Page 51 of The Alpha Option
“Auntie Steph.”
Blue raced up with Stacy’s youngest boys clinging to him. “Hand off. I’ll be back.”
Steph snatched up Blaze, Cassidy grabbed Ace, and Blue was gone, racing up the riverbank again.
On the other side of the river, the small forms of Del and Stacy were barely visible as the rain continued to fall. Cassidy could have sworn she saw Stacy deck Del before she raced back toward the river. He chased after her, scooped her up over his shoulder and carried her, still struggling, toward the bridge.
The van now lay on its side in the middle of the river. When Jace’s head popped up through the barely open passenger door, a wolf cub in his arms, relief rushed through Cassidy.
Which meant seeing the trees bear down on the van in slow motion was something out of a horror movie. Colt flew through the air and landed in Blue’s arms, knocking the man to his butt. Jace slid along the roof, a massive tree limb tipping him sideways.
Jace vanished over the edge of the van.
She screamed, but even as the sound hung on the air, Cassidy was already moving. “Jace.”
Another sharp phantom pain struck, as if she were being pierced in the temple by a sharp blade. She wavered on her feet for a second then forced herself upright.
Stephanie grabbed her arm. “Careful, Cass.”
Cassidy passed Ace over. “I’m going after him.”
She sprinted past Blue, astonishment on his face as he turned toward her, his arms full of preteen wolf. “Cassidy.”
“Stay with the boys,” she ordered, running down the trail beside the river, glancing at the roaring water in the hopes that she’d see Jace’s head pop up.
She rounded the bend, and the river widened. No longer twenty feet across but a huge expanse full of tumbling debris.
Hopelessness wrapped around her, and she closed her eyes. “Jace.”
She saw him. And her wolf.
There, with her eyes closed, she saw the white wolf she’d followed in her dreams bump noses with Jace. He lay motionless at the edge of the river. Not her section of river but somewhere else, and Cassidy opened her eyes, desperate to find him.
The magic remained. It would’ve done no good to stay still and track him with the wolf in her mind only. Now, even with her eyes open, the vision of her wolf glided noiselessly on the trail ahead of her. Weaving to the side before disappearing into the brush.
No doubt. No fear. Cassidy followed, sprinting into the darkness.
Within seconds, she was seeing double. The trees and the trail in front of her were clear enough that she could stay on her human feet and avoid stumbling. And at the same time, she was the wolf, sniffing, looking. Listening for any trace of Jace.
She rounded the corner and burst from the rain-soaked trees.
At the side of the river, a dark patch of fur lay with limbs tangled in a small rosebush that had been torn up by the roots. Cassidy hurried forward and shoved away the debris.
“Jace.” She leaned in close and pressed a hand to his chest, praying for some sign of life.
Had he moved? She leaned in closer.
His tongue came out and managed to hit her from her chin to the top of her forehead.
Cassidy laughed, relief flooding in as she pressed a kiss to his bruised temple. “You’d better have magical, super healing powers, buster, or I’m going to be very pissed at you.”
And then, the most wonderful thing happened. Jace opened his eyes, and she fell in love. Completely. Totally.
It might be fate, but it was real.
Jace ached everywhere.There was water in his ears, his tail was likely broken, and as he shifted back to human form, a splinter the size of a baseball bat dug into his right ass cheek, but those were the smallest of his worries.
He was alive, and Cassidy was there, kissing him and holding him as if she planned to stay a while.
