His Reluctant Luna

Ch 24 - Survival

Two minutes later I was back on the move, exhausted, cold and smeared in bear shit. If Kole found me now he'd probably cancel the mating ceremony all on his own. I let out a giggle before clenching my lips together. The sound echoing through the trees. I froze, ears strained...had anything heard me? After hearing only silence, I pressed on.

I walked almost a mile from the river before I found a sheer rock face with a deep crevice in the side. After checking for animal markings, I slipped in, my knife in hand in case anything was hiding in there. But I was alone.

I slumped to the floor, the cold hard ground a bad host for my weary bones. I didn't sleep, I drifted into delirium. My stomach gnawed on itself, thoughts of those chocolate bars floating down river made me want to cry. Somehow worse than all that, was the ache deep in my bones, the ache telling me something was missing. Something was very very wrong.

For the first time in days, I was trying to sleep without Kole and my body didn't like it. From the gap in the crevice ceiling I could make out the night sky. I lay there at my lowest point, in awe of it's beauty and I let the stars lull me to sleep.

***

Kole.

I shifted, waiting to feel his body press into mine, that low rumble I'd come to expect that told me to keep still and not wake him. But it didn't come. Instead I heard birds, welcoming the sun. The day was dawning which meant heat was coming soon. The skin on my fingers was shrivelled like dried prunes, my clothes stiff. I could cry at the thought of beaming sun warming me. A few more hours and it would be here.

Deep inside, I felt that ache. The one that told me something was missing, something was wrong. I pushed it away, ignoring it. Distance and time would rid me of it altogether.

Okay, positive thoughts, Iona.

Time to put everything I knew about survival to the test.

I slid out of my hiding spot, eyes scanning the area. Besides the birds, I was alone. The bear dung had dried and cracked, flaking off, but the smell remained. I wanted to jump in the river and bath it away but I didn't dare. Not yet.

I headed towards the river, seeking a few mouthfuls of water. It was glorious in my dry mouth, I drank and drank before forcing myself to slow in case I threw up. A fish swam by and my stomach grumbled. I thought of my fishing line and hooks that were floating downriver somewhere. I could probably fashion a net out of my shirt but I didn't have time. I had a water source, I was unhurt, now I just had to keep moving. I stood, trying to get my bearings.

Kole undoubtedly knew this area well. He'd seen where I'd jumped and would follow the river down, searching for me, which meant if I kept walking downstream, eventually I would run into them. But if I doubled back on myself and went upstream...it was possible I could avoid them.

A branch broke up ahead and I crouched behind my rock, my heart pounding. A smell hit me, a familiar one. Bear. I needed to get the hell away from the river.

Quietly, I crept away and began walking. Soon, I picked up my pace into a steady run, parallel to the river, hidden by the trees, using every sense I had to watch for predators, wolves.

I wondered how the Gulfs would track me. Would they track Kole and hope he would lead them to me? Would Alpha Carson try to take us all out in the middle of the woods? I had no idea. No way of knowing. So I just kept moving.

Hours passed before another smell hit my nose, a welcome one. Huckleberries. I followed my nose and found the plant, the berries disappointingly small and inedible. I thought of Allie, of the tea she'd brewed for me. It had been sweet, tart. I wondered if she was angry, alive even. What about Kara? Dinah? Were Molly and her baby okay?

I straightened. I couldn't afford to think about that now. And I shouldn't have to. They weren't my problem. I jogged on, anger pooling in my gut. Anger that for the first time in my life I'd been offered family, but it had come at such a twisted cost. Why was that always my lot in life? Why couldn't I have ever been wanted just because I should be? Just like everyone else?

Tears pricked at my eyes and swallowed them away.

Enough with the pity party, Iona.

Feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to get me anywhere, it never had. I'd been dealt a bad hand in the family department, that was just the way my cookie had crumbled.

The day passed, the sun moving across the sky from East to West as I headed North. My pace was strong and steady, a pace I maintained for the rest of the day.

As the afternoon drew to a close, I returned to the river, drinking my fill. I saw Elk up ahead, doing the same. The animal looked at me but paid me no more mind than that.

I returned to the woods, I needed to find shelter again before I lost the light. The sun had well and truly set by the time I found another cave, but my night vision had always been solid. Knife in hand, I headed into the darkness. I could hear bats overhead but if they didn't bother me I wasn't going to bother them.

I slumped down and welcome sleep. Tears threatened but I refused to let them fall. Tomorrow, someone would find me. Tomorrow I would try again. I was not going to die out here. I refused. 

***

Hey loves!

Iona has the odds stacked against her but she's still kicking ass! Do you think she will be captured in the next chapter or do you think she will find help? 

See you all in the next one!

AJ

❤

P.S. Early chapters are available on Radish if you can't stand the wait 😉