Page 6 of Pierce

I was out the door and halfway to the car before I could question my decision. Not that there was a question of whether or not I should try to help. I knew I should—even if it seemed completely insane as I ran to the edge of the cliff.

“Hey!” I shouted over the driving rain which seemed to drown out everything but the thudding of my heart.

No answer.

The car was moments from falling over the edge. “Can you hear me?” I shouted louder, straining my voice. There was no way around it. I had to get closer.

My feet slipped on the wet, slick mud and I scrambled but managed to stay on my feet as I struggled to reach the car.

It was half-covered, with only the passenger door and hood still exposed.

I could just make out the shape of a girl behind the wheel. An unconscious girl with red hair and a nasty cut on her head. Blood trickled down her face, and I understood why she had leaned on the horn when I saw the way her body had fallen against the wheel.

She wouldn’t be able to get herself out of there.

I looked up at the side of the mountain, where the mudflow had started, to be sure there wasn’t a fresh wave coming my way before grabbing for the door handle.

A human wouldn’t have been able to pull it open with mud rising a quarter of the way up the side, but I’m not human.

I pried it from the car, metal screeching in protest, and threw it aside before reaching for her.

I caught a glimpse of the crumpled metal door sailing through empty air as it fell down, down, down until wind-swept trees swallowed it.

The car started to shift the moment I added my weight to it, and I felt it sliding inch by precious inch toward the edge and beyond. I tore the belt in pieces rather than fumbling for the button to release it, and wedged my hands under the girl’s arms.

“I hope you don’t have a back or neck injury,” I growled as I lifted her limp body from the seat and her head lolled against her shoulder.

She slid easily across the vinyl seat, her ass dropping into the mud the moment it cleared the inside of the car.

I heard the mud coming before I saw it, sounding like a freight train as it barreled down the side of the cliff above our heads and took trees, shrubs, and rocks with it.

And us.

It was coming for us.

The mud sucked at my feet and held me in place for just a second too long. That one second made the difference between getting me and the girl out of the way in time to avoid being swept over the cliff and getting caught up and thrown over the edge.

I let out an incoherent yell as we went airborne, hurtling off the cliff, and through thin air. I lost my grip on her and watched in horror as she tumbled, still unconscious, just out of my reach.

She hit a boulder and bounced off just before I did. I scrambled to catch any part of her, but it was no use.

Her red hair was like a flag as it billowed behind her, the only streak of color in an otherwise mud-painted world.

Once again, I started before my brain could catch up with what I was doing.

And what I was doing was shifting into my dragon, clothing shredding as my body swelled and expanded and lengthened, as my wings unfurled and caught air and allowed me to swoop down past the girl and beneath her, catching her on my back before she could hit the trees.

I sailed over the trees easily, gracefully, triumphant in the knowledge that I had saved her.

What I was going to do with her was another story.

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