“Nadia!” Isaac leaped toward her, yanking her back to the wall. He shoved her behind him just as the wolf hit him again, propelling him toward the edge. He went over, claws extending from his fingers as he started to shift.
Nadia reached for him, grasping his wrist as it turned into a paw. She pulled as hard as she could to help him reach safety.
The wolf smashed into her, pain exploded in her shoulders, and she rolled to the side, her head hanging over the edge. Scrambling, she reached for Isaac again, but he was falling. Eyes wide, snout up, he howled as he dropped far down to hit the water.
Nadia called out his name, searching for any sign of him in the churning current. Tears filled her eyes and she partially turned to see the wolf straighten into Bulwark’s human form. She crab walked to the side, eyeing the edge. “What are you doing?”
Bruises mottled the side of Bulwark’s face. “Dealing with two problems at once.”
She fought a whimper. He was so much bigger than her, and even standing nude in the swirling snow, looked dangerous. “I didn’t blow up the tunnels.”
“I know. My guess is that Caidrik did it.” Bulwark smiled, looking deadly. “It was a smart move, really. Kill me, save you, be a hero. The guy thinks I’m dead.”
She sucked in a breath. Was there any way Isaac survived that fall? “What now?”
Bulwark reached for her arms and dragged her up. “Now you follow that red-headed moron.”
She struggled in his grasp but couldn’t free herself. “Why? I thought you wanted to be the Alpha.”
“I do, but Taryn is a much better mate for me. Plus, killing you will destroy Caidrik. The guy has quite a hard-on for you. This’ll be such a nice flashback to when Carrie died.” With that, Bulwark threw her into the air.
Mist hit her face, cold and blinding—and then she was falling, the river rising to meet her.
Chapter 11
Caidrik reached the old bridge just in time to see Bulwark throw Nadia off the opposite ledge.
He bellowed her name as she dropped toward the violent river. The sound ripped out of him, raw and useless, already swallowed by the roar of the churning water below. There was no time to think. He leaped, shifting in the air, the change snapping through him so fast it hurt. Bones burned and reset, skin stretched, and his wolf strength slammed into place. He hit the water hard and went under. Pain spiked through his eyeballs.
He burst back up, fighting wildly.
The current took him immediately. It dragged him sideways, spun him, dunked his head under and yanked it back out. Water blasted up his snout and down his throat. He coughed out gallons, choking, his lungs screaming. His head bobbed and ducked and bobbed again, and nothing filled his vision but white water and spray. Trying to see was useless. Everything moved too fast.
“Nadia,” he tried to roar, but only a wolf’s growl came out, torn apart by the sound of the river. He shoved his head down, tried to swim under the top current, and smashed sideways into a sharp rock. Pain slashed across his rib cage, sharp enough to make him snarl as the water rolled him over it.
Damn it. He forced himself to the surface again.
Wait.
Her head broke the surface ahead of him, then disappeared again. They were in the middle of jagged rapids now with the water hammering stones, and he could see blood pooling around her. The red spread and thinned, foaming at the surface.
Something hit him beneath the current, a surge of energy that rolled through the water hard. She must have shifted. Good.
He paddled closer, then stopped fighting it and let the current take him, trusting that if he stayed with it, they’d end up in the same place. Branches whipped past him. One cracked against his shoulder. Another nearly took his head off. He slammed into another rock and pain flared down his leg, hot and deep, but he didn’t slow.
The sound changed. Deeper. Louder. A constant thunder that filled his ears.
The waterfall.
Not a little one. One where tourists drove for hours just to get a picture. It was beautiful and deadly. This one ended in razor sharp rocks and a landing that would kill them.
He had to get to her first.
Swimming hard as he could, he spotted her in flashes, twisting with the water until he whipped himself around a cluster of rocks and landed in front of her. Her white fur matted around her wide eyes. Too wide. She paddled furiously, but she was no match for the current. Blood streaked her fur but he couldn’t tell how bad it was.
He dove and snagged the back of her neck in his jaw, careful not to hurt her. The taste of her fur filled his mouth. He kicked, shoved off a rock, and pushed them toward the shore with what strength he had left.
It would be easier to grab her in human form, but he didn’t have as much strength as a man, and he needed all of his power right now. A glance told him they were five feet from the flow pushing them right over. Five feet from a landing they wouldn’t survive.
