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“Aria.”
I jolted, almost tripping over myself to get to Sariel. His face wasn’t bruised—which was a fucking miracle, in my opinion—but everything aside from his legs seemed to be in rough shape.
“I’m here,” I said. “I don’t—I don’t know what to do for you.”
“Cabin,” he said, his voice cracking over the word. I stilled. A cabin would be a godsend right about now.
“There’s a cabin?” I asked, scratching my head. My hands had started sweating, as if my body was only now catching up to the mess we were in. How could he know there was a cabin around here?
He took a shaky breath, his eyes finally opening. “Your wolf found a cabin,” he explained.
I didn’t have time to ask him how he knew that, because a howl sounded in the distance. We both froze.
“Where is it?” I asked hurriedly. I couldn’t tell whether the howl was from an actual wolf or our pursuers, but I couldn’t take any chances. “Which direction?”
“The stream, Aria,” he croaked. “Follow the sound of the stream.”
I did.
The faint sound of trickling water served as a guide. I hoisted Sariel to his feet just long enough to get us to the stream, and at that point, I needed to drag him the rest of the way to the shack.
Because that’s what it was. A shack. I don’t know why I’d been hoping for something inhabitable in the middle of a godforsaken forest, but I had been.
I was even more disappointed when I dragged a now-unconscious Sariel up the stairs and into the dilapidated building, only to find that a mere half of the floor was still intact. A majority of the roof had caved in on itself, too, leaving a gaping hole. I prayed for it to not rain.
After I laid Sariel out, I let my body go on autopilot.
The first order of business was getting us water. The stream was right outside, but I couldn’t drag Sariel to and from there—I didn’t have enough energy for that. I rummaged around the shack in the spot that should have been the fireplace until I found a small tin can. It was in surprisingly good shape, no doubt from being underneath the rubble and not exposed to the elements like everything else in the structure.
The howling hadn’t followed us to the shack, so I made a few trips to the stream to keep Sariel hydrated and wash some of the blood and grime off him. I had to keep his wounds clean and hope for the best.
I did this until the adrenaline from trying to stay alive ran out, whereupon I crashed next to Sariel.
The sun had begun to set, and a chill had fallen over the forest. I was trembling as I crawled next to Sariel. Ordinarily, I would run warm enough that the early evening chill wouldn’t affect me, but I was currently running on fumes.
Suddenly, everything that hadn’t bothered me before was now doing so.
My entire body throbbed. My feet ached from walking barefoot, my muscles were sore from half-carrying Sariel, and my back hurt something awful. I could feel a light pulsing starting behind my eyes, too. I hadn’t realized that I’d curled up next to Sariel to steal some of his body heat, my teeth chattering violently, until he groaned and adjusted his arm to accommodate me.
My eyelids drooped. Exhaustion crept into the edges of my mind.
I only need to close my eyes for a few minutes,I told myself.Just a few minutes, and then I’d keep watch over Sariel.
I awakened with a jolt a few hours later to the sound of howling.
Sariel was awake. He’d sat up and pulled me into his lap at some point. I wouldnotthink about how I wasn’t wearing underwear while nestled against his very bare, very broad chest.
I didn’t have time to, either, because the howling was close.
Sariel’s eyes glowed in the darkness. “Welcome to the world of the living, little wolf,” he said softly.
A howl sounded again, and I tensed. “They can smell us,” he explained. He didn’t sound in the least bit worried by this fact; instead, he stared at me, his expression a mix between wonder and confusion.
“We have to go, Sariel,” I said.
The wind picked up outside. The scent of fallen-blood wolves wafted through the house. I started climbing off his lap, only for his arm to band around my waist.
“Are you afraid of heights, Aria?” he asked.
