42

I heard screams in the distance, but the cloud of snow was increasingly obscuring my vision. It completely enveloped me until I was no longer sure where the safe bank was at all. The ice cracked beneath me and it was certainly only a few seconds before it broke beneath me.

I just looked at the chaos unfolding around me as well as the delusion flashing before me. Two eyes flashed like small rays of sunshine before the snow hid them from me again.

I did not know, what I should do. Run away and trust Caspian or surrender to the fate Elisane intended for me.

The ring around my finger tightened again. It got hotter and hotter and seemed to invigorate my body from within. It was as if an alien force took over my body.

She made me hear the voices on the shore loud and clear between the roar of the detonations, as well as paws walking across the ice. I could distinguish each sound at once, as well as the heartbeat coming closer with a smell so familiar to me.

Grayson's bright wolf appeared in front of me in a flash. He ran towards me faster than I've ever seen a wolf run. Caspian had kept his promise, it crossed my mind.

"Grayson," I murmured, and he started walking even faster. It was like a command that my feet finally started to move. Below us, the ice was breaking louder and I started walking faster and faster in the direction he was walking.

He appeared next to me and I grabbed his fur and it slipped silky smooth through my hands. Before my hand could reach him, he bit my arm, which was grabbing his fur. I was dragged along for a few seconds before I found enough footing to climb onto his back.

The adrenaline in my body gave way to the safety I suddenly felt, as did the pain in my arm. I burrowed into his fur and listened to the ice break beneath us.

The crunching of the snow under his paws gave way to the breaking of the ice under his paws. Only the detonations didn't stop behind us, as did the screams across the lake. But nothing could distract me anymore. All I felt was the safe warmth beneath me, which I gripped tighter and tighter.

He stopped far too quickly and I slipped out of his fur. I couldn't believe he was standing in front of me. I felt his fur again and his snout rubbed against my neck.

My entire body was on fire. I was so hot I didn't know if it was the adrenaline or the tingling sensation that touch was causing.

If we were dead I wouldn't be able to feel this. But I felt, I heard and I saw my mate and he was alive.

"Grayson," I whispered and kissed him.

Grayson suddenly turned and began to growl dangerously loudly. He kept stepping back and stood protectively in front of me. An upright, reddish-brown wolf appeared in front of us in a flash.

"Lycans," I whispered, hiding behind Grayson.

"I am Nieva," a lycan introduced herself after assuming her human form.

I remembered her, she had been on the plane on the flight here. She hadn't spoken a word and hearing her rich, deep voice now was so engaging I wanted her to continue.

Her long red hair reached down to her thighs. She placed them in front of her body so that they completely covered her upper body.

"How did you do that?" I looked at the drifting ice floes on the lake and the steep slopes that lined it. No wolf would get over it in such a short time.

I once saw what Cyril was capable of bringing down trees when he threw Elisane at them and yet she returned here unharmed too.

"Lycan secret," she winked. "I'm here to take you back with me." Grayson's looked her way, growling.

"A storm is coming. The heli's in Juneau won't be able to start to pick you up until tomorrow at the earliest. It takes five hours on his back to go over the mountains, two days on foot and it's too dangerous," she explained. I was well aware of that.

"I know." I looked at Grayson, who stepped between her and me.

"The storm will hit St. Vincent of Ice in an hour," she turned to Grayson, and he growled at her anyway. She might be able to carry me, but him? Even if she could, he certainly wouldn't let him.

"There's a checkpoint. It might take Grayson thirty minutes to get there. There's clothing, food, tents," I murmured. "You could pick us up there tomorrow," I suggested.

"Your choice, my queen." She shouldn't call me that, because I wasn't. It felt even more dreadful in front of Grayson. I had already made my choice, and here she was, standing beside me in shimmering golden fur. I sure would never leave his side again.

"I'll come with you and make sure it's safe where you're going. Then I'll judge it."

