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Through his agony he'd noted her features in an instant, and now he mulled over the fact that he'd never had a spirit appear to him quite so intact, so detailed. Almost as though she were real, not a ghost. Impossible. Right?
Opening his eyes, he sucked in a sharp breath. It seemed he'd get another chance to find out, because the woman in question was standing beside his bed looking down at him anxiously. Her form was translucent, flickering as though her energy was waning.
"Please, help me."
"Jesus!" Reacting, he jerked upright and then hissed in pain. "What the hell?"
Ghosts shouldn't be able to speak and make themselves understood so clearly. But this one wasn't having any problem in that area.
"Help me," she entreated again. "I'm hurt and there isn't much time."
He blinked at her. "How do you think I can help you? You're dead, sweetheart," he said, his tone firm but gentle. Most of the spirits couldn't accept their demise.
"No, I'm alive! I was working a few miles from here and I was pushed into a ravine." She began to appear more desperate. "If you don't find me, I'll die out here. You have to believe me."
A chill snaked down his spine. Maybe she was telling the truth. "Okay, honey. Tell me where you are and I'll come to you." He hoped.
"North. Past the second ridge." She began to fade.
"Wait! That's a lot of miles to cover. Can you be more specific?"
Her reply was broken, the sound going mute at intervals. "The rangers . . . checkpoint . . . camp."
"You were camping? What was that about the rangers?"
"Hurts," she whispered. "Hurry."
And then she was gone.
"Fuck!"
Ryon stared for a few seconds at the spot where she'd been, wondering if she'd reappear. But the very real urgency in her plea got him moving. Despite the pain it caused, he scooted to the side of the bed, removing the sticky heart-monitor pads and ripping out his IV line. The back of his hand bled, and he licked the wound, sealing it, then pushed to his feet.
Sucking in a sharp breath, he braced a hand on the bedside table and held his injured side with the other. Ten minutes ago he wouldn't have been able to get out of bed. But that was before an intriguing spirit had appeared at his side to beg for help-and his wolf had come roaring to life inside him. Now his constant companion was anxious, insisting they race to help this unknown woman.
Ryon struggled to control the shift. Apparently, hiding and licking his wounds like a big baby was no longer on the wolf's agenda. The creature was practically clawing him apart from the inside out in his hurry to be gone. He had something much more important to focus on now, and he wasn't going to let anything keep him from finding the gorgeous vision.
Ryon had to alert his team. Pushing out the door, he stumbled into the corridor of the infirmary and ran straight into Noah. The blond nurse grabbed and steadied him, fussing.
"What the heck are you doing out of bed? If you need something, use the call button!"
"No time," he said hoarsely. "Gotta find Nick. We've got a problem."
Scowling, the younger man steered Ryon back into the room. "Sit your butt down in here while I get hold of him, or you're going to be the one with the problem when I sedate your stubborn self."
Ryon complied, but he didn't have to like it. Until he let his wolf out, he wasn't going to have the strength to walk across the compound, much less run through the mountains searching for an injured hiker. He listened impatiently while Noah used the room's phone and made the call to Nick. As he did, it occurred to Ryon that he wasn't thinking straight-he could've simply used his ability as a Telepath to reach Nick himself, pushing his thoughts into his commander's head. If that wasn't proof that he had no business leaping from bed to run through the Shoshone, nothing was.
But that wasn't going to stop him.
Noah replaced the receiver and turned, grabbing the discarded wires from the heart monitor. "He's on his way. Scoot back and I'll fix this."
"No. I'm not staying here."
"Ryon-"
"I said no!"
"Fine! Stubborn furballs, all of you." The nurse stomped out, leaving the door open behind him.
Ryon felt bad for snapping, but anxiety was riding him hard. He needed to be gone, like five minutes ago. Dammit, he'd apologize later.
Nick walked in a couple of minutes after Noah left, his expression concerned. The Pack's commander was a big SOB who put off a don't fuck with me vibe that was best heeded. Oh, Nick was a good guy, but more than a little intimidating.
The commander pushed a hand through his dark hair, his eyes piercing Ryon's. "I knew a big change was coming for you. I just didn't expect it to arrive so soon."
The hair on the back of Ryon's neck stood up. In addition to being a rare white wolf-born, not made-the commander was a PreCog, which meant he could sometimes see events before they happened. Or get a sense of something important on the horizon. As much as Ryon hated his own gift, he wouldn't trade with Nick for anything. Some people might think being able to see the future would be cool, but Ryon thought it would totally suck to know the bad stuff.
"What did you see?" he asked in curiosity. And with a bit of dread as well.
"A woman," Nick said simply, with a bit of reluctance. "And the fact that she's going to shake up your world pretty thoroughly."
Oh, crap. "How so?"
"You'll just have to find out for yourself. But for that to happen, we'll have to get going." The man cocked his head. "Did she appear to you?"
Evasive bastard. "Yes, and she's hurt. She didn't say her name, but she told me she was pushed into a ravine past the second ridge, to the north."
"Pushed? By whom?"
