He was stirring, restless, but I turned my back to it, still angry at the way he spoke to me last night. The icy ground and ache in my bones did nothing to sweeten my sour mood, and the constant hole in my heart at Oak's absence only made me a bitter shell.

"No."

Confused, and startled by the sudden sound of his voice, I sat up, hearing my joints pop with every motion. God, why am I always the one injured?

"Avery, what are you going on about?" I questioned, irritated. Rubbing my sore eyes, I peered through the darkness, wishing the sun would rise so I could see. Without the campfire, the dark sky of the early morning left my sights lacking.

Grumbling from the man meters away refused to allow me to just ignore him and go back to sleep. Doing something I hadn't done since our forced separation, I reached out to my shadoe, needing her naturally advanced abilities in this moment.

A beautifully familiar warmth swelled in my heart at the small connection. It was a feeling I related so closely to a luxury of my past—the feeling of a home.

With Oak's sharp night vision, I was able to clearly see the distress on Avery's face as his fists clenched at his sides. Something's wrong. It reminded me of the time, just before we left Camp Exodus, when he was trapped in a tether. I had never experienced such a thing, but I was beginning to think it was not so uncommon. At least, not for Avery and Beau.

Moving as quickly as I could to his side, I grunted in pain before not so gracefully falling to my knees.

"Avery, wake up," I said, shaking him by his shoulders, wondering if I'd be able to break him free like I had the last time. Removing my gloves, my fingers were numbed by the frozen air, but I gripped them around his covered arms, trying to get him to open his eyes. "Come on."

Picking up on voices in the distance, with the aid of Oak's advanced hearing, I began to grow anxious. Perhaps if I wasn't injured, I would be more fearless, but with my current state and the amount of voices I heard, I needed this infuriating man to come back to me. I needed him.

"God, let him go, Beau," I begged, pressing my fingers against his cheek, feeling a spark of heat burn my fingertips at the touch. It was more intense than the first time, most likely because I took my gloves off. Still, the heat was a sign in the right direction, so I pressed my palms against him, cupping his face. The fire radiating between us surged all the way to my toes, the sensation stronger than before and I wasn't sure why, but I wondered if it would only intensify with each time this happened.

"Rekko took Alice, says he found what may be a shadoe bear on the mountain." The voice was the closest one I could pick up on, and while I could sense that they weren't dangerously close, they were still too close for comfort, and my heart raced, especially when I had good hunch that the bear they spoke of was Beau, and that whoever this Rekko and Alice were must be the cause of Avery's trapped state.

"Come back to me," I whispered, leaning in closer. I could see my breath mixing in the air with his weaker one, until what looked like a gust of life flowed past his lips.

His dark blue eyes suddenly opened, sucking the heat out of me, yet warming my bones. He wasn't even back for two seconds but I couldn't hide my fear from him, no matter how much it pained my pride.

"Avery," I said in a hushed voice, leaning over until we were looking eye to eye. "Avery, we have to go. Now."

His rough fingertips lightly brushed my cheek, tucking some of my hair behind my ear, like he was in some sort of daze.

"I can hear them, people, headed right to us," I continued.

"They aren't people," he growled, sitting up suddenly. I narrowly dodge a collision with his head as I stumbled to my feet, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from yelping in pain. "They're forsaken ones."

"Ugh, what the hell? All my life, I've managed to avoid them, and now as soon as I meet you, it's like they're always one step behind me." Bawling my hands into fists, I struggled to find a way to release my anger.

Nothing is fair in this world.

"We must move," Avery said, not able to look me in the eye, which I found unsettlingly unlike him. "Timber," he called, whistling lowly to wake the sleeping shadoe. When she jolted awake, he instructed, "Tell Cullen to hurry. Beau's been...compromised."

In a flash, my anger was pushed to the back as my lungs stilled, finding it hard to breathe.

Compromised?

Through a tense jaw, I asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Let's go."

"Avery, where is Beau?"

