Chapter Five
When Ivy was in elementary school, she walked hand in hand to the bus with Ash each morning.
There were times he fell to the ground, overwhelmed with the weight of the day and the sensory overload that was the bus ride.
The sounds and smells were all too much to process at once, which led to meltdowns.
People often mistook this for bad behavior, which made her angry.
She’d long ago learned that the best way to help others understand Ash’s actions was to model how they should react to them.
She couldn’t remember a time when there wasn’t a rotating door of ABA therapists who came to work with Ash each afternoon.
During their sessions, she sat to the side absorbing the way they interacted with him.
The way they helped him to self-regulate fascinated her.
Ash was her best friend. Her twin. She loved when he played alongside her or helped her with a puzzle.
Throughout elementary school, she was often called down to the substantially separate classroom when Ash was having a tough time.
She’d wade through the overturned desks and the tornado of papers and supplies flung around the room and just sit with him.
When he finally calmed, they’d pick up the destruction together and she’d return to class.
Behaviors didn’t bother her in the least, so when Jude bristled at her questions or growled and grumbled responses, she accepted his actions for what they were.
A form of communication. He was hurting inside while desperately trying to protect whatever feelings he was guarding.
Growing up with Ash hadn’t always been easy, but he was always worth the effort.
She had a feeling breaking down Jude’s walls would be worth the effort, too.
His actions didn’t match his words or attitude.
He thought he’d seen something in the woods and left the safety of the cabin during a storm to help.
He carried her back to his shelter, warmed her, and tended to her injuries.
Jude had cared enough about her brother’s well-being to have a friend pick him up.
He’d let her use his phone and laptop to ease her worries about Ash.
So no, she wasn’t deterred by the bite in his tone nor the way he scowled at her.
She’d simply ignore the less desired behaviors while doing her best to reinforce the times he opened up to her.
She took her coffee back to the couch and listened to the rain clatter onto the tin roof.
Closing her eyes, she sipped the warm drink and was grateful to be inside while the storm raged.
In the distance, she heard a crackling sound, like tinder snapping in a hearth.
“Is there a fireplace in here?” Her words were met with silence, and she listened more closely.
“Jude!” She jumped up from the couch, thrusting her mug onto the coffee table.
“What?” he yelled from the other room. She ran toward the direction of his voice and found him in the bathroom, splashing his face with water.
“Landslide.” They exchanged a glance, and she knew the moment he heard it too.
The crackling had turned to a low, distant rumble.
He grabbed her palm, and they shot into the living room.
When he released her hand, she no longer felt as safe as when they were linked.
She remained quiet as he stuffed his belongings into the backpack and slung it over his shoulders.
“Take this.” He tossed a jacket to her, and she tugged it on.
The garment reached her knees, and she bent to awkwardly zip the material around her.
“Stay here. I’m going to go outside and see what direction the slide is coming from.
We can’t outrun it, but we can hike to the side or go up on the roof. ”
No way in hell was she waiting inside the cabin.
The thick logs would splinter like toothpicks when met with the power of rolling earth, rocks, and downed trees.
She didn’t protest, but she did follow behind him.
When they stepped onto the porch, rain lashed against her face and she yanked the strings on the hood of Jude’s jacket, securing it more tightly around her head.
He stopped abruptly and she crashed into his back, throwing her arms around his waist to keep her balance.
“I told you to stay inside!” he roared over the rain pelting their skin.
“Yeah, no.”
He growled in frustration. “I can’t devise a plan while worrying about you at the same time.”
A thick tree trunk cracking in two as it was consumed by mud resonated through the forest. “The plan is simple.” She grabbed his hand, ignoring his earlier requests not to touch him now that they were faced with a life-or-death situation. “Run!”
They took off east, in the direction that would steer them to what was hopefully the side of the landslide.
Despite his long legs, she matched his pace easily as adrenaline coursed through her veins.
The loose earth and debris were moving fast, fueled by the sudden and unprecedented amount of rain.
