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“ C HLOE!!”

At the same time as Ethan screamed out her name, the pegasus let out a shriek that went beyond actual words, the sound echoing in Ethan’s head.

He watched in gut-churning horror as Chloe’s eyes widened, her mouth opening in a silent plea, her arm reaching out toward him. She teetered for the briefest of split seconds – before the ledge beneath her crumbled completely.

Ethan lunged for her, but it was too late – she was too far away, having been several steps ahead of him.

But he didn’t hesitate. Not even for a second.

And for once, he and the pegasus were in total accord.

He was leaping off the ledge before Chloe had even disappeared from sight, angling himself downward in an attempt to intercept her as she tumbled through the air, positioning his body in such a way as to be as aerodynamic as possible.

Shifter reflexes were an extraordinary thing, and the power of the mate bond even more so. He’d moved so fast that his outstretched fingers were able to hook in under the rope around her waist, pulling her in close to his body.

If there was one thing that the pegasus knew, it was how to move through the air in ways that humans could never comprehend. He rotated his body so that he was beneath her, holding her tight.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered into Chloe’s ear. “I’ve got you.”

We will take the impact for her, the pegasus hissed, with a tone of pure determination that he’d never heard from it before. We shall give up our lives, if necessary.

While Ethan hoped it wouldn’t come to that , he had to admit that things weren’t looking great.

He’d caught the glimmer of water at the bottom of the gorge when he’d leapt off the ledge, but he had no idea how deep it was.

And even if they survived the fall, he had no idea how they’d manage to get out of the gorge.

First things first, he told himself. Let’s just survive the landing. Everything else is just unnecessary noise.

A faint whisper from Chloe caught his ear, barely audible in the rush of wind, and it took him a moment to put the sounds together.

I love you.

His heart leapt into his throat.

It can’t end like this. It can’t.

He knew that the ground was rushing up to meet them at any moment – that there probably wasn’t time for words.

But his cheek brushed the side of her neck as he tightened his arms around her, and he knew that his feelings would flow to her through the mate bond – the thing that connected them to each other, made them belong to each other.

It goes beyond words, Ethan thought as they fell. It goes beyond everything –

His back met the ground with a solid, almighty smack that definitely signified broken ribs, and he had a moment of confusion – he’d been sure that there was water at the bottom of the gorge, but apparently not, because clearly he’d slammed straight into solid stone.

His vision swam, his eyes bleary, and he took a moment to wonder if this was where he was going to die – and, more to the point, whether Chloe was okay – before he realized that the swirling patterns in front of his eyes were actually the churning of the river, and what had felt like solid rock beneath him had actually been the water’s surface knocking all of the breath out of his body.

Time seemed to lose all meaning. He honestly couldn’t tell whether he’d been in the water for a minute or a millisecond, or whether he was going to smash into the riverbed or continue sinking forever.

All he knew was that he was freezing and he couldn’t breathe – he could barely move. And that Chloe was with him, still cradled in his arms.

Protect our mate, the pegasus gasped, seeming almost as confused as Ethan felt, all of its consciousness reduced to the one thought. Protect her at all costs.

Ethan could feel Chloe’s terror through the mate bond – which was at least somewhat reassuring, in that it meant that she was alive.

I have to let her go, so she can swim to the surface –

The ground – the real ground, this time – met his back with full force a moment later, and any air that may have still been in his lungs after the first impact was well and truly gone by now, quickly replaced by ice-cold water as he gasped in a breath reflexively.

Choking as his panicked lungs tried to breathe in air and just breathed in more water instead, he thrashed about, unable to tell which way was up.

He knew he needed to get out of here. He was still alive – if only just – and Chloe needed him.

Get up! his pegasus snarled. Move, you idiot!

And he was going to – really, he was. He just needed a moment to get his breath back. It really was hard to breathe right now, for some reason.

Above him, a murky shadow moved, its swirling hair haloed by a distant light far above.

An angel, he thought dizzily.

The angel moved closer, its face twisted in rage and fear. Even through the water and with its mouth closed, it seemed to be screaming at him to get up , its eyes wide.

An angry angel. I wonder what I did to piss it off.

And then the angel was wrapping its arms around him and doing its best to haul him upward.

