For a second, I thought it was going to turn and run, but it suddenly turned back toward Audra who, bloody and crying, scrabbled backward at his approach. The growl was something I’d never heard before, and I hoped to God I never heard it again.
And then . . .
It seemed to happen in slow motion. The snow under Audra dropped out from under her and she flailed her bloodied arms as I dove toward her, our fingers brushing as she let out another blood-curdling scream, plunging backward and out of sight.
With a deep, guttural yell, I landed on my stomach, reaching for Audra who was no longer there. Below I heard the sickening oof sound as she hit the ground. I screamed her name, the wolf next to me letting out another low growl. I stood, swinging the metal crazily, connecting with his flank again as he yelped. “You bastard! You fucking bastard!” The wolf backed up, turning and limping away with a horrible, broken gait, glancing back only once before he disappeared into the forest.
I dropped back to my stomach, breathing harshly, filled with blinding terror. On the ground below, Audra lay, one leg bent up unnaturally, her eyes closed as blood darkened the snow around her. “Audra!” I screamed, my voice cracking.
For a horrifying moment, she was completely still, silent, but then a soft moan drifted up to me and I sobbed out an incoherent sound of relief. She isn’t dead. She isn’t dead. Thank God, thank God.
“Audra, honey.” I tried my best to sound steady, calm, but my voice broke as I sucked in a shuddery moan.
Her eyes blinked open and she stared at me as if she couldn’t comprehend the situation. Finally, “Dane?” Her voice was so soft it barely made its way to me where I lay looking at her from a hundred feet above.
I attempted a smile but it felt like my lips stuck to my teeth in what must be a grotesque grimace. “You’re going to be okay, Audra.”
“Dane,” she sobbed, “Dane, I can’t feel my legs.”
Oh God, no. No! This cannot be happening. God, this cannot be happening.
“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” I pulled myself to my knees, the world tilting on its axis for a moment as the adrenalin surge wore off and my body protested any movement violently. I choked back the vomit in my throat. She was down there, paralyzed, with no way to defend herself. “Audra, honey, I’m going to throw this spear down to you. I’m going to try to get it to land so you can reach for it, all right? Put your arms over your head in case my aim is off.”
I saw her head move in acknowledgment and then I aimed as best as I could, tossing the metal down to where Audra lay, and slightly to the right. It landed in the snow above her head and I let out a breath of relief as she reached for it, her arm leaving a smear of red in the snow.
“How bad is your arm?”
“I don’t know.” She started crying, her sobs pinching my heart, as dread and panic warred in my chest, along with the terrible, feverish sickness.
“Apply as much pressure as you can to the places where you’re bleeding. I’m coming down to you. I’ll be there in a minute. Just hold on. Hold on, honey. Hold on.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Audra
Another sob escaped my lips and I tried my best to suck back the scream working its way up my chest to lodge in my throat. This couldn’t be happening.
No, oh God, no.
I’d just wanted to find some rosehips for Dane. He’d been burning up, tossing and turning, muttering in his sleep, his glazed-over eyes unfocused when he’d woken to drink the water I was dripping into his mouth. I’d been so scared when I’d woken in the morning. If I found some rosehips, I could heat water and make him tea, maybe bring relief from the ravages of the fever. Doing nothing was slowly driving me insane. The helplessness was like a knife carving into my heart as I watched him suffer and slip away from me bit by bit. I’m going to lose him. I’m going to lose him.
I’d gone all the way to the edge of the forest when I’d decided to give up. And that’s when I heard the growls behind me, the soft crunch of snow as they stalked closer and closer, backing me toward the cliff.
And then Dane. Dane had come up behind them like a warrior charging into battle. For me. Hot tears leaked from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks to collect in my ears.
I heard a small sound to my left and let out a small, fearful gasp, clutching the metal in my sock-covered hands and whipping my head toward the noise. A cardinal. We made eye contact and he lifted from the ground, soaring up and away into the safety of the trees. I let out a gasping breath, the white vapor rising and dissipating in the cold air as I released my grip on the weapon Dane had thrown me. I hardly had the strength to hold it. How would I use it against something that meant me harm if I needed to?
“Audra?” I heard Dane call and a gasping moan of intense relief burst from my lips at the sound of his voice. He was back. I was hurting so badly, but I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t alone. “I’m tying the leather strips together. I have them all here. This isn’t the ideal spot to climb from”—his voice faded away for a second as if he needed time to collect his breath—“but we work with what we have, don’t we, honey?”
I nodded my head, my teeth chattering as the wet snow beneath me soaked through my jeans, into my very bones. My jacket was ripped where the wolf had torn at my arm and I could feel the blood freezing on my skin. “Y-yes,” I agreed. We did. We worked with what we had.
“Okay, but first, I have my duffel bag here,” he said, his voice slurring just slightly, “and I’m going to throw it down to you. Pull it toward you and take out the shirt on top and wrap it around your arm like a bandage. Stop the bleeding as best you can, okay?”
“O-okay.”
“Good. I know you can do it, Audra. You’re the strongest person I know, baby. You’re Wonder Woman.”
I let out a small, strangled sound, halfway between a laugh and a sob just as the duffel bag landed on the ground near my left leg.