41

~Vaela

Part of me didn’t expect Keo to actually keep his word once he grabbed me and assured me he would return me to my mate.

But the moment my feet touch snow, I know everything is going to be okay.

Glancing over my shoulder, I see the looming drop down the familiar mountain that I once climbed to a date I could never have imagined.

Keo looks around distastefully, either not liking the snow or the height.

Even as I sway unnervingly on my feet, still drained of a lot of my blood, I want to hug him. It’s not like he isn’t getting something from our deal, but the fact that he kept his word despite breaking it in the past gives me the sense that maybe the world isn’t trying to punish me.

“I’m all about hiding, but up here? Really?” Keo mutters, kicking a clump of ice off the edge of the ridge, watching it shatter against a rock below.

"What...what are you, exactly?" I ask, taking cautious steps back into the cave, grateful to be out of the environment.

He looks normal…to an exte