Chapter 5 Into the Darkness

The river swallowed us whole.

Cold-impossibly cold-wrapped around my body like a shroud. The current twisted and turned, dragging me under, slamming me against rocks I couldn't see. I fought for the surface, but I didn't know which way was up anymore. Didn't know anything except pain and the desperate need for air.

The stranger's hand had slipped from mine the moment the current surged. I caught a glimpse of him-blond hair, blue eyes, those strange markings on his chest-before the water pulled us apart and darkness claimed everything.

My lungs burned.

I kicked, thrashed, fought against the river's grip, but it was useless. The water was too strong, too cold, too dark. My limbs grew heavy. My mind grew foggy. The last traces of air escaped my lips in a stream of bubbles that I watched rise toward a surface I couldn't reach.

*So this is how it ends,* I thought. *Drowning. Alone. In a river in the middle of nowhere.*

Ronan's face flashed through my mind-his golden eyes, his cruel smile, his hands on my body. At least I'd stabbed him. At least I'd made him bleed. At least I'd died fighting, not submitting.

The darkness pressed in closer.

And then-a hand.

Strong fingers wrapped around my wrist and *pulled*. I felt myself moving through the water, dragged by a force stronger than the current. My head broke the surface, and I gasped-choked-coughed-breathed.

Air. Sweet, precious air.

"Hold on," a voice growled in my ear. "Hold on to me."

The stranger. He'd found me again. His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against his body, while his other arm cut through the water in powerful strokes. I clung to him like he was the only solid thing in a world that had turned to liquid chaos.

The river carried us for what felt like hours. My teeth chattered uncontrollably. My body shook with cold and shock. But the stranger held on, never letting go, never stopping, never giving up.

Finally-blessedly-the current slowed. The river widened, grew shallower. The stranger's feet found purchase on the bottom, and he half-carried, half-dragged me toward the bank.

We collapsed onto muddy ground, gasping for air, shivering uncontrollably. The moon peeked through the clouds, painting the world in silver and shadow. I lay on my back, staring up at the sky, and wondered if I was dead.

"You're not dead."

The stranger's voice came from beside me. Deep. Accented. Rough with exhaustion.

I turned my head and found him lying on his back, his chest heaving, those blue eyes fixed on me. In the moonlight, I could see him clearly for the first time.

He was massive-easily as large as Ronan, maybe larger. His body was a map of muscle and scars, covered in intricate tattoos that swirled and curved in patterns I'd never seen before. His hair was pale blond, almost white, and his eyes were the color of a winter sky.

He was beautiful. Terrifying. And completely naked.

I should have looked away. Should have been embarrassed. But after everything I'd been through-the ceremony, the blood pact, Ronan's attack, the river-I had nothing left for embarrassment.

"You're naked," I said instead. My voice came out as a croak.

He looked down at himself, then back at me, and something that might have been amusement flickered in his eyes. "So are you."

I looked down. My dress-what was left of it-clung to my body in tattered strips, more mud and blood than fabric. I was practically naked. Exposed. Vulnerable.

I should have cared. I didn't.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He was silent for a long moment, his brow furrowing. "I don't know."

"What?"

He sat up slowly, wincing as if in pain. His hand went to his head, touching a wound I hadn't noticed before-a gash on his temple, still oozing blood. "I don't know who I am," he repeated. "I don't know where I came from. I don't know anything."

He looked at me, and for the first time, I saw something other than strength in his eyes. Confusion. Fear. Desperation.

"I only know that I had to save you," he said softly. "When I saw you in the water... I couldn't let you go."

Something in my chest tightened. Not the bond-chain from Ronan, but something else. Something warmer.

I sat up too, my body screaming in protest. Every inch of me hurt-my arms where the glass had cut me, my feet where thorns and rocks had torn them, my ribs where Ronan's weight had crushed me.

"We need to move," I said. "They'll follow the river. They'll find us."

"They?"

"The pack I escaped from. Red River. Ronan's pack." Just saying his name made my stomach turn. "He'll kill me if he catches me. He'll kill you for helping me."

The stranger-the nameless man-looked toward the forest, his eyes sharpening. "How many?"

"Dozens. Hundreds. An entire pack of wolves."

He should have looked afraid. Any sane person would have been afraid. Instead, he simply nodded and stood, offering me his hand.

"Then we should go."

I stared at his hand for a moment-large, strong, covered in the same strange markings as his chest. Then I took it, and he pulled me to my feet.

The moment our skin touched, I felt it again-that warmth, that pull, that sense of coming home. His eyes met mine, and I knew he felt it too.

"What is that?" I whispered.