She would’ve slipped and fallen in the mud more than once without Jude’s firm grip.
She wasn’t sure if they were going to make it up the craggy ledge that promised more cover. The rocks were slick with moss.
“I’m going to lift you. Grab whatever you can for leverage.
” Jude had stepped behind her and placed his hands on her waist, then lifted her with such force it felt like she was momentarily mid-flight.
She scrambled up, gripping the edges of the rocks.
Jude hoisted himself up, but whatever was below his feet crumbled under his weight.
She screamed his name and dropped to her belly on the rock above.
There was a sapling growing out from the rocks at an odd angle directly behind her.
She angled her body, so the thin trunk was between her legs, then did her best to cross them at the ankles.
“Take my hands.” A boulder tumbled through the sludge about three hundred feet from where Jude was standing.
“No.” He was trying once again to climb up the crumbling rock. “I’ll just pull you down. Keep climbing.”
She glanced up at the rock. Jude was right in its path.
Her heart was pounding, but determination filled her.
No amount of yelling was going to convince him to let her help him, but assurances might.
She leveled her gaze to meet his eyes and dropped the tone of her voice.
“There’s a tree behind me. My legs are wrapped around it, giving me stability.
If you don’t let me help you now, you won’t be able to help me survive the night in the forest.” She extended her hand, and they both gave the boulder crashing down the slope one last glance.
Jude leaped, grasping her arm. She held him steady as the massive rock crashed past. Her thighs shook with effort.
“Climb, Jude,” she said, keeping her tone steady.
Debris was rushing past below his feet. If he let go, he was going to be swept away.
In the distance, she saw the cabin shift then topple over.
“Can’t get my footing.” Jude’s pained expression had her digging her nails into his skin, afraid he was going to let go. “It’ll pull your arm out of the socket if I put all my weight on you.”
“Can you put it back into place?”
The world seemed to be crashing down around them.
She was losing her grip as the rain continued to slicken his skin.
He searched her gaze, then moved fast, using her arm as leverage to climb up and over her.
She felt the pop in her left arm socket.
Clenched her teeth and breathed through the dizzying pain.
Her shoulder spasmed where it had dislocated.
“Goddammit!” Jude roared.
She’d been expecting his outburst but wasn’t frightened by it.
A man like Jude, an alpha used to being in charge, would probably prefer to get taken away with the landslide to avoid inflicting pain or leaning on someone for help.
She rolled to her back and willed her upper body to relax.
Her left hand was tingling with numbness as Jude dropped to his knees at her side.
She raised her arm slowly above her head.
“Ivy, stop. Let me get you somewhere safe. I know it hurts, but I can—”
She gritted her teeth and quickly reached her dislocated arm behind to her right shoulder. The popping sound cut off his words. She breathed in deeply, the relief almost instant as the joint clicked back into the socket.
He looked at her with a mix of disbelief, fury, and respect that kind of made her feel like a total badass. “You’re a fucking animal.”
She couldn’t help the laughter that erupted from her lips. “Whatever. Let’s go.”
“Hang on.” Jude stripped off his shirt. Rain cascaded down the hard ridges and planes of his body.
She shouldn’t stare at his bare chest, but it was almost impossible not to.
He quickly fashioned a makeshift sling and gently tightened it to stabilize her sore shoulder.
Then, without a word, he crouched down and lifted her into his arms.
“You don’t have to pick me up. Walking doesn’t involve my arm.” He smelled of pine needles and whiskey, and she had an intense urge to bury her face against his skin.
He ignored her comments and continued to hike to higher ground.
Wind tore at her clothes and every so often lightning would streak through the sky.
With Jude’s powerful arms surrounding her, she felt safe despite the storm.
By the time Jude slowed and placed her on her feet, it seemed like nearly an hour must have gone by.
Her arm was sore, but she could walk until they found some kind of shelter.
“Your arms must feel like rubber bands after carrying me for so long.”