“We can’t stay up here,”I told her, keeping my tone light even as every part of me sharpened.“Lightning doesn’t care that I am an alpha. And it won’t spare you.”
Her protest came exactly as expected, quick and indignant.“I’m tougher than I look.”
I almost smiled.“I know.That’s not the point.”
“Where are we landing?”
Relief threaded through me. Curiosity was safer than defiance.
“Iceland,”I answered.
Even soaked and chilled, her interest sparked brightly.
I angled us down through the cloud cover, my attention locked on the terrain below and the small, precious weight pressed along my spine. Dark stone rose from the mist. Steam curled up where rain met heat. Moss coated the land in greens so vivid they looked unreal.
I landed carefully, every movement controlled, and shifted the instant her feet touched solid ground. The rain soaked through my clothes in seconds.
She grabbed my hand as she regained her balance, and I felt the tremor she tried to hide. Withoutthinking, my hand tightened around hers. I turned toward her fully, positioning myself between her and the storm, between her and anything that might follow.
This was not what I had planned for my life, but every instinct I possessed knew the truth now: it was better.
I scanned our surroundings, taking inventory of where we’d landed. Black stone stretched in uneven shelves beneath our feet, jagged in some places, smooth in others, all of it wrapped in moss so bright it looked unreal. Steam curled up from narrow fissures in the ground, drifting across the rain like something alive. Water moved everywhere, slipping through channels carved long before memory, pooling in shallow mirrors that reflected the low sky back at itself.
Artemis stopped walking.
I stopped with her.
She turned slowly, her hood falling back, rain dotting her lashes as she took it all in. Her mouth parted, her eyes going wide.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said. “It feels like the earth is breathing.”
“It kind of is.” Then, because I couldn’t help myself, I continued, “Geothermal activity. The island sits directly on a rift between tectonic plates. Constant pressure. Constant movement.”
She cast an amused look my way. “You’re enjoying this.”
I shrugged. “I like places that refuse to sit still.”
She smiled at that and crouched carefully near one of the vents, holding her hands out just close enough to feel thewarmth without risking a burn. Steam kissed her fingers and vanished.
“It’s warm,” she said softly.
Her voice slithered dangerously through my blood.
Then she shivered.
It was a small, barely noticeable movement, yet it still made me feel like a failure.
I shifted slightly, putting myself between her and the wind, pretending it was nothing more than habit. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and let my heat do what it was meant to do, but I held back. I wouldn’t risk making her uncomfortable.
“Give me one moment,” I said.
She looked up, curious. “Okay.”
I turned slightly away and pressed my thumb into the mark etched into the inside of my wrist. The old symbol responded at once, heat flaring beneath my skin.
Caliban appeared in front of me as if he had stepped through an unseen door, perfectly composed despite the rain soaking instantly into his tailored coat.
He looked around once. “You’re in Iceland.”
