Chapter 2

Gareth, one of our climbing guides, couldn't watch anymore. He frowned and tried to smooth it over.

"Miss Crowley, Ethan really doesn't look good. Altitude sickness isn't a joke. Maybe we should—"

"Gareth, you don't get it!"

Selene cut him off flatly.

"He just doesn't work out enough and loves to fake it! Every shoot turns into a drama about him!"

"Last time in the badlands he got heatstroke and held up the whole team. Now he's at it again!"

Her words cut like ice shards.

That time in the badlands, I'd pushed myself to catch the last light and nearly went into heatstroke shock.

In her eyes, it became me being dramatic.

"Yeah," another female assistant who was close with Selene chimed in.

"Ethan, Selene is thinking about the bigger picture."

"Caleb is new. It's his first time on a project this tough. A little extra care is only fair."

"You're experienced. Just ride it out."

I looked at her. Tears blurred my vision.

"Ride it out? How am I supposed to... ride this out..."

My lungs felt like they'd been sealed in cement. My heart slammed against my ribs.

The blood vessels at my temples pounded like they were about to burst.

I knew what this was. Cerebral and pulmonary edema, the early signs.

Caleb took his cue, sounding close to tears.

"Ethan, don't be like this, I'm really scared you two are fighting because of me..."

"Here, take the oxygen back... I'll... I'll be fine..."

He pretended to reach for his mask.

Selene grabbed his hand, angry and protective at once.

"Caleb, don't be stupid! He's pushing you! Anyone can act pitiful!"

She spun on me, her eyes cold and disgusted.

"Ethan, I really misjudged you!"

"I never thought you'd be this selfish, this petty. You can't even let a newcomer breathe! Does everyone have to revolve around you?!"

"When you got into trouble on that shoot years ago, who begged everyone to save you?"

"And now, over a little discomfort, you're going to ruin everyone's work?"

The "trouble" she brought up was a shoot I almost died on — doing a promo piece for her father's Pack.

Now it was evidence against me.

The headache was too violent. I couldn't form words, just opened my mouth and made broken, rasping sounds.

Caleb hid behind her. His lips twitched up for a fraction of a second, then he went back to looking worried.

"Selene, Ethan's face looks awful. He's not really...?"

"It's fake! All of it!" Selene said flatly.

"He's a great actor! He's trying to force me to give in so he can control me later! I won't let him!"

She pulled out her thermos, unscrewed it, and held it to Caleb's lips.

"Here, drink something warm. Ignore him. Let him cool off."

Warm steam rose between them. My body was losing heat by the second.

Despair was like the ancient ice under my feet, freezing up around me layer by layer.

I slid down against the ice wall. My body dropped without my permission. My mind started to drift.

Selene shielding Caleb. The others murmuring. All of it blurred into swaying shadows.

The emergency altitude meds — the strong ones, the ones that could save me — were at Caleb's feet.

Three or four meters away. Might as well have been a canyon.

Then Caleb crouched in front of me without a sound.

He pulled the mask down. His face was flushed and healthy.

He leaned in and spoke low, only for me.

"Great Photographer Ethan, how does suffocation feel?"

His mouth curled into something cruel.

"Selene's been done with your control issues for a while. She says you're stiff and boring. Like an old man."

"When you have your accident, your name, your work, Selene... I'll take all of it for you."

He tapped my cheek lightly. His voice was pure ice.

"Don't worry. A memorial for a photographer who died on the job — it'll be beautiful."

Caleb's words were the last snowflake that crushed what was left of my consciousness.

I wanted to throw a punch at him, but the altitude sickness had hollowed me out. Nothing worked.

I slumped against the ice wall in despair. I could feel the heat draining out of my body.

Just as the darkness was about to swallow my vision, Caleb decided it wasn't enough.

His eyes flickered. Then he reached out and yanked my jacket open.

"Ethan, are you too warm? Your face is so red. Let me cool you down."

A sharp rip.

The high-grade windproof fabric tore wide open under his hands.

My neck and chest were exposed to the minus-thirty cold in an instant.

The frigid air drilled into my skin like thousands of tiny knives.

"You...!"

I glared at him, trying to shout, but only a rasping wheeze came out.

My body started shaking violently from the cold I couldn't control.

Caleb backed away fast. His face switched to panic.

"Selene! Ethan... he ripped his own clothes off! I couldn't stop him!"

Selene whipped around. She saw my open chest and Caleb's frantic face, and her face went hard.

"Ethan!"

She rushed over. Her voice was all impatience and anger.

"How long are you going to keep this up?! You want to self-destruct in front of everyone?!"

She didn't give me a chance to explain. She didn't care about the truth.

"It wasn't... me... it was him..."

My teeth chattered. I forced out the words with the last of my strength.

"Enough!" Selene snapped.

"Every time it's someone else's fault! You can't control your temper, and now you're using self-harm to threaten us?!"

"You think this is fun? Think it makes us pity you?"

"Let me tell you, it doesn't! It just makes you look pathetic!"

Her words fell like hail. No mercy.