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Let’s take a breather, he told the pegasus, coming up for air before it could protest. The last thing he wanted was to pass out and drown due to its stubbornness.

Also, he wanted to reassure himself that Chloe was okay. And she was – more or less. She still had the capacity to raise her hand and give him a shaky thumbs-up, at least, but it was clear that she was fading fast.

He ducked back down beneath the surface before he could think on it further, ignoring the pain of his pinned-back wings and the burning in his lungs. He had to find the bedrock. He had to.

Maybe there was no choice but to go farther down.

Scraping at the mud with his hooves, he dug as quickly as possible, tearing up clods of dirt and clouding the water. It was starting to feel like he could dig forever and never find anything but still more mud –

A sudden wavering in the mate bond caught his attention – it was the merest flicker, but he knew what it meant, and his heart leapt into his throat.

Chloe didn’t have much longer. She was freezing to death.

No. No. I won’t let it happen.

With renewed fervor, Ethan dug with a frenzy that he had never known possible, his golden hooves flashing.

And –

There!

He tapped on it a couple of times to make sure, but he was positive he had found what he was looking for.

Solid rock, his pegasus said briskly, its usual triumphant tones replaced with pure urgency. This is what we need.

Ethan thought back to his childhood learnings, so long ago, and channeled all of his energy – and all of his love for Chloe and the power of the mate bond – into his hoof as he brought it down to strike the hard, hard stone.

He paused, waiting, expectation giving way to impatience, and then despair.

Did it not work? It has to work. It has to. Chloe has no time left.

His pegasus seethed, its anger and fear threatening to boil over.

Anguished, Ethan stared down at the stone, willing it to open –

And then he was suddenly surging upward, a deluge of water bursting from the ground and lifting him up.

It was so sudden that for a moment he could only feel confused, tucking his wings in closer to his body to keep them safe, but then his mind caught up.

We did it! We summoned the torrent!

His pegasus let out a triumphant cry in his head as they surfaced, and he turned to look at Chloe, who was wide-eyed in shock, her fingers barely maintaining their grip on the outcropping as it started to disappear beneath the rising water.

Jump on! he yelled mentally, and maybe it passed through the mate bond somehow, because she snapped out of her stupor and struggled toward him, the currents beating her back.

We can control it, the pegasus whispered. You know how.

No I don’t! he snapped back automatically… before he stopped for a moment, and thought.

No, not thought – felt .

He closed his eyes, feeling the water surging around him, and reached out with his mind, the pegasus guiding him.

He couldn’t have put it into words if he’d tried, but he just knew what to do. The waters between him and Chloe calmed, even as they raged elsewhere in response, and then they gently carried her toward him.

Chloe’s eyes widened as she was pulled along by the current as surely as if he’d been pulling her with his own arms, which then settled her onto his back. Her fingers tightened in his mane, and Ethan could feel that her grip was weak.

Hang on, he desperately tried to send to her through the bond. We’re almost there.

He felt what seemed like a hazy affirmation from her end, a wave of love and trust sweeping over him.

I won’t let you down. I promise.

The water rose with shocking speed, chopping and churning around them with a deafening roar, but the two of them were left untouched by its turbulent fury.

Now that he was getting the hang of it, he found that he could easily lift himself with a gentle surge of water that kept both him and Chloe safely at the surface.

Almost there, he urged, as the lowering sun became visible over the edge of the gorge. We’re so close.

Chloe’s fingers tightened for a moment… before falling loose.

Her body slumped forward, and Ethan quickly adjusted his wings to keep her from falling, tucking her in safely.

Our mate! the pegasus cried out in anguish, and Ethan was stunned at the depth of its feeling.

His stomach turned over on itself in fear. He refused to believe that it would end here, when they were so close to safety. It just couldn’t.

Chloe. Please, hold on.

The water surged up toward the top of the gorge, and he pulled himself over the edge, hooves scrabbling desperately, before, finally, finding himself on solid ground.

