Page 66 of Lion Conquers All
Shenn put a hand on Aarav’s shoulder.
Veer leaned against his other shoulder.
The others stood close too.
They all just waited.
And waited.
“I can fit now. Let me me try.” Callum slithered past Col, past the rocks, into the darkness. “Does anyone have a light?”
Col whirled to look at them and Aarav reached for one of the zippered pockets on his pants. He had a flashlight. He remembered putting it there from the patrol car.
Owen beat him to it. The big grizzly pulled a flashlight out of a backpack and scrambled up the rock pile to Col.
It was handed off to Callum and Col directed Owen to help him continue to move rocks, but not wildly. They strategically pulled them down and tossed them off to the side of the pile. The dark hole at the top widened further and further.
“They’re here. I found them.” Callum’s voice called from inside the cave. He was close enough to be heard, but deep enough that his voice was small.
Thank Fate.
Aarav breathed just a little easier.
“Stay out here.” Col looked at them and then climbed through the opening after Callum.
“Get up here and help me.” Owen waved them up the rock pile. Aarav was first at Owen’s side. Col was just on the other side of the opening. He had a female’s body in his arms, Gretchen Hardisty, and was feeding her through the hole to them.
Owen took her shoulders and Aarav reach up to support them next. Hand to hand, she was ferried down from the rocks to the ground. They repeated the process with the boy, Sam Roberts.
It was them.
Aarav recognized them from their photos.
The teenagers were alive, but just barely. Their pulses were weak and their breathing was ragged. Both of them were wrapped in silver sleeping bags that looked like aluminum foil, the kind that survivalists pack to stay safe from freezing temperatures. And it was likely that had saved their lives through the storm.
“The air was thin in the cave. They should do better now that they are outside.” Col crawled through the opening and then turned around, offering his hand to Callum who took it and scrambled out behind him.
“No blood.” Owen stated as if that meant they were perfectly fine.
Aarav and his brothers and the other wolves laid the kids out flat on a bit of softer ground. They checked for broken bones. Swelling. Anything that would indicate a serious injury. There was nothing.
“They’re cold, but we can’t find any injuries.”
“Good. That’s good.” Col hurried to their side and knelt between them, putting a hand on each of the kids’ chests. His hands brightened with the power of his dragon’s flame and heat radiated out like a roaring wood stove.
“The girl has some pink coming back to her cheeks. It’s working.” Aarav looked over at the boy. His skin was still so pale. “Not Sam.”
Col closed his eyes and brought more flame to the surface. The whole area where they knelt around the kids melted. A twenty-foot clearing without a single snowflake. The heat even dried the earth beneath their feet. It felt like home. The dry heat of the desert rolled against Aarav’s face in gentle waves. It even smelled a little like home.
“I didn’t know how much I missed that intense heat. The dryness of the Reylean desert just isn’t in the Alaskan weather routine.”
Col looked up and met Aarav’s gaze. He smiled, a sad smile that spoke of shared loss and memories.
The others murmured sounds of agreement.
“They’re rousing. Breathing is better.” Veer spoke, his tone filled with hope. “Pulse is improving for both now, not just the girl.”
“I will shift and take them back. Sam’s mother is at our cabin waiting.”
