Tristan's POV
Landing in the water, my body immediately popped to the surface thanks to my life vest. However the raging rapids immediately pushed my entire body forward. I'm a damn wolf and the pressure of the water is almost unbearable for me, I can only imagine what it's like for a human who only knows the basics of swimming! Just that thought alone gave me the drive to fight my hardest to try and find my mate. I'm praying that Max and Sam had some sense to grab onto the two girls, but knowing them, probably not.
My muscles were beginning to tire and ache as I fought against the vicious current, which seems to be my worst enemy right now. Luke was doing the same exact thing I was except he's further away than I am...having been thrown past me when the raft flipped then being carried away by the current. That's probably why Luke and I make such great best friends. We were never really good at following directions given by others.
We always stick by each other's side whenever tough times arise, not caring what the consequences may be. It seems like we're doing all this fighting just to stay in one spot! I haven't moved an inch and I know this because I've been staring at the same damn wild jack rabbit chewing on grass for the past couple minutes...and trust me, he hasn't even twitched.
I watched the back of our guide's head disappear as he swam along with the current which would eventually take him back to the docks, damn coward. So much for him, what a wonderful damn guide he is. Guess he figured every man for himself since there's no more raft. Thankfully, this is a man made river that the rough waters rushed into. The way they have it set up is that it's just one huge circle.
The thing that has me worried was if one isn't a good enough swimmer, the turbulent waves could swallow you whole, vest or no vest. You'd just be drifting along with the waves crashing over your head causing you to slowly drown a painful death as you tried to gasp for air while your lungs filled with water. I watched as Max and Sam both popped up to the surface and flow right by me, following the guide's specific instructions of swimming with the current and not against it.
If it weren’t that this is such a serious matter, I'd laugh right about now. They looked like they were making it into a race of who could swim back the fastest. As they passed me, they saw the look of panic in my eyes when realizing neither of them had the girls and neither of the girls have yet to come up for air. Noticing this was a dire situation they too began taking long strokes to try and swim back to the area where we all initially landed.
"No." I called out. "You two get back to the cabin and get help." I ordered, there's no reason all four of us needed to be here. Crap! ‘What if the girls hit their heads on something when we were tossed out the raft?’ No Tristan, stop thinking like that, the voice nagged in my head.
Unbuckling my vest, I quickly tore it off and swam to the side where the woods are. Maybe I'd be able to hoist myself up. I've never felt so helpless in my entire life before, never known what not to do. If I couldn't swim back to where the raft flipped, I'd at least be able to get out the water and run back towards that area and dive back in...right under the drop.
This whole area was a death trap waiting to happen with jagged rocks and pointy boulders all over! Didn't they consider the fact that if a raft were to hit one of these rocks, it'd tear a hole in it? My heart was pounding against my chest as I shouted, "Luke, swim over to the edge we're going to have to run back. It's impossible to swim."
"Got you." Luke agreed sounding totally winded. "Why haven't they come up yet? Something's got to be wrong." His voice filled with panic as he reached the edge and hoisted himself up immediately tearing off his vest.
'I was thinking the same thing my friend', but of course I didn't agree with him out loud. We were both standing on the grass at the edge of the woods that ran along the river trying to catch our breath. Hauling ass back to where the raft first went over the drop, we searched the area frantically finally catching sight of our raft, which was flipped upside down on the opposite end of where we were standing.
My heart was in the pit of my stomach as the worse case scenario passed through my mind. What if the raft flipped and the girls got caught underneath it? I shook my head violently to dispel the thoughts from my brain. I refused to believe that she's not ok, that she's anything but alive. The raft seemed to be caught in between a boulder and a huge stump that fell over into the water. No wonder why it didn't go floating on by us.
My heart stopped the Moment I saw blond hair bobbing in the water next to the raft. ‘Oh god, please no’ I thought as a knot began forming in the back of my throat. I couldn't help as the tears sprung in my eyes, but refused to spill over. I'm not giving up on her just yet. "Lise, Anya!" I cupped my hands on each side of my mouth and screamed as loud as I could so they could hear me over the raging waters.
Please answer me...move...give me some sort of sign to let me know you're ok I thought as I stood there and looked over at Luke who seemed to be in shock, but no answer was received on our end. Suddenly I got an idea, if I get a running start and then jump into the water I can grab a hold of the end of the raft, I hope. Sharing my idea with Luke, he agreed that it's a good idea not to mention the only thing that we could possibly come up with.