Still not looking at me, he started jogging away. Despite the broken, bruised state of my body, I was determined to keep up with him, but his blatant disregard for my inquiries was beyond irritating. It made my teeth grit.

Timber, the small animal she was, opted to run alongside me. Every so often, she would dash ahead, nipping at the heels of the insufferable lynk in front. He would look down at her in annoyance, and continue ahead, causing her to fall back and return to my side.

"Ignore him," I grumbled. Reaching down, I scooped up a rock, hissing in discomfort as I stood back up. "He's got a stubborn stone for a brain!"

Throwing the object, it soared through the air, only stopping when it hit his back. I would have felt a sense of satisfaction, if my ribs weren't screaming out in agony. Cursing, I lifted my clothes high enough to see my discolored skin.

God, that's hideous.

Timber let out a concerned whimper at the sight. The simple action reminded me so much of Oak, and I felt a hot tear fall onto my cheek. My loneliness and pain were starting to become hard to keep locked up, and now they decided to surface.

Hold it in. Breathe and hold it in.

The dark purple bruising on my torso covered half of it, hints of red and dark blue mixed in as well. It stretched from just under the side of my right breast, to the left side of my navel, monstrous in size. It explained why every time I bent, I was fighting a cry.

Tearing my gaze away from the ugly skin, I almost stumbled back at how close Avery now was. I hadn't even noticed him approaching. I watched, frozen, as his hand stretched out, the heat of his bare fingers thawing my frosted skin without even making contact.

Stop him.

Don't let him touch you.

My mind screamed for me to smack his hand away, and demand he focus on getting us out of danger, but...something inside was drawing me to him, almost aching for his touch. The feeling sickened me, for I detested this man, yet I knew there was something different about us.

A connection that transcended the physical.

One I did not permit to exist.

When his palm finally met my flesh, an intense burning flooded my nerves, tracing the outline of the wound. It looked as if someone was painting light along my damaged skin, and holding a flame to it from the inside, causing it to glow bright under the dim morning sky.

The pain I felt before had significantly lessened. Moving was easier, although I still carried the purplish hue on my side, and my ribs certainly were still broken, along with other injuries. But, there was a lingering, numbing sensation where he had touched me, one my body reveled in. It knocked the wind out of me, blocked out my surroundings, completely owning my senses until all I saw and felt was the otherworldly experience happening between us. And then it ended, the second Avery withdrew his large, calloused hand, but the effects still remained. My damaged body wasn't tormenting me the way it was moments ago.

"What the-"

"Hell was that?" I finished for him, our breaths colliding in the piercing cold air.

Looking at him, I was stunned by how close we were. Our faces weren't more than six inches apart, his large frame hovering, drawn to me. It was when his eyes flickered down to my lips that I stepped back, turning away.

But I could still feel his warmth, resonating on my bruised skin, flowing through me.

"Explain," I said, crossing my arms without having to wince. I also started walking, not wanting to surrender our lead on the forsaken while we still had it.

It took a second for him to join my movement, but soon enough, we were pushing forward again, to wherever he was leading, but I still had yet to get an answer. I waited, letting hours pass us by, filled with the memory of what happened. I even found myself exchanging glances with Timber, who hadn't made a sound since witnessing what transpired earlier.

As dawn broke, I decided we'd not spoken long enough.

"Avery."

Silence.

"Hey."

Nothing.

"Avery!" I shouted, shoving him, although he barely moved from the contact.

"What, Sparrow?!" he snapped, his face hard, his expression intense, a huge contrast to the blank look he had the entire time prior to my confrontation. "What do you want?!"

"I want you to explain whatever the hell that was! How did you do it? That...that thing! Why aren't I hobbled over in pain somewhere from walking so far with broken ribs, and everything else wrong with me?" I exasperated. "I...don't understand."

My mind just couldn't make sense of things. Why were we able to manipulate the other in the ways we had? Me with his tethers, him with my pain.

"I don't know," he stated, turning away.

"Oh, that's a load of-"

"I don't know," he reiterated, gripping my arms. "I've never seen anything like that. All I know is that the forsaken? They don't want us to figure it out."

