by Lisa Daniels
“I am not disregarding science, but it really only helps for long-term solutions and when you have time for analysis. When it comes to being out in the wild, intuition is your best tool.”
Since she did not have much experience being in the wild, Serenity felt it was best to remain silent. Ryland clearly felt certain of his belief in intuition, and she did not want to argue with him. Her instincts were not well honed, and in the past they had not served her well. Then again, living in cities was nothing like living in nature.
After a few minutes, Ryland spoke again, “I know you are probably still very uncomfortable and cold, but we need to check you out.”
“You mean like moving my fingers and stuff?”
“That’s part of it. You struck several rocks. My initial assessment suggested nothing was broken, but I didn’t check too closely because your body temperature was too low. Trying to identify broken bones was not as important as keeping you alive, so I prioritized warming you over anything else.”
Serenity gave a little nod of understanding.
“Are you feeling warm enough?”
She moved a little, shifting the light blanket that was over them. “I think I’ll be alright. At least my teeth aren’t chattering now. ”
“Okay. I’m going to wrap the blanket around you and check your arms first. That means we’ll need to wrap the blanket around your torso.”
She nodded.
“Okay. I’m slipping out from under the blanket now. Let me know if you get too cold.” The warmth at her back disappeared and was quickly replaced by something being tucked under her. A pair of strong hands gently rolled her over. “I apologize for touching you, but I will need to move down your body after checking your arms.”
“Stop apologizing. I’m not going to argue with you since it seems like you know what you are doing.”
“I don’t have any medical training, if that is what you mean. Well, not a traditional type of medical training.” His hands were feeling along her arm. “I’m going to bend your elbows. Let me know if anything hurts.”
“Okay.” She watched Ryland as he focused on checking her arms. He periodically looked up at her, and she shook her head as he bent her elbows. When he bent her left wrist, pain shot up her arm. Ryland stopped at her obvious pain.
“It appears to be a sprain. Hold on.” He moved out of her field of vision, and she finally began to look around her. They were in a small confined area, and it seemed like a very small cave. A small fire was a slight distance away from her, but she couldn’t make out much in the dim light it created. When Ryland returned to her side, he had gauze. For a moment she wondered where he had gotten the supplies, but that was hardly her focus as he wrapped up her wrist and explained what was coming next.
“Now try to move each of your fingers. One at a time.”
She did as she was told. “No pain. And I can feel them, although they are still a bit cold.”
He gripped her hands for a moment, his large hands easily holding both of hers. Bringing them to his mouth, Ryland blew into a gap between his hands, then started to rub her hands. Serenity could feel the circulation, and her fingers tingled a bit. Wiggling them a little, she smiled. Ryland let go of her hands. “We will work on them a bit more after making sure you are alright.” She nodded. His hands went to her shoulders. “I am sorry about this, but do let me know if you feel any discomfort or pain.” His hands lifted one arm, then the other. “You’ve already sat up and I checked to make sure there aren’t any broken vertebrae in your neck, but we need to find any source of pain indicating anything else that could be a less obvious injury. Let me know if there is any pain or discomfort because we will need to be careful if there is any damage.” He then began to slowly move her head, turning it in several different directions after feeling along the back and sides.
When she said that there wasn’t any severe pain, he paused. “I’m really sorry about this.” His hands moved down to her breasts and felt along the ribs under them. “I can’t apply a lot of pressure here in case any of them are broken, so if you feel any discomfort, speak up immediately.”
Her heart racing, Serenity couldn’t do any more than nod once. He kept his eyes on the progress of his hands as they worked around to the sides, then back around, testing each rib. Hoping that he wasn’t able to feel her heart, she tried to hold her breath.
“Did that hurt?” His hands froze.
“No, not at all. Just starting to feel cold.”
“I’m sorry I’m not any faster. I will get this done as quickly as possible and then if you need I can warm you up again.”
Serenity did not trust herself to respond to that. Attempting to breathe normally, she watched him work his way down her body. He went through a similar spiel before pressing on her stomach and asking about pain.
Finally he sat back a bit. “It seems like all of that checks out. Would you like me to warm you up, or just keep going?”
“Go ahead and finish. I’m alright.”
With a curt nod, he worked down her right leg, bending her leg at the hip, then at the knee, then moving the ankle. She wiggled her toes to end it. He repeated the process on her left leg, and she flinched when he bent the knee.
“I was afraid of that. It isn’t broken, but your knee slammed into a rock before I could get you away from the rapids. We’ll need to be careful because I don’t have anything that will keep it from moving much. It will slow us down, but we aren’t going to be able to move quickly anyway.”
There was something in the way he said it that suggested her injuries were not their only concern. “Can’t we call for help?” As she asked, she thought about the program she and Alaric had been working on. This was exactly the kind of situation where it would be invaluable.