He shifted immediately, barely noticing as the water started to recede once more, and held Chloe in his arms.

“Chloe!” he whispered, checking to see if she was breathing. The mate bond let him know that she was still alive, but it was weak, and she was so, so cold.

The slightest hint of warm breath touched his cheek, and he almost sagged in relief. If she was breathing, then that was the most important thing right now.

Still… he had to get her back to the cabin, and fast. And he really didn’t know how he was going to manage that if she was unconscious.

He might be able to shift while holding her in such a way that would see her sitting on his back once the shift was completed, but he didn’t know if he could keep her on there safely while flying.

Ethan was confident in his ability to keep level and adjust where necessary, but it was still a risk he would prefer not to take if at all possible. If she happened to wake up and panic while in mid-air, things could end very, very badly.

“Chloe,” he whispered again, holding her close and willing some of his warmth into her. “Please, wake up.”

She stirred a little, making an almost inaudible sound, and his heart leapt. She just needed to be awake enough to hold herself in place, and then he could take care of the rest.

A sudden movement at the edge of his peripheral vision had his head snapping up, and the pegasus did likewise.

Is that what I think it is? he wondered, looking at the distant figures that were flying toward them.

Shifters, his pegasus confirmed, instantly on edge.

Normally, the sudden presence of other shifters would’ve had him on edge as well – especially since these were clearly both mythical shifters. But this time, as the distant silhouettes resolved into the shapes of a griffin and a chimera, all he felt was overwhelming relief.

“We’re saved, Chloe,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Just hold on.”

Her eyelashes fluttered for a moment, before her lids opened to reveal confused hazel eyes.

“Ethan…?” she murmured.

“Shh,” he said, stroking her damp hair. “Help is on the way.”

“Mm,” she said, snuggling up against him.

The two shifters landed, having covered the distance quickly, and shifted into their human forms.

The chimera turned into a solemn, dark-haired man, who raised his hand in greeting.

The griffin shifted into a man with floppy blond hair who seemed to be awfully chipper about their whole near-death experience, though Ethan supposed that he might not realize just how close a thing it had been.

“You folks look like you could use a hand,” he said, opening up a large bag that he’d previously been carrying in his claws and pulling out some silver thermal blankets.

“Thank you,” Ethan said gratefully, wrapping Chloe up. It wouldn’t do a lot, given her wet shirt and jeans, but it would at least keep out the wind while they were flying back.

“Kira had a feeling you’d get yourselves into trouble, so she called me out early,” the griffin went on cheerfully. “Seems like she made the right call!”

“Is that so,” Ethan murmured, as he stood up with Chloe in his arms. Not that he wasn’t grateful for her foresight, but it stung a little bit that she’d been able to identify their lack of experience so easily.

“Trouble seems to be a common thing around here, so don’t take it personally,” the chimera said, apparently reading his mind. “I’m Levi, by the way.”

“Sorry, how rude of me,” the griffin exclaimed. “I didn’t introduce myself at all! I’m Kieran.”

“Ethan,” Ethan said.

“I’m Chloe,” Chloe said weakly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Kieran said, sounding genuine. Ethan thought that Kieran would probably quite happily continue the conversation, but luckily Levi stepped in.

“As nice as this all is,” said Levi, “I think we should get back down the mountain. Do you want a lift?”

Even as the pegasus screeched at the idea of someone else daring to offer to even touch Chloe, Ethan nodded. He wasn’t in great shape – and in any case, all he wanted to do was hold Chloe, and reassure himself that she was okay.

“Yes. Chloe needs to get warmed up as soon as possible – and I’m not in any position to do it right now.”

“Let’s get you both back to the cabin and in front of the fire,” Kieran said, nodding determinedly. “Come on – let’s go.”

Kieran and Levi shifted back into their mythical forms, and Ethan climbed onto Kieran’s back, holding Chloe close.

“We’re going home,” he whispered into her ear as they took off.

“Home,” she breathed, snuggling back into his embrace.

And he knew it was true.

Here, with Chloe, he was home.