Cascade-Book Two of Freefall Series

Chapter Six-FML

Chapter Six-FML

Leaning against a tree in the clearing, Peter sighed inwardly, watching as several pups tumbled about in the fresh grass, their parent’s chuckles breaking the growls that rumbled from their tiny chests.  Looking down, Peter felt a heavy ache on his left side, and then a dull throb as he shook his leg, his eyes focusing on a faint line of blood that had slowly began to run down his leg.  His eyebrows knit in confusion as he watched the line become thicker, pooling at his bare feet until he bent and ran a finger up the line, breaking the trail as it smeared.  Standing next to him, Matthew took a small step back, watching with wary eyes as Peter wobbled where he stood, tipping forward dangerously before righting himself.  His eyes were clouded as he gazed around him, confusion clearly etched on his face.  Smiling at Matthew, he shook his head as if to scatter the thoughts that were inside, turning slightly to take a step forward, away from the clearing and the pack.  Putting a red stained hand in front of him, Peter stumbled, catching himself on the grass as several pairs of eyes came to rest on him in his kneeling position.  His chest shook violently as he stared around the clearing, looking at the concerned faces until he put a foot beneath him and tried to stand, fumbling once again and hitting the ground.  As his knees gave out, his body shuddered and a cry sounded around him, mute and disorienting.  Groaning, he rolled to his back as the sweet, metallic scent of blood mixed with the smell of fresh grass and pack.  Peter wet his lips, running his tongue along his bottom lip until he looked up to Kristopher, who had come to kneel beside him.

“I feel strange,” he mumbled, pitching forward until his head hit the grass and his eyes rolled in the back of his head.  His body seized and he cried out, his voice shattered and full of pain.  Kristopher put out a hand carefully, rolling him onto his back as the seizures stopped, watching as the pack doctor waddled quickly to Peter’s side, kneeling in the grass next to him.  Matthew slowly stood, backing into a tree as he watched the elderly man poke and prod at Peter, who cried out every time a stubby finger poked at a newly forming wound.  Confusion showed on the doctor’s face, until his eyes brightened, and he looked up to his Alpha, a small smile on his lips.

“I’ve only seen this once before, Kris, when I was young, before you were born.  It was the first, and I assumed, the last time I would ever see this!  Only once, and it was between a wolf and his mate, a Montgomery.  She was dying, and he became ill as she, dying with her.  He didn’t last long after she passed, and we were told that it would never happen again; the Montgomery’s were a dead family, the mate the last of her namesakes!  Does he have a mate?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest.  Peter, can you walk?” Kristopher asked gently, putting out a hand to help his second in command.  Slowly, Peter righted himself, grimacing uncomfortably as he stood, limping next to Kristopher as Matthew came forward to support his weight.  Groaning, he touched his head, pulling his hand back to gaze at the blood that stained his fingertips.

“This isn’t right,” Peter muttered, using Matt to walk as he limped forward, searching through his thoughts for any sign of Piper, his eyes straight ahead.  Kristopher nodded, watching the thoughts in his second’s head before calling out to his mate, who had come running from their home, leaving the twins inside to stare out the window.

“Start the truck, Sophie.  We’re going hunting,” he said stoically, moving towards the low riding black truck he had parked several weeks ago in front of the house.  Sophie nodded, rushing ahead of him to start the truck and then scooting over to the middle as Kristopher climbed in, Peter coming to the other side and several pack members, including Matt, piling into the back.  Nodding to no one in particular, they squealed out of the center of the closely bunched houses, ignoring the stares of the pack.

As if in a fog, Piper rolled onto her stomach, the colors of the world swirling around her angrily as she moved.  Gently, she turned her head to look at the cool grass on which she laid, its color tainted with her blood.  Her forehead was slick with it and she sighed, panting as she gazed at the grass.  Slowly, she moved a finger, testing her strength and the extent of the injuries she had.  Surmising that her hand was fine, Piper made the mistake of trying to slowly push up from the ground, only to find that her arms were numb for the most part.  Groaning, she rolled again, lying on her back as her chest tightened painfully, beginning her attempt to sit up once again.  After several minutes, she had managed to sit, panting and clutching at her side as a spasm of pain moved from her leg all the way up, blood rolling in wet strings down her leg once again.  Gingerly, she turned her head to look at the open wound on her hip, already purpling from the impact.  She let out a shuddering breath as a wave of nausea hit, vomiting into the grass beside her.  When she attempted to stand, a wave of pain slapped her in the face, causing her to fall to the ground and writhe, twitching at last and letting out broken sobs.  As she lay curled on the ground, her vision clouding, she could feel the earth vibrate beneath her as another vehicle rounded the bend.  Without realizing it, she had curled into a smaller ball, cringing into the ground as much as possible, and her fear rolling off her body in waves.

As she lay, curled into her body in fear, she felt a gentle touch on her arm, and then, she was scooped from the ground, cradled in strong arms, the muscles bunching against her body.  Turning her head, she gazed into Peter’s blue eyes that were soft with worry, anger barely concealed behind them.  He smiled gently at her, pulling her closer to his body as he began to move, trying to jostle her as little as possible.

“It hurts!” she gasped, her back arching with the pain.  Peter stopped to look at her, then looked up, beyond her.  Seconds later, she was at the truck, Peter gently moving her to the blankets lying on the truck bed, putting her head in his lap.  Tears of pain were rolling down her cheeks as she turned her head into his stomach, her body racked with sobs while Peter ran a soothing hand down her back.

“Peter, we need to talk,” a masculine voice said softly.  Piper groaned as Peter moved her head to the blankets beneath them, moving away to speak with whoever had called.  It didn’t occur to her to wonder how he had found her, or who the voice belonged to.  Only that Peter was leaving, and it hurt.  Crying out, she clutched at his bare chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Peter!  It hurts; oh god, it hurts!  Make it stop, please!  Don’t leave, make it stop!” she cried, her body shuddering in pain.  A soft, strangled noise came from Peter before he looked back towards where the voice had come from.  Kristopher gave a curt nod, pulling open the driver’s side door to get in and barking an order for the others to follow on foot as Sophia climbed slowly into the cab.  She turned for a moment to look at Piper, who lay curled against Peter, now sitting in his lap, though her face gave away the pain it caused her.  Gently, Sophia touched her mate’s arm, looking at him with haunted eyes.

“I don’t think she’s going to make it,” she whispered softly, her eyes searching Kristopher’s for some sign of hope.  He nodded grimly, and then softened, his body turned towards hers as they whipped down the back road and towards the forest center.

“I don’t think so, either.  And I don’t know what to do to help her.  It’s not like we can change her to heal the wounds.  There’s nothing we can do for her; she’s human.”

“What about the elder?  The one who remembers the Montgomery family?”

“I suppose we could take her there first; either way, I don’t think the pack doctor will be able to help her any.”

“Poor Peter.”

“Poor Piper Montgomery,” Kristopher replied, looking at his mate with sad eyes.  He smiled gently, running a fingertip across her cheek before putting his hand back on the wheel, his eyes gazing forward.  In the back of the truck, Peter clung to Piper as if his life depended on it.  Truthfully…it did.