Page 46 of Aryn

Ronan curses sharply. “Fuck, I’d forgotten… Aryn.” His face is suddenly much closer, voice urgent. “There’s an antidote, right?” I give a weak nod, the world already slipping into a hazy fog around me. “I don’t remember what it is,” Ronan growls. “I need you to help me here.” His palm cracks against my cheek, the shock of it forcing my eyes open again.

Pain flares like lightning, racing down into my fingertips as Cato yanks me tighter against his chest. “Don’t fucking touch him!”

“He has to stay awake, Cato,” Ronan argues, steady but strained. “He’s the only one who knows the antidote. Unless he can tell me what to look for, we’re going to be in real trouble.”

I try to lift my head, to focus on Ronan, but the image doubles and sways. My eyes slip closed again as dizziness rolls into nausea. “There’s a…” I swallow hard, my tongue thick and clumsy in my mouth. “Under the bark of the trees. A lichen. Dark brown… with yellow tips. Make a poultice and… and a tea.”

“On it,” Taryn’s voice answers, footsteps already crunching away through the snow.

I tug weakly at Cato’s shirt, pulling him closer as consciousness flickers. “Rha khor…”

“What was that, darlin’?” he asks, the words spoken against my hair. “All that shouting and showing off earlier, and now you’ve lost your voice?”

A frail laugh escapes me. “Show off… you’re the show off.” Another violent shiver tears through me, leaving me trembling against him. “Cato… I’m cold.”

His arms flex around me as he draws me in even tighter, instinctively trying to share his warmth. “We’re getting the fire going right now. Stay awake for me, alright? Can you do that?” I groan, eyelids too heavy to fight as they drift closed.

“Hurry the fuck up!” Cato bellows into the night. “I’m losing him!”

“Fire,” I mumble into the solid heat of his chest. “Wildfire…”

Cato

Smoke curls into the morning air, advertising our location to every fucking beast and person within miles. The fire crackles and hisses as fresh snowflakes fall into the flames, and the smell of cooking meat fills my nose as I inhale. It should make me hungry for my first hot meal in days, but my stomach twists as I glance down at Aryn.

Taryn tracked down the lichen he described in his delirium. Cameron helped grind it into a poultice while Ronan and Lillith swept the woods for any lingering predators. When they returned with nothing but carcasses, they skewered them over the fire. Waste not, want not, even when the meat comes from something that tried to eat your face.

Taryn cleaned Aryn’s wounds, and I couldn’t do anything but stare as she sewed a dozen or more stitches onto his skin. Every warning I received about lacking in first aid hit me at once, and I realized how fucked he would’ve been if the two of us had been alone.

The thought nearly made me puke.

Once Taryn packed the poultice in place and wrapped the bandage, we propped him up and forced the tea down his throat. Most of it spilled down his chin and chest, but he swallowed a few mouthfuls before slipping into unconsciousness again. Now he’s bundled inside his sleeping bag, while I tucked mine on top of him for extra warmth. He’s so thoroughly wrapped in layers that only the top of his face is visible.

Firelight dances across his cheekbones, and the knot in my chest loosens when I realize he’s stopped shivering. Ronan swears the antidote will do its job, and that between the plants and Aryn’s ability to heal, he’ll be back on his feet by lunchtime.

I curse quietly and push the needle through the thick hide of his torn coat, using the repair to keep my hands busy and my thoughts from spiraling. Someone drops onto the log beside me, and I glance over to find Cameron sitting there, hands twisted in his lap.

“You alright?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he answers, eyes fixed on Aryn. “It just… this made it real, you know? That we’re actually here.”

“The freezing weather and fucked-up sky didn’t manage that for you?”

He huffs a short laugh and shrugs. “They did. But all the stories Ronan told me about this place sounded… romanticized. He remembered the good things and left out the part where everything here wants us dead.”

“It’s a world that wasn’t built for us, Cameron. We’re just parasites trying to survive in it.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He pauses, watching Aryn’s slow, even breathing. “Aryn is… he’s strong, you know? Seeing him go down makes me feel like I don’t stand a chance.”

“Ronan won’t let anything happen to you,” I say as my gaze drifts back to Aryn’s face, relieved to see color creeping back into his cheeks.

“I mean, yeah, he’ll try to keep me safe, but like… what if that had been me out there? What if Ronan had to protect me and got hurt in the process?”

A pang of guilt cramps my gut until I’m sure something inside me must split open. “That’s what Aryn was doing. He was protecting me.” Cameron glances at me curiously, and I wave toward the forest as I continue. “Those cat things were after me, not him. Hells, the only reason we were even out there is because I heard something, and I dragged Aryn out of bed to look with me. We found footprints, but he didn’t want to stray too far from camp. I turned my back on the forest like an idiot.” I push the needle through another loop, stabbing harder than necessary. “It was an amateur move. I know better than that. You never give the enemy your back. If I hadn’t—”

“Don’t start piling on the martyrdom now,” Cameron cuts in. “You don’t get to play human savior of the worlds and throw yourself on the sword for it.”

I give him a weak smile, then glance down at where Aryn’s tail has once again looped around my ankle. No matter how many times I tuck it back under the sleeping bag, it finds its way out again. “He pulled me out of the way. The thing was going straight for my back, and if he hadn’t been paying attention, it would’ve gotten me. I would’ve been dead before he could pry it off, and then he would’ve been alone with the rest of the pack.”