Aztec Treasure
Reckless Bravery

Lance Skollson’s POV

Pigeon River, US/Candian Border

I took off running with the other wolves when we heard the frantic screams from downriver. “Keep an eye on Maria in case this is a trap,” I sent to the other Pack members as we ran.

It was no false alarm. A frantic mother was working her way along the rocks, trying in vain to keep her son in view as the swift currents swept him downstream.

Five of us ran past her at full speed, staying to the trail well back from the river’s edge. Suddenly, a voice pushed into my head, a voice I recognized. “GET BELOW HIM AND GET READY TO GRAB ME,” Maria shouted into my mind.

I almost stumbled from the shock, as Maria didn’t have a Pack link. It was her, though, and I glanced back to see her leap from a rock and into the river. “Maria went after the boy. We’re only getting one chance at this, so keep going until we replace a good spot to fish them out,” I sent to everyone.

“We will get her back,” Tony promised. We had to run almost a quarter-mile down the trail to get far enough ahead of them and replace a good place. The river widened, with large boulders in the stream forming chutes between them. We shifted back, needing our arms and legs for this next part.

“Keep swimming towards our side. We’re going out into the river now,” I sent to Maria, hoping she’d hear. I could see her coming towards us with the boy held in front of her as she swam frantically across the current.

“I’m so tired,” she said. “I don’t know if I can make it.”

My wolf didn’t like this a bit. “My mate can do anything. I’ll catch you, my love. Keep going a little longer.” Mate? My wolf chuffed in agreement. She was OURS, and we would get her safe or die trying.

We formed a human chain stretching from the shore across the first stretch of water to the car-sized boulder. I was standing as close as I could to the fast water with my left arm held tight to the human chain. I could see Maria’s brightly colored fur as she bobbed her way downstream, and I could feel the pain as she hit rocks. “Almost there, baby. Swim with everything you have, and I’ll catch you.”

“I’m sorry, Lance. I love you.”

“Swim with everything you have.” She was coming towards me quickly; I reached out as she shot by, grabbing at the fur on her neck. I caught the tracking necklace with two fingers, and I gripped that tight as their weight pulled me off the back of the boulder and into the water.

I ignored everything except the grips on my two hands. I could feel the others pulling us towards the shoreline, and I started swallowing water as I struggled to keep my head above water. I kept my grip as they hauled me up on the rocks. “We’ve got them,” I heard, and that was when I finally let go.

I was on my hands and knees, catching my breath, as I watched the others carry the boy and my mate up onto the grassy riverbank. “Maria?”

“She’s unconscious but breathing,” Colleen said. “The kid isn’t.” I moved up next to Maria, cuddling up to her fur. The river was barely above freezing, and I knew she’d exhausted herself. I held her in my arms, trying to warm her as best I could.

“Starting compressions,” I heard from farther up the bank. Glancing that way, I could see Monica starting CPR on the boy. He looked half dead; his face was blue except where the blood dripped down from his hair. I could hear another Pack member on a cellphone, passing information on the victims to the 911 operator.

“Timmy!” A frantic voice was coming from upstream, and I saw his mother running as fast as she could, with the human members of our group surrounding her. “Oh, GOD! TIMMY!”

The boy started coughing during the rescue breaths, spitting the cold river water out of his lungs. Monica rolled him on his side so the water could come out and verified he was breathing again. He started crying, and his Mom pulled him into her lap. “He’s bleeding,” she said as she checked him over.

Monica handed him a shirt as our people started handing out shirts to the naked werewolves. A crowd was forming, mainly tourists, and almost all of them had their cellphones out. “Hold that over the cut,” she said soothingly. “An ambulance is on the way. We need to get him down the trail to the parking area.”

“Thank you,” she said. “You people, you are werewolves?”

“Yes, from the Arrowhead Pack,” Monica said.

“That big cat saved my boy!” She looked over at Maria in cat form as one of the tourists helped wrap her son in a blanket. “Is she all right? Why didn’t she shift back like you did?”

I answered as I pulled my clothes on behind a towel held by another Pack member. “She can’t change until she wakes up,” I said. “You should get going. Let Monica and the others help carry him down the trail to the ambulance.”

