Frost Bite

Chapter 11

Josie

There is a man behind me, and his arm is cutting off my windpipe.

My lungs burn and I know that I'm going to pass out soon. I go very, very still. His arm loosens, thinking that I've already passed out and I take in the air as quietly as I can, trying to move as little as possible.

Jack's dark, dark blue eyes burn. I have never seen him so furious – so murderous.

And it strikes me in a way that it never has before, that Jack is dangerous. Probably the most dangerous person I've ever met. Jack has never seemed less human than he does now, with the wind picking up, snow and ice whirling around him in his own hurricane.

Ryan falls to the ground at the impact of the wind and the cyclone around Jack grows until it's twenty feet tall and the force of the snow against my cheeks turns my face red.

The man behind me swears and I jam my elbow just under his ribcage the way that Jack taught me. He lets go in surprise and I drive forward.

Because I know where that mini blizzard is going and I want to be as far away as possible. The man doesn't even make a sound as Jack tears him apart from the outside with ice and gale force winds and freezes him on the inside.

Ryan pulls me up and tries to wrap his arms around me but Jack turns on him before he can reach me.

"What the hell kind of dip shittery is this?" Jack's voice is subzero and I don't envy Ryan right now.

"I was trying to draw them out to end this!" Ryan spits. "I want to go home, jackass! We need to go home! We don't belong here."

I stare at Ryan and the way that the tendons stand out in his neck and the vitriol in his voice and I'm shocked.

And also a little guilty.

Because Ryan misses home but I don't. I don't sit up at night and wonder what it is that my father is doing right now and whether or not he misses me. I don't think about what's going on at school with my friends because my best friend is with me right now.

But Ryan's always had more of a life than me.

"You put her in danger!" Jack's voice echoes across the expanse of the tundra and I clap my hands over my ears because he too loud too present too powerful to be heard with human ears.

Ryan flinches, but just barely. "We don't belong here," he repeats but somehow it sounds like he's saying, "Josie doesn't belong here."

But I'm beginning to think that's not exactly true.

I was an astronaut in my old life. I didn't belong there the way that Ryan doesn't belong out here. I didn't connect with people, didn't make friends the way that he did. I didn't care about the same things that he did.

"That doesn't matter – you put yourself and Josie in danger. If you want to go off and die by yourself, that's your choice. I'm doing you a favor, and if you want to throw that away then by all means, get yourself kidnapped and dismembered. But you need to make sure that she doesn't follow you because she almost got hurt." Jack's voice could tear through steel as he rips into Ryan, who looks at me over Jack's shoulder with this unreadable expression that makes my gut heavy.

Ryan's eyes turn apologetic. "Josie, I'm sorry."

"You're stupid," I tell him but I know he can hear the relief in my voice. Because I don't know what I'd do without him. "Why would you go out on your own? Did you really think that you were going to just be able to deal with it by yourself? Be the big hero?"

Ryan glares at me and Jack looks at me approvingly. I'm not sure how I feel about that, given their enmity.

"I was trying to do something instead of waiting around for something to happen." Ryan glares at Jack and I wonder if this is some kind of pissing contest.

"And it almost got you killed. Fantastic job," Jack says, his voice scathing and I wonder if it's a thousand years of practice or if he was just born this coldly analytical and unforgiving.

Although, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that appreciated it.

"You just love to try to make me feel inferior," Ryan snaps.

"No – I just don't blow smoke up your ass and coddle your baby feelings. You are human. You are weak, breakable, expendable." Jack's eyes are arctic and the razor sharp edge to his words makes me cringe. "You are not equipped to handle this so sit down, shut up, and stop whining about how you miss being worshipped as quarterback for a small high school in the middle of Alaska."

Ryan's face is lividly red and I step in between them.

"Enough!" I shout. "I am freezing out here, so why don't you both shut up and take me back?" I glare at both of them in turn; Ryan looking mildly apologetic while Jack doesn't in the least.

It should piss me off.

But mostly I just find I'm glad to know that Jack will never bullshit me. He may be harsh, but at least he's honest.

Ryan looks at me like I've just turned him over to the Romans for some silver while Jack looks barely calm – fury snaps around in his eyes, destroys villages and promises Ryan that he will regret ever even thinking about doing what he just did.

Ryan may be bored sitting around and waiting for something to happen, but I have my hands more than full with the two of them always at each other's throats.