With a start, Ryleigh woke. Her eyes shot wide open and she blinked at the ceiling, trying to still her anxiously beating heart while at the same time attempting to figure out what had woken her up in the first place.
"Ryleigh."
The voice that rippled through her head was loud and deep. She sat up with a gasp, snapping her head in Austin's direction. He was sleeping, his chest rising and falling calmly. Her name rumbled through her mind again, but this time it sounded faded, far away. She pressed her hand over her heart, her breathing reduced to fits and starts.
Her wolf cowered in fear in the back of her head and pushed her to wake Austin.
Ryleigh looked at her mate again. Two more weeks and she wouldn't have him to snap her out of it. She needed to do this on her own – needed to fight this on her own.
Shooting forward, she slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a breathy cry. She dug her nails into the sheets, hoping to keep herself grounded, but her body threw itself sideways, off the bed. She fell in a tangle of covers and landed with a dull thud. Struggling to get out of the cage of covers, she dragged herself onto her knees and looked over the bed. Austin stirred, turning to his side, but didn't wake.
"Ryleigh." The word sounded distorted. It was silly, but it had been quiet in her head for a while now and she had hoped – wished – that for some reason it'd be over. But it would never be.
She pressed her hands against her temples, scrunching her eyes shut.
Her wolf howled in her head and the hairs on Ryleigh's neck bristled at the high-pitched lament.
Her head snapped to the window. Out. She needed out. Her wolf cried out again, hoping the sound would find itself out of Ryleigh's mouth and rouse Austin, but Ryleigh pressed her lips tightly shut. She struggled to her feet, her throat dry and her breathing erratic.
"Stop!" She yelled the word in her mind, even though she knew the voice could only send and not receive. Her legs were shaking, buckling every other step. Her fingers groped in the dark, finding the wall and using it to keep herself upright. Austin's proximity was not enough to quiet her mind, and she wouldn't wake him. Couldn't wake him. She might hurt him.
"Ryleigh." There was a threatening quality to the voice now, something authoritative, something stern. Her body clamped up, fighting for control, knowing it had lost it already. She tripped over her own feet and fell back down to the floor. The thick carpet drowned out any noise resulting from her fall and Austin still had no clue. Her breath caught in her throat and she dropped her head, panting on her hands and knees. When she raised her face up again, her eyes were shining bright golden.
Her legs found their strength and she stumbled to the window, clawing at the nails keeping it shut. She looked around her, her gaze latching onto anything that might help her open the window. The desk drew her attention and she went over to it, rummaging quietly through the stuff scattered on top of it. There was some paper, a quill, a few pots of inks – and a letter opener.
Austin had grown careless, trusting her against his better knowledge. She grabbed the letter opener and returned to the window. Drawing a finger across the opener's tip she noted it was sharp and thin. With utmost precision, she wedged it in between the wood and one of the nails. She started wiggling it around and slowly but surely, the nail started to come out. The wood splintered a little and Ryleigh slowed down, afraid the sound might rouse her mate. It didn't. She picked the nail out of its little hole and dropped it to the carpet, moving on to the other one.
A minute or so later, she had the window open, chilly air flooding the room. She stuck her head out and looked down. Austin's room was on the first floor, so it was quite a way down, but she would probably survive it. Her eyes flitted to the forest's edge. She didn't see any guards on the clearing right now, but she knew there were wolves scattered throughout the forest.
She cast a last glance at Austin, who, as far as she could tell, was still asleep, and swung a leg over the windowsill. Ducking, she moved her head outside, holding on to the window's rim to keep her balance. She made sure to turn around while swinging her other leg outside, gripping the edge of the windowsill so that she was dangling off the side of the house. She looked down at the ground, noticing the rose bushes right underneath her. It would have to do.