She wasn’t willing to let her boy go yet, but at least she started moving. Three of our people went with her, along with some of the tourists.

Tony was drying Maria with the towel as I finished dressing. “What do we do with Maria?”

“Take the blanket, we’ll carry her down on that,” I said. We set the picnic blanket next to her, carefully lifting her into the center. One of us took each corner, and we took off at a jog down the trail. I was getting more worried with each passing moment she didn’t wake up. My wolf was going nuts, and I had to force him down to stay in human form.

“We’re at the visitor’s center now,” Monica sent me a few minutes later. “There’s a car from Customs/Border Patrol here, plus a Park Ranger. The ambulance is still twenty minutes away, so they are talking about putting him in the cruiser and heading south to meet them.”

“That sounds like a good idea. What about Doc Olson?”

“Alpha Michael is arranging a helicopter to bring him up here.” That was a better solution; I could just imagine the reaction if we brought a hundred-pound jaguar into an emergency room. “We’ve also contacted the group in Thunder Bay; they are on their way back with the van.”

We finally got to the trailhead, running across the grass to the Visitor’s Center. We brought Maria inside, setting the blanket down on the carpeting in the heated building. She was still breathing, but her pulse was weak, and she wasn’t waking up.

Monica came in with her cellphone, which had Doc Olson on speakerphone. He guided her through doing the basic checks; we didn’t replace any broken bones, but there was a bump on the left side of her face where she must have hit a rock. It was a miracle she held onto the kid’s jacket while getting banged around on the river. “Get me more towels,” I barked.

One of the Brothers handed over a stack of souvenir Grand Portage State Park beach towels. We used them to dry Maria off as best we could, then covered her up with dry ones.

She still hadn’t woken when I heard the helicopter landing on the grass next to the building. Doc Olson got out with his emergency bag while one of the warriors carried a stretcher. The rest of our group was here, and Chase had done what he could. Maria likely had a severe concussion, perhaps a broken skull.

It took them less than five minutes to get an IV going and load her into the helicopter. “I have to go with my mate,” I told Chase.

“Give me your keys,” he said. He tossed them to the Oxbow Lake warrior. “Go. We’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Don’t mess up Maria’s new ride,” I told him. I ran to the helicopter, taking the co-pilot seat since Doc had the back with Maria. We lifted off, and I barely looked out at the spectacular scenery from my first helicopter ride. All I could do was look back at Maria and worry.

She woke up just before landing. “Don’t move, and don’t shift yet,” Doc told her. “You’re safe. We’re in a helicopter heading to Oxbow Lake.”

“Lance?”

“I’m here, love. You did it. You saved that boy.” I smiled as I looked back at my mate. MY mate.

Doc talked to me over the headset. “Talk to her, Lance. I need her to stay awake.”

“I am. I’m mind linking with her right now.”

“Don’t be silly. Jaguars don’t have a mind link.”

“Mates do,” I said with a big smile. “You were so brave, Maria. You scared the hell out of me today.”

“Sorry, not sorry,” she replied. “You wolves can’t swim like me.”

We kept talking for the rest of the flight. Maria was lucky; her body was a mass of bruises from hitting the rocks, but x-rays were clear. Doc let her shift but put her on bed rest and concussion watch. I happily tended to my mate overnight and the next day until Doc said she could return home. She was disappointed not to be riding but understood why. She was still having headaches and dizzy spells, though the double vision had stopped.

The entire Arrowhead Pack turned out to welcome their hero home. As is so common these days, ten people started recording videos for every brave person who helped out. The videos went viral, although the broadcast versions blurred out our naked parts after the shift. The boy we saved and his mother was interviewed on television, thanking the “werewolves and werecat” who bravely went after her boy after he slipped off the rock into the roaring water. The news report even went back to the river, talking with them about what happened. Since I wasn’t available, Chase talked about how proud he was of his Pack members and Maria for what they had done.

“Welcome back, Maria,” Chase said as he embraced her.

I could sense something shifting, then Rori spoke over the link. “Welcome to the Arrowhead Pack, Maria,” she sent.

“Thank you!” From the looks on everyone’s faces, they’d heard her too.