Free Violet (The Silver Series Book 4) by Cheree Alsop

boulder with his mate a
few minutes later.
    “ Watch over him,” I begged
the wolf, unsure if he would understand.
    The wolves looked from me to Rafe, then
trotted to his side. I took that as an answer and started
running.
     
     

Chapter 7
     
    It felt like it took hours to run down to
the cave, reach the backpack, and to return to Rafe, but in reality
only minutes had passed. I pulled on my clothes from the gas
station and hurried back as fast as I could. He hadn't moved a
muscle and when I reached him my first terrified thought was that
he was dead. I knelt at his side and touched his shoulder. He
opened pain-wracked golden eyes and breathed out a slight huff,
then closed them again. I quickly wrapped the shirt and shorts we
had brought from the rehab center around his back and stomach and
tied them in place with Rafe’s rope.
    The alpha wolf stood over Rafe during all of
this, his gaze attentive and concerned. I pulled out the phone and
dialed the numbers, surprised at how close I had come to forgetting
them in such a short period of time. It felt strange to hold
man-made metal and plastic in my hands again.
    “ Hello?”
    “ Kaynan?”
    “ Colleen?” Kaynan's voice
was thick with relief. “Colleen, is that you?”
“It's me. Kaynan, listen. Rafe's been hurt, I mean really hurt. He
needs help or he's going to die.” My voice cracked and I had to
blink tears free to see the trees again.
    “ Okay. Tell me where you
are.”
    “ I don’t know where I am,”
I said, trying to keep calm.
    He turned away from the phone and his voice
was muffled as he spoke to someone else, then he came back on,
“Jaze is having Mouse trace your call. Don’t hang up.” Several
strange clicks sounded and I waited with a pounding heart. “Got
it?” Kaynan asked whoever was with him. Someone replied and he let
out a breath. “Okay, Jaze said we can reach you by helicopter.
You’re a long ways off, so we might be a while, but we'll hurry, I
promise.”
    Relief flooded my body and threatened to
buckle my knees. “Thank you, Kaynan, thank you so much.”
    “ I love you, Colleen. We'll
be there, don't worry.”
    I hung up the phone, then knelt by Rafe.
“They’re coming. Don’t give up on me.” His body burned with fever
and he didn't respond when I tried to get him to drink water from
one of the bottles in the backpack. Blood had soaked through the
shirt and shorts I used as bandages. I wrapped the backpack around
his stomach to protect it, then eased his head into my lap and
gently smoothed the soft hair between his ears. The alpha's mate
settled down next to me while the alpha kept watch over us all.
     
     

***
     
    A patterned hum filled the air. I squinted
to see the trees brush wildly from the beat of air. The wolf pack
crowded around Kaynan and me, blocking us from view as a black and
red helicopter landed in a clearing about a hundred feet away. Rafe
was so hot I wondered how he kept breathing. His lungs moved almost
imperceptibly beneath his fur. He refused to drink and barely
opened his eyes when I spoke to him. The wounds from the cougar
were too great for his body to heal and blood matted his thick fur.
He was slipping away.
    “ Kaynan, we're here!” I
shouted.
    “ Colleen?”
    Kaynan pushed through the trees and his face
lightened in relief when he saw me. The wolves around me started to
growl and the alpha lowered his head, his ears held tight against
his skull as he bared his teeth. Kaynan slowed, his eyes wide.
    “ They’re here to help,” I
called to the wolves. “They’re trying to save Rafe.”
    The alpha glanced at me. I didn’t know if he
would listen or attack my friends to protect the injured werewolf.
“You can trust them,” I said softly. “They’re friends.”
    The alpha looked from me to Rafe, then back
at Kaynan and the others who now followed him from the clearing.
“Please,” I begged quietly. “Trust me.”
    He trotted slowly back to my side and the
others followed to sit in a