Page 1 of His Winter Wonderland

Part One

The Past

All couples have one.

Some are darker than others.

Chapter One

Winter

Every night, the dream was the same.

She saw herself dying. Not once, but twice. Her, a formidable assassin, watched herself be killed over and over again. It was an endless loop of torment. A two-part nightmare that always left her shaken up and distraught. The reason for her deaths was unknown. She didn’t even know who the culprit was.

The only thing she knew was that no matter how hard she fought against her assailant, she always lost in the end. And her deaths were never short, painless deaths. They were long, drawn-out, agonizing deaths that caused her to awaken from them with sweat dripping from her body and soaking not only her T-shirt but her sheets also.

Despite drinking a new potion that was supposed to stop the dreams from occurring so frequently, tonight, she encountered the same thing. Tonight, like all the other nights, she was caught up in the endless loop of torment. And like all the other nights, she fought to wake up. Her fight was in vain.

All she could do was lurk within the shadows of her subconscious and experience the nightmare over and over again. It started the same way each time, with her lost in the forest, trapped on a cursed tundra called the Frostlands.

It was dark and she could barely see anything. Though her vision was failing her, her other senses worked fine. The frigid air was harsh against her skin. The snow was so cold it caused her feet to ache with each step she took. At this point, she could no longer feel her toes. Frostbite. The howl of the wind drowned out all other sounds, further disorienting her.

Winter knew what was coming, just like she knew she could do nothing to stop it. That didn’t stop her from trying. Navigating blindly through the forest, Winter tried to run. Though she pumped her legs faster, her speed didn’t increase. No matter how fast she ran, her pace remained the same – slow, sluggish, so unlike the real her.

Then she heard a sound that sent dread through her heart every night – the howl of the beast which was after her. Then again, it sounded more like a growl. It was a sound she’d never heard before. And she’d lived a long time. She’d heard the cry of almost every creature in this universe.

But this beast was different. And soon, this beast would catch her and rip her apart limb for limb if she didn’t find a way to break this cycle of torment. Hands out in front of her, she felt around, hoping to come in contact with a tree. If she could just reach higher ground, maybe she could escape this creature, or at least buy herself some time to formulate a plan.

Anything would be better than what she knew was coming. Winter kept running. Though she tried to veer left and then right, the dream propelled her straight forward, keeping her on her path of destruction. The creature was closer now. Each step he took caused the ground to shake.

She wanted to look behind her. For once, she wanted to know what beast haunted her each night. The dream wouldn’t allow it. That left her imagination to run wild. Was the creature huge? With the way the ground was quaking, it had to be. From the way it was gaining on her, she knew it was fast also.

Now for the part of the dream she hated the most. Her ankle twisted and she fell facedown in the snow. When she landed, she scraped her arm on a rock. Every time she tried to get up, pain ricocheted up her leg and arm. In dreamland, the pain felt damn near unbearable. Worse than a hundred knives sinking into her stomach.

The real her would’ve been able to fight through the pain. She’d suffered worse on the battlefield. Dream her was no match for it. She succumbed to it. Dream her was weak. Dream her was fragile. Dream her was scared. And though Winter was nothing like that, her nightmare forced her to feel all of those things.

Lying in the snow, she felt helpless, vulnerable, defeated. Everything she’d been trained not to feel. The worst part of all was that she could feel her eyes watering. Tears dripped down her cheeks. Real fucking tears! She could feel them against her running down her skin, branding her a disappointment.

Warriors didn’t cry. Warriors didn’t show weakness at all. Warriors fought back. Warriors destroyed those who sought to hurt them. Winter sighed. In this dream, she was no warrior. She was one of the downtrodden. The beast advanced on her as she cowered in the snow, lying on her side, covering her face with her hands.

She squeezed her eyes shut when she felt his presence upon her. His hot breath caressed her cheek when the creature leaned down and sniffed her. The more he sniffed her, the angrier he got. It paused when it reached the scrape on her arm. Then it committed the disgusting act it committed every night. Its tongue snaked out and laved at her wound.

That ignited a chain reaction that always led to her death. She didn’t know what it was about her scent or the taste of her blood that set him off each night. Seconds after sniffing her, he roared. His loud howl filled the air. Before the sound could cease echoing through the forest, he attacked her. He clawed at her back and sides, nails sinking deep into her flesh and tearing away her clothes.

His movements were swift, precise. There was no moment of reprieve for Winter, just endless pain. He grabbed her legs and flung her through the air. She landed with a thud. Before a groan of pain could escape her lips, he was on her again, clawing at her, shredding her clothes, leaving her naked in the cold.

On and on, the torment went until her body couldn’t take it any longer. Growing weaker from blood loss, Winter could no longer cry out. She couldn’t even whimper. All she could do was lie there and experience the pain of being ripped apart by an unknown creature for reasons that were also unknown.

Maybe this was her mind punishing her for all the terrible things she’d done in her dark past. Perhaps this was karma. If so, then this was nothing short of what she deserved. She’d done far worse to others in her lifetime. All in the name of war. All in the name of victory. All in the name of justice.

It wasn’t until it was too late that she learned the justice she fought for wasn’t real. Though this nightmare was painful, she would wake up from it. Those she’d hurt, all in the name of war, would never wake up. Battered and bruised, she welcomed what came next. She welcomed the feel of her life ending.

For a split second, there was no pain, just a blind numbness. But death wasn’t an escape. Not for her. Karma wasn’t that kind. Death was only a door to more pain. A gateway to the second half of her nightmare. As soon as her life energy faded and her eyes shut, she reopened them and was greeted with another gruesome scene.

One more horrible than the first part of her recurring nightmare. No longer was she in the Frostlands. She was now someplace worse. Her home realm. That in itself was hell. But the creature had followed her from one dream to the next. Here, it was no longer dark and cold. Four suns filled the sky.

They shined so brightly it made it hard to look up at the sky. The heat from those suns were beaming down on her naked body, scorching her skin. The ground beneath her was as hot as hell. Winter pushed herself to her feet. Though the wind blew, it too was hot. It kicked up dust. She shut her eyes and waited for the wind to cease.