Mark's POV
The blizzard howled like a living thing outside the luxury cabin’s windows, dumping feet of snow that sealed us in tighter with every passing hour. No cell service, no way out, just the six of us, my blended family, trapped in this beautiful wooden palace high in the mountains.
I stood at the massive stone fireplace with a poker in hand, gently stirring the roaring flames while the generator hummed steadily in the background. Power had flickered once already, but it held. Good thing, too. The temperature outside was plummeting, and the only real heat came from this fire and the growing, uncomfortable warmth I was trying to ignore in my own body.
“Dad, you gonna stare at those logs all night?” Alex asked, clapping me on the shoulder as he came in from the mudroom. My son, who
