I felt water rip through my lungs and peel up my throat, yanking me back, painfully, to consciousness. I sat up coughing, attempting to get air into my lungs, my body screaming for help. After a few failed attempts, I took in a long ragged breath, my throat burning from the effort.

Orion's face swam above me, inches from mine, full of raw relief. "Oh thank Pluto," he whispered and pulled me into his arms, wrapping me in warmth. He began to ramble, speaking so fast that it was hard to understand against the pounding in his chest where my head was nestled. "I just learned about mouth to mouth a few days ago and I wasn't even fully sure I was doing it right and thought you were dead and oh thank Pluto you aren't."

He wrapped his arms around me tighter, holding me for a long moment. I didn't pull away, body cold and shaking, relieved to have something warm, something other than ice soaking into my body. 

After a moment, he let me go and leaned back. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking me over with concern before bringing his eyes back up to look into mine.

"You gave me mouth to mouth?" My face bloomed into a beacon of embarrassment. I looked down at his lips, my head becoming dizzy at the idea of his lips breathing life into mine. I felt lightheaded. I was going to pass out. Something warred inside of me, a hint of sadness that I had missed the feeling of him, and relief that I had no memory to call upon.

"That's your takeaway?" he laughed, his face filling with relief. "You probably broke a bone, nearly drowned and you are stuck on the mouth to mouth thing?" 

I just stared at him. No words offered themselves up. I had never felt so betrayed by my own vocabulary. My brain felt mushy. The sensation made sense considering I had almost died right? 

Orion leaned back and sighed. "I know you really don't like me. But I figured you'd push pause on the hate thing if I saved your life."

I pulled my eyes from his lips and looked up into his eyes. "I've pressed pause," I said, my voice breaking on the last word. Orion's eyes snapped up to mine and our locked. 

My heart raced, slamming against my rib cage, wild and untamed. Suddenly, pain shot up my leg, breaking our eye contact. I clenched my teeth, pulling in an aching breath, my eyes squeezing shut, the world dimming behind the painful all encompassing roar of fire along my leg. 

I felt Orion place his hands gently on my leg inspecting it. "I think it's broken." I opened my eyes and saw his face inches from mine again, making me momentarily dizzy. 

He reached down and placed his hand on my forehead, his words tumbling out again. "You don't have a fever. That's good. We won't be able to make it back before sundown. I need to get you warm. You are soaked through. I'll be back." Orion disappeared into the woods before I could get a word in. I slumped down against the muddy ground, my body too drenched and heavy to keep up. I closed my eyes, my eyelids heavy, and fell asleep, too exhausted to fight it.

...

When I woke up, the sky was dark, stars sparkling across the night. I looked down and saw that my leg was wrapped up in a splint of some kind made up of stripped branches and strips of clothing. I was laying next to a fire. 

Pushing myself up, I ignored the angry protest my leg made and saw Orion kneeling over the flames. His eyes sparked, lit up by the embers. His face was half in shadow, silhouetting his sharp, breathtaking features. His hair hung in strands along his jaw.

He adjusted the fire and sparks flew into the air, making him look like he was surrounded by tiny stars. He looked up at me and smiled. "Dinner is almost ready." He pulled a fish skewered on a stick out of the fire and quickly prepared it. I watched him work expertly as he removed the spine and scales.

Then he walked over to me and helped me sit up, pulling a fallen log behind me for support. Handing me the cooked fish on a leaf, he sat down next to me with his own. I noticed that the jacket he had been wearing earlier in the day was now wrapped around my shoulders. It smelled like earth and citrus. He smelled very human, wonderful, and calming.

I took him in. His shirt no longer had sleeves, having used them to make my splint. His black shirt wasn't enough to keep him warm. But it did show off his very toned arms. I couldn't decide if that was a bonus. "Aren't you cold?"

He shook his head as he stared into the fire, oddly quiet. The fish tasted delicious, melting into my mouth and I quickly consumed the fish, licking my fingers when I finished. "Are you okay?" I finally asked after he continued to remain quiet.

Orion continued to stare into the fire. "I... I'm sorry. This whole expedition is well... a disaster." He ran his fingers through his hair, angry. "I keep getting you hurt, and I am no closer to finding what I am looking for." 

My heart went out to him. I scooted over slowly until I sat in front of him, blocking his view of the fire. I took his hands in mine and waited for him to look up at me. When he did, his eyes held specs of orange. His hair glistened with the same color. I moved closer to him so that I could look deep into his eyes.

"We'll find it." I insisted. "I'll help you."

He shook his head. "No. I keep getting you hurt. I shouldn't have asked you to help me. It was a terrible idea."

