Psy & Changelings 09 - Play of Passion

after his shift when Brace came crashing into the den. He was scratched and bloody, his T-shirt ripped. Seeing Indigo, he began talking. It was obvious he was one step away from total panic. “Silvia fell down a cliff. I tried to catch her but I couldn’t grab her in time. I couldn’t—”
    Indigo put her hands on those lanky shoulders, made him meet her eyes. “Where?” It was a question imbued with her innate dominance.
    Giving her the location in a fast gallop, he heaved out another breath. “She wouldn’t respond when I called down. Indigo, she wouldn’t—”
    “Focus, Brace.” She squeezed his shoulders, anchoring him with the touch of Pack. “How far down is she and how accessible is the area?”
    “Um”—she could see him attempting to clear the cobwebs from his mind—“you’ll need ropes, climbing gear. I tried to go down but it’s almost a sheer rock face. She’s trapped on a ledge so far down you can hardly see her.”
    “I’ll organize the rescue,” she said and, knowing he’d function far better if he had a concrete task, added, “Your job is to track down Lara and bring her to the site. Understood?”
    A sharp nod, his wolf appreciating the direct order. “I’ll find her.”
    Making calls on her cell phone as Brace left, Indigo gathered the soldiers that she knew were in the den and available, updating Hawke on the situation as well.
    He was driving away from the den but turned back at her call. “I’ll meet you at the site,” he said in a terse voice.
    Drew, Sing-Liu, and Tai took only minutes to answer her summons. They met at one of the pack’s supply lockers and, working at rapid speed, picked up the ropes, climbing gear, and other equipment they’d need to winch up Silvia’s injured form.
    No one even discussed the possibility of her being dead. She was Pack. She’d be brought back, no matter what. “Let’s go,” Indigo said, and it was the first words any of them had spoken since she’d shared the details of the accident. Now they ran together, the location being impossible to reach by even the most rugged of vehicles.
    Every second that passed brought Silvia closer to death, so they pushed and made it in under half the usual time. Dropping the gear she’d carried in a pile a little ways back from the cliff edge, Indigo belly-crawled to the part that had crumbled until she could peer over it. Her eyesight was changeling keen, but Brace had been right. She could only just see the pale blue of Silvia’s jeans, the red of her cardigan as she lay crumpled on a ledge at least a hundred meters down, one hand outflung. Her legs appeared to be twisted under her body in a way that they simply shouldn’t have been.
    Aware of Drew crawling up beside her, she turned her head. “What do you think?” She’d done more than one climb with him, knew he was highly skilled.
    “One of us will have to rappel down,” he said and glanced over his shoulder, pointing to a sturdy pine. “We can use that tree to rig up the main anchor, set up a belay line for backup.”
    Indigo agreed. Waiting until they’d both drawn back from the edge, she nodded at Sing-Liu to bring her the harness. “I’ll—”
    Drew put a hand on her arm. “That’s one hell of a dangerous cliff face. I’ll go—I’ve got more experience.”
    That first sentence irritated her, but she shrugged it off to focus on the practical reason why she was the better choice for the descent. “If something goes wrong, it’ll be easier for the people up here to handle someone of my weight than yours.”
    “Not with Tai’s strength added to yours and Sing-Liu’s—and if Silvia needs to be stabilized, I’ve had more medical training than you.”
    Indigo had forgotten about the modules he’d done with Lara. Added to the fact that he was the more experienced climber, it tipped the scales in favor of his descent. She was about to say so when he shook his head and said, “We can’t waste time arguing, Indy. Sing-Liu, give me the harness.”
    It was a slap that made her head ring. “I’m the lieutenant,” she reminded him with ice in her tone. “I give the commands.” Hell, she thought even as the words spilled out, she’d deal with his actions later. Right now, Silvia needed them. “Here’s what—”
    Drew got in her face before she could finish. “You might be the lieutenant,” he bit out, “but I’m a senior member of the pack, and you’ve got no cause to fucking ignore my opinion just because