Love Me, Still(7)

Complete and utter despair wrapped around her, tightening her chest, squeezing until she wheezed for breath. What she wouldn’t give to not feel. To be able to close her eyes and have blessed darkness descend.

She took a step toward the drop off, staring down into the ravine. It would be so easy to step off into nothing. Then she’d never feel again. She wouldn’t hurt so much. She’d find the peace she so desperately needed.

* * *

Cael pulled the heavy furs tighter around him as he, Niko and Riyu fanned out and trudged higher up the mountain. Their inability to shift and move faster frustrated him, but there was a human in the area. A trapper if he had to guess. They didn’t want to startle him by coming up on him in wolf form. It was a good way to get themselves shot.

For a week, he and the others had scoured the area around their old encampment. They could detect no trace of Heather’s scent. Then yesterday, when the wind had shifted and blew from the north, he had caught the faintest whiff of her.

They had charged up the mountain in the direction of the wind, anxious to find her.

Suddenly Riyu stopped ahead of Cael. He lifted his head and sniffed. A low growl emanated from his throat.

“What is it, Riyu?” Cael demanded as he surged through the snow.

Niko joined them and raised his head as well. “It’s her. I smell her. Much stronger now. She isn’t far.”

Cael inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as the sweet smell of his mate drifted through his nostrils. Longing, regret, so much sadness swelled within him.

He shoved past Riyu and Niko, increasing his speed up the mountain slope. Her smell grew stronger, and his body tingled with the anticipation of seeing her, even as his palms sweated in the frigid air at the thought of what he would say to her. How he would gain her forgiveness.

Then he stopped. Riyu nearly ran into him from behind. A low sob carried to them on the wind. Cael looked in the direction of the sound, and there he saw her. Poised on the edge of a drop off. Heather.

She took a step closer and stared down into the abyss. Terror clutched at Cael’s chest. Beside him, Riyu hissed in fear. She was going to fall.

Oh God. They’d never get to her in time.

In a flash, Cael transformed, lunging forward in the snow. He dug into the terrain, running as fast as his wolf shape would allow. Behind him, Riyu and Niko shifted and set out for Heather as well.

No! He couldn’t lose her again.

Just when he thought she would step off the edge, she crumbled into the snow and lay still. His heart raced with relief, but still he flew the remaining distance, his need to touch her, to hold her, to reassure himself that she was okay was all consuming.

He reached her just seconds before Riyu and Niko. He gently nudged her with his snout, but she was unconscious. He nuzzled her cheek and licked at her skin, trying to get her to awaken.

She was burning up with fever.

Cael shifted then stared down at his mate. Tears stung his eyelids, threatening to unman him completely. She was so fragile looking. Pale, thin, so breakable. And she wasn’t well.

“Is she alive?” Riyu asked in a rush of fear.

Cael nodded grimly. “She won’t be for long if we don’t get her out of the cold. She’s burning up with fever.”

“There’s a cabin in the distance,” Niko said pointing. “It could be where she’s been staying.”

Cael picked his precious bundle from the snow and hefted her into his arms. She had always been a tiny thing, but her lightness, even amidst the furs she wore, was alarming.

He pressed his lips to her hot forehead and closed his eyes as he followed Niko toward the cabin. I love you, my heart. I’m so very sorry for how I have wronged you. Please come back to me. I cannot live without you.

Riyu fell in beside him, looking anxiously over Heather’s unconscious form. He reached out a hand to touch her cheek, and Cael could see tears in his brother’s eyes.

“We failed her,” Riyu croaked. “When she needed us the most, we turned our backs. How are we ever supposed to get past something like that?”

Cael shook his head grimly. He didn’t have the words to offer comfort to his brother. Not when their mate was without.

Niko opened the door to the cabin and investigated before returning to Cael and Riyu to motion them in.

“She’s been staying here. Her scent is everywhere, but there is also the scent of another. A male. I think he’s the trapper we knew was close,” Niko said as Cael shouldered his way in with Heather.

The fire had burned low, and Riyu set to work adding logs as Cael lowered Heather to the pallet of furs just a few feet away. He gently arranged the covers over her. He knew how cold-blooded she was. He and Riyu had delighted in keeping her warm during the winter.

He smoothed a hand over her blonde hair, enjoying the feel of her silken tresses between his fingers. Anger and remorse surged through his veins as he saw the faint shadows of the bruises on her face. She wore a scar, still puckered and angry above her eyebrow where one of the bastards had struck her, cutting the skin.

He’d seen her limp as she had stepped toward the edge of the cliff. Now, he moved the covers up so he could examine her limbs. There were marks and bruises on one leg from what looked to be a splint. The indentions fit. His hand curled in rage at what the hunters had done to his mate. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

He turned his face away, no longer able to keep the emotion from welling in his throat. A tear slid down his cheek. His brother’s hand slid over his shoulder, squeezing in comfort.