"You saved me when I fell off Hank by picking me up and getting me to safety." I squeezed his hands. "I sprained my own wrist in the bull riding competition and you saved me by playing the guitar. I fell in the river, you didn't push me. You pulled me out. You helped me recognize how much I missed singing... You've saved me from monsters. You've saved me time and time again and this time, I am gonna help you. This is bigger than what you want. We both have people to save and protect."

He looked down at my hands and then back into my eyes. "What? No threatening me with a branding iron?"

"No. I pressed pause, remember," I said quietly.

He searched my face, his hair and eyes filling with specks of purple. "Okay," he said, his voice deep and soft. He brought my hand up to his face and placed it on his cheek, sending a trail of fire down my fingers. "Thank you."

I looked away for a beat, forcing my breathing to stay even. "Of course. We are in this together. Especially since I'll need you to carry me home tomorrow." 

He laughed and removed his hand from mine, allowing it to fall from his face. I shivered as I felt his breath touch my cheeks. We were so close to each other, closer than we had ever been before. Other than when he had saved my life giving me mouth to mouth. A touch I would never remember.

Orion searched my face and slowly leaned closer, leaving me frozen, uncertain. He reached his hands out, brushing them across my shoulders and pulled his jacket tighter around me in a protective fashion. He helped me pull my arms through the sleeves and zipped it up. "You should stay warm." 

Orion gently touched my hair, pulling hidden strands out of the jacket collar, and laid them gently on my shoulders. "You are very beautiful, Ranch Girl."

My heart fluttered and I looked away, staring at the stars above, attempting to get my heart rate under control, needing to get the conversation back to a safe topic. I didn't know what to do with his words. A compliment that left me feeling overwhelmed. "Tell me about where you're from. Your family." I looked back at him. "I don't know a lot about you."

His expression became guarded. "As I said before, there isn't much of a point. I won't be around long."

I crossed my arms and held his gaze. "Don't make me go limping around for a cattle prod."

Amusement flickered in his eyes, a small grin poking at the side of his lips. Nodding, he laid down on the ground, motioning for me to do the same. We laid next to each other, our shoulders touching as he looked up at the sky, a grin filling his voice as he spoke. "My mother has a funny sense of humor. She named me after that constellation." 

He pointed to a cluster of stars that made up a warrior. The constellation knelt, holding up a club in his left hand. "Or at least what earth calls it. She named each of us after a constellation. I am named after the warrior Orion. My sister is named after Leto. Lucero's have dozens of children at a time and they are spread across Lucerno, to work. Leto is the only sibling I know. I grew up with her by my side."

"Dozens?" I asked, shocked. "Your poor mom."

He laughed a deep belly laugh. "Yeah, she was not the happiest mother on the day of our birth. But I think it was a combination of having to give birth to so many and then having to say farewell on the same day."

"So she didn't get to keep you? To see you grow up?"

"Me and Leto yes. We were brought up as Star Chasers and because she worked in the same field, we were allowed to grow up with her. A rare and fortunate thing."

"And your dad?"

Orion shook his head. "I never knew him." 

Sadness flickered across his face. "I never thought much of it before coming here. It's just the way things are for us. But now... I think I would have liked to have met him. Just to know him." 

He blinked several times and the sadness left his face. Waving his hand above us, I saw the stars grow brighter. He waved his hand again and I saw the Orion constellation move, adjusting his club and looking across the sky at the Scorpius constellation. "My mother believes in the power of names, which is why she named me after Orion. He was a strong and brave warrior. But in almost every story he is taken down by Scorpius..."

I watched as Scorpius ran towards the Orion constellation. Scorpius brought his tail up to strike the Orion constellation, but he dodged it by bringing up his club. After a few moments of sparring, Scorpius struck the Orion constellation in the back and the stars that made up that Orion flickered out. I gasped. The Orion who was next to me waved his hand across the sky and the stars returned to their original positions.

"Why would your mom name you after someone who was destined to die like that?" I asked, angry.

He smiled sadly, and moved a strand of my hair out of my face and behind my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. "She didn't name me after his death, but after the way he lived. He was a fearsome warrior who died fighting. That is how I would want to die. As long as I fight for what is right, then I would be honored to die for... those I love."

I wouldn't want you to die, I wanted to whisper, but instead tucked the confession away. "Maybe you can change your name to Immortal Being." I was thankful that Orion couldn't see the color that entered my cheeks.

He laughed. "No, I don't want to outlive the ones I love either. I am a coward. I don't want to live in a world where they don't exist."

I propped myself up on my elbow. "So you fall in love? Your kind?"

