Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
RYKER
“Where is she?” I yell in frustration as Braxton and I stomp through the forest.
When she had fallen from that cliff, I swear my heart stopped beating. I tried to throw myself after her, but Brax yanked me back, telling me I was no good to her if I was dead or injured.
We held a small bit of hope that she was okay when we had managed to glimpse her sliding down the mountain instead of a deadfall, but we’d lost sight of her before she reached the bottom.
It didn’t take us long to run down the mountain path, but when we reached the bottom, she wasn’t there.
What was there was blood. It was a small enough amount to make me think she wasn’t bleeding out badly, but the fact that she was hurt at all, made me clench my jaw in anger.
Brax had roared his anger to the sky, then we set off in the direction of the small drops of blood.
The blood trail didn’t last long, but because of the direction it was leading, we assumed she was heading to Havenridge, which was our initial destination.
She must have thought she could meet us there, and if she was hurt, she might have thought to seek medical attention there.
But the thought of her out here alone, in this forest filled with god knows what, it had my blood boiling.
“When we get to the village, I’m sure we’ll find her,” Brax says, trying to reassure me as we pick up our pace and jog through the forest. He told me it was a few hours’ trek, and if I’m being honest, I hoped we would find her on the way, but when we suddenly break through the mass of trees and see buildings in front of us, I’m not sure if I should feel relieved or upset.
“Penny!” I yell as we stand in the main road looking up and down the street for a sign of her. Brax joins me, hollering her name as we jog down the street, searching everywhere. When we reach the end of the road, we pause and turn around, scanning the small village.
I run my hands through my hair with agitation as I growl out for what must be the fiftieth time today, “Where is she?”
“Hey, are you guys okay? What’s wrong?” A man, around my own age, hurries over to us from what looks like a tavern behind him.
“It’s our mate, we lost her in the forest. We thought she was headed in this direction, but she doesn’t seem to be here, which means she’s injured and out there alone. Fuck!” I turn, looking for something to kick to let out my frustrations.
“Shit, okay, let me rally some men and we’ll help you look.”
“Really?” Brax turns to him in surprise.
“Yes, of course, don’t worry, we’ll find her. Come, follow me and we’ll grab some men and get you guys some water and something to fuel you. I have a feeling you’ve been out there for a while,” he says, assessing Brax. He isn’t looking at him in a bad way, more like a curiosity.
“Thanks, we really appreciate this. I’m Ryker, by the way.”
He turns and extends his hand, taking mine for the firm shake. “Silver.”
“Braxton.” They shake hands and we hurry into the tavern.
He heads straight for the bar and calls to the bartender, “Hank, get these men water and whatever meat you have ready that they can eat on the go, put it on my tab.” Hank nods and Silver turns to the room where a couple tables full of men are watching us carefully. There’s about a dozen of them in total.
“Men, we have an urgent mission to take care of. These men, Ryker and Braxton,” he points to each of us, “Need help finding their mate who’s lost in these woods, injured.”
“Which direction did you come from? Do you have any idea where in the forest she is?” one of the men asks, looking serious. I was glad for it, I wanted these men to take this seriously.
“We came from the mountain. We got separated when she… fell down it. By the time we got to the bottom she was gone, all that was left was a small amount of blood. We followed the trail in this direction but it didn’t last more than twenty feet before it stopped,” I explain, and glance at Silver, noticing he’s giving me a funny look.
“What?” I ask as I furrow my eyebrows.
“Did you just say she fell down a mountain?” he asks, looking alarmed and confused.
“She has a tendency to get herself in a little bit of trouble,” I admit.
“All right, we better go before she finds herself in more trouble.” And just like that, the rest of the men jump up, heading for the exit. Hank comes over to us, handing us both a cup of water and a chicken leg.
Brax and I both take a second to drink our entire cups before handing the empty ones back to him. I bite into my chicken leg as I follow everyone else into the street.
Everyone is standing around waiting for us and as we enter the group of men, Silver speaks. “Okay, I doubt we’re going to run into any other women out there, but just in case, can you tell us what she looks like?”
