Chapter 8

Sawyer took his hat off and wiped the sweat from his forehead, then looked up at the mountains still covered in a thick blanket of snow, afraid that the uncommonly warm temperatures of the last few days had swollen the creeks with runoff. After two days of pushing both man and beast to their limits, they were only a few miles from the lower summer pasture and a much-needed rest. But they still had to cross the stream that bordered the wide-open space, and he was concerned that it might be running faster than it had been when the scouts had given them the green light a few days before.

Pushing his way past the rolling, undulating herd of animals, he made his way up to where Piper was leading and brought Prince up next to Buttercup. "Hey there, beautiful," he said, grinning at her. "Do you come here often?"

She looked around, a blush spreading across her cheeks, "Sawyer, you're going to embarrass me again," she said, giving him a dirty look. "We're working remember?"

"Fine, I'll save it all up for after work, but you're going to be sorry," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her. "Of all the things I want to say to you, that was the tamest."

Piper's eyes filled with desire, "You're not making this very easy," she said, taking a deep breath. "And you're distracting me, mister."

"You're no fun," he said, pretending to pout. "All work and no play."

"We can play later," she said. "First we have to get these cattle over the stream."

Sawyer grinned at her, "Do you promise?" he asked. "I can think of a few games I'd like to play with you, and I'll give you a hint: neither of us will be wearing any clothes."

"That's a very tempting offer, Mr. Weston, but I think I'll have to refuse for now," she said. "Maybe you can think of a few games we can play with our clothes on."

"If you insist, Ms. Lawrence," he said, then saw the stream. "I don't like the look of that."

Piper was already staring at the roiling water, "I've never seen it this high," she said. "Do you think we'll be able to make it across?"

"The adults should be fine, but we're going to have to ferry the calves across, they'll never make it on their own," he said. "Let's get the herd slowed down. Prince and I will give it try, if we can't make it, we'll have to turn around and find a place to stay for the night."

"It's not going to be any better tomorrow," Piper said, looking up into the mountains. "It's supposed to be just as hot. If we're going to do this, we're going to have to do it now."

He looked at the stream again, hoping there wasn't debris tumbling along under the water, then turned and pulled the loop of rope off his saddle. "I'm going to tie this around my waist, then we'll tie it off to one of the trees on this side, it should hold if I go in," he said. "I'll tie it off on the other side when I make it across and we can use it as a guide line."

Hank and several of the hands came riding up, "Are you going across?" Hank asked. "It looks pretty rough."

"I'm going to give it a try," he said, handing the rope off to Piper. "I'd like to get these cattle across today."

Piper edged Buttercup closer to him, then leaned over and gave him a kiss, "No heroics. It won't be the end of the world if we can't get across," she said. "I'd rather have you in one piece."

He kissed her back, pulled back on the reins, guided Price closer to the raging water, and waited while Piper tied the other end of the rope off to a huge tree. When she turned back to him, her face full of concern, he gave her a thumbs up, then leaned down over Prince's neck and urged the stallion into the water. Prince took a couple of steps into the water, then paused and let out a big snort, but when he urged him forward again with a couple taps of his heels, the horse took a couple more steps.

It was slow going, the current stronger than he'd thought it would be, but Prince struggled forward until they were halfway across, then plowed forward to the bank with a surge of energy. Back on solid ground, he patted the horse on the neck and whispered his thanks, then dismounted and tied the rope to another big tree. Looking back, he smiled at Piper standing on the other side of the stream, then realized that she would have to cross the raging waters before they could move on.

Walking over to the bank, he wondered if he could talk her into staying on the other side, then dismissed the idea, remembering the last look he'd gotten when he suggested she stay behind. Letting out a sigh of frustration, knowing that he was about to put Piper in danger, he gave the signal to start the process of moving the cattle across the water.

Hank and the hands he'd chosen rode off first to cull the calves and their mothers from the rest of the herd so they could cross last when everyone was available to help. Piper, running point on the other side of the stream, sent several wrangles across, then with the help of the rest of the crew began sending the bawling cattle across a few at a time.

They were all soaked and muddy by the time the last of the main herd came splashing across the stream, but they still had to get the calves across, the most dangerous part of the crossing. Trusting that his crew knew what to do, he gave the signal and watched as everyone got into position, then climbed into the water near the bank, gasping when the ice-cold water slid over his legs.

Looking across the stream, he saw that Piper was in place on the other side, her teeth already beginning to chatter, and signaled Hank to send the rest of the cattle over. One by one the cows jumped into the stream, the babies following along behind him, their eyes wide with fright and crying loud enough to be heard over the rushing water, but strong arms were there to lift them up and deliver them safely to the other side.

