Something hits me from behind.
I go down hard, the impact driving the air from my lungs. I roll, trying to get away, and see a wolf looming over me. It’s huge, gray, and white, its lips pulled back to show teeth that gleam in the darkness.
It's also not alone.
Four more slink out of the darkness, circling me with their eyes fixed on me, their bodies low and tense. I scramble backward through the snow, and I feel my back hit a tree. I’m trapped as the wolves move closer, and I can’t breathe. I can’t think about anything other than how terrified I am. My handsscrabble in the snow, searching for something—a rock, a branch, anything—but there's nothing.
I have no weapon. No way to fight. No way out.
After everything—the cells, the torture, the escape, the running—this is how it ends. Torn apart by wolves in the darkness.
The largest wolf’s muscles bunch as it goes to leap, its weight shifting back onto its haunches. I close my eyes, waiting for it to tear into me?—
—and feel a spray of blood against my face and neck as there’s a gunshot, a yelp, and the sound of paws as the wolves scatter.
I open my eyes, shaking, and see them disappearing into the darkness. And I hear the sound of my name.
"Svetlana!"
It’s Kazimir.
He's running toward me, and I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life. Relief crashes over me so hard I can't breathe. I can’t get up, even as I try to push myself out of the snow, but I don’t need to. He drops to his knees next to me, his hands all over again as he looks to see if I’m injured. And once again, I don’t mind his touch as much as I should.
I almost want to lean into it, see if he’d pull me closer, wrap his arms around me, hold me. Bring me into that warmth, that solidity, so I could feel safe again for a second.
"Are you hurt? Did they bite you? Svetlana, talk to me?—"
"No," I manage through chattering teeth. "No, they didn't?—"
"What the fuck were you thinking?" His voice shakes with fear or rage… or both—I can’t tell.. "What the actual fuck were you thinking?"
"I—"
"You could have died! You almost died! Do you have any idea—" He stops, his jaw clenching so hard I can hear his teeth grind.His hands are still on me, gripping my shoulders hard enough to bruise. "You're freezing. Jesus Christ, you're freezing."
He strips off his parka and wraps it around me, then pulls me against his chest. He's warm. So warm, and I feel myself cuddling into him despite everything.
"We're going back," he says, his voice rough. "Now."
He doesn't wait for me to agree. He just picks me up, holding me against his chest like I weigh nothing, and I'm too exhausted to protest. Too cold. Too relieved to be alive.
I can feel his heart pounding against my cheek. His breathing is harsh and uneven as he trudges through the snow, and I realize he’s afraid. Terrified, even, from the rapid, stuttering sound of his heartbeat.
The realization cuts through my exhaustion. Kazimir—this cold, controlled, dangerous man—is terrified… because of me.
Because I almost died.
"I'm sorry," I whisper, but I don't know if he hears me.
—
The safe housefeels so impossibly warm.
Kazimir deposits me on the couch, and it’s not particularly gentle. He's vibrating with fury, pacing back and forth like a caged animal.
"That," he says, his voice dangerously quiet, "was the stupidest thing you could have done."
I don't answer. I can’t, actually—I’m shaking, and my teeth are chattering too hard, as my body tries to absorb every last bit of warmth from the room we’re in.