“She has beautiful long red hair, and she’s wearing black pants and a black shirt.”
I see a few men’s eyebrows raise at my description and Silver nods, turning towards the forest. “Okay then, let’s go.
You five,” he points to a group of his friends, “Head a mile north before turning towards the mountain. And you five,” he points towards another five men, “You do the same to the south.”
He glances at the last two men and us, “Us five will head in this direction.” He nods in the direction he’s walking, wasting no time.
I can appreciate his need to move this along quickly.
The thought of her out here alone without us is killing me.
Anything could have happened to her out here, she could be laying down, dying at the base of a tree somewhere.
We’ve taken all of ten steps when we hear an ungodly scream. A feminine scream. Penny.
“Penny!” Brax and I yell in unison, as we run past the men towards her voice.
I can hear the other men, close on our heels, and feel thankful to have them as back up. We have no idea what we’re running into.
We don’t hear her scream again, and I worry we’re not going in the right direction. That is until I hear her voice screech out, “What the freak is that?! Get it away from me!” Hopefully, the yelling meant she wasn’t seriously injured, yet.
We slightly alter our direction towards her voice and within moments, we break into a small clearing. The site has my eyebrows shooting up to my hairline as we all freeze in our tracks, not quite sure what to do with the situation in front of us.
Penny looks absolutely terrified, from where she’s cowering behind a tall man I don’t recognize.
She clutches onto his shirt as she peeks around him to look at the creature in front of them.
I’m not sure why she looks so scared though, an octnid never attacks humans.
Sure, it was on the bigger side, but it would never harm someone.
“Sugar, it’s not going to hurt you, octnid’s are harmless.” Sugar? Does Penny know this man? She’s using him as a shield, so it doesn’t look like she’s afraid of him.
“Harmless?!” she squeals. The octnid takes a step towards her and she screams, turning to run in the opposite direction from everyone.
“Penny!” Brax and I shout as we take off after her. I see the new guy glance in our direction in surprise.
We tear through the trees, she’s a little faster than I expected, but luckily she skids to halt as I slow down behind her. She steps backwards quickly, and I see another octnid in front of her.
“No, no, no!” she says, taking another step back.
I place my hands on her shoulders and spin her towards me. “Penny!”
“Ryker!” Her eyes go impossibly wide before I see relief fill her face. “Please, get me out of here!” she sobs out as she jumps into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist.
I immediately pull her into my arms, stroking the back of her head, as she cries into my neck. “Shh, shh, shh, it’s okay, Pen. We’re here now.”
“Baby,” Brax whispers, as he strokes her head. “Please don’t cry, what’s wrong? How can I fix it?”
She lifts her head to make eye contact with him. “Brax, g-get me out of here. I-I’m afraid of spiders.”
He uses his thumb to wipe the tears from her cheeks as he asks, “What’s a spider?”
“T-that thing, that beast behind me. Please, you don’t understand, I’m terrified of them, and I’ve never seen one bigger than a couple inches before.
These are the size of a goat! I c-can’t be here, please!
” With everything she’s been through, I’ve never seen her as scared as she is right now.
She’s faced heights, an avalanche, being buried alive and falling down a mountain without barely batting an eyelash, but something about these harmless octnids has her terrified.
Before I can make a move, Brax takes her from me and starts jogging back to the village with her clinging to his chest as she buries her face in his neck.
I notice then that we aren’t alone. The new guy, Silver, and a handful of his men were standing by watching with wide eyes as Brax turns into a giant teddy bear, carrying his mate away from what scared her.
I can’t stop the small smile that plays on my lips.
I was glad to have him with me in Penny’s life.
“Is she okay?” Silver asks, looking concerned as his eyes stare where Brax disappeared between the trees.
“Yeah, I think she’s just scared. Once we get her away from the forest, I think she’ll calm down.”
“Bring her back to the tavern, I have a room above it you can use.”
“Really?” I was surprised he’d give up his room for us.
