Page 84 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

We need to make a path through the jackals, Cyrus said.

Toss training? Bishop asked.

Yep. See, showing up for combat practice is important. He turned his attention to me. Bishop and I are going up first then Knox. He’ll help you up. When you get up, run. Don’t hesitate. Don’t try and help. Just run. We can handle a bunch of jackals if we’re not worrying about you.

Because of course, I was a hindrance.

His words stung, but I couldn’t deny them. I’d barely survived two fights with grimalkins, and while jackals were smaller, there was probably a whole pack of them just like the last time. And the last time Knox had been seriously injured to the point where shifting wouldn’t immediately heal him.

I swiped rain out of my eyes and nodded. “I’ll follow the ravine for as long as I can.”

“Good girl,” he praised, and he lowered me off the rock into Bishop’s arms.

“Be careful,” I told Bishop, squeezing him tight for a second. I didn’t know what toss training was, but I knew climbing over the edge of the ravine would make him vulnerable and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. Not when I’d just found him and things between us were filled with possibilities.

Bishop handed his pack to Knox then climbed onto the rock.

On three? he asked as Cyrus braced his back against the ravine wall and laced his fingers together.

On three, he replied.

Bishop placed his foot on the step Cyrus had created with hands, quickly counted down, and on three leaped as Cyrus propelled him into the air.

I rapidly blinked rain from my eyes, fighting the torrential downpour to keep watching.

With his incredible strength, Cyrus threw him into the air, the feat astounding since I doubted that Bishop, being almost as tall as his brother and packed with sculpted muscles, was lighter than the average man.

Bishop shifted in mid-air, the magic that let him shift destroying his clothes, and he landed on top of one of the jackals that was hanging over the ravine’s edge snarling and snapping at us. With a growl, Bishop sank his teeth into the back of the beast’s neck and wrenched his head, breaking its spine and killing it.

The other jackals lunged at him, but he bounded off the jackal he’d just killed and tore out the throat of another one before the fight took him out of sight.

The jackals on the ravine’s edge raced after him, their yips and snarls still loud, indicating that they hadn’t gone very far. Despite that, Cyrus hopped up, grabbed the edge, and hauled himself up.

A jackal snapped at him, but he rolled out of the way — and out of sight — and a second later a dead jackal landed with a heavy, wet thump on the ground a few feet away… ground that was now almost completely covered in water, the gathering rain no longer contained within a narrow stream running down the center of the ravine.

Come on, Knox said, grabbing my hips and hoisting me three-quarters of the way up the rock in preparation of climbing out. When I pull you up, remember to run.

Right, I replied as I tried to scramble up, but my grip slipped on the wet rock and Knox had to set his hands under my ass to catch me. Then he shoved, boosting me high enough to get my chest over the top, and I dug my fingers into a narrow crack, scrambled for a decent foothold, and hauled myself up.

Gasping, I carefully stood and clung to the ravine wall to keep my balance and make room for Knox. The rain was now coming down so hard it was hard to see even a few feet in front of me and the gusting wind threatened to toss me off my precarious perch.

Knox easily climbed up beside me as if it wasn’t pouring then jumped and grabbed the ravine’s edge.

A jackal leaped at him, but Cyrus appeared, his fingers extended into claws and his expression fierce, and he tore out the beast’s throat before it could sink its teeth into Knox.

Get moving, Cyrus snarled as two more jackals raced toward him.

He caught the first one and tried to slash at the other as it raced past him, but it twisted out of the way, narrowly missing his claws. It dove at Knox who, already on his knees, ducked low, catching the beast’s stomach against his shoulder, and tossed it over the edge.

The jackal landed on the ravine floor on its feet, only momentarily stunned from the fifteen-foot fall before jumping and snapping at me, trying to reach me on top of the rock.

Audrey, Knox barked, jerking my attention away from the snarling beast intent on eating me. Grab my hand.

He lay on his stomach and reached for me. Rain poured down his arm, splattering on the ravine wall and adding to the water stinging my eyes.

I reached for him, my fingertips barely brushing his. I wasn’t tall enough.

Come on, he growled as I stood on my tiptoes.

More of our fingers brushed, but it still wasn’t enough to get a proper grip.

You have to jump.

I dropped my gaze to the uneven, slippery rock beneath my feet. If I missed, I’d fall off and then have to figure out how to climb back up without help.

The jackal below me leaped again, his teeth snapping close to my foot, making me jerk away. The movement threw my balance off and I clutched at the ravine wall, desperately holding on, praying I wouldn’t fall.

Getting back up would be the least of my worries if I couldn’t grab Knox’s hand.

Audrey, please!

The desperation in Knox’s voice snapped my attention back to him. Fear filled his expression, a look I’d never seen in his eyes before, and his gaze kept darting up the ravine and back to me.

What was he looking at?

I turned to look and time stuttered into slow motion. A massive wall of water rose at the far end of the ravine, roaring its way toward me.

I had to jump. Now. And I only got one attempt.

My pulse pounding, I leaped. Somehow my feet didn’t slip out from under me, and Knox wrapped his large hand around my wrist.

But as he was hauling me up, the wave of water slammed into my legs.

I tried to hold on, tried to tighten my grip and futilely cling to the ravine wall, but the force of the impact yanked my hand from his.

Cold water engulfed me, the shock stealing my breath, and I was wrenched under. I fought to find the surface, but the current was too strong, tumbling me around and around.

Pain exploded through my head and sliced across my shoulder, and I belatedly realized I’d hit the ravine wall. I scrambled to find a handhold, but the water had already swept me away.

Another explosion of agony in my knee, my shoulder, my knee again, around and around. My lungs screamed for air and darkness swam across my vision. I flailed, fighting to find the surface or something to hold onto, but I could barely see what was around me and everything was moving too quickly.