Julie opened her mouth to reply, but all the air had fled from her lungs.
"You lied?" she said, once she had regained the ability to speak. She looked over her shoulder, through the window in the wall that gave them a view of the infirmary. Ellis had left and Austin appeared to be sleeping. "Why?"
"She asked me to."
Julie shook her head. Ridge had always been a bit different – some called him 'mad', Julie preferred 'eccentric', but he wasn't stupid. "That can't have been enough. You barely even knew her."
"That's true." For the moment, he didn't offer an explanation. Instead, he moved over to his desk and leant against the front of it, slipping his hands into the pockets of his white coat. "When she asked me to lie for her, I could tell she was scared. And I knew – not in a rational way, but instinctively – that whatever the truth was, it was worse."
To Julie, that argument was weak at best. But then she was used to basing everything off reason. Instinct didn't quite cut it for her.
"So what is it?" she asked. "The truth?"
"O, I wouldn't know. She hasn't told me."
Ridge might not have been stupid, Julie wasn't either. "You wouldn't have lied for her if you didn't have an idea about who she was."
"Maybe." A slight smile played on his lips, as though somehow, despite everything, he saw some humour in the situation. "I have no proof, though. Only suspicions. Look, I know I lied, and I know it wasn't right, but it's done. We can discuss it later. Right now, you need to understand that if Ryleigh indeed washed up on the wrong side of the river, she'll have no clue where she is. She'll be completely and utterly lost. She's never going to find her way back."
"And if they find her, who knows what they'll do to her," Julie said, slowly, processing as she went along. "You have to tell Austin."
"No. He'll freak out."
"Of course he will. But what do you suggest? She's going to die out there, Ridge."
"No, she won't." He straightened up, trying to give her a look of calm confidence, while in fact it was clear that even to himself he was raging mad. "I'm going to find her."
Julie blinked. "What?"
"That's why I'm confiding in you. In case I don't come back. I need to go find her."
"You're crazy."
"Maybe, but it's the only logical thing. You won't hear me say that I'm old, but I'm certainly past my prime. I'm replaceable. Besides, I know the territory better than anyone. I grew up there."
"No. They're dangerous, and you're not a fighter, Ridge. You'll never make it."
"I can hold my own just fine. Who else is going to do it?"
"Me," she said, without thinking. Maybe she was as mad as Ridge.
"Definitely not! Need I remind you how high up in the ranks you are? You can't afford to disobey Ellis."
"I don't care," she said, and for the first time since she had come to Midnight Moon, it was true. In fact, knowing she'd be pissing off Ellis was one of the reasons she wanted to go. She was done following orders when they didn't make sense.
"Ryleigh is not your friend. You owe her nothing."
"But I owe Austin a lot. You're right. Someone needs to do it, and that someone is not you. I'll ask Sky to come with me."
"O, sure! Send the two people I love most in this world on a suicide mission! If I had known you were going to take my plan and put yourself in it, I never would've told you a thing. I'm going and that's final."
"You're not. You're needed here. In fact, if you go, I will tell Ellis, and he'll stop you."
His eyes locked with hers in a battle of wills. "I could just do the same, you know. He'd stop you, too."
"You won't. Because if you tell on me, no one will save Ryleigh. Only one of us can go, and it makes sense for it to be me. I'm strong and a good tracker. I'll take Sky with me, and together we'll manage."
"I don't like this. I don't like this at all."
Julie opened the door to the office and stepped out.
"Don't do this, Julie," Ridge said, following her.
"Take good care of Austin. I'll link you the moment we get back." Ignoring his protests, she left the infirmary, shutting the door firmly behind her.
"Ryleigh lied about who she is," she linked Sky. "She is not from Golden Dawn. She doesn't know the territory. I'm going to look for her. Meet me at the hall in two minutes if you're with me."
It got awfully quiet in her head for a few seconds. Sky was a straight arrow, always following orders. If she refused to come, would she go in alone? Would she dare?
"On my way."
"Ridge lied for her," Julie said when she reached the hall. Sky was already there. "He just told me. It will be dangerous."
Sky studied Julie's face. "You're sure about this?"
"She needs help."
"We'll be defying Ellis' express orders. We could get in a lot of trouble."
"I know, and if you don't want to do it, I get it."
"You're my sister," Sky said. "I'm not letting you do this alone. Come on." She nodded towards the forest and suited her actions to her words. They had almost reached the treeline when a voice behind them stopped them:
"And where do the two of you think you're going?"
They swivelled round. Conall was standing in front of them with his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised. He was one of the pack's best fighters, and if he didn't have a mind to let them go, it was over.
"We were just going to look for Ryleigh again," Julie said.
"Just so." His eyes flitted over her, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Sky's already been looking for hours and hours. I can't imagine Ellis cleared her to go again. Nor you, for that matter. Where are you going to look for her?"
"Just along the river. You know."
"There's already plenty of people looking for her there. You weren't by any chance planning to sneak into Golden Dawn territory, were you?"
The women looked at each other, then back at Conall.
"Yes," Sky said.
Julie groaned. "Great."
"What? Did you have a convincing lie lined up?" She looked at Conall. "Are you going to snitch?"
"I should," he said. "This is a suicide mission. And for whom? Some girl that you barely know and that attacked you, Sky, and stole your mate, Julie."
"She didn't steal him. Look, enough mates have died. We're doing this. You can link Ellis, but he's not going to get here in time to stop us. We'll fight you if we have to."
Sky leaned a little towards Julie. "Are you sure?"
"What, you don't think you can take him?"
"No, I could. I just don't want to lose my rank."
"You couldn't take me," Conall said.
Sky rolled her eyes and took a step closer to him. "Ellis is going to be livid when he realises that we didn't listen to him. So, are you in?"
"Why – you don't think I enjoy taking the piss out of Ellis, do you?" he said, a grin slowly overtaking his features.
"Well?" Julie said. "It's getting dark, we'll have the night to hide us. With the three of us, it should be doable."
"You really have your mind made up?" he asked, looking from Sky to Julie and back.
"Yes," Sky said.
"Then I'm coming with you."
*****
Ryleigh woke to a continuous tapping on her face. She screwed up her features, moving a hand to her cheek. As she did, something landed on her shoulder, cold and wet. Her eyes fluttered open. She squinted in anticipation of the harsh light, but there wasn't any. Instead, she stared up at a grey sky peeking through thick foliage. Heavy rain drops fell down, pouring faster every second.
She sat up, pushing her hair out of her face. The rain was cold on her naked body. She looked down at herself – at the scrapes and bruises littering her limbs. Most of the minor injuries had healed already, but her shoulder still burned. She felt much better – probably because her brief nap had turned into a full day's sleep.
She couldn't believe she had slept the entire day, and that they still hadn't found her. It corroborated her suspicion that she was no longer in Midnight Moon territory. They would probably never find her here. They probably wouldn't even look.
With a grunt, she dragged herself to her feet. Her hands flayed out to steady herself. Her head throbbed, but that was no wonder. Her skull still felt tender and her hair was caked with blood, though the wound itself had closed by then. The rain – though icy cold – helped to wash some of the dirt from her body and hair. It was a small consolation, but still.
The rain started pouring harder and she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. Her left shoulder was stiff and she avoided looking at the wound, not sure she'd like what she'd see. She should go find shelter, hide from the rain. The last thing she needed was hypothermia. She turned, then stopped, her heart shooting up in her throat.
Four growling werewolves emerged from the woods.
________
A/N: Someone's in trouble... Let's see if it'll be Ryleigh or whoever is stupid enough to approach her ;)
Thanks for reading!