Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Damn it. He forced himself to the surface again.
Wait.
Her head broke the surface ahead of him, then disappeared again. They were in the middle of jagged rapids now with the water hammering stones, and he could see blood pooling around her. The red spread and thinned, foaming at the surface.
Something hit him beneath the current, a surge of energy that rolled through the water hard. She must have shifted. Good.
He paddled closer, then stopped fighting it and let the current take him, trusting that if he stayed with it, they’d end up in the same place. Branches whipped past him. One cracked against his shoulder. Another nearly took his head off. He slammed into another rock and pain flared down his leg, hot and deep, but he didn’t slow.
The sound changed. Deeper. Louder. A constant thunder that filled his ears.
The waterfall.
Not a little one. One where tourists drove for hours just to get a picture. It was beautiful and deadly. This one ended in razor sharp rocks and a landing that would kill them.
He had to get to her first.
Swimming hard as he could, he spotted her in flashes, twisting with the water until he whipped himself around a cluster of rocks and landed in front of her. Her white fur matted around her wide eyes. Too wide. She paddled furiously, but she was no match for the current. Blood streaked her fur but he couldn’t tell how bad it was.
He dove and snagged the back of her neck in his jaw, careful not to hurt her. The taste of her fur filled his mouth. He kicked, shoved off a rock, and pushed them toward the shore with what strength he had left.
It would be easier to grab her in human form, but he didn’t have as much strength as a man, and he needed all of his power right now. A glance told him they were five feet from the flow pushing them right over. Five feet from a landing they wouldn’t survive.
He kicked harder. She tried to help, twisting and fighting, and he shook her hard. She went limp, trusting him.
Good.
He found another rock and used it. His feet slipped. He kicked anyway, muscles tearing as he shoved them sideways. The river fought him, then let go.
They hit the shoreline hard. Stone tore at skin. They rolled once, twice, and then the water was behind them, still reaching, still loud.
He let her go and shifted back, hands digging into frozen ground as his body reset. She shifted too. His heartbeat wouldn’t slow. It burned. His arms shook. The river kept roaring like it hadn’t noticed they were gone.
“Where are you hurt?” The words came out of him loud and fast.
Mist wrapped around them, wet and freezing. It coated his skin. Every breath hurt. His body ached everywhere with stinging cuts and already tightening bruises, but he didn’t check any of it. He didn’t care.
She was all that mattered.
“I’m not sure,” Nadia coughed out.
He ran his hands over her nude body with numb fingers. She was cold. Not just chilled. Freezing in a way that scared him. Her skin felt waxy and frozen. She shuddered violently, her teeth rattling hard enough he could hear the clatter. He found two cuts on her right hip, and he leaned closer, squinting in the dim light reflecting off the snow and water.
The wounds were bleeding steadily but not pouring out dangerous amounts. Not yet, anyway.
“These need stitches,” he said.
She nodded, her head barely moving. “I might be able to heal them,” she gasped. Her lips were blue, and her breath hitched between shallow pulls of air.
“We need shelter.” He ducked and lifted her, forcing his legs to work through the weakness shaking them. They were definitely out of Slate Pack territory now, edging into human land, but still deep in nowhere.
They might be closer to Copper Pack territory.
There were no lights, no roads, no animals. He could only see snow, trees, and that damn river.
The female felt light in his arms. Very.
She curled against him immediately, shivering violently. He pulled her tighter to his chest, trying to share heat, but the wind stole all warmth. The chill cut through him and pummeled straight to his bones. He turned left, then right, searching, his bare feet numb in the thick snow. The powder reached almost to his waist, but he plodded on, trying to go faster.
“Where are we?” Her voice shook so badly he almost missed the words.
“In a safe area.” He hunched over her, trying to shield her body with his own. “Between Copper territory and Slate territory.” He angled toward the river. “I’ve scouted this area before. There’s a summer camp further down.”
He had hunted someone there once. Someone who deserved it.
The wind fought him as he ran for miles on bare feet with the ice slicing into his skin. Cuts along his hips and across his chest burned, then slowly started to close as he moved. He glanced down at her again. Blood still seeped from her hip, dark against her pale skin. “Can you heal that?”