“There!” Frank yells. “Something moved beneath the ice. No, it’s gone.”
I catch up to him, my eyes dissecting every pocket of ice and pool of water. He could have seen debris floating beneath.
A flash of blonde hair slides beneath the ice. “There!”
“There’s nothing there,” Frank says as I shift to my wolf and scent the air again. The faint scent of lilac—Angel—grabs me.
My wolf leaps ahead of where I saw her, hoping to outpace the current. The force of my landing sends me crashing through a thick layer of ice. The deadly cold threatens me more than the ice shards slicing my back.
I strain to keep my eyes open beneath the murky water, but my wolf and I are completely in sync. We will find and save her, at any cost.
Something brushes my back. I nearly disregard it as debris, but instinct makes me reach for it. My teeth sink into flesh. A muffled yelp, barely audible beneath the water. Angel!
Without letting go, I shift. I lock my arms around her middle and kick upward, toward the surface. Fuck, she’s limp!
We break through the water, and seconds later shifters pull Angel from the river, then me. Ten packmates brace themselves in the current, arms linked to form a chain. Hayden hoists Angel over his back, holding onto the shifters as he works his way toshore. I’m still on my feet, so Frank only steadies me, gripping my arm to make sure I don’t lose my footing. When I step on shore, one of the women throws a blanket around my shoulders.
A wall of shifters block me from seeing what’s happening to my Angel.
“Is she alive?” I ask.
No one answers.
When I push through the crowd, Frank’s meaty hand clamps down on my shoulder. “Let Pryce work.”
“Let him through,” Pryce calls over. The crowd parts and I race to Angel.
She’s alive! Sitting in the snow, her breathing rapid and uncontrolled, but very much alive!
Blue eyes shoot up and find me instantly.
My knees give way.
“I got you, buddy.” Frank’s not going to let me fall.
“She’s alive,” I whisper.
“Thanks to you.”
Thanks to my wolf and… everyone. I couldn’t have done it without my pack. All the fight and resentment from the past two years leaves me. Not that I ever blamed them for Marla’s death, but they were there when the WSSO cut her down like an animal.
They would have saved her if they could. It’s a truth I’ve known all along, but hadn’t been able to accept. Until now.
“You okay?” Angel asks, those sky-blue eyes locked on me.
“Just… acclimating.”
“Get a warm shower when you get home,” Pryce says to Angel as she rises. “How about you, Garrett? Those cuts healing?”
“Cuts?” I glance down to see long slices across my legs, while he examines my back. I’d forgotten about the sharp edge of the ice where I drove in. “Healing,” I confirm. I trust my wolf to heal me.
Fuck… I trust my wolf. I haven’t been able to say that in a long time.
“The kid?” I ask.
“He’s fine,” Sadie Lynn says as she walks over, carrying the boy on her hip. He’s wrapped in a blanket as well and his eyes are wide as can be as he stares down at Angel.
“See, Alex, she’s fine, just a little cold, like you. They fished her out like a big ol’ salmon.”