“We don’t have any working phones. I couldn’t find one on you.” Serenity realized that she had left it in her bag in the car because Cora had told her that she wouldn’t want her phone on the trip. Ryland continued, “And mine is water-logged. There is no way to call anyone right now.”
“Oh. Right.” Suddenly she was grateful to Cora for the suggestion to leave the phone behind. Serenity didn’t have the money to get another one right now – having it now would have served no real purpose, even if she had gotten the program working before leaving that morning.
“It’s been dark for a bit, so we should probably stay here. It’s going to be a long night because we don’t have much to eat. I hope you like fish and berries.”
Serenity shivered a little. “That’s fine. I’m not terribly hungry.”
“What you need right now is a good meal and warm bed. I will do what I can to accommodate, but we’ll need to get you to the hospital as soon as possible.”
“I feel okay.”
“You are still in shock. There doesn’t seem to be any internal bleeding, but your body is really bruised. And you need to be warmed up a lot more than I can offer at the moment.” He looked at her for a moment. “There is one thing… never mind. It wouldn’t work.”
Serenity frowned, “What? Did you find a camp or something and you were thinking of stealing from it to keep me warm?”
He blinked at her. “I did find a camp, but I wasn’t debating stealing from it. That is already done.”
“Wait, what?” Her shock caused her to sit up quickly, and her head immediately started hurting.
Ryland moved by her side and put an arm around her, pushing her to the ground. Pulling the blanket away from her, he slipped in and pressed against her. “Don’t worry, they deserve it.”
“How can you say that? What if they need their supplies?”
“You were in need, and they… I have no reason to feel bad stealing from them.”
“Well, I do.”
“I–” Ryland seemed to be fighting something back. “I tell you what, I will slip the supplies back tomorrow when we leave. Okay?”
Serenity frowned, but nodded. “Alright. Did you steal their food, too?”
�
�No.” He looked a little offended. “There is no way I would take what they have because that would be worse than unethical.”
Something about the way he said it caused her to pause, but she was beginning to feel too tired to fight.
“I think I want to go back to sleep.”
“Eat first.” He rubbed her arm with his hand. “You need to stay awake long enough to eat, but first we need to get you a little warmer.”
“Won’t eating help with that?”
“I–” Ryland paused. “Alright. Hold on.” The warmth again disappeared and the blanket was tucked under her again. She turned to watch him moving around the fire, but Serenity couldn’t see what he was doing.
After a minute or so, he returned. When she tried to sit up, he quickly stopped her. “No, conserve your energy.” Gently, he pulled her upper body towards him and rested her against him. Carefully, he fed her, though she knew that he must be uncomfortable. It wasn’t like the angle was an easy one, but he didn’t complain or say anything about his own discomfort.
“Okay. I’m satisfied that you have eaten enough.” He slid her carefully from his lap. “If you want to sleep now…”
She gave a nod as her eyelids began to droop. The last thing Serenity remembered was the feel of his body pressing against her as Ryland slipped back under the covers. He rested her head on his arm and cradled it as she fell asleep.
Chapter 10
Into the War
Serenity woke and the first thing she noticed was warmth and pain. Her body felt like it hurt everywhere. “Oh God–”
A hand quickly clamped over her mouth. She turned to the side and found herself looking into a pair of startling blue eyes. Suddenly the events of the previous day flooded back to her, and Serenity frowned.
Ryland looked down at her, a finger over his mouth. Her frown deepened, but then she heard voices from outside.
“I know I saw it around here somewhere. That bear was huge. It couldn’t possibly have disappeared.”
Serenity’s eyes widened. Ryland was looking at the mouth of the cave where a couple of shadows moved over it. The pair remained silent on the floor for quite some time, even after the voices had faded from hearing.
Ryland pulled his hand from her mouth. His voice was a very low whisper, almost like a warning growl. “Your clothes aren’t completely dry, but they will have to do for now. We have to get out of here because they will find this place sooner than later.”
“Were they hunters?”
He looked down at her. “Only in the most general terms.”
Serenity gave him a confused look. “What is that suppose– shit!” She fought to keep her voice soft, “Those are the poachers you warned me about.”
Ryland looked pained as he sighed, “Yeah, those are a few of the poachers.”
“You stole from them yesterday.”
His eyes darted to hers and a thin smile let her know she was right. “Now is not the time to debate all of that.”
“We should keep everything you took from them. Did you get a gun?”
“What?” He looked at her with shock. “Not a chance.”
“Why not? Are you a pacifist or something?”
All he could manage was to blink at her. With a slight shake of his head, he muttered, “I don’t use that kind of primitive, unskilled weaponry. Only cowards use them.”
“People who want to survive use them.”
“In the wild, instinct is far better than anything produced by science.” He paused, “Well, maybe bows and arrows. Those things are classy, but I don’t have them. We are going to have to do this cautiously. They won’t hesitate to kill us if they find us. Make sure to lean on me. I want to apologize ahead of time for having to carry you, although I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”
“Maybe you should leave me and go get help.” Serenity’s voice was calm.
