Meg stepped out on the logs and stepped slowly across. Luc was right behind her. Step, slide. Step, slide. It was the longest fifteen feet in her life. Then the log slid out from under her. Meg was falling. The water sucked at her legs, pulling her in. Icy cold water flowed over her head and then pain as something snagged her arm. Gasping for breath, trying to figure which way was up, she struggled. She thought she could hear something, but it could only be the rushing waters in her ears. She tried to push her head towards where she thought the surface was. Then her head broke free of the water.
“Sthop fightn mhe!” Luc yelled. He was the sound Meg had heard, not the waters. He had grabbed her as she went under. “Mehg!” he hollered again.
Meg went limp. The next thing she felt was Luc pulling her up on the bank of the river. Half shifted, he looked like the movie werewolves from all the horror flicks. Part human, part wolf and huge. His clawed fingers had scratched her where he had grabbed her arm and torn though the material. He pulled her clear of the water and then picked her up like she weighed nothing. He didn’t stop until he reached his pack. Grabbing that, he continued on and as they passed her pack, he grabbed it too. Luc ran.
Meg began to shiver. She was soaked from the rain as well as the river. Luc was still carrying her and in that half shifted form. “Wwwherre are wwwe gggoing?” she stuttered.
Luc looked down at her. Cocking his head to one side he realized she was shivering. “Damn! Can’t let her freeze, but… Damn!” he thought. Looking around, he headed for a dense stand of trees. Under one of the big pines, it was only damp. Luc sat her down and tried to dig through one of the packs for anything to get her warm. He gave up in frustration and shifted fully. He nosed himself under her poncho, and tried to wrap himself around her all at the same time.
Meg couldn’t figure out what was going on, and then the brainfog lifted. Luc was trying to warm her up before hypothermia set in. “Oh! I get it Luc!” she said to the wolf. She popped the sides of her poncho to make a big sheet and draped it over the wolf and herself. The wolf wrapped around her and pulled her to him.
“Silly soft one,” the wolf thought. He brought his paw down on her leg to make her stay still. Then he nuzzled her closer to him and wrapped his tail up and around until it almost touched his nose. Then he went to sleep.
Meg didn’t have any choice but to curl up to the huge wolf. She was afraid to doze off, but realized that she was much warmer and it was probably safe. She dozed off as the wolf began to snore.
Meg woke. Something was different. It took her a moment to realize that the rain had stopped. The sun hadn’t come out, but the steady drip of rain had ceased. She was still wrapped up in the huge wolf, but she was warm and just damp.
“Hey Luc, wake up. The rain has stopped,” she said. The wolf didn’t move. “This is crazy. I’m talking to a huge wolf that doesn’t speak English. Damn! Luc! Hey you!” she called again, not knowing what else to do.
The wolf heard a noise far off. He’d been dreaming that his mate was curled up in his paws. The noise got louder. He shook his head and realized that he was under something. Then he smelled the soft one and realized that she was making the noise. He wanted to go back to sleep, but she had grabbed his fur and shook him.
“Grrrrrrrrrr…..” the wolf growled in deep subvocal tones. The sound sent a shiver thought Meg, but she didn’t stop.
“Hey! Stop that! Shift or whatever the hell it is you do!” she said, trying not to freak out.
The wolf let the growl taper off. He could smell she was scared, but she didn’t stop. He blinked a few times and then started to shift. He’d let the other one handle the soft one.
Luc felt himself come back slowly. He could hear Meg saying something to him, but he didn’t exactly have all the connections right yet. “Juhsht mihn ut,” he tried to say around a tongue that was still too long. He yawned and stretched, trying to finish shifting.
“About time you came back,” Meg said. “I woke up and the rain was gone. I tried to get your wolf self to let me go and he growled at me.”
“Shorry, Mehg,” he said. He stretched his neck again and things popped. Wiggling his jaw, things finally slipped into place. “Dihdn’t meahn to schare you,” he said apologetically. “Buht you scaared meh when you fell into the wahter,” he said becoming more articulate with each word. “I didn’t have any choice but to grab you like I did and then all I could do was think about trying to get us to safety.”
“I understand, it just scared me when he-you growled. It felt like something rumbled all down my spine and gave me the shivers,” she said as she reached out and touched Luc.
“Sub-vocals,” he said. “Wolves use them as emphasis. The hearing is different, so sub-vocals really get your attention. He looked around to see if any of his clothes had survived. He found a sock and both his boots, but his jeans and undies were shredded. No sign of his shirt at all except a cuff on the ground.
“Meg, could you hand me my pack?” he asked.
She smiled and handed it over. Luc dug out clothes and some of the food. He handed her some trail mix and jerky.