Page 25 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
If I don’t move now, I might not make it to the island, so I leap to my right, but Clayton jumps as well, leaving more cracks where he lands. I bark at him and he snaps his jaws as a warning.You shall not pass!
With a huff, I jump back to the left, but Clayton mirrors my movements.
Cracks are now appearing of their own accord, starting as a thin pencil-drawn lines and opening up until they’re scrawled in Sharpie.
Clayton barks and whines, baring his teeth and shaking his muzzle. And then the bonfire erupts.
We stare in the direction of the island as blue sparks fly into the clouds. Flames reach above the tops of the trees toward the pale moon. Olivia’s done it—she’s lit the final fire.
Clayton howls in agony. His chance of winning is slipping away. He huffs at me like it’s my fault he’s wasted his time antagonizing me.
I growl in response and watch as Clayton turns, sprinting toward the island, his tail whipping behind him.
Without wasting any time I take off after him, but I temper my speed when I hear the ice creaking. A large chasm opens up in front of me and I skid to stop. I try to find my balance, moving as little as possible. More cracks and more creaks ring out from all around. The ice is no longer stable.
Beside me, a patch breaks free and like a whale breaching the surface, it tips sideways. Black, deathly water flows at a surprisingly speedy pace below. The ice whale is swiftly pulled under.
I need to get to sturdier ground, but when I move another crack opens. And another. Surrounded by jagged cracks, I spin in circles as more and more patches of ice are sucked down by the undertow.
Black holes of rushing water appear between the cracks. But I can see where the ice is holding solid, closer to the island. If I can make it there I might survive. So I leap and land on an ice platform, nearly tipping it over as I do, but managing to stay upright. Again, I launch myself into the air, only just managing to land safely, and take off once more before my platform is dragged under by the current. I land scrambling for secure footing on a less than solid piece of ice. I’m one jump away from the edge, and my platform is starting to sink.
With all of my strength, I ready myself and pounce, but as I do the ice under my feet slips away and I don’t move more than a foot or two. I flop forward, my legs running in the air, grasping at nothing—looking like one of those doggy-fail videos on TikTok—and I splash land in the river.
Falling into freezing waterdoesfeel like a thousand knives stabbing you all at once. My breath is stolen the instant I break the surface, and I’m pulled under by the rushing current. I struggle against it, flailing my limbs like it’s doing any good. But I can’t find the surface, I don’t know which way is up. In a second I’ll be pulled beneath the ice, and then there’ll be no way out. I’ll be trapped. And everyone will be right. I never should have entered this stupid competition.
All these thoughts are rushing through my brain as the ice seizes my body and I stop struggling. My feet stop kicking. My vision blurs and darkness closes in around the corners of my eyes.
And just when I think it’s all over, I feel the pinch of teeth at the back of my neck. I’m jerked back into action. My legs take up thrashing again as the bite at my scruff tightens and I’m pulled from the water.
The wolf who’s saved me tosses me across the ice, knocking any wind I still had in me clear of my body.
I lie there panting, coughing, spluttering, too weak to stand, to even lift my head enough to see who my rescuer is.
As I pass out, Jasper’s midnight wolf leans over me; his green eyes stare down at me, brimming with worry.
I sit shivering in my robe, waiting for the fire to rid my body of icy chills. Jasper sits on a log across from me, on the far side of the fire. He hasn’t looked at me since I came to warm up.
After being pulled from the water, the first thing I remember is waking up on the pier. Jasper was the first person my eyes were able to focus on. He was pulling a robe over his bare shoulders. Then walking away.
I sat up, my head spinning as a couple of team medics fussed about me. After they’d checked my pulse and made sure I wasn’t actually a zombie, they gave me a tin mug of hot cocoa and told me to warm up by the fire.
The race was done. Olivia won, with Clayton in second place, although I personally believe he should have been disqualified for cheating. Apparently, attempted murder isn’t against the rules, according to Tobias. I guess that’s why so many people used to die doing this.
My whole body is aching—from the run and my icy dip, but also because I failed.
Todd and Simon came in joint third. Someone said they were still wrestling each other as they crossed the finish line.
So that’s it then. I’m not going to the Rocky Pack, I won’t be spending the holidays with Jasper. And he’ll be farther away than he was before.
Aisha plops down next to me and leans her shoulder against mine.
“Sorry you didn’t win, dude,” she says. “On the bright side, you didn’t die either.”
“That’s something,” I say, still watching Jasper.
Behind him there’s a smattering of the dispersing crowd. Clayton wanders out of the shadows and up to a couple of other guys. His friends slap him on the back and congratulate him as he runs a carefree hand through his hair.
“It wasn’t for lack of trying though.”