She took a deep breath and let go, crashing into the bushes, muttering a curse under her breath. The thorns raked down her bare arms and legs, scratching her all over. She stumbled out of the bushes, hissing and throwing her limbs around to shake off the thorns. Her head shot up as she heard footsteps approaching and she started running, the thick layer of pine needles drowning out the sound of her bare feet hitting the ground.
The moon was bright that night, but it was cloudy too, so there were moments of perfect clarity interspersed with moments of pitch black darkness. Currently the latter was the case, and Ryleigh had little trouble sneaking around the dining hall unnoticed. She glanced around the corner and saw two guards strolling around the mansion. Her gaze flitted up to the window and she saw Austin standing in front of it, his head stuck outside and scanning the clearing for any sign of her. She drew back further into the shadows, holding her breath.
He drew back inside the room and shut the window. She saw him head for the door and knew he was going to come after her. It had been a while, but she had to shift as fast as she could. She hardly gave herself time to pull off her nightgown and didn't wait for all her bones to snap back into place before she started sprinting away.
"Ryleigh!"
Judging by the proximity of his voice, he was outside. She reached the edge of the forest and disappeared between the trees without looking back. If Ridge could see her then, he would surely chide her for her pace. She was going so fast she kicked up twigs, leaves and dirt as she went along. Still, she wasn't as fast as she used to be, before silver had deteriorated her health – unlike Austin, who was the fastest runner of the pack. She didn't need to look back to know he couldn't be far behind. It didn't help that this was his territory, not hers.
A roar ripped through the air and she knew he had caught on to her scent. It spurred her to run faster, but she was reaching her limit. She navigated between the trees, which became harder and harder to do accurately the faster that she went. More than once, she had to slow down drastically to avoid a head-first collision with a tree or boulder. The pressing darkness didn't do anything to help her along either. Only a few minutes ago, she had been grateful for the lack of light, but now it made her escape harder.
She could hear Austin behind her now and a brief look over her shoulder told her he was already in sight, his wolf zipping between the trees like he had never done anything else. He was catching up fast. Looking behind her meant she had little clue what was going on in front of her, and she turned her head back only in time to see a large rock rising up in front of her. She turned sharply, paws slipping as she threw her body around. Austin was right behind her now. She sped up and perhaps she would have been able to stay ahead of him, but fate decided otherwise.
Or rather, an unexpected hole in the ground decided otherwise. Her left paw caught in it at full speed and she fell forward. She howled and hit the ground, tumbling over herself. Wasting no time, she tried to jump back to her feet, but her shoulder made it very clear that wasn't happening.
She yelped and shifted back, clutching her left arm and cursing continuously under her breath. The pain had made her forget about Austin for a second, but her attention was drawn back to him when he shifted back too, completely naked. She used the moment it took for him to shift to struggle to her feet and make a run for it, grimacing as every movement made pain shoot through her dislocated shoulder.
"Ryleigh!" It only took him a second or two to catch up with her and he lay a heavy hand on her shoulder, jerking her back. She cried out in pain, but didn't let that stop her and twirled around, punching him full in the face. He staggered back with a surprised growl and she shot away again, her hair flying wildly behind her. If she thought she had any chance at all, she had underestimated his resolve.
Not five seconds later, he collided with her and she found herself crashing to the ground again. She shouted in pain when her arm connected with the floor, tears starting to form in her eyes. Austin got off her and she rolled over to her back. Her breathing came in gasps and she cradled her arm, the string of curses in her mind merging with her wolf's whines. Austin was panting on his knees beside her, staring at her with wide eyes and prepared for any move she might make.
Ryleigh struggled to get up from the floor, ready to fight Austin one-handed. He shot forward, kneeling beside her and pushing her back to the ground, keeping her pinned in place by pushing against her good shoulder. She struggled against his touch, but he was stronger than her. Then at last her body snapped out of flight mode long enough to register his touch. Black slowly overtook the gold in her eyes.
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A/N: Another attack, and a few more breadcrumbs. Perhaps what Ryleigh said about her wolf being the problem wasn't exactly true.
Thank you for reading!