"Which direction?" she asked immediately. I pointed in the northeast direction. "About twenty kilometers from here. I know this place well, me and Jade—"

"Yes, yes, she said something like that," she interrupted me, stretched, and two seconds later stood in front of me transformed. It was both unnerving and fascinating at the same time. A wolf standing upright in auburn fur. In a flash, she circled Grayson and the next second I saw him sprinting two hundred meters behind us.

"That really wasn't necessary," I babbled, but the speed and the freezing air that rushed into my lungs when I spoke quickly silenced me.

Grayson was still in my line of sight, but he couldn't keep up with her. Before I knew it, it was just a small dot on the horizon that only got bigger when she stopped for a moment to let me show her the way.

When we arrived there was no sign of Grayson, I ran back in the direction we came from while she opened the boxes and in no time at all set up a tent, sleeping bags, food and basically everything she could find she threw into the tent.

"He'll be here in a moment." Nieva came to my side and put a hand on my shoulder. "May I see him again first?"

„Wen?"

"What," she laughed. "The ring." I hastily removed my glove and she grabbed my hand. She watched him for a long while, nodding in satisfaction.

"What does it mean?"

"That we'll meet again one day." She let go of my hand and paced nervously in front of me.

"That means? What is that ring?"

"The Ring recognizes you as Caspian's Erasthai. This is unusual and dangerous for him. He hasn't tagged you yet, and his life is now tied to yours, as are so many others."

"I didn't mean to!" I shook my head.

"The ring will protect you from a lot, from the cold out here," she continued undeterred.

"Caspian before that, if you and Grayson,.. or him.. well, I don't need to explain that. But above all, he awakens your lycan in you. Slower than if Caspian tagged you. This will give you more strength for sure and you will age at the speed of a lycan." She smirked and looked dreamily at the ring.

"I can't take it off." I'd tried a few times, but I could barely grab it when I did. It kept slipping through my fingers.

"Not as long as you and Caspian are alive. "There really is still romance in our world," she crooned, and I wondered which one she lived in. "Who knew Caspian could still surprise me. Clever bastard," she laughed out loud.

"What does that mean? What do you mean?" I repeated my question.

"That he won't stop hoping and that the old Caspian is still in him," she replied dreamily. "I'll tell you a little secret now. You didn't get it from me," she said like a little girl.

"Sure," I reply quickly.

"I've known Caspian since he was born," she began. Well, I could have asked her her age, I could have worked that out. "He was very much in love once. He forgot everything around him, against his wishes Father's, he spent all his time with her. First love is special."

"What happened?" The image somehow didn't fit Caspian.

"He buried her and to this day I thought his heart was the same with her," she smiled dreamily.

"Why didn't it extend her life if the ring is capable of that?" I eyed her carefully, but nothing made me suspect she was lying.

"It doesn't work that way," she shook her head. "But I have to go."

"What happens now?" Nieva turned around and I saw Grayson coming closer and closer behind her.

"I'm flying back, I have to protect an entire island from Caspian's brother and his minions. Elisane was just a tool for him." She looked at me doubtfully when I didn't react.

"Caspian kept you in the dark the whole time? Then it is probably his wish that you have a good life and that it stays that way."

"I meant with me and Caspian," I whispered. I already knew what I wished for Grayson and I.

"Caspian won't take you. You must come to him. He knows the value of first love. What would he think of you if you were with him heartbroken and unable to love him." I was speechless.

"That's probably never going to happen," I muttered, if I had anything to say in all the mumbo-jumbo.

"That's where you're wrong. Luna certainly won't leave her favorite child without Erasthai." Nieva transformed back before I could ask another question.

She glanced at Grayson, who was slowly trotting towards us, and disappeared the next moment. Grayson must have overheard it all. I just wanted to know if he would leave us alone and that's exactly what she did. I was satisfied.

His wolf slowly stalked me and I immediately grabbed his ears and snuggled against his neck. His low growl buzzed in my ears and I stroked his warm fur.

I was still surprisingly warm, but his warmth was different. She enchanted me and left me satisfied and protected before him.