"Whereabouts did they get stuck?" Avery asks, pulling the map out of her bag.

Roman stabs at a point on it which is a reasonable distance away from them, and she sighs.

"It'll be faster to go in wolf form, won't it?" She asks softly, glancing at the two girls behind her who are sitting silently and watching the two speak.

"Much faster," he responds quietly, "we need to get going. The others couldn't get him out."

With an agitated sigh, Avery walks behind a tree and shifts into her black wolf after stripping off quickly.

She emerges and hears Roman telling the two girls to wait there for them before he takes off behind a tree and appears seconds later as his bright white wolf.

"How are we doing this?" Roman barks and Avery rolls her brow.

"Quickly," she responds, picking up her clothes bag in her mouth, and taking off in the direction of where the teenager is stuck.

The two run in relative silence, both speedy and agile.

Sonya is silent, and she isn't trying to attack Roman's wolf, which is unusual for her - she's normally quite aggressive and will attack if provoked.

Roman keeps running closer to her and guiding her away from the edges of the swamp, which she finds weird. It is his territory, though, so it makes sense that he'd know exactly where to avoid, but it's still strange.

Every time he does it, he presses his entire side against hers, forcing her away from some corners.

Soon enough, they spot a medium-sized group of teenagers all standing around the edge of the swamp, which looks a bit like a disgusting lake in that area.

Bounding to behind separate trees, the two shift and change quickly, Avery emerging a second later than Roman.

"Where's my hoodie?" He asks in a low voice as they walk towards the teenagers, and she gives him a confused look.

"I could only carry so much," she shrugs, walking to the edge of the swamp.

She peers over the edge, and Roman quickly wraps an arm around her waist and yanks her back about three feet.

"It's very unstable here. If you get too close, you could fall in," he mutters, releasing her as the teenagers eye them curiously.

"Who's in there?" Roman asks coldly, looking around at the group surrounding them.

"Henry," one girl whimpers, tears staining her cheeks as she's supported by two of her friends.

"Mate?" Avery asks quickly, and the girl nods, dissolving into more tears.

"How long has he been stuck?" Roman asks one of the males near him and the guy shrugs.

"Maybe ten minutes? We tried to get him out, but he seemed to get more stuck," he quickly reports, looking distressed.

Avery spots the boy about ten feet out, his form shifting between being human and being a wolf.

"Stop switching," Avery roars to him, eyeing the surface of the swamp carefully.

"I think I can get out there," she announces, and Roman unleashes a growl, shaking his head.

"Trust me, you can't," he snarls, looking around.

"Did anybody link the rescue team?" Roman asks the group, and one girl nods, "they said they'd be here soon."

Almost as soon as she says it, a group of men hurry up to them, holding a round of rope and bags of equipment.

"Henry!" His mate shrieks, lunging forward as the boys' head goes underneath the surface, trying to shake off her friends holding her back.

They don't let go, pulling her back even further all while apologising to her over and over again.

Roman links the search time with the information, and they quickly hurry to the edge, putting down some planks of wood.

Avery raises a brow but watches them as they almost instantly build a small dock-like feature.

"Henry, paddle," one of them shouts, and the boy bobs to the surface, looking terrified out of his mind.

Avery bites her lip, unconsciously grabbing Roman's arm and squeezing as she watches with bated breath.

One of the men stands on the dock, a rope wrapped around his waist and a cord in his hands.

He throws the rope in his hands to the boy, as the men on land hold onto the one around his waist, just in case they need to pull him in suddenly.

"This will be a startling anecdote to advise against cheating," Avery mutters to herself, digging her nails into Roman's forearm as the boy flails in the muck.

The boy catches the rope and hangs onto it for dear life, his hands turning white at the strength he's exerting to hold on.

Slowly, he is pulled in towards the dock, losing his grip some of the time and causing heart attacks to happen across the crowd of onlookers.

He is dragged up onto the makeshift dock, and he lays there for a minute, his mate still being held back from going near him.

"Wait till he's on solid land," Roman commands the girl, watching with a hint of nervousness.

"When is the pack doctor arriving?" He asks sharply, and one of the men shouts "any time now," in his direction.

The boy is gradually moved onto the ground, and his mate is released by her friends, throwing herself on top of the boy and squeezing him tightly.

"He won't need his lungs cleared by the doctor, she's doing it for them," one of the girls giggles, as Henry rolls on his side and spits out moss.

Avery wrinkles her nose in disgust, stepping back a few feet.

"Why did you end up in the marsh?" Avery asks sternly, and the boy slowly raises his eyes to hers.

"I was trying to take a shortcut," he says quietly, and she grits her teeth.

"This is what happens when you try to take a shortcut. Everybody, look at this, and remember it." Avery barks, "You disobeyed orders."

Henry looks terrified for a moment, and his mate looks equally scared.

"There won't be any punishment this time. I think the near-death experience was punishment enough, to be honest," Avery snarls, shaking her head.

She suddenly realises she still has her nails dug into Roman's arm, and quickly releases him, stepping away as though he had burnt her.

"Sorry," she mutters, and he just glances at her, looking back at Henry.

"Take the day off tomorrow and recover. If I ever catch word of you, or any one of you, doing something this stupid again, there will be serious consequences. The marsh is off-limits for a reason," Roman booms, and birds can be heard squawking and flying off.

There is silence as all of the teenagers' nod. The present adults look annoyed, and Avery doesn't blame them. They were pulled away from something else that could have been equally important, to help somebody who purposely ran into the marshes.

Roman turns on his heel to walk back to where they had left the two Omegas, and Avery follows after him, rubbing her arms as a shiver runs through her.

"Bet