"I don't know." His voice was rough. "But I don't want it to stop."

We stood there for a moment, hands clasped, shivering in the cold, while the river rushed past and the moon watched from above. Then, in the distance, I heard it:

Howling.

"They're coming," I breathed.

The stranger's grip tightened on my hand. "Run."

We ran.

The forest was dark and cold, but I barely noticed. Adrenaline pushed me forward, past the pain, past the exhaustion. The stranger ran beside me, matching my pace, his hand never leaving mine.

Branches whipped at our faces. Roots tried to trip us. The ground grew steeper, rockier, harder to navigate. But we didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

Behind us, the howling grew closer.

"They're gaining on us!" I gasped.

The stranger's eyes scanned the terrain ahead. "There-a cave. We can hide."

He pulled me toward a dark opening in the rock face, barely visible in the moonlight. We scrambled inside just as the first wolves burst from the trees behind us.

The cave was small-barely large enough for two people to crouch-but it was deep. We crawled further in, pressing ourselves against the cold rock, holding our breath.

Outside, the wolves gathered. I could hear them sniffing, circling, growling. Their paws scraped against the rocks. Their breath steamed in the cold air.

"They know we're here," I whispered.

The stranger's arm wrapped around me, pulling me against his chest. His heart pounded against my back, strong and steady. "Quiet," he breathed. "Don't move."

I didn't.

The wolves came closer. I could see their shadows at the cave entrance-large, menacing, hungry. One of them stuck its head inside and sniffed. Its yellow eyes swept the darkness, missing us by inches.

Then, impossibly, it turned away.

"They're leaving," I whispered, hardly daring to believe it.

But the stranger's grip tightened. "Wait."

A moment later, a new sound reached us. Footsteps-human footsteps-crunching through the underbrush. A voice followed, cold and familiar:

"Find her. She can't have gone far. She's just a half-blood b*tch with no survival skills. Search every cave, every tree, every rock. I want her alive. I want to watch her bleed."

Ronan.

My body went rigid with fear. The stranger must have felt it, because he pulled me closer, his lips brushing my ear.

"Don't," he whispered. "Don't react. Don't breathe. Don't make a sound."

I nodded against his chest, tears streaming down my face.

Outside, Ronan's voice continued: "And find whoever helped her. The river carried two scents. Someone pulled her out. Someone *dared* to touch what belongs to me."

The wolves howled in response, and I heard them spread out, searching.

Minutes passed. Hours. I couldn't tell. All I knew was the stranger's arms around me, his heart beating against my back, his breath warm on my neck.

Finally, when the sky began to lighten with the first hints of dawn, the sounds faded. The wolves were gone. Ronan was gone. We were alone.

The stranger's arms loosened, and I pulled away just enough to look at him. His blue eyes were exhausted, but alert.

"They're gone," he said.

I nodded, too tired to speak.

"We should rest here," he continued. "Just for a few hours. Then we move north."

"North?" I managed.

He looked toward the cave entrance, toward the lightening sky, and something flickered in his eyes. "North. I don't know why, but... I feel like I need to go north. Like something's calling me."

I thought of Ronan, of the pack, of the life I'd escaped. I had nothing. No home, no family, no future.

North was as good as anywhere.

"Okay," I whispered. "North."

The stranger looked at me, and for the first time, he smiled. It was small-barely a curve of his lips-but it transformed his face. Made him look almost human instead of like the warrior god he resembled.

"I'm sorry I don't know my name," he said. "You should know who you're traveling with."

I thought for a moment, then reached out and touched one of the markings on his chest-a swirling pattern that looked like the Northern Lights. "Then I'll give you one. For now."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Stellan," I said. "It means 'peaceful' in some language, I think. I heard it once in a story."

He repeated it, testing the sound. "Stellan." Then he nodded. "I like it."

"And I'm Lyra," I said. "Though you probably already heard them say it."

"Lyra." He said my name like it was something precious. "Lyra and Stellan. Traveling north."

I should have been terrified. I was alone in the wilderness with a naked, amnesiac stranger who could have been a murderer or a monster or worse. But somehow, looking into those blue eyes, I felt safer than I had in days.

Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe it was something else-something I didn't want to name.

Stellan shifted, making room on the cold cave floor. "Sleep," he said. "I'll watch."

"You need sleep too."

"I'll watch," he repeated, and something in his voice told me not to argue.

I curled up on the cold stone, my torn dress doing little to protect me from the chill. But then Stellan's arm wrapped around me again, pulling me against his warmth, and suddenly the cave didn't feel so cold.

"I won't let them take you," he murmured against my hair. "I don't know why, but... I won't."

I closed my eyes, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I slept.