Ethan flailed a little, recognizing that it probably wasn’t quite his finest moment, but still not quite sure what was happening.

Our mate is rescuing us while you flop about, the pegasus hissed. You are shameful. I want a divorce.

I don’t see you doing anything to help out, he snapped back, before finally gathering enough mental clarity to fully comprehend what was happening.

He was drowning, and Chloe was saving him.

Determined not to make this any harder for her than he already had, he flung out one aching arm and scrabbled at the rocky wall of the gorge, managing to find a tiny outcropping that he was able to grab on to. His broken ribs protested the movement, but he didn’t care.

After that, he wasn’t aware of much of anything except for how he was gagging and hacking about fifty gallons of water out of his lungs – that, and Chloe’s wide, wide eyes.

Once he’d finally regained the ability to breathe, he closed his eyes for a moment, leaning his forehead against hers and just letting her hold him.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “For saving my life.”

“Thank you for saving mine,” she said, before pushing him backward, her eyes full of fire. “And don’t you ever dare do that again!!”

He stared at her dumbly, still feeling a bit muddle-headed. “Save your life?”

“Save it like that! ” she exclaimed, splashing him angrily. “Leaping off a cliff! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

It wasn’t like he didn’t understand her concern, but, well, he’d survived, hadn’t he?

Though it was a bit more of a close call than I would’ve liked.

“Well, if you want me to leave you to fall to your doom in future, just let me know,” he said breezily… before feeling a bit ashamed. She was obviously upset about it, and with good reason.

“Look,” he said more softly, pushing strands of her wet hair behind her ear and letting the gentle hum of the mate bond soothe them both. “Throwing myself into danger for you is all part of being mates… but I can see why that’s not something you’d want to repeat on a regular basis.”

He smiled. “Let’s try for slightly less exciting adventures in the future. How about that?”

“Watching TV on the couch?” Chloe said, her lip wobbling slightly. “I’d be happy to take on the risk of eating one of those diner burgers once or twice a week, cholesterol be damned.”

“I’ll get Eula to make all her unhealthiest meals and bring them to your door,” Ethan promised. “We won’t go anywhere at all.”

The trembling lip turned into a shaky smile… and then a full-body shiver.

Ethan looked around him, remembering what all of the excitement had made them both forget for a minute – that they were trapped at the bottom of a gorge, in a body of freezing cold water. Surviving long enough to watch TV on the couch was by no means a given.

At least he was starting to recover from the fall, now. A regular human would have either been killed or gravely injured by the impact that he’d suffered and the subsequent near-drowning, but he could feel himself healing up, his ribs slowly knitting back together, various pains starting to ease.

No – he was more worried about Chloe, despite her apparent lack of injuries. He could survive for at least a while in this cold, but she wouldn’t have long at all. Already her lips were turning blue, her teeth starting to chatter.

His heart sank as he examined the sides of the gorge.

The walls down here were much steeper than they had been at the top, and smoother, too.

It would be incredibly difficult for him to climb out of here, if not impossible.

Even if he somehow managed it and went for help, Chloe would freeze to death in the meantime.

And the gorge was definitely too narrow for him to fly out of – it would be impossible for the pegasus to spread its wings. The space was also narrower than the pegasus was long, so he couldn’t even try turning sideways and spreading his wings along the gorge’s length.

“That expression doesn’t bode well,” Chloe said.

Ethan said nothing, which he knew was reply enough. It felt like anything he could say would just make things feel even more hopeless.

There has to be something we can do. Come on. Think, dammit.

“Can we swim down the gorge, and see if there’s a way out?” Chloe asked, though she sounded like she knew it was a lost cause.

Ethan sighed. “I mean, we can try, but I don’t think it’s going to do us much good. You saw how long it was when we were flying up here, right?”

Chloe nodded glumly.

“Still,” Ethan went on, “it may be our only option. I don’t think these walls are climbable.”

“No wonder Kira didn’t want anyone coming down here,” Chloe murmured pensively. “Do you think we can stay alive until it hits six o’clock, and Kira sends out her griffin friend?”

Ethan checked his watch, which had managed to survive the impact. He paused while he tried to think of an answer that was both honest and not soul-crushing.