RYKER
“Where is she?” I yell in frustration as Braxton and I stomp through the forest.
When she had fallen from that cliff, I swear my heart stopped beating. I tried to throw myself after her, but Brax yanked me back, telling me I was no good to her if I was dead or injured.
We held a small bit of hope that she was okay when we had managed to glimpse her sliding down the mountain instead of a deadfall, but we’d lost sight of her before she reached the bottom. It didn’t take us long to run down the mountain path, but when we reached the bottom, she wasn’t there. Whatwasthere was blood. It was a small enough amount to make me think she wasn’t bleeding out badly, but the fact that she was hurt at all, made me clench my jaw in anger. Brax had roared his anger to the sky, then we set off in the direction of the small drops of blood.
The blood trail didn’t last long, but because of the direction it was leading, we assumed she was heading to Havenridge, which was our initial destination. She must have thought she could meet us there, and if she was hurt, she might have thought to seek medical attention there. But the thought of her out here alone, in this forest filled with god knows what, it had my blood boiling.
“When we get to the village, I’m sure we’ll find her,” Brax says, trying to reassure me as we pick up our pace and jog through the forest. He told me it was a few hours’ trek, and if I’m being honest, I hoped we would find her on the way, but when we suddenly break through the mass of trees and see buildings in front of us, I’m not sure if I should feel relieved or upset.
“Penny!” I yell as we stand in the main road looking up and down the street for a sign of her. Brax joins me, hollering her name as we jog down the street, searching everywhere. When we reach the end of the road, we pause and turn around, scanning the small village.
I run my hands through my hair with agitation as I growl out for what must be the fiftieth time today, “Where is she?”
“Hey, are you guys okay? What’s wrong?” A man, around my own age, hurries over to us from what looks like a tavern behind him.
“It’s our mate, we lost her in the forest. We thought she was headed in this direction, but she doesn’t seem to be here, which means she’s injured and out there alone. Fuck!” I turn, looking for something to kick to let out my frustrations.
“Shit, okay, let me rally some men and we’ll help you look.”
“Really?” Brax turns to him in surprise.
“Yes, of course, don’t worry, we’ll find her. Come, follow me and we’ll grab some men and get you guys some water and something to fuel you. I have a feeling you’ve been out there for a while,” he says, assessing Brax. He isn’t looking at him in a bad way, more like a curiosity.
“Thanks, we really appreciate this. I’m Ryker, by the way.”
He turns and extends his hand, taking mine for the firm shake. “Silver.”
“Braxton.” They shake hands and we hurry into the tavern.
He heads straight for the bar and calls to the bartender, “Hank, get these men water and whatever meat you have readythat they can eat on the go, put it on my tab.” Hank nods and Silver turns to the room where a couple tables full of men are watching us carefully. There’s about a dozen of them in total.
“Men, we have an urgent mission to take care of. These men, Ryker and Braxton,” he points to each of us, “Need help finding their mate who’s lost in these woods, injured.”
“Which direction did you come from? Do you have any idea where in the forest she is?” one of the men asks, looking serious. I was glad for it, I wanted these men to take this seriously.
“We came from the mountain. We got separated when she… fell down it. By the time we got to the bottom she was gone, all that was left was a small amount of blood. We followed the trail in this direction but it didn’t last more than twenty feet before it stopped,” I explain, and glance at Silver, noticing he’s giving me a funny look.
“What?” I ask as I furrow my eyebrows.
“Did you just say she fell down a mountain?” he asks, looking alarmed and confused.
“She has a tendency to get herself in a little bit of trouble,” I admit.
“All right, we better go before she finds herself in more trouble.” And just like that, the rest of the men jump up, heading for the exit. Hank comes over to us, handing us both a cup of water and a chicken leg.
Brax and I both take a second to drink our entire cups before handing the empty ones back to him. I bite into my chicken leg as I follow everyone else into the street.
Everyone is standing around waiting for us and as we enter the group of men, Silver speaks. “Okay, I doubt we’re going to run into any other women out there, but just in case, can you tell us what she looks like?”
“She has beautiful long red hair, and she’s wearing black pants and a black shirt.”
I see a few men’s eyebrows raise at my description and Silver nods, turning towards the forest. “Okay then, let’s go. You five,” he points to a group of his friends, “Head a mile north before turning towards the mountain. And you five,” he points towards another five men, “You do the same to the south.”
He glances at the last two men and us, “Us five will head in this direction.” He nods in the direction he’s walking, wasting no time. I can appreciate his need to move this along quickly. The thought of her out here alone without us is killing me. Anything could have happened to her out here, she could be laying down, dying at the base of a tree somewhere.
We’ve taken all of ten steps when we hear an ungodly scream. A feminine scream.Penny.
