“We’re coming!” Cearnach shouted. “Just…just don’t move.” He was to the right of her, with Duncan behind him.
“We’re almost there,” Guthrie said, sounding really close now on the left side of the vehicle.
“All right.” She hated sounding so meek, but she felt even talking would send the car sliding.
Guthrie managed to reach the car and came into Calla’s view, holding on to a branch, the same one that was stopping her from opening her door.
“Guthrie, be careful,” Calla said.
He smiled at her as if he wasn’t worried about his safety, only hers, and the notion amused him, despite the circumstances.
“What do you want us to do?” Cearnach asked, peering in through the opposite window.
“You and Duncan hold on to the door handles if you can. Calla, I want you to unfasten your seat belt. I’m going to break this branch and open the car door. I’ll pull you out and then we’ll take it from there.”
Undoing her seat belt was harder than she’d ever imagined since her hands were shaking so much. She feared the car would take off and she’d need her seat belt in place, but Duncan and Cearnach grasped the door handles and nodded. Guthrie braced his feet against rocks. As soon as she nodded, he pulled the branch aside and broke it with a jerk. The car stayed put.
He reached for her door handle. “Okay, I’m going to open the door, and you get out and I’ll grab for you at the same time.”
Again she nodded, unable to say anything because she was so scared. What if she was half out of the car when it broke loose and continued its journey? What if it ran over her foot or dragged her down? Anything could go wrong.
He pulled on the door, but like the driver’s door, this one was stuck on rocks and only opened partway.
“Can you make it out this way?” he asked, his voice urgent.
“Aye, I think so.”
She inched her way out, the icy rain making the mossy rocks all the more slippery. She had one foot on the ground and was taking another step when she felt the car shudder. Guthrie grabbed her hand and pulled her a little as she tried to slip out through the narrow opening.
The car moved a few inches. Which meant she was closer to being free, but she wasn’t out yet.
“Hurry, Calla,” Cearnach grunted as he still held on to the car with a titan grip.
And then Guthrie drew her the rest of the way out. When the car didn’t move for a moment she thought she’d panicked for no reason. Until the car creaked. Guthrie quickly hauled Calla farther away from the vehicle, and Cearnach and Duncan let go of the door handles and jumped back completely out of the car’s path. They found solid footing, but the car slipped on the slick rocks, began to pick up speed, and raced down the rest of the way, crashing with a horrendous bang at the bottom. Calla jumped a little in Guthrie’s arms.
Guthrie held her tight in the sleeting rain, both of them smelling like wet wool. She was chilled to the bone, but she was so grateful to be in Guthrie’s arms.
“Where did Baird go?” Guthrie asked.
“He stripped and shifted. As a wolf, he made his way down to the beach. He heard your car stopping up above. Well, he heard a car. He might not have known it was you. He managed to call his brother, Vardon, and told him to pick him up south of here on the road.” She didn’t bother to mention the part about Baird looking right at her, still trapped in the vehicle, and telling his brother he was unable to rescue her. Guthrie would be angry enough as it was.
“Cearnach, can you help Calla back up the cliff?” Guthrie said, holding her tight and pressing against a tree to help them keep their footing, both of them getting wetter and colder.
None of them had coats on. All of them had removed them to pack and to drop off the boxes and unload the food at her parents’ home, and they must have rushed straight from there. Everyone was just wearing wool sweaters, trousers, and boots—and getting soaked.
“Nay,” Calla said.
“I’m going after him,” Guthrie said. “Cearnach?”
Calla began to pull off her sweater.
“What are you doing?” Guthrie asked.
“Going with you. If you’re chasing after him in your wolf coat, you’re not going alone.”
“I’m going with him,” Duncan said.
Guthrie hugged her tight. “It’s going to get ugly. Hell, if you try to shift, the way you’ve got to be feeling, you could pass out. And then you and I could be more at risk on this steep incline.”
The adrenaline was still pumping wildly through her blood. She frowned at him, not wanting to remain behind but realizing he could be right—as much as she hated to admit it.
“I don’t want to stay at the car,” she said, knowing why Guthrie didn’t want her to be with them. Sure, he didn’t need her help, but it was more that he didn’t want her to see the wolf fight that was likely to occur, she thought. Guthrie was her mate now, and she wanted to be there for him.
“Will you stay, please?” he said, stroking her cheek, his eyes worried.
Her head hurt so bad that she realized everything Guthrie had said was true. As much as she hated this, she nodded, kissed him, and then allowed Cearnach to lead her back up the hill, slipping the whole time.
Guthrie waited a heartbeat to watch Cearnach help a struggling Calla climb the hill. She would never have been able to shift and make it down the cliffs, not as dizzy as she was and with the sleet making everything so slick.
He and Duncan stripped as quickly as they could, considering how steep the cliffs were and how they had to brace themselves on trees while they undressed. They shifted, then made their way down the slope where it was more like a mountain goat’s path, but fine for the wolves. When they reached the bottom, they saw that the car was upside down, looking similar to Cearnach’s when it had landed at the bottom. The occupants would have been crushed.
Guthrie was glad Calla had stayed behind. Taking her by force when she was already mated to another meant Baird would never respect their boundaries. And Guthrie was afraid that even if he killed Baird, Vardon would need to be dealt with next.
Guthrie chased after Baird’s scent along the beach, Duncan keeping up with him. He hoped Calla had reached the car by now and was inside where she’d at least be out of the sleet.
Rocks jutted out into the water, and they had to swim to reach the other side. Wolf prints indicated the wolf was running.