Chapter 220
“Submit!!”
Alpha bellows as he finally gets his hand hard around the young man’s neck. Alpha’s words and aura hit me hard and it takes everything I have not to submit too. The young man struggles against him until he finally finds his knees on the ground. I can hear both of them growling hard as alpha keeps a painfully hard grip on him.
“Derek!”
Alpha calls a name I haven’t heard before as a buff male clad only in a pair of jeans jogs over to the newly submitted prospect. Without a word he kneels down in front, pulls a pair of cuffs wrapped in cloth from his pocket and fits them around the prospect’s wrists before helping him up and leading him away.
Before the prospect is out of sight alpha has reengaged in the fight. It seems like his technique is to separate out individuals since none of them are listening to his commands. A truly exhausting but seemingly necessary move.
I recognize Patrick, Parker, Lucas and Damian using the same method along with several bare chested individuals that I don’t recognize.
“Maddie, please. We’re too close. Something really bad is going to happen.”
Madilyn’s sweetness barely reaches my ears but I know it’s there.
“Stop being a baby. Daddy needs help.”
“And what are we going to do?”
“Help him.''
“But Day and Luke already are. Lots of wolves are helping.”
I concentrate hard on their conversation trying to pinpoint where they are. Madilyn has a right to complain and be fearful as there is nothing here that four year old pups can help with. Where’s luna or even their nanny, Erin?
It’s as alpha brings another wrestling match my way that I realize the girls are moving behind me, dangerously close to the river. I walk slowly around to the other side of the tree, keeping my hand firmly on the trunk as I do.
“Madilyn! Madisyn! Come to me! Please! Come to me!”
I call out loudly, wincing as my own voice rings in my ears yet they keep moving away from me. I walk carefully, pausing when I stumble as my adrenaline isn’t yet high enough to fully counteract the effects of a major concussion. I fight for every step I take, gingerly planning each one as I inch closer to the girls. I stop and lean against a tree to call again.
“Madisyn! Madilyn! Get away from the river! Come to me! We need to get out of here!”
I yelp as the thunder claps above us and I know we don’t have much time before a downpour happens.
Movement to my left attracts my attention. I’m mesmerized by alpha’s moves. It’s more like a dance than a sparring match. It’s obvious that not only is he trying to avoid getting hit by the prospect’s wild swings but he’s avoiding hurting the prospect as well. This is all about gaining the upper hand. About stopping them from hurting each other.
“Maddie, no!”
Madilyn’s voice reaches me clearly as Madisyn darts into the clearing behind her father and the prospect as they’re in a tight roll towards her.
“Maddie, get out of there! Get away!”
I scream as loud as I can but the swollen river and the thunder clap easily mask what I’ve said.
“Get out of there!” I try again as Madilyn tries to grab her sister.
As the alpha and prospect get closer all they can manage to do is get closer to the river until my biggest fear comes to life. The prospect stands suddenly from his roll and the girls are on the edge as he bumps hard into them, sending them careening over the bank into the swiftly moving current. I don’t have time to think as I dart out of the woods, swiftly avoiding alpha and the prospect as alpha attempts to pull him away from the bank. I have no idea if he saw his girls fall or if it registers that I’m running for the river. Neither matter to me right now. It’s with three more strides that I jump, clearing the rocks jutting out along the bank. I take a deep breath and hold it as I fall, diving deep into the swollen, raging river below.
The current of the river is strong as I struggle to get my head above the water. Even after my back injury, I’ve had the fortune of being a good swimmer. I struggle to recall how many times I was stupid enough as a child to follow Andre and Kristoph to the river just for them to feign losing me so they could throw me in and walk away. My survival depended on learning quickly what I needed to know. Swimming was one such lesson.
I finally find my footing in the muddy riverbed and push myself upright, breaking the water’s surface with a gasp. I widen my stance, using a large rock beneath the water to support myself against the current. My lungs burn from the lack of oxygen and my chest is tight. The classic painful vice, slowly tightening around my lungs, alerting me to the oncoming asthma attack.
I reach into my pants pocket to find my inhaler has disappeared so I simply push the feeling away. It’s not the first time that I’ve been without. That’s the one thing I’ve always been good at, pushing the pain away until it becomes safe to feel it or simply unbearable. The latter is the norm.
I shiver as the wind blows. Dark black clouds have been threatening to break loose all day and the first drops of rain hitting my skin tell me my time to do something about the dire situation is short.
I scan my surroundings, concentrating downstream, listening carefully for the alpha’s four year old daughters. Why they followed after him to a brawl between every pack in the program, the brawl I started, I don’t know but they are paying dearly for their mistake.
I can hear commands being shouted in the distance but I truly don’t care about that right now. I’m certain that I’ll pay a hefty price for my involvement but I’ll deal with that later.
A tiny cough catches my attention and I start scanning the western bank of the river. It doesn’t take long for me to spot her. Madilyn is clinging to a large boulder, barely jutting out of the water twenty feet downstream from where I stand.
I dive into the water as an even louder crack of thunder echoes through the forest. This time it’s better calculated and I’m able to use the current to my benefit.
I bob my head in and out of the water, taking breaths and adjusting my course until I pop up at the same boulder Madilyn is clinging to. The rain drops are larger now and the frequency of thunder tells me the worst of the storm is nearly here.
I reach down into the water as Madilyn loses her grip and harshly pull her up out of the water just as the river tries to claim her again. She screams from pain and freight as I quickly gather her into the safety of my arms.
“Where is your sister?!”
I yell above the roaring river current and clashing thunder. I’m scanning the water quickly while struggling to counter the current trying to knock me down again. Finally, I spot her. Madisyn has somehow managed to pull herself out of the water onto a low hanging branch but I know she’s tired and too far from the high bank to make it out of the river on her own. She’s about twenty feet further downstream on the eastern side of the river.
The wind is picking up harshly and the branch she clings to sways wildly under her weight. After a brief rest I have made the plan I need and unzip my windbreaker, helping Madilyn climb inside. I zip the thin jacket carefully around her body before cinching the waistband tight to my body and adjusting my sweatpants over the coat praying that she has enough strength to keep herself from falling down into them.
“I need you to grab hold of my shirt. Hold on real tight. We’ve got to float downstream to get your sister.”
I’m scanning fast again, allowing my eyes to dart everywhere, taking every detail in. Jessa called it sensory processing disorder, I call a life saver. The very thing that has allowed me to see, smell, feel, think and react to my environment in ways that no one seems able to explain. It’s a gift that has kept me alive when I shouldn’t be yet curses me with an exaggerated pain response that I could certainly do without.
I scan the water, quickly verifying the best way to use the current to speed me up while using the rocks to slow and direct me to where I need to be.
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