“Not happening.”
“Look, I know you are trying to be gallant, or brave, or something, but seriously, that is the most logical thing to do right now. I hurt everywhere, so all I am going to do is slow you down.”
“You can stop right there because there isn’t a chance in hell that I would leave you behind.” Without another word, he lifted her to her feet. She had to lean over to fit. Holding the towel in place, she tried to find another angle to argue. “I said don’t bother,” his voice cut through her thoughts as a damp shirt was pulled over her head.
Serenity let out a slight gasp. “You could have warned me,” she hissed.
“Shh.” It was the last sound from Ryland as he took her hand and gently led her to the mouth of the small cave.
His head was on a constant swivel over the next couple of hours as they slowly moved away from the place where they had encountered the poachers. Several times he stood up and looked around, before hunching over and pulling her in a different direction.
Ryland sped up a little around noon, and with the speed came a few explanations. “We need to head to the water because they have dogs.”
“That shouldn’t affect us though, right? The dogs should be hunting animals.”
“That are trained to go after anything that has a strong smell. Right now, between the rapids, the day without a shower, the–” He stopped talking and looked at her, then cleared his throat. It was obvious that he was omitting saying something when he spoke again, “Suffice it to say, we are a very strong smell right now.”
“I don’t know if I can go any faster.” Serenity had been trying not to complain given their circumstances, but her knee was beginning to hurt even when they stood still.
“Here.” He turned to her, offering his back. “Let me carry you for a ways so that we can move a little faster.”
“Are you sure?”
“You weigh next to nothing. Hop on.”
Serenity felt herself blush as she put her arms around his neck. Without warning, he placed his hands under her butt and lifted her easily off of the ground. His hands slid down her thighs, locking near the knees.
“Hold on, but not too tight, please.” His face was in profile as he talked to her, almost like he was waiting for her signal to go.
She did as she was told. “Okay.”
To her surprise he began at a pace that was nearly jogging. They moved a lot faster as he weaved through the bracken, leaves, and roots, making far less noise than she would have believed possible. As much as she wanted to talk, Serenity was afraid of distracting him. The pair made their way silently through the woods.
She had no idea how long they had been moving when he appeared to pick up the pace. He was nearly running when a loud bark sounded from a ways behind them.
“I don’t know if we will make the water before they catch up to us.”
“I thought we were close to the water. How far did you move us after you got us to shore?”
“We aren’t heading back to the river. There is a small stream that I was hoping to reach, but the dogs picked up our scent.”
“Maybe I should climb up a tree and you can make your way to the water. They’ll follow you, right?”
“That would be a good idea, except there are five mountain lions within ten miles, and a pack of wolves within five miles.”
“How on earth could you know that?”
“At this rate, you will find that out soon enough.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
There was another bark from much closer as Ryland tried to pick up the pace.
“You sure you really want to know?” A hint of warning in his voice caused her to think about the question.
Quickly dismissing the concern, Serenity felt that the man’s strange behavior was rubbing off on her. “Why wouldn’t I want to know?”
“Because there are some things that science cannot explain, and I know that it is going to cause you some significant issues.”
“Next you are going to tell me you are a wizard and you can magic us out of this.” She felt him laugh through her
thighs and she couldn’t help but respond by clamping them tighter to him. Feeling very self-conscious after that, she sounded slightly offended. “Look, if you can do something that gets us out of here faster, don’t let me stop you.”
Ryland placed a hand on hers as she held onto his neck. “If you insist. But hold on, and don’t let go. And grip a little tighter with your legs.” One of his hands moved to her injured knee and gently pressed her leg to him as several barks sounded from less than a mile away.
Slightly annoyed, Serenity did as she was told. As soon as she did, the form between her legs began to shift. Her legs spread further apart as Ryland’s back expanded. The hand on her hands began to grow and she distinctly felt hair quickly growing under them. Her thighs automatically clenched at the shock and change in position – the figure under her moved from two legs to four as he let go of her.
Her first thoughts were of the impossible – Ryland was a werewolf! Then her eyes drifted down and she saw that it was not a wolf-like figure she was riding, but a large black bear. Her desire to let go was ignored because the idea of letting go of a bear was about as logical as letting go of a tiger’s tail. There was no safer place than on its back, unless the bear decided to slam her into a tree.
Or pull you off, her thoughts chipped in. Closing her eyes, she held on tighter as the realization sank in that Ryland was not just a regular human – in fact, the evidence was that he wasn’t at all human.
This is a dream. I am dying in the river and this is my brain just trying to distract me from the pain. She repositioned her hands, grabbing her wrist in the process. The sharp pain that went up through her shoulder made her reconsider the thought that her body was masking the pain.
The sound of barking was about the same distance away as it had been, and she turned to look. Unable to see anything, Serenity turned her attention back to the bear. Her mind still reeling, she decided that it must in fact be some kind of dream, though whether she was still in the water or the cave she was not certain.