He was quiet for a long moment. "No." Confusion filled me. "But you just said—"

"We aren't supposed to. I am not supposed to. I am a Star Chaser. We spend our lives fighting for the life of Lucerno. Not for love. It's against the law."

Against the law? "That seems harsh."

He pulled his eyes away from mine. "It wasn't always that way." He looked up at the sky again and waved his hand.

Two bright figures that I had seen before appeared in the stars. I laid back, staring until it clicked. "The Heart Broken Lovers."

"Yes. The song I played for you is a cautionary tale for my kind. We grow up learning about the two lovers. They fell in love but their love distracted them from their responsibilities. So they were pulled away from each other to bring their focus back. But their heartbreak was so great that it divided the sky, causing chaos."

I saw the two figures dancing across the sky. The man embraced the woman and kissed her. The sky exploded in color as they kissed each other passionately. Suddenly a figure came and pulled the woman away from the man. She tried to escape but was pulled back. The man ran for her but was stopped by a river of stars. The figure let the woman go and she crumbled to the ground. The man soon followed. "We are taught that love is dangerous." He waved his hand across the sky and the scene disappeared. "I followed it. I believed it."

I noticed the past tense. "And now?" I asked.

"I came to earth seven months ago. I was in California first and then, Arizona. And while I searched, I watched humans fall in love over and over." His voice grew quiet. "I watched them sacrifice for each other, fight for each other and I was intrigued. I also saw them break each other, lie to each other, hurt each other... all in the name of love." 

He turned to look at me. "Love is dangerous... when it isn't taken care of. When it isn't treasured. When it is viewed as a feeling instead of an act. But it is also beautiful." He sat up and looked into the fire.

My breath caught in my throat. Orion was nothing like I had expected. He watched and seemed fascinated by humans and all that we were. But he was also made vulnerable by our lives, inspired by our choices. I sat up slowly, choosing my next set of words with caution. "So what's the verdict? Is it worth it?"

He kept his eyes on the fire. "I was not a product of love, and I can see a life well lived without it."

"That's not a no," I said.

"It's not a yes either." His eyes found mine in the darkness. "Is it worth it for you? Do you look at love as something worth fighting for? Worth dying for?"

I thought of my dad. He loved with everything he had. So did my mom. I brought my good leg up to my chest and wrapped my arms around it. "I don't know," I answered honestly. "My dad and mom loved each other so much that I thought my dad was gonna die when my mom did. He lost a piece of himself. And even though he claims loving is worth it... I don't know if it's worth dying for. For familial love sure. I would do anything for my dad. But for romantic love, I don't know. Maybe that makes me selfish."

He nodded. "Or it means you haven't found anyone worth loving that much." 

We were quiet. I watched as the fire began to die, taking the last of our light with it. Orion's features were gentle and unfocused in the soft light of the moon, difficult to see.

It's strange that when the world gets dark we begin to gain the confidence to say and ask the things we wouldn't dare broach in daylight. I spoke before I lost my nerve. "Do you... create life the same way we do?"

He turned abruptly and stared at me, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. I covered my face, embarrassed. "Sorry. That was a very personal question."

Orion coughed. "It's fine. Your question caught me off guard. Yes, we do." After a long moment, I lowered my hands thankful for the darkness. He spoke softly. "Other than having dozens of children at a time, yes. We enjoy the same things you do in the same ways you do. Our two kinds are very similar. No surprises there." 

He winked and laughed when he saw my mouth fall open in shock. "Whoa. Don't die of a heart attack, Ranch Girl." I shook my head and took a deep breath trying to overcome a moment of flustered panic.

"I'm fine," I said in a croak.

He tilted his head to the side, smiling, seeming to enjoy how red I was. "You sure? You look like you are going to pass out." I shook my head again. He touched my forehead. "You don't seem to be dying. That's good." 

I swatted his hand away and gave him a scowl. His smile grew wider, his eyes flashing purple for a moment before he looked down, his dark lashes hiding his eyes from view. "We should get some sleep."

With that, he laid back down and turned away from me, ending our very uncomfortable conversation. 

"Goodnight, Ranch Girl."

"Night, Glow Boy."

---

Thank you for reading chapter sixteen! I hope you are enjoying the story! Or are at least curious to see where it goes!

UPDATE DAYS - A NEW CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY!

It looks like Orion and Alina are trapped in the forest for the night! Will Alina's dad be panicked by the time they get back home? 

Will they find what Orion is looking for while in the forest? 

Like Alina, do you have questions for Orion? What are they?

CHAPTER QUESTION - Have you ever camped out before? How did it go? Did you enjoy it?