whispered, every tendon burning and every bone and joint loose and springy as old rubber bands. “But alive,” I realized with awe and a sudden burst of joy as I looked up the steep cliff face and saw just how far I’d fallen.
With a swallow, I looked down, past Marlaena’s struggling form, and assessed my options.
The bottom was actually closer than the top. Maybe, if I could control my descent, gravity would do most of the work for me instead of having to fight it in a struggle to climb back to the top.
My stomach churned. My head felt murky and thick. I wondered what was happening far above me. Marlaena had hesitated, changed her mind, and Dmitri had taken a shot at me instead? Shit. How were Max and Pietr? And Gareth. I even worried on Gareth’s behalf. He was the most reasonable member of Marlaena’s pack.
Of course, I probably would’ve given credit to any member of Marlaena’s pack who tried to save me. Maybe my forgiveness was too sweeping.
But Pietr … Where was Pietr? I craned my neck, looking back up, and screamed when I saw the answer hurtling toward me, large and dark and powerful with eyes like hellfire. Wolf. He skidded and clawed and fought the ravine’s pull the whole way down the slope.
He came straight for me with nothing but my battered face and his seething rage reflected in glowing oborot eyes.
We connected, a poof of air slamming out of our bodies and shaking the tree’s roots so hard the entire thing rattled and Marlaena flew free as I also lost my grip. Pietr’s front legs morphed into something more human, sleek and furred but ending in hands, and he grabbed me and pulled me firmly against his chest and stomach.
He tucked and rolled, letting gravity take control but shielding me with his body—a canine roll cage—the whole way down. Above us I dimly heard the sound of something else tearing down the cliff face and for a heartbeat my gaze caught the image of a midnight-colored wolf charging headlong down the slope, paying no mind to his own body’s harm—only one goal in sight: Marlaena.
Gareth .
Pietr and I came to a jolting stop—as if every part of our impromptu journey downhill hadn’t been jolting—and I breathed deep, my lungs shaken and rattling, my teeth aching in my jaw and my mind full of one word: OW . My fingers twined in the dark hair of his wolf’s pelt (never had I imagined a hairy back to be so appealing), and snuggling against his thickly furred chest, I did a quick mental accounting.
I was still alive.
Pietr was still alive.
Pietr was a wolf again. But more important than back hair or battered faces, Pietr was still alive.
Max…?
I whimpered, straining to look up the way we’d come.
Pietr shivered against me and his form wavered, trembling like a mirage around its very edges as he fell back into his human form. Reaching up, I stroked my fingers down the side of his cheek, faint stubble rasping against my fingertips just long enough to wake sensation in them. “You’re going to freeze out here like that…” I winced; even unzipping my coat to open it and pull Pietr into it with me made tears well up in my eyes.
“Stop,” he whispered, grabbing my zipper with one hand. “You need it more than I do now. I’ll be fine. We just need to hurry back.…”
I adjusted my grip on him, my fingers twisting into his hair and pulling his mouth down to cover mine. I pressed myself against him and it only took one heartbeat before he reciprocated, and all the intensity and the heat and the hunger—everything I had hoped for and missed so desperately—came back to him on that slippery slope.
I wanted to scream. Not because of the pain that worked like a cheese grater across every bone in my body, but because Pietr— my Pietr—was back.
He pulled away from me, his lower lip still between my teeth, his brilliant blue eyes sparking with red like someone had set off flares in their wild ocean depths.
He blinked. And shuddered.
I released his lip and
With a swallow, I looked down, past Marlaena’s struggling form, and assessed my options.
The bottom was actually closer than the top. Maybe, if I could control my descent, gravity would do most of the work for me instead of having to fight it in a struggle to climb back to the top.
My stomach churned. My head felt murky and thick. I wondered what was happening far above me. Marlaena had hesitated, changed her mind, and Dmitri had taken a shot at me instead? Shit. How were Max and Pietr? And Gareth. I even worried on Gareth’s behalf. He was the most reasonable member of Marlaena’s pack.
Of course, I probably would’ve given credit to any member of Marlaena’s pack who tried to save me. Maybe my forgiveness was too sweeping.
But Pietr … Where was Pietr? I craned my neck, looking back up, and screamed when I saw the answer hurtling toward me, large and dark and powerful with eyes like hellfire. Wolf. He skidded and clawed and fought the ravine’s pull the whole way down the slope.
He came straight for me with nothing but my battered face and his seething rage reflected in glowing oborot eyes.
We connected, a poof of air slamming out of our bodies and shaking the tree’s roots so hard the entire thing rattled and Marlaena flew free as I also lost my grip. Pietr’s front legs morphed into something more human, sleek and furred but ending in hands, and he grabbed me and pulled me firmly against his chest and stomach.
He tucked and rolled, letting gravity take control but shielding me with his body—a canine roll cage—the whole way down. Above us I dimly heard the sound of something else tearing down the cliff face and for a heartbeat my gaze caught the image of a midnight-colored wolf charging headlong down the slope, paying no mind to his own body’s harm—only one goal in sight: Marlaena.
Gareth .
Pietr and I came to a jolting stop—as if every part of our impromptu journey downhill hadn’t been jolting—and I breathed deep, my lungs shaken and rattling, my teeth aching in my jaw and my mind full of one word: OW . My fingers twined in the dark hair of his wolf’s pelt (never had I imagined a hairy back to be so appealing), and snuggling against his thickly furred chest, I did a quick mental accounting.
I was still alive.
Pietr was still alive.
Pietr was a wolf again. But more important than back hair or battered faces, Pietr was still alive.
Max…?
I whimpered, straining to look up the way we’d come.
Pietr shivered against me and his form wavered, trembling like a mirage around its very edges as he fell back into his human form. Reaching up, I stroked my fingers down the side of his cheek, faint stubble rasping against my fingertips just long enough to wake sensation in them. “You’re going to freeze out here like that…” I winced; even unzipping my coat to open it and pull Pietr into it with me made tears well up in my eyes.
“Stop,” he whispered, grabbing my zipper with one hand. “You need it more than I do now. I’ll be fine. We just need to hurry back.…”
I adjusted my grip on him, my fingers twisting into his hair and pulling his mouth down to cover mine. I pressed myself against him and it only took one heartbeat before he reciprocated, and all the intensity and the heat and the hunger—everything I had hoped for and missed so desperately—came back to him on that slippery slope.
I wanted to scream. Not because of the pain that worked like a cheese grater across every bone in my body, but because Pietr— my Pietr—was back.
He pulled away from me, his lower lip still between my teeth, his brilliant blue eyes sparking with red like someone had set off flares in their wild ocean depths.
He blinked. And shuddered.
I released his lip and
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