~~ 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠

Reece

We were chasing the last of the rogues through the woods. There had been almost a dozen of them this time. They were determined to get onto my land and get something. I had a feeling I knew what. They were trying to make it to my house, to my Luna, to my mate.

We had eliminated almost all of them. But this one had stayed back and out of the fighting when it started so that he could break away and make a run for it when we were all distracted. Well, that wasn't going to work on me. I chased after him immediately. Noah, Henry, and Will followed suit.

We had chased him up into the mountains. Almost to the house. He was faster than most, but I was gaining on him and he knew it. I could hear his growling wolf voice as he snarled at me.

"Why are you so fast? You can't be fast and strong." He was upset. He would not make it to his goal, and he knew it.

That was when I smelled them. Little Bunny, and a group of others. She must have taken some kids out in the mountains because it was a nice day. This couldn't get any worse. I had to catch him before he got to her.

Then things did get worse. The crazy rogue I was chasing, the one I was just about to catch, was making a beeline for a cub from my pack.

"No!" I snarled at him. "Leave that boy alone."

"I can't get what I was sent to fetch, so I'm going to hurt you another way." He sneered at me.

"Leave him alone." I howled at him.

That was when I saw movement. I knew instantly what it was. I would never mistake her for anything else, I've only been watching her everyday for the last two months now. Little Bunny was running toward the boy. I knew what she was trying to do. She wanted to save the boy. She was too selfless for her own good sometimes.

I watched in horror as she pushed the little boy to the side, he was safe. But she had reached him just in time. The crazy rogue slammed into her, the body no longer being where he had anticipated he jaws missed when biting down.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. I could have sworn she was falling so slowly that I would get to her in no time at all. But I still had to watch in horror as she went over the edge.

The slow motion seemed to stop as soon as she was out of sight. I knew she was falling to whatever lay below. I could already smell the sharp scent of her blood filling my nose.

The others and I caught up to the rogue then. Henry and Will latched onto him immediately, but I didn't stop. I leapt over the edge after my Little Bunny. I instantly saw where the blood had started. I couldn't tell what she had hit to cause the bleed, but I knew she was hurt, and badly by the look of all the smears of blood that led down the mountain.

I ran as fast as I could down the rocky slope, but I couldn't see her anywhere. My heart sank as my eyes locked onto the river at the base of the slope. If she was nowhere in sight, she had to have fallen into the water. If I didn't get to her in time, if she was unconscious, I didn't want to finish that thought. I pushed myself to run harder.

I dove into the water. It was cold even to me with my wolf metabolism. I could smell her just slightly down stream. I searched for her frantically.

Finally, I found her. She had been caught on a large rock, her face under the water and blood seeping from a wound on the side of her head. I roared in anger as I shifted back to my human form and pulled her to me.

She wasn't breathing. Oh Goddess but she wasn't breathing. I laid her down on the riverbank, pressing my lips to hers, breathing for her. I followed that with chest compressions. I repeated this process over and over.

"Breathe!" I whispered loudly as I pulled my mouth from hers. "Dammit Little Bunny, breath. Don't die on me." I begged her as I went to breathe for her again.

I felt her body jerk then as she tried to take a breath. The water in her lungs was being expelled.

"Oh thank Goddess." I exclaimed as I rolled her onto her side, thumping her back to help get the water out. She took a few shaking breaths, gasping for air, before she settled into a shallower, yet wheezy, breathing.

"Thank you." I cried over and over. "Thank you for not dying." I held her in my arms, holding her close to my chest.

I felt her body begin to shiver. First slow, then fast hard shakes. She was freezing. The water was cold, and the air was colder. She needed to warm up fast.

I lifted her into my arms and carried her back to the house as quickly as I could. I cradled her to my chest as I went, hoping my body temperature would help warm her somewhat. It took me five minutes to get her back home, but that was longer than I wanted to leave her outside.

I ran through the door, not caring that I was naked and might scare the staff. I yelled for Noah to call Griffin then meet me in her room with some fresh clothes for me. I could hear Noah's footsteps moving right behind me before he overtook me on the stairs and hurried to my room.

