Page 92 of Aryn

I crash through the underbrush with enough noise to draw every Viskari after me. Behind me, I hear Cato’s broken, anguished shout of my name, along with Ronan and Lillith’s voices as they fight to hold him back.

Tears blur my vision as I run deeper into the forest. Death follows on my heels, and I welcome its threat. It means my plan is working, and the danger is being led further from my mate. Branches tear at my clothes and skin, my legs burn, and my wounds scream, but I keep running. As I draw the horde further and further away, I pray to the Fates for the first time in decades, begging them for the strength to keep my promise.

Cato

“Aryn!” The scream tears out of me, no better than the shriek of a wounded, cornered animal.

I lunge to stop him, but my fingers only graze the back of his coat. He’s already sprinting away, making as much noise as possible—kicking snow, slamming into branches, fucking taunting an entire group to follow him.

Alone.

I charge after him, boots pounding in the snow and heart hammering so hard I’m sure it’s about to explode. Ronan’s arms slam around my chest from behind, yanking me back with so much force my feet leave the ground for a second.

“Cato, stop.”

“No!” I shout, thrashing against his hold. “Let me go! Let me go!”

I elbow him in the ribs, then again even harder. He grunts but doesn’t release me, then roars as my foot kicks back into his shin. His grip loosens, but before I can fight my way free, he doubles down.

“Cato, you have to fucking stop!” Ronan growls in my ear as he struggles to hold me. “If you follow him, you’ll both be killed.”

“I don’t care! He’s mine! He’s fucking mine!” Tears blur my vision, pure panic and rage giving me the strength to fight. “He can’t be out there by himself!”

The sounds of the Viskari grow louder for a moment, but then the shouts and thunder of running feet veer in another direction.

It’s working. Aryn is drawing them away.

And he’s fucking alone.

I twist violently, almost breaking free as I clip his chin with my shoulder, but Ronan holds steady and slams the front of my body against the rocks. “Cato, listen to me!”

My eyes burn until they overflow, tears streaking my cheeks in freezing rivers. “No! Let go of me!” I choke out, thrashing harder. “I can’t… he can’t! Just let me go to him!”

“They’ll kill you,” Ronan growls.

“Then let them!” I bellow. “If it means living without him, let me fucking die!”

The words pour out of me and the realization hits like a hammer to the chest.

I love him.

I’m in love with him.

Not the hesitant, confused version I’ve been carrying, or the kind you feel with a friend that’s become family, but the real kind. The terrifying, all-consuming kind. And I might never get the chance to tell him.

Ronan spins me around and slaps my cheek hard enough to cut through the panic. For a second, everything goes quiet, and through the silent forest I catch the edges of those voices moving further away.

“You’re a fucking coward!” I bellow as I swing at him with everything I have. My fist connects with his jaw, and Ronan staggers but doesn’t go down. I lunge again, snarling, but he dodges and pushes me back against the rocks with an arm barred across my throat.

“Enough!” Ronan barks, a line of blood dripping from his lip. “He knew what he was doing, Cato. If you run after him now, you make it pointless. What do you think will happen if he knows you’re in danger?”

I’m breathing like I’ve run for miles, chest heaving and tears freezing on my cheeks. I don’t answer, only try to shove him off me.

“Aryn is smart,” he continues. “He’s a damn good warrior, and he knows the terrain. He said he could lose them, and we have to trust him. But the longer we stand here fighting amongst ourselves, the more we risk one of them hearing us. If they realize we’ve split up, they will come back to hunt for us. Getting behind those walls”—he jabs a finger at Maelithryne in the distance—“is the only way we go forward. It is the only way he knows where to find you. You want him to come back to you? Then you have to be there when he does.”

The fight drains out of me slowly, leaving only a hollow void and a heart that doesn’t know how to hold this kind of hurt. “He’s injured,” I argue, hating the way my voice breaks. “He’s bleeding and fucking exhausted, and he’s…” I trail off, fighting the suffocating lump in my throat as Ronan’s grip on me loosens. “I can’t lose him,” I whisper.

Cameron steps closer, cheeks flushed and tears clinging to his lashes. He shoots his mate a glance that makes Ronan scoff, but he obediently releases me. “You won’t lose him,” Cameron says. “He’s counting on you being there, Cato. Don’t make him go through all of this to find out you aren’t where he expected you to be.”