Notice Me (21 page)

Troy’s driving in his car following closely behind us with Andre,
Lance, and Sal. His friends decided to drive up and join us in the
last day of his birthday weekend celebration after having fun at
the club last night. Meeting up outside Lise's house at eight this
morning, we knew we needed to get an early start for our three and
a half-hour trek to The Forks.
We're on our way to go...yes I know you're probably thinking we're
a few sandwiches short of a picnic, crazy...Whitewater Rafting!
What can I say? You only live once and it seems we all have one
thing in common, we're a bunch of adrenaline junkies.
"Please change the station, I can't take anymore of these bubblegum
songs!" Max cried leaning between the seats to try and reach for my
radio. My instant reflex was to turn my head to the side and bite
down on his arm. "Ow, dammit!" He yelped retracting his arm
back.
No one and I mean no one touches my radio stations, besides Lise
that is. "Serves you right, now sit back and put your seat belt
on!" Lise scolded like a mama bear. The look on her face brought an
instant smile to my lips, her eyes were narrowed causing her
eyebrows to scrunch up. If there's one thing she's adamant about
it's wearing your seat belt in the car. I never wear mine...wolf
here, hello...but of course she gave me the silent treatment until
I finally put it on.
"What station do you want?" She asked considerately offering to
change it for him. Max's hand shot out offering Lise his
Iphone.
"Plug it into the usb and hit play please." Max instructed happily.
I'm glad she gets along with all the guys. They all love her like a
sister already, saying she's made me into a better guy all around.
I could see what they meant by that Lise really is going to make an
awesome Luna. We finally arrived to our destination after pulling
over halfway at a rest stop, the girls needed a bathroom break and
the guys wanted some food.
Getting out of the car we all stretched, our bodies sore from such
a long journey. "I'm so stoked! This is going to be awesome!" Lance
shouted as our group made its way to the cabin where you check in.
We met our guide who went over the rules of safety and directed us
on how to properly row with the current. Lise and Anya both carried
a nervous expression on their faces as we approached the raft.
Guess the rushing sound of the roaring rapids caused them to get
scared.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." I promised as I
hugged her to my side, kissing her on the temple. Lise gave me a
small smile, which was equivalent to a grimace in my book. Even
with my pledge of keeping her safe, she still looked terrified.
Buckling her into her life vest, I ran my thumb over her cheek as
my hand cupped her neck. "You know how to swim, right?"
Her hazel eyes widened as they stared up at me.
Oh crap, please lord let her know how to swim. If she says no,
forget about it we're not going in the water.
I could
feel my own expression change from a pleasant manner to one more of
concern. Then a smug smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as she
began laughing. "The look on your face was priceless." She giggled
grabbing onto her stomach in laughter. "Of course I know how to
swim, silly. Not that great, but enough."
A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I gripped her up playfully into
a bear hug. "Oh, so you think teasing me is funny do you?" I asked
blowing raspberries against her neck causing her to laugh even
more. One thing I learned is she's extremely ticklish on certain
parts of her neck. Which is great payback for me when I want to
torture her.
"Al-right...al-right." She gasped for a breath of air between her
fit of giggles. "I'm sorry it's not funny teasing you."
"C'mon love birds. We want to get the show on the road already."
Max groaned causing us to look over and notice everyone was seated
in the rafts. Wow, the two of us always get so caught up in one
another. It's like time stops just for us and everything else
around us just keeps on going. We need two rafts because our group
is so big. Each raft comes with a personal guide and fits eight
people comfortably. The first raft included Troy, Andre, Sal,
Lance, Jordan and Gabe. Our raft consisted of myself, Lise, Luke,
Anya, Sam and Max.
"C'mon beautiful." I smiled holding out my hand to Lise. She
grabbed a hold of it and I tugged her towards me, kissing her
quickly on the lips before helping her into the raft. The guys in
the first raft let out a yip of excitement as their guide untied
the raft from the dock and advised them to push off. We could hear
their shouts of "Hell yea!" as their raft rolled over the rough
waters and disappeared out of sight.
Now it was our turn to push off. Max and Sam were at the head of
the raft, Lise and Anya in the middle, and Luke and I controlled
the back with the guide. Our guide would shout out orders here and
there, "Row faster or hold your oar up out the water as we drop
down." He must have had every crevice of this river memorized as
this is his every day job and he's probably traveled it a million
times by now.
The rush of adrenaline pumped through my veins as I rowed, I love
the water. There’s just something about it that seems so serene and
calming. Little shrieks of surprise escaped Anya and Lise's lips
every now and then as our raft hit a rough wave or swooped down a
little drop. Initially they may have been scared, but now it seems
like they're having the time of their lives as they began looking
at one another and laughing.
I glanced over at Luke who seemed to be doing the same exact thing
I was doing, watching his mate have a great time with her best
friend. Guess Luke and I were too busy in a daze of staring at our
mates and not focusing on what the guide was directing because we
were still mindlessly rowing and fast at that. I faintly recall
hearing the guide say something about the finale being a huge drop
and to prepare ourselves because we were coming up on it
soon.
"Tristan...Luke...I said stop rowing!" The guide shouted as the
front of our raft began tilting forward at a dangerous angle.
"We're supposed to ease into the drop not go into it full speed
ahead!" All I remember hearing was "Remember once in the water swim
with the current not against it!" Our guide barked out. "And
whatever you do, don't panic!"
The front of our raft slanted forward, causing the back of the raft
to lift up completely out of the water. If I need to give you a
visual of what we were currently experiencing, I'd say picture the
Titanic after the ship split in half and it was standing straight
up vertically as it capsized. The velocity of it all tossed Luke,
the guide, and I out first before flipping over completely and
heaving out Lise, Anya, Max, and Sam. My only concern as I hit the
cold water and began getting swept away by the current was to try
my damn hardest to swim back and find my mate.

Chapter 30: Rescue
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 Anya'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.