What Doesn't Kill You

Chapter Eight

Darren looked toward the river as his mate Emily splashed around. She was beautiful as she tried to catch fish with her tiny hands. She kept squealing and her beautiful brown eyes and upturned nose would scrunch up as the fish would slip through her fingers. Her face would split in to a grin and a beautiful laugh would fall from her lips. All of which melted Darren's heart.

"Come on, Em! It's getting dark we should head on out!" Darren called out to her from the shore.

Emily whipped her midnight hair around and skipped through the water towards her hulking mate. To Darren, she was like walking sunshine and to Emily, he was the moon bringing her home. Two opposites that needed each other.

At the last minute Emily jumped out of the river and onto her mate. He caught her around the waist and spun her around, laughing the entire time. Darren set his petite little mate on the ground, keeping his hands around her. They looked so dark and large set against her pale, slim waist.

They smiled at each other, not saying a word. This silence would have lasted longer if Emily's eyes hadn't widened and a gasp hadn't fallen from her lips.

"Em? What's wrong?" Darren asked confused.

Emily pushed past her mate and pointed up towards one of the surrounding cliffs, "What's that? Up there on the cliff?"

Darren walked up behind her and squinted up at the cliff, "It looks like a girl. Why would she be up there?"

It was only a moment before the couple saw the girl clutch at her chest and stumble, a pain filled scream piercing the air. They gasped as they saw the girl tumble over the edge.

They immediately sprang into action, running down the shore continually scanning the river for any sign of the girl. The closer they got to the cliff the more rapid the waters got and the couple feared for the girl's life. If she was human they were looking for a body. If she was from the pack nearby, she may just have a shot.

"Darren! There!" Emily called out and pointed towards the river.

Darren screeched to a halt and looked out and saw blonde hair and a back pack floating quickly towards them. It was only a moment before the head was tossed under the water again.

Darren didn't think he just jumped, swimming furiously against the current towards the girl. Every time he thought he was close to her, she would get pulled in another direction. She kept getting tossed around and pulled under. She looked like a rag doll, her body going with the current as the river beat at her continuously. Emily sent prayers to the moon as she watched from the shore as her mate fought nature itself to save the girl.

Darren pushed through the water, the current finally working with him to bring her closer. Darren watched as she started to submerge under the water again. Darren filled his lungs and dived down.

Emily took a breath with her mate and held it as she waited for the love of her life to reemerge from the water.

One...Two...Three...Four...Five...

...Twelve...Thirteen...Fourteen...Fifteen...Sixteen...Seventeen

Air whooshed out of Emily as she sighed in relief at the sight of Darren breaking through the water with a blonde in his arms.

Darren pulled his arms under the girl's and floated on to his back so her head rested on his shoulder out of the water. He let the current carry him and started kicking towards the bank.

Emily followed Darren, running along the shore to make sure she was there when he pulled the girl out of the water.

Darren stumbled a little trying to haul her out of the water with the current pulling at his legs and the sand shifting under his feet. He felt his little, compassionate mate sidle up next to him and help him maneuver the girl through the rest of the water onto the shore.

When they got the girl on the shore Emily immediately went into nurse mode. She took the girl's backpack off so the girl laid flat on her back, the next to come off was the girl's thick zip up hoodie.

Darren watched as Emily leaned her face close to the girl's mouth checking to see if she could feel any breath against her cheek. "She's not breathing." She put two fingers against the girl's neck and all was silent for a moment.

  "She has a pulse but it's weak. It's slowing."

Emily set her hand one after the other on top of the middle of the girl's chest and rose up onto her knees and started compressions. Darren watched as his mate pumped the girl's chest up and down stopping to tilt the girl's head back and blow air into her lungs. It was a never ending cycle and went on for what felt like hours to Darren.

He prayed for her to live she looked so young not much older than seventeen maybe eighteen. So much life to still live.

A small cough broke his reverie and then a larger cough as water, blood, and foam started to mix together and flow out of the girl's mouth. Emily immediately flipped the girl on her side as the young girl started coughing up a pink tinted mixture of water and blood.

"Is she going to be okay?" Darren asked shakily. He wasn't handling the disturbing sight of the amount of fluids coming out of the young girl's mouth.

Emily who was calmly rubbing the girl's back looked up at her shaken up mate, "If her wolf's healing kicks in she should be fine she's going to have to stay under surveillance for a while to make sure there's no lasting damage from being in the water so long. Hopefully when she stops vomiting she'll be responsive before we take her to the hospital."

"Do you think she jumped?" That was the thing that bothered Darren the most. What atrocities could have happened to make such a young,beautiful girl suicidal?

"No. She screamed before she fell. I think she was hurt and then fell off the cliff accidentally."

The flow of liquid out of the girl's mouth had slowed but she was still coughing up large amounts every few moments.

"Well what do you think her injury was?"

"I don't know." Darren watched as his mate started to check the girl for injuries, "It doesn't seem like she has any... Wait a minute do you know what this?"

Emily looked up at Darren her hands pulling aside the girl's shirt to show a couple markings on her chest that were a deep blue.

"What are those?" Darren kneeled down next to his mate to get a closer look.

"They're runes. Jade showed me these. This one," she pointed at a marking that looked like an infinity sign with lines that ran off from the center and looped back towards each end connecting back with the infinity. Through the double looping infinity sign was a thin line that ended in a thick curve, "is two separate runes. The infinity one is eternal, or lives connected, it's usually used to represent mates. And this line going through is the blade it usually represents destruction."

Emily got deadly quiet. "What do they mean together, Em?" Darren inquired softly.

Emily started getting frantic, "She was probably running away that's why she had the backpack. We can't let her go back and we need to cover our scents. You grab her, take her to the car and I'll cover our scents. We'll take her back with us."

Darren watched as his mate started running around grabbing their stuff. "Emily." She began taking herbs and oils out of her backpack. "Emily." She started mixing and scattering the ingredients in quick motions to mask their scent. "Emily!"

"What?" She looked up a wild look in her eyes backed by a sadness he'd never seen in her before.

"What do they mean together, Emily?" Darren watched something shift in her eyes a sadness tinged with pity.

"Rejection. Her mate rejected her."