“Yeah, I think she might feel safer somewhere alone with you for a while, you know, behind a closed door?” he tells us as we all start walking back to the village.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it. And thanks to you and your friends for helping us find her.”
“No problem. If she was my mate, I’d want her to feel as safe and comfortable as possible.” I glance at his face and see a look of longing there. Was it because he yearned for a mate or because the small glimpse he’d had of Penny made him want her?
“You must be Ryker?” The unfamiliar voice has me turning my head. The man that we found Penny with is walking beside me as he leads his horse and keeps in step with me.
“Sorry, what?” I ask.
“You’re her mate, Ryker, right?” She told him about me? My chest warms to know she’s told this man about us.
“Yeah, and you are?”
“Indy, she told me about you and Braxton, how you both met her, how much she cares for you. I’m pleased to see how much you both obviously care for her.”
I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat. She told him all that? Fuck, I love her. She hadn’t said as much, but this makes me think she might feel the same way. “Yeah, she’s amazing. It’d be hard not to love her.”
“I know what you mean,” he replies, making my gaze shoot to his in confusion. What was he saying?
He gives me a sideways glance, smiling before we see the village start to appear through the trees.
“What exactly happened between you two out there?” I ask him. Is she taking him as a third mate? I barely knew the guy, but he seemed decent so far, and I knew Penny would need more men to help take care of her.
“How about I tell you and Braxton the whole story when you’re together? So I don’t have to do it twice?”
“Okay, but answer one question for me now?” he asks, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Do you want her?” His eyes search mine for a moment before he gives me a single nod. I return it as we step onto the main street and see Penny finally standing on her own two feet, Braxton cradling her face with his giant hands.
He glances at me as we approach, giving me a small nod to indicate she’s okay.
“Red, are you alright?” I ask, pressing my hand to the small of her back. She turns to me, wiping her tears away and smiling softly.
“Yeah, I’m just glad to be out of there, sorry I freaked out.”
Immediately, I pull her into a hug. “Penny, no, don’t apologize for being who you are.
” I whisper the next words into her ear.
“Besides, I think Brax loved playing mountain man and carrying you away from danger like that.” She chuckles and I kiss the top of her head, pleased I’ve alleviated some of her tension.
She pulls back and glances around, a small look of surprise crosses her face.
“Oh, who are all these people?” I glance around to see Indy, Silver and about eight other men still lingering around, all watching her with varied expressions.
None of them seemed angry or upset. More curious or wistful, or maybe… envious?
“Penny, this is Silver and his friends, they helped us find you. When we got to this village and you weren’t here, we weren’t sure what we were going to do.
Luckily, they stepped in to help us search for you.
” I smile down at her, trying to hide any sign of the fear I had at not being able to find her.
I had been terrified that I would never see her again.
“Oh, thank you, Silver, and friends.” She offers him a small smile while keeping one arm around me. Her eyes move to Indy and I see an array of emotion cross her face. Surprise, relief and something else I can’t name.
“And I think you already know Indy here.” I motion to the man as she nods, biting her lip, which causes him to smile.
“Yes, we are well acquainted,” he says, not breaking eye contact with her.
“How well acquainted?” Braxton grumbles from behind her.
“Nothing happened, I swear!” she blurts out as she spins to face him.
“Perhaps you guys would like some privacy? My room is above the tavern. Just take the stairs inside at the back and turn right at the top. First door on the left.”
“Thanks, Silver,” I say, giving him a tight-lipped smile as Braxton scoops up Penny and turns to head into the tavern with me right behind him. As I get to the door, I turn to see Indy still standing in the street. “Well, are you coming or not?”
A brief moment of shock registers on his face before he schools his expression and follows me inside. I don’t see his horse anywhere, so he must have had someone stable it for him already.
The men in the tavern all watch as we silently move to the stairs at the back. Nobody says anything as we head up and find Silver’s room.
I’m pleased to see he has a double bed, not huge, but better than a single.
Brax sits with her still clinging to him and she slowly pulls back to look up at him. Her head shoots in our direction as Indy closes the door.