Page 75 of The Onyx Covenant

“I thought you were dead,” I sob into her neck, not caring who sees my moment of weakness. “When you didn’t come back, I thought?—”

“Takes more than a river to kill me,” she replies, her voice rough but strong. “Though it wasn’t for lack of trying.”

I pull back to examine her face, the bags under her eyes. Exhaustion is evident in the slope of her shoulders, but she’s here, solid and real beneath my hands.

Beside us also stand Orion and Rachel, appearing just as worn. Theron and Kieran engage in a rougher version of the same reunion—a fierce hug followed by Theron shoving Kieran’s shoulder hard enough to make him stumble.

“Cutting it a bit close, aren’t you?” Theron growls, though the relief in his voice is obvious.

Kieran grins. “Had to make a dramatic entrance, didn’t we? Besides, your Omega’s friend here insisted on taking the scenic route.”

Aria rolls her eyes at him, but I notice something odd in her expression—a softness when she looks at Kieran that wasn’t there before.

“What happened?” Cassius asks.

“The river carried us around to the eastern side of the mountain,” Kieran explains, running a hand through his soaking red hair. “By the time we managed to get out, we were halfway to the fucking Hallowlands.”

“The current was too strong to swim against,” Aria adds. “We had to hike back, and then we ran into damn wolves.”

“But you got away,” I say, still holding her arm as if afraid she might disappear again.

“Obviously,” Kieran smirks. “Aria here is quite the fighter. Took down the Alpha with nothing but sheer stubbornness.”

Rachel clears her throat loudly nearby. “We were there, too, you know. It wasn’t just The Aria Show.”

Kieran shoots Rachel a crooked grin, but it’s the way Aria’s lips twitch—just barely—and the faint color lingering on her cheeks that really catch my attention.

Aria never blushes.

There’s something going on between those two.

Orion is also soaked and scowling. “Glad you’re all enjoying the drama. Next time I get dragged into a river and chased by monsters, I’m sending a fucking raven ahead.”

That earns another round of laughter, and the tension finally starts to ease.

“You four should get dry,” Tarek, who has been sitting back quietly, finally says, nodding toward the tent. “There’s food as well.”

“Thank the fucking moons,” Kieran groans. “I’m starving.”

As they move indoors and I follow, I pull Aria aside, leading her to a relatively private corner of the tent.

“Are you really okay? What actually happened out there?”

Aria wipes her face with one of the towels provided, then grabs a cup of water and drinks deeply.

“It was just as Kieran said. The river split us up from you and Theron and carried us miles east. We had to spend a full day hiking back.”

“And the rogue wolves?” I press, watching her face carefully.

“Came at us just as we were nearing the valley. But we handled it.” She sounds casual, but there’s something in her voice—a slight catch, an undercurrent of tension.

As she reaches for more water, I notice a pinkish mark on her neck, partially hidden by her collar. Then another, lower down, disappearing beneath her shirt.

I lean in, eyes widening. “What is that?”

Aria blushes furiously, quickly adjusting her collar to cover the marks. Her eyes dart reflexively toward Kieran, who’s enthusiastically recounting their adventures to a group of entranced listeners.

“Oh, Aria,” I breathe, realization dawning. “Did you and he…”

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