"Well, how do you know that?"

I wasn't doubting him, but I wanted to know more. There was something he refused to tell me. When he looked away, walking again, I didn't hesitate to press.

"Avery, does this have something to do with Beau? What don't you want me to know? Where is he?"

"God, Sparrow! Can't you see when someone doesn't want to be bothered with you?!" he yelled, his deep voice startling me. "Just go back to silently judging everyone you meet and stop badgering me! I have more important things to concern myself with!"

Biting my tongue, I held his furious stare, showing him that I wasn't going to cower at his outrageousness. The thick snowy forest around us may be cold, but my contempt was raging hot.

Shaking my head, I brushed past him, saying sharply, "You can apologize later, when you've calmed down. Doesn't mean I'll accept it, though."

Cocky bastard.

I only managed to take two steps forward and then I saw them. A circle of men, dressed like huntsman, surrounding us. I hadn't seen or heard them beforehand. Hell, I hadn't seen anyone but Avery, and his unreasonable countenance.

Where did they come from?

Were they hiding? Waiting for an opportunity like this?

A single man stepped forward, separating himself from the group, cloaked in black, with hair as dark as mine stopping at his collarbone. His eyes were like coals from here, but the closer he came, with a sinister smirk gracing his face, I found them to be a deep green, like the evergreens of Icadia.

"I couldn't help but overhear your little...lover's spat," he began, his gaze piercing as he stared at me. When I scoffed, he raised a heavy brow, tilting his head. "Oh, no? Not lovers?"

When I didn't say anything, his grin widened.

"How fortunate." His voice was thick, rich, unlike the appearance of him and undoubtedly his men. Everything about him was rough, weathered, aside from his face. He was a very attractive man, but I doubted the quality was the same with his personality.

"We were just passing through," Avery finally spoke, stepping forward, closer to me.

"Oh, but don't you know? You should never enter my land, unless you're willing to pay," the man jeered, crossing his hands behind his back, circling the two of us painstakingly slow.

I noticed the many weapons his men held. Various swords, knives, and axes. I had a feeling he wasn't just interested in looting.

Oak could sense my fear the closer the head man came, until he was just a foot away from me. She wanted to establish a tether, so she could see what I saw, but I was hesitant.

Whatever was about to happen, I didn't want her to witness.

Yet she begged, and I missed her terribly. If this was to be my last moments, I wanted her here, anyway I could have her. The overwhelming familiarity of our bonded connection gave me peace in my unnerving predicament.

Hi, Oak.

I felt the happiness in her spirit, but quickly focused back on the situation when someone close spoke up.

"We don't have much," Avery said, his tone calm and respectful. It was true, we'd lost everything in the avalanche.

"No worries, comrade," he chuckled, turning his attention back to me. "There are other methods of payment I have no qualms indulging in."

My stomach churned under his violating eyes, watching him bite his lip teasingly. The sound of men shuffling behind me caused me to look, just in time to see them overpower Avery, who was attempting to lunge at their leader. His face was shoved into the snow as the men tied him up.

I wanted to help, but there was nothing I could do in the moment. Not yet, at least. Even Oak whined at the sight. Still, my mind was analyzing the situation, looking for a way out of this mess.

"You shouldn't have done that," the leader taunted, leaning down to where Avery laid. "Now, I have to kill you."

"You would have killed me anyway," Avery spat, trying to rip out of his restraints.

Where is Beau?!

My eyes scanned our surroundings, looking for aid anywhere. I couldn't even find Timber.

Laughing haughtily, the man smiled. "It appears you've heard of me, then. However, if you don't mind, I prefer to introduce myself."

Standing up straight, he stared right into my grey-blue eyes, mock bowing before me.

"It's a pleasure to capture you, miss." Smirking, he revealed, "The name's Ravenhood."

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Author's Note:
Ahhhh shizzzz. Things are getting real serious now!

What in the world is going on between Sparrow and Avery???

And what about this Ravenhood? He seems like quite the character.