Destined for Disaster ✔️

Chapter 41

Pain tore through Ryleigh's hind leg, and for a moment she was sure something invisible had taken out a knife and wedged it into her hipbone. But it wasn't her own pain she was feeling – she wasn't injured at all.

She spurred her wolf to go faster, even though she was already treading the ground with as much force as she could muster.

She had almost reached Austin when an incredible pain tore through her. Her ribs shattered – or at least it felt that way – and her lungs felt as though someone had ripped them out of her body. She could hear his cry of pain and instinct took over.

When Austin at last came into sight, the feral wolf was looming over him. She didn't think twice. She jumped on top of the animal, and in a ball of fury the two of them rolled down a hill and crashed into a river that she'd had no idea was even there.

She adjusted quickly, trying to sink her teeth into the wolf's neck as they fell. It was hard, if not impossible, to aim while tumbling down a steep slope, and neither of them managed to hurt the other beyond an accidental paw in the muzzle.

The river's surface hit like stone as they tore through it, and it cut like glass when the water wrapped its icy hands around them, dragging them down. The wolf and Ryleigh got separated, and though she tried to stare through the water to find it and finish what she had started, she couldn't.

The paralysing fear that overcame her at the realisation of being submerged in water was worse than any pain she felt. She could deal with most things, but not water. Anything but water. She managed to reach the surface just before her lungs collapsed. Not a paw's length away from her, the wolf came up too, roaring.

The water was streaming fast and tore at their bodies, deciding their direction for them. She tried to get to the riverbank, the wolf attempting the same, but they couldn't fight against something so powerful. The river took them farther and farther away from the scene of the crime.

The water threw Ryleigh around and beat against her from all angles, until she no longer had any clue what was up or down. She tried for a moment to swim against the stream, but she couldn't swim anyway, and she was only exhausting herself.

The wolf took longer to get to same conclusion and kept fighting against the water with wide, wild eyes and continuous roaring. The only upside was that her adversary had clearly not done this before either.

Had she had any hope that her opponent was a rational creature, she might have shifted and attempted to strike up conversation. Clearly, it wasn't, and if a fight to the death was unavoidable, then she was going to do her damnedest to make sure she won.

When they collided, she snapped her jaw, hoping that somehow, by some move of fate, its neck would find a way between her teeth. That didn't happen. The wolf roared at her and clawed, its sharp nails dragging patterns down her shoulder.

She howled and went under, water forcing itself down her throat. The river was dark and she couldn't see two paws in front of her. As she tumbled along, trying to get the right way up again, she hit something and realised it was the wolf. She started biting and clawing without any clue as to whether she was doing any damage at all. She was blind and deaf, and so deprived of air she wasn't even sure it was really happening.

Her body hit something sharp and unyielding – the water was forcing her against the bottom of the river, stones and branches tearing at her skin without mercy. In an act of utmost desperation, she shifted back to a human form, hoping that perhaps fighting back to the surface would be easier in a shape she was more used to.

Goosebumps rose on her skin as her fur disappeared. She threw her arms around, but the water beat against her and kept her pinned to the bottom. Her head banged against solid rock and everything went black.

*****

Austin, meanwhile, had shifted back as well. He wanted to jump to his feet and run to the ridge, hopefully to see Ryleigh safe and sound on the riverbank, but he couldn't even get himself onto his knees.

He heard sounds behind him and closed his eyes. Perhaps the feral wolf he'd fought hadn't been the only one. He had no more fight left in him, especially now that Ryleigh had disappeared over the edge, risking her own life for his sake. What if she was dead? O, Goddess, please no.

"Austin!" Julie dropped to her knees beside him, and a breath of relief fled from him. Ellis, Conall, and Sky followed her, all stark naked as they shifted back. Julie's hand fluttered over him, checking for injuries. "We need to link someone to bring a stretcher," she said, to no one in particular. "He can't walk."

Conall approached, kneeling at his other side. "How bad is it?"

"From what I can tell, some broken ribs and a concerning wound in his side," Julie said. "Ridge will be able to give more clarity."

"Where is Ryleigh?" Sky asked, looking around. "Ellis, didn't you say she had a head-start?"

Austin once again attempted to force himself up, but Julie pushed him back down. "Don't you move. What happened?"

He turned his head towards the edge – it was all he could do.

Sky was there in seconds, following the trails in the dirt that led all the way down the slope.

"Did she fall?" she asked, looking at Austin over her shoulder.

"Feral wolf..." Austin wanted to turn on his back, but Julie stopped him.

"Conall, help me keep him still," Julie said. 

Conall lay a heavy hand on his shoulder, keeping him pinned in place.

"Let me go," Austin said, his breathing coming in fits and spurts.

Ellis had joined Sky at the edge, peering down at the river. Then he turned to look at the ground, where the evidence of their struggle was laid out. "Two sets of prints."

"I don't see her," Sky said. "Don't see anyone else either. The river must have taken them. Permission to go look for her?"

"There might be more feral wolves around," Ellis said. "Be careful. Find a safer place to go down to the river. Keep us posted on your position and any developments. And take Conall. I will send more people to look for her when they get here."

Sky frowned, eyes flitting towards Conall, but nodded.

"Don't you move, brother dear," Conall said, patting Austin's shoulder. Sky had shifted back into her wolf already, and he did the same, following her along the ridge.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Julie said to Austin, wiping a strand of hair out of his face. He was lying on his stomach, wincing at every breath.

"She's scared of water," he said, his voice hardly a whisper. Water filled his throat and he wrenched his eyes shut, knowing he was experiencing her symptoms on top of his own. "She's drowning. I have to –"

"You're not going anywhere, Austin." Ellis was kneeling beside him, eyes wandering across Austin's battered body. There were scrapes and bruises everywhere and he had the wolf's dental structure carved into his hipbone. "Sky and Conall are perfectly good trackers, they'll find her. And I'll send a dozen more men after them. They'll look everywhere."

"She'll drown!" His breath hitched in his throat, a hundred knives stabbing him all over. He pressed his face against his arm, the pounding in his head threatening to overcome him.

More sounds filled the clearing and more people emerged from between the trees. They lifted him off the ground to convey him onto a stretcher. The pain was too much to bear and everything went black. 

_____

A/N: Told you it would get dramatic, didn't I? Do you think they're going to find Ryleigh? Stay tuned to find out ;) 

Thanks for reading!