"I don't know. She tried to say something about the rangers and a checkpoint, but the message was garbled at the end."
"Okay. I'll go by my office on the way out and give the ranger station a call while you grab a few of the guys." He eyed Ryon. "That is, if you're healed enough to go."
"I will be after I shift," he insisted. "My wolf is going nuts and if I stay behind, it won't be pretty."
Nick paused, considering. "All right. I trust you to know your limits."
"I'll meet you at the hangar with others. And thanks, Nick."
"You're welcome. I'll speak to Melina, Mac, and Noah on the way out, tell them what's going on and get them to accompany us in a second vehicle."
"We're bringing her here?" he asked in surprise. "What about the humans' Search and Rescue team? Sounds like she'll need a regular hospital."
A mysterious smile played about Nick's lips. "I have a feeling that's not going to work out so well."
"What-" Much to his annoyance, his boss left without explaining. "Damn."
Ryon stood, shrugging off the annoying hospital gown. Next went his briefs, tossed to join the gown. Naked and trembling from that small exertion, he focused on reaching out to his wolf in preparation for the shift, a process that wasn't typically as fluid and easy for him as it was for some of the other guys. Now, however, his wolf surged to the surface and completely took over, his anxiety to get to the injured woman almost a physical need.
Muscle and bone popped, morphed. His body rearranged itself, fur sprouting from his skin, muzzle lengthening, tail growing, hands and feet becoming paws. All of this in less than five seconds.
Immediately he felt stronger. Not fully healed, but he would last until the raven-haired beauty was found and brought back safely. The pull to do just that got him moving.
Steady on four legs, he bolted from the room and down the infirmary's corridor. Ryon ran straight to the recreation room where many of his friends could be found loitering away their downtime on any given day, and he wasn't surprised to find that today was no different.
Hammer and Aric were there, playing a video game on the Wii, and Micah Chase and Kalen Black were watching a rerun of Ghost Hunters. The foursome stopped what they were doing, giving him their full attention as he skidded to a stop and shifted back.
"Damn, my eyes!" Aric moaned as the others laughed. "I guess you're feeling better, huh? At least put on some pants."
They all knew the redheaded wolf was teasing-the Pack had been together long enough that they didn't care about nudity before or after their shifts. But Ryon didn't have the time or patience to play along.
"I need you guys," he said, holding on to the sofa for support. In human form he wasn't as well as he'd like, but it couldn't be helped at the moment. "We've got an injured hiker out there, and we're mobilizing."
Hammer, the team's gentle giant and Nick's righthand man, rubbed his bald head, perplexed. "That's not our job. What about Search and Rescue?"
"The woman appeared to me in astral form and begged for my help," he explained impatiently, unable to hide his anxiety. He chose to leave out Nick's interesting response to that very question Ryon had asked. "Getting S and R involved will take time she doesn't have. There's no way a bunch of humans will be able to find her before we do, and she's going to die if we don't hurry."
Aric stood. "In that case, I'm in."
The other three echoed him, and Ryon looked to Micah. The brown wolf/Dreamwalker had been rescued along with Aric, weeks ago, by the Pack and Rowan, Micah's sister, an LAPD cop who turned out to be Aric's mate. Micah had fared much worse in the lab facility where he and Aric had been held, and had endured heinous experiments for months at the hands of the now-deceased Dr. Gene Bowman. Micah was horribly scarred inside and out. But with drugs and therapy he was making progress, it seemed.
"You ready to test the waters?" Ryon asked him. He was fairly sure Nick wouldn't object to their Pack brother stretching his long-unused muscles while assisting on a simple rescue. If so, he'd take the heat later.
Micah nodded eagerly, pushing a long strand of brown hair from his face. "You bet. If I have to stay behind again, I'll lose what's left of my mind."
"That's settled, then. We're meeting Nick at the hangar with the medical team. Anybody know where Jax is?" Jaxon Law was their unofficial Pack leader, right after Nick.
"I'll find him and Rowan. We'll see you there." Aric jogged off.
"I'll get dressed and be there in a few."
Ryon shifted again and took off in the direction of his personal quarters. Everyone had his own apartment at the compound and Ryon's was situated at the end of one of the wings that housed the Pack and the rest of the staff. At his door, he shifted to human form again and cursed the necessity. His wolf was much stronger and faster in many aspects. He could follow a scent trail and locate someone in a way that was impossible as a man. But they would need vehicles and emergency equipment. No help for that.
Anxious, he punched his code into the security pad and let himself into his quarters. As quickly as possible, given his own injuries, he dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and hiking boots, and then braced his hands on the dresser. Mirrors didn't lie, and this one was telling him to go straight back to bed and stay there for another week.
Unfortunately, on top of looking like shit, he felt even worse. As he headed out again, the stab of pain in his side reminded him that he'd missed the promised dose of pain meds. But it wasn't the pain that concerned him-he'd been through plenty of scrapes and survived. It was the possibility that his body might fail him before he found the woman.
He didn't doubt that if something happened to him, the Pack would find her. But every instinct in his body screamed that it was vitally important that he be with them. He couldn't fail.