I made it to Little Bunny's room and laid her gently on the bed. Wanting to stop the blood I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a handful of towels. I was back at her side almost instantly, pressing a cloth gently against the wound that was still seeping blood.

"Here." Noah snapped thrusting a handful of clothes at me. "The rogue is in the basement, detained, along with two of the others from the city." Noah growled. He had taken charge of the prisoner personally, and if unchecked might kill the man for what he did to his cousin.

"Good, I plan to interrogate him later."

"Not without me you won't." He snarled.

"Fine by me." I took the clothes and got dressed. I didn't need to sit there naked anymore, just in case she woke up. But her stillness was beginning to worry me.

"Is she going to be alright?" Noah asked the question that was on my mind.

"She'd better be." Anger boiled throughout my body.

I was dressed and pressing a warm wet washcloth to her head when Griffin came storming into the room. He didn't pause and wait to be given permission. Given the circumstances, I was content with his attitude.

"What happened?" He demanded as soon as he saw her lying motionless on the bed.

"She was pushed off a mountain, hit her head, and nearly drowned." I summed it up for him quickly.

"For crying out loud, Reece, what's going on around here?" He asked me.

"Someone is after my territory, and they think going after my mate is the only way to do it."

"Are you serious?" He looked doubtful. "Someone needs to protect her."

"She was at the estate, the rogue made it too far in." I confessed, feeling pathetic.

I watched as he checked the wound on her head.

"It's already starting to close up, but if she keeps getting head injuries like this, I am going to demand a scan of her head. Faster healing or not, there could still be permanent damage."

"We can go now." I conceded. "I want to make sure she is alright."

"I'm more concerned about hypothermia right now. We need to warm her up." He said, looking over his shoulder at me.

"What about her head?" I asked him, concerned about the bleeding.

"The blood flow has almost stopped, I'll bandage it, it might need to be changed once or twice but it will be mostly gone in a few days."

"That's good." I sighed in relief.

"How are we going to warm her up?" Noah asked.

"Well, I doubt you have any heated blankets, and I'm reluctant to use hot water, taking her out would just lower her temperature again." Griffin looked serious as he contemplated what to do.

"Then what?" I wondered. "Just pile on blankets?"

"That's an option, though less effective. She needs warmth. Her body isn't warm enough to create warmth under the blankets. So, she needs someone else warm under there with her." He finished looking at me.

"What?" I asked in disbelief. "You mean me?" I was trying to ward off his stern glare. I could see Noah looking at me with a monstrously angry look as well.

"You are her mate, who else would do it." I sighed at his words.

"Fine, I'll do it." Noah growled at me when I said this. He still hasn't forgiven me completely for what had happened. He was doing his job like usual, but he had not acted like my friend once since the day he had punched me. I didn't blame him.

"Just go Noah, you've got an interrogation to get to." I encouraged him.

"Behave yourself." He snapped at me as he left the room.

"Make sure her temp is back to normal before you leave her. She will most likely sleep until the morning, perhaps longer. Her body has a lot to recover from."

"Alright." I told him.

I watched as Noah and Griffin left the room before nervously turning back toward her bed. She would kill me if she knew what I was about to do. But I had no choice. I walked slowly to the side of the bed furthest from her before I pulled back her comforter and spread it over us both. I pulled her body in close to mine and I could instantly feel how cold she was.

I stayed like that, with her cuddled against me, for at least two hours. Resisting sleep and trying to ignore where I was and who I was with. The sooner I could get out of there the better, no need for her to wake up and have yet another reason to hate me.

I could tell her temperature had regulated, but she had begun to have a nightmare. Tossing her head from side to side and moaning slightly. I didn't know if she was in pain or if it was in response to the dream. I rubbed small circles on her back gently, just long enough for her to calm down. Once she was settled, I slipped out of the bed and rearranged the comforter around her before quietly leaving the room. With luck she would never know that I had been where I was.