"Let me try first." I said looking him straight in the eye. I didn't have to explain what I meant by that. He automatically knew that if I went first and failed in my attempt, that he'd be our last option. Backing all the way up, I got a running start and leapt the furthest I could, managing to grab a hold of the string on the edge of the raft. The current almost carried me away but I managed to hold on with all I had left in me. Fighting my way over to the side, where I last saw the blond hair. I held my breath not knowing what would await me.
As I made my way around to the other side, I prayed silently as the water pounded against me unmercifully. "Oh thank you god!" I breathed out under my breath.
Hanging onto the raft with one arm, trying her best to keep her head above the water was Lise. She was alive and most importantly she's alert. Her other hand was grasping onto the back of Anya's life vest keeping her afloat as well. Anya was also alert, but blood was gushing from a deep cut in her shoulder. Her free hand was cupping the cut trying to stop the blood from escaping, but of course it was unsuccessful.
"I...I couldn't just leave her." Lise gasped out as water rushed against her, pushing her slightly under. Her head submerged for a second, but she made sure Anya's never went under. "There were jagged rocks from where we were tossed out." She said inhaling a huge gulp of air as she came back up. "She landed head first."
"Are you hurt?" I directed towards Lise, needing to know first and foremost if she's alright. She shook her head slightly. Satisfied with Lise's answer I turned my attention to Anya. "How bad are you hurt Anya?" I asked staring at her with concern, she looked a bit glossy eyed.
"I'm fine it just stings a bit." Anya answered cringing slightly. "Lise is the one you should be worried about. I'm sure she's swallowed half the river."
"Luke, they're here and Anya's hurt!" I screamed, basically telling him to hurry up and get his behind over here. We needed to swim the girls back to the docks so they could be looked at. In an instant Luke was at my side holding onto the raft that was wedged up against the stump. "Anya wrap your good arm around Luke's neck and your legs around his waist. He's going swim you both back." I advised trying to help her onto Luke's back, but Lise wouldn't let go of her. "Lise, baby I need you to listen to me." I said looking over at my mate, I reached out and brushed the hair out of her eyes.
Lise looked over at me with tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She shook her head slightly, "Promise me he'll get her back safe." Lise choked out. She seemed terrified, almost like she's in shock but through this all she still managed to keep her cool. I'm so damn proud of her, so damn proud. "Anya's going to be ok with Luke, I promise baby. He's swimming her back just like I'm going to do with you." I kept my voice calm and made sure I looked directly into her eyes.
After a few seconds she let go of the back of A
nya's vest and gripped onto the raft with both of her hands as I helped get Anya onto Luke's back. I know you're probably thinking why didn't you guys just get back up onto the grass, easier said than done people. It was hard enough for Luke and I to hoist ourselves up while fighting the current, it'd be physically impossible for us to lift the girls out the water onto the edge with the water against us. The easiest thing to do would be to swim.
"C'mon sweetheart you need to let go of the raft and climb on my back." I advised grabbing a hold of the top of her hand, which was clutching onto the raft so tightly her knuckles were white. She latched onto my back like a baby monkey, her entire body shaking against mine. Her hold on my neck was almost suffocating me, but I'd rather she held on for dear life so I knew for a fact she wasn't going to fall off.
Within minutes we reached the docks where they set up a net that would catch us so we wouldn't just float on by and go around this death trap again. Medics, the guys, and a group of guides were waiting on the side ready to haul us out the water. Anya was the first one helped out of the water as they rushed her over to a stretcher to tend to her cut.
Then came Lise, who Troy pulled up onto the docks wrapping her in a towel where she immediately crumbled into his arms. It broke my heart to see her comforted by someone else, but I know she needs to let it out. When I finally got out the water, I approached her carefully. I could hear Troy whispering soothing words to Lise that Anya's fine and then he apologized for her having to endure this just for his birthday.
Lise was still sobbing into Troy's chest, her legs were shaking uncontrollably. Troy gave me a slight smile tilting his head towards Lise, in a 'I think you should take over' gesture. Walking over, I placed one arm on her lower back and the other one underneath the back of her knees picking her up bridal style. I clutched her close to my chest as she instantly wrapped her arms around my neck. I walked over to a bench and sat down with her in my arms.
Kissing her on the forehead I cooed to her softly. "Shh, sweetheart, shh. Everything's going to fine. I promise you that. I'll never let anything happen to you...ever." And I meant every single word I was promising to her. I'll never let anything happen to her as long as I could help it...no more dangerous activities from now on. I needed to be more responsible and take into consideration that Luke and I now have mates that are human. I just hope she can bounce back from this and not be traumatized.
Chapter 31: Sleep