swallowe

ging me under, slamming me against rocks I couldn't see. I fought for the surface, but I didn't

caught a glimpse of him-blond hair, blue eyes, those strange markings on

ngs b

trong, too cold, too dark. My limbs grew heavy. My mind grew foggy. The last traces of air e

ought. *Drowning. Alone. In a

smile, his hands on my body. At least I'd stabbed him. At leas

ss pressed

hen-a

moving through the water, dragged by a force stronger than the curr

et, prec

growled in my ear

nst his body, while his other arm cut through the water in powerful strokes. I clun

d uncontrollably. My body shook with cold and shock. But the str

rew shallower. The stranger's feet found purchase on the b

. The moon peeked through the clouds, painting the world in silver and sh

e not

from beside me. Deep. Acce

chest heaving, those blue eyes fixed on me. In the m

scars, covered in intricate tattoos that swirled and curved in patterns I'd never seen b

Terrifying. And

fter everything I'd been through-the ceremony, the blood pact,

id instead. My voice

e, and something that might have been amu

my body in tattered strips, more mud and blood than

ave cared.

e you?"

ng moment, his brow fu

ha

und I hadn't noticed before-a gash on his temple, still oozing blood. "I don't kn

, I saw something other than strength i

" he said softly. "When I saw you in

Not the bond-chain from Ronan, bu

t-my arms where the glass had cut me, my feet where thorns and r

id. "They'll follow the

he

ust saying his name made my stomach turn. "He'll kill

-looked toward the forest, hi

ds. An entire p

son would have been afraid. Instead, he si

we sho

covered in the same strange markings as his che

at warmth, that pull, that sense of coming home

that?" I

ice was rough. "But I

in the cold, while the river rushed past and the moon

wl

coming,"

rip tightened on

r

ushed me forward, past the pain, past the exhaustion. The strang

rip us. The ground grew steeper, rockier, harde

the howling

ining on us

ed the terrain ahead. "Th

arely visible in the moonlight. We scrambled inside ju

o crouch-but it was deep. We crawled further in, pressi

ffing, circling, growling. Their paws scraped again

e're here,"

inst his chest. His heart pounded against my back, s

idn

ance-large, menacing, hungry. One of them stuck its head inside an

sibly, it t

whispered, hardly d

er's grip tigh

teps-human footsteps-crunching through the un

b*tch with no survival skills. Search every cave, every tr

na

nger must have felt it, because he pul

Don't react. Don't breat

s chest, tears stre

lped her. The river carried two scents. Someone pulled

sponse, and I heard the

w was the stranger's arms around me, his heart be

e first hints of dawn, the sounds faded. The w

lled away just enough to look at him.

gone,"

too tire

continued. "Just for a few

?" I m

nd something flickered in his eyes. "North. I don't know why, bu

f the life I'd escaped. I had noth

as good as

whispere

s small-barely a curve of his lips-but it transformed his face. Mad

me," he said. "You should kno

the markings on his chest-a swirling pattern that looked l

ed an e

eaceful' in some language, I th

the sound. "Stellan." Th

"Though you probably alr

t was something precious. "Lyr

amnesiac stranger who could have been a murderer or a monster or worse.

desperation. Maybe it was something

on the cold cave floor. "Sl

ed slee

, and something in his vo

me from the chill. But then Stellan's arm wrapped around me again, pu

murmured against my hair. "I d

the first time in what f