Her Unwanted Mate On The Throne
Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Chapter 77 The worst of the storm is still coming.

Within minutes, the winds turned from nasty to almost deadly. Doris could barely stand up straight formore than a minute. It would shove her forward or back depending on where she turned and nothing shedid set her straight. Her hands felt numb with how much she braced herself for impact on the ground.She couldn’t tell what direction she had even come from the camp while she was arguing with her innerwolf. How far did she stray? Would they be able to hear her cries for help? Or would they ever replace herbody when this was over with? Of course not-she couldn’t even hear herself breath. Her screamssounded like whispers against the winds. Her wolf was entirely silent as if she abandoned her completelyout in the cold, or perhaps she just couldn’t hear her over the roaring noise. Perhaps it was scared offbecause of her own fear. Doris stumbled across the snow and fell face first into a large pile. She tried topull herself out of it, but the winds forced her down harder. It crossed her mind that she might die outhere. She tried to push those thoughts away and focus on standing, on getting herself up and to safetybut she couldn’t. It was too strong, it was too easy to give up and let it control her. Doris closed her eyesand tried to change into her wolf. She tried to push the wolf out of her but it wouldn’t come. How did shemake it come out? Why wasn’t it answering her calls? Now she was panicking. She felt it in her chestand it rolled through her body like a shock. Doris forced herself out of the snow that tried to trap her andfell right back on her ass when she stood again. The fog blinded her it was like there was nothing in frontof her for miles and she felt as if she was an entirely different world she entered. She was so cold, it wasagony. No sense of her felt warm or as if she would ever feel warmth again. This was it for her, it had tobe. “Help!” Doris screamed, but it was lost in the air lie she said nothing. Her fear crept on her and triedto suffocate any chance of survival. She walked against the wind and towards it, until she realized shewas going in circles. She kept passing the same tall rocks and her footsteps were covered before shenoticed she was heading the same way over and over again. She must have passed it a dozen timesbefore she gave up and stopped for a minute to think. Doris finally decided to rest against the rockswhen her legs started to burn. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes tightly, prayingthe winds would end and the storm would blow through soon enough. How long had she been out here?

Would hours turn to days? She wouldn’t last a single night in this weather. Her jacket wasn’t warmenough to save her, not even close. Her teeth chattered so hard, she was afraid they would crack andbreak into a million pieces. Her bones felt as if they were ice inside her and she felt as if she completelylost feeling of her toes and fingers. If she was a wolf, she might have been able to survive this with all ofher fur. But her attempts fell flat, her wolf wouldn’t answer to her and she wondered if it was because oftheir argumentWould she punish her enough until she died? Or did Doris just not understand how toshift on command? of course she didn’t know how to do that, not even close. She only shifted once andshe wasn’t even sure how that happened. It was ripped out of her without a second thought to savesomeone else rather than herself. Perhaps deep down, she truly just didn’t want to save herself. Dorisslid down the rock and fell into the snow. Her hands and arms felt frozen, she could barely lift them asmore time passed. How long had she laying here? Would anyone notice she was even gone? Of coursenot, she hadn’t told anyone she was going out for a walk. She bet everyone knew a storm was comingand she was the only one stupid enough to wander out into the worst of it. She bet they all thought shewas in her cabin nice and warm like they all were. Snow began to cover her legs and the rest of herbody. She held her arms tighter around herself and trembled. In minutes, her legs had been almostcompletely covered. She tried to stand and pull herself out of it, but her legs wouldn’t bend. They werefrozen, as were her arms. She laid back in the snow almost willingly when the wind pushed her harderthan it ever had before. It covered her in a layer of snow as if she was just part of the ground and shenever existed. Why did she even come out here? She forgot what she had been mad about. She forgotwhat made her mad enough to ever venture out to her death and not think about the horrible weather.Freezing to death had never truly crossed her mind before. Even all the nights she shivered and wishedfor a hundred blankets. All the times she fell into the snow and cursed at herself for not paying attention,she never thought she would be caught out in a storm. How ridiculous of her to die this way after all shehad been through. Doris closed her eyes and felt the darkness start to take over. It was better than beingraped or beaten to death, she supposed. At least she could take a shred of her dignity with her andhopefully it would pass on with her in the next life. By the time they found her body, she would be nothingbut ice. So cold, she would shatter like glass if they tried to move her. “Doris!”

The sound of his deep voice tugged at the edge of her mind. She saw his beautiful face behind herclosed eyes. He wasn’t mad at her like he usually was, he looked almost peaceful. She thenremembered why she left her room, because of their fight. She wondered what would have happened ifshe just agreed to help. Would she be laying here now? Most definitely yes, she would have been upsetwith herself for agreeing to be something she wasn’t. “Doris!” The voice called again. It sounded louderin her head, as if he was right next to her. She wondered if he noticed she was gone or if he would carethis time. So many times he had come to her aid when all she did was push back against him. She didn’tdeserve to be helped by anyone, least of all him. Doris opened her eyes a saw a dark shape in the fog. Alarge body had his arm out in front of him, shielding his eyes from the rough snow that tried to take himdown. He moved like a force, she was sure she was imaging it. That tended to happen when you werenear death-hallucinating things she wished were true. She heard her name like a bell through the noise.How could she hear him so clearly when she couldn’t even hear herself? William lowered his arm whenhe saw her. His face was red and his eyes were squinted as if he could barely hold them open to look ather. “Doris!” He shouted again. William fell to his knees beside her and pushed all of the snow off herbody before he took her in his arms. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing and she couldn’t even bendher arms enough to hold onto him. Her legs dangled over his arms, he held her firm against his chest ashe looked around. 1 “We have to replace cover, the worst of the storm is still coming.” He said loudly againsther ear. Doris shivered against his warm breath. He barely seemed to be bothered by the snow at all.Doris closed her eyes again when the snow stung her eyes and tried to blind her vision. He held her firmas he stumbled across the rough patches of snow. She listened to his heavy breath and tried to focus onthat when her insides felt as if they were giving up on her, “I think there might be somewhere nearby.” Hesaid loudly, as if he was just trying to keep her awake. Doris didn’t open her eyes, she wasn’t sure howmuch time had passed until the sounds dimmed all at once as if the air was being blocked out. Dorisopened her eyes and saw nothing, just blackness. She tried to part her lips to speak, but nothing cameout.

William laid her down. “I’ll get a fire starting—” Doris couldn’t hear a word he said after that as darknesstook her over completely.