***Piper***

Piper handed off the last calf, her arms aching with exhaustion, most of her legs numb from the freezing water, but smiled with relief when she saw Sawyer set it down on the other side. He grinned back at her, and she turned to climb back out of the stream, but her foot slipped, and when she reached for the guide rope, it slid through her frozen fingers. She tried to keep her balance, backpedaling a few steps, then went down on her butt in the stream, water splashing into her face and blinding her. A second later, she felt the current begin to take her and started to fight, then remembered her training and relaxed her body.

Flipping onto her back, she grabbed the rope tied around her hips, drove her feet down onto the bed of the stream, and used what was left of her strength to pull herself to her feet. Three staggering steps brought her back to the guide rope, and she forced her fingers to close around it, then looked up, sure that Sawyer would be panicking on the other side of the stream. Instead, he was only a few feet away from her, fighting the current to get across the stream and screaming her name.

"I'm okay," she tried to yell to him, but it came out as a croak, and she had to try again. "Go back, I'm okay."

When Sawyer didn't stop, she waved her arms, then opened her mouth, but a dark shadow in the water up stream caught her attention and she looked away from him. It only took her a second to realize that it was a huge log and it was headed right for Sawyer. She turned back to him, panicked for a second, then began waving her arms again. This time he hesitated and she knew that she'd done the wrong thing, and tried pointing up the stream at the log, but he just stared at her, his face filling with relief.

She started through the water toward him, screaming at him to get out of the way, but the log was on him only a second later, sweeping him off his feet and smashing into his head as both went under the water. The log bobbed to the surface only a second later, but Sawyer stayed under, sending a wave of fear and panic shooting through her, freezing her for a second. She pushed it away, gathered what little strength she had left, and dove into the water, desperate to save the man she loved.

It was impossible to see in the murky water, but she felt around on the bottom of the stream, almost shouting with joy when her fingers brushed the fabric of Sawyer's shirt. Grabbing it in her fist, she pulled herself over to him, grabbed him under the arms, hauled him up out of the water, turned her back to the current, and began dragging him one step at a time over to the bank. When she reached shallow water, she collapsed onto her back, Sawyer's inert body sprawled on top of her, making it hard to breath.

She was just about to pass out when Hank suddenly arrived with several of the ranch hands. They carefully lifted Sawyer off of her, then carried him out of the water. Staggering to her feet, ignoring the hands that would have helped her, she ran over to Sawyer and knelt next to him, gasping when she saw the bleeding wound on his head. Unable to catch her breath, she grabbed his hand, reassured by its warmth, and looked up at Hank with pleading eyes.

"He's still breathing," Hank said, kneeling down on the other side of Sawyer. "Just give him a minute, he'll come around."

Fighting tears, she laid her head on Sawyer's chest, heard the steady beating of his heart, felt the rise and fall of his chest, and let out a sigh of relief. "Get me something to put on his head, we have to stop the bleeding," she ordered. "We're going to have to call for help, he needs a hospital."

"What's all this talk about hospitals?" Sawyer asked. "I just need a few minutes to rest and I'll be just fine."

She looked down at him, relief pouring through her, "Sawyer, you've got a nasty head wound," she said. "You need a hospital."

He shook his head, "I'll be fine," he said. "Trust me, Piper, I don't need a hospital, I can heal on my own if I have some time."

"I think his leg is broken, too," Hank said. "I'm not sure, there could be some internal damage as well. We need to get him to the cabin."

"We need to get him to a hospital," she said, unable to believe what she was hearing. "He'll die if we don't. Whats wrong with you?"

Sawyer looked over at Hank, "I need to talk to Piper alone," he said, then groaned in pain, his face turning pale. "Just give us a few minutes."

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Piper took his hand, "Sawyer, I don't understand what's going on," she said. "Why won't you go to a hospital? I don't want to lose you."

He looked up at her, his eyes filled with suffering, "I'm a shifter, sweetheart, I thought you knew," he said, then paused clearly fighting another wave of pain. "We can heal ourselves, it's part of our magic, part of the gift. I promise that I'll be okay without a hospital, I just need some time to heal."

She looked down at him, the rational part of her brain rejecting what he was saying, but she'd lived in Prospect all her life, she knew about the shifters, had been fairly sure that Sawyer was one of them. Hearing him say it was something entirely different, and it took her a second to absorb the truth.

"You'd better not be wrong," she said, putting her head down on his chest again. "I'm not ready to lose you."

"I'll be fine," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "You'll see, by tomorrow morning I'll be ready to ride again."

"You'd better be," she said, picking up her head and looking down at him.