my car.

“There has to be someone around here,” I told myself, trying to sound confident. “There are cabins up here, and it’s Christmas. They’ll all be occupied. All I need to do is find one, and I’m home safe.”

I checked myself for injuries as I spoke.

Bruises all over my body but nothing broken.

Nothing to stop me moving, which was good since I didn’t have a choice.

I put on my jacket, which turned into a slow and painful process, but I’d made more than my share of idiotic mistakes today.

If I walked into a snowstorm without as many layers as possible, I deserved to die.

The driver’s side door wouldn’t open, forcing me to climb across the passenger seat to slump into the snow outside. Once I managed to get up, I held my phone high over my head. Still no bars. Fuck.

Snow swirled around me as I clambered out of the ditch and back onto the road. The cold settled into my bones, even with my jacket zipped up and hands stuffed in my pockets. I wished I’d brought gloves, or warmer boots—mine were decent hiking boots, but not meant for the snow.

Reluctantly, I set out uphill. Downhill would be easier, but I hadn’t seen any lights so far. If I headed up, I might find safety waiting for me around the next turn. Of course, I wasn’t that lucky. All I found was more snow, more trees, more road to climb.

Everything ached, which I hoped was better than numbness. Without another plan, I pushed on, trying to stay on the road in case I lucked out and met someone else stupid enough to drive in this fucking snowstorm.

Though with my luck, they wouldn’t notice me in time, and I’d escape freezing to death by being run over. In this weather, I wouldn’t even blame them. The blizzard got heavier, the night got darker.

My phone’s flashlight app didn’t help me see any better, but it might let someone spot me in the dark and the storm, so I left it shining. Hopefully, I wouldn’t regret spending my battery life, though I had the sinking feeling I wouldn’t last as long as my phone’s charge.

When I spotted movement in the snow, I didn’t know whether to believe my eyes. Something dark moved in the swirling whiteness. Someone? I hoped, though part of me expected a wolf instead, or whatever that thing was that scared me off the road.

“Hello?” The wind whipped the word away, and I barely heard it myself. I gathered my strength and projected confidence I didn’t have. “Help! I need help.”

No answer, or none that carried over the icy howl of the storm. I waved my phone back and forth, hoping the light would draw their attention. Unless a wolf was stalking me, in which case I hoped I’d frighten it off.

Yeah, I doubted that would work, but what else did I have?

The figure in the darkness was definitely real, I decided. Real, and coming toward me. I staggered closer, relief filling me. I might make it out of this. Maybe I’d be lucky.

Whoever I’d found, they were tall. Like seven feet tall, looming out of the snow. I stumbled to a halt as the figure resolved. A few impressions crashed together in my brain.

Tall and broad-shouldered, muscled like a Greek god, his eyes burned like coals in the darkness. His skin was a deep, rich red, which I saw because he walked through the blizzard without a shirt on. Strangest of all, black horns curled up and back from his forehead.

Wonderful, I’m hallucinating. I gave up and collapsed, falling forward into the giant’s arms. They closed around me, holding me with easy, casual strength as the darkness closed in again. To my freezing body, he was hot as a furnace.

At least my brain conjured a hot guy for my last moments. I managed a small grin before passing out.