Page 6 of Forbidden Daddy Mate
The world felt quiet when I woke up the next day. I frowned, sniffing the air. Something was different. It smelled cleaner, fresher. A chill brushed across my skin.
I hopped out of bed and went to the window. The closer I got, the more prominent the chill became, caressing my skin and sending goosepimples up my body.
My mouth dropped open when I opened the blinds. Snow blanketed the ground. The entire world seemed to have been transformed overnight into a winter wonderland. If the snow on my windowsill was any indication, there was at least a foot of snow on the ground already, and fat, fluffy flakes continued to fall. It was stunning and tranquil.
I rubbed my arms, getting chilly from just looking outside. Shifters were less bothered by the cold, but my tolerance for it had never been great. Shivering, I threw on a thick, comfy sweater and prepared to go downstairs.
Malcolm was already awake, and the smell of bacon and eggs wafted toward me, mixing with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. He turned around before I said anything, eyes crinkling.
“Here there,” he said. “Hell of a morning, isn’t it?”
I snorted. “A bit of an understatement. Though I’m pretty sure Hell is supposed to be warmer than this.”
Malcolm chuckled, nodding. “You’ve got a point there,” he said. He picked up a mug and filled it nearly to the brim with steaming hot coffee. “Here, this should warm you up a bit. You take it black, right?”
“Yeah.” I tried to hide my surprise at the fact that he knew my coffee preferences. He handed me the mug. My fingers brushed his, and I nearly started at how cold his were.
“Sorry,” he said, chuckling. “I shifted and went out running. Wanted to see how bad it was.”
“Pretty bad, if your fingers are any indication,” I remarked. “You should get something warm to drink yourself.”
“Way ahead of you.” He picked up his own mug of coffee and drank.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked.
“The coffee? Excellent, though I brewed it myself, so I’m a bit biased. As for outside…it’s pretty rough, and it shows no sign of slowing down at all.”
“Are we snowed in?” I asked, glancing outside at the thick snow on the patio. It was at least a foot high and untouched.
“It’s looking that way,” Malcolm said.
My heart raced a bit as I thought about being snowed in with just Malcolm.
“Have you talked to the others yet?” I asked.
“I was just about to give them a call and see what they wanted to do, actually,” Malcolm said. “I think you and I are stuck here for a while. I don’t want to leave the car up here for who knows how long, and even if we shifted, the snow’s still coming down. And it’s a long way back to Brixton in a storm, even as shifters.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I said.
He stood, grabbing his phone from the counter and placing it to his ear as he said, “Let me call them, then.”
A moment later, he held the phone out and pressed the speaker button.
“Hey, Jameson,” Malcolm said. “It’s Freya and me.”
“Hey, guys,” Jameson said. “We were just about to get on the road—”
“Might want to delay that,” Malcolm said. “We’ve got a bunch of snow up here. I’ll be surprised if you can get halfway up the mountain with any of the cars.”
“Shit, really?” Jameson said something away from the phone, maybe to Georgia.
“It’s pretty bad,” I agreed.
“Damn. Well, maybe we could shift and get up there that way, but Elle’s the only kid who can shift yet. The others are still a few years out. And I don’t think we can find a sitter for that many kids.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Malcolm said. “But I think it’s best if you all stay down there.”
“What about you?” Jameson asked.