Something Worth Fighting For (REWRITING)

Chapter Twenty

Archer POV:

I woke up to the faint sound of birds chirping and the sun light sneaking through my eyelids. I felt the spot next to me expecting to feel River but instead I found nothing there. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. A bad feeling pulled at my gut as I jumped out of bed and strode to the bathroom hoping to find her in there. I slammed to door open to find nothing there. My wolf whined as I ran my hands through my hair.

"She's probably downstairs." I reassured myself. I tried my best to walk calmly and opened the door. I ran down the steps four at a time and into the kitchen. I stumbled in to be greeted by Emma and Kye. She was laughing as he whispered into her ear but quickly stopped when she saw me. She cleared her throat and Kye whipped around. Before he could say anything I was out of there and continued my search throughout the house. By this point my wolf was howling at me and I couldn't blame him. After an unsuccessful raid of the house I took it outside. I swung the backdoor open and it flew off its hinges causing a loud crashing sound, but that didn't stop me.

"Archer, what's going on?" Kye ran after me followed by Emma.

"No no no no no." I screamed causing everyone who was out to look at me. I fell to the ground in complete and utter defeat. I trusted her and she ran again. I felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart and then ripped it out.

"Archer, what happened? Come on man talk to me."

"She's gone." I whispered hoarsely.

"What? I'll get a search party and we will leave as soon as pos-"

"No." I mumbled.

"What?"

"She will only run away again. There's no use." My heart shattered with every word I spit out. I felt a warm hand collide with my cheek followed by a sting. I snapped out of it and jumped up. "What the hell was that for?" I yelled at Kye. His eyes were wide and he looked shocked.

"It wasn't me." I looked over to see Emma glaring at me with her arms crossed and a face as red as a tomato.

"Stop acting like a girl, Archer. I know for a fact that she didn't run away. Something must've happened to her and you should be out there looking for her, not here feeling sorry for yourself." Never have I ever heard Emma speak to me, let alone anybody, like that. But she was right.

"We should split up. We will find her faster that way." Kye and Emma nodded and I took off running into the woods, not even bothering to take off my clothes before shifted into my wolf. He carried us as fast as he could go. It wasn't until about five minutes of running that we picked up the faintest scent of her. My heart skipped a beat as I pushed my wolf to go faster.

I burst through the trees to find that I had stumbled onto my favorite spot, the lake. And Rivers scent was practically brewing here. I looked around and find something very strange out of place. There is a wall of rock shooting up out of the earth. I approached it cautiously, not knowing why it was there. I heard a howl from behind me and turned to see Kye running towards me.

'What the hell is this?' He asked through our mind link.

'I have no idea, but smell it. Her scent is all over it.'

'It's just like the one that was in the woods that day we were looking for her.' I looked at it closely again and sure enough it was almost exactly the same. I shifted back and walked to one of the many places I stash a pair of shorts. I pulled them on and then walked back to Kye, handing him a pair as well. I then began to scale the rock, climbing as fast as I could. The closer I got to the top, the stronger River's scent was.

I finally reached the top and saw what I feared. River was there, but she was slumped on the ground. A growl escaped my lips at I used all my strength to push the rest of my body over the side and onto the top. I ran to her and cradled her in my arms.

"River, baby, please wake up." She didn't respond and my heart sank into my chest. "Open those beautiful eyes for me please baby." She stirred in my arms and slowly but surely her eyes fluttered open. When she saw me she smiled but then her eyes got wide.

"It's okay, love. It's okay."

"Where am I?" She asked.

"On some cliff. Do you remember anything?" Her face looked relieved and let out a puff of air that she must've been holding.

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep and went outside to get some air. Then I saw this thing and thought it would be fun to climb. I must've fallen asleep once I reached the top." Something in me told me she was not telling the truth but before I could call her out, Kye finally climbed up.

"Damn this thing is high." He said as he bent down to catch his breath. He looked up and his eyes caught River. "Oh good, he found you." He smiled as he pulled her into a hug. I growled at him quietly but he just smirked at me.

'Whipped' He mind linked me.

"You ready to climb down?" I asked him. His eyes got wide and he let out a very strange noise. It was like a mix of a growl, a sigh, and a moan. He then proceeded to mumble to himself as he lowered himself and began to climb down. I laughed at him as I turned to River.

I picked her up and wrapped his legs around my waist. She instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck and I began to lower us over the side of the cliff. Her face was right next to mine and I couldn't help myself. I leaned in and lightly pecked her lips. I pulled back to find her smiling. I kissed her nose then focused on my climbing.

"I was so worried about you." I whispered as I kept lowering us down. She didn't answer me but instead held me tighter. Once we were about five feet from the ground I jumped the rest of the way down. Kye was lying on the ground with his limbs sprawled everywhere.

"Never again." He said between breaths. I chuckled at him as I set River down.

"Remind me to get you in better shape." He just rolled his eyes at me. I turned and looked back up at the rock. "How did that even get there." I thought aloud.

River lightly shifted and I could hear her heart rate increasing. I was about to say something but I was stopped by a blood curdling scream. Kye jumped up and I watched as his face fell. The look that spread over him made my stomach drop. It was a look of complete fear and utter pain.

"Emma." He whispered before he took off running. I looked at River to see a look of terror in her eyes.

"Come on, sweetheart, we need to go." I said but she wouldn't move. She looked to be in shock. I quickly put her on my back and began running after Kye.

"He's here." I heard her mutter. I smelt the air and quickly picked up his scent. Damon.

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Hey my lovlies! Sorry for not updating a lot! I have been so busy it annoying. This book is about to get very very exciting and I can't wait to write it!! :)) Don't forget to vote, comment, and maybe even follow if you are feeling up to it! :)

Sorry for any errors or spelling mistakes! I was in a rush to get this uploaded to I didn't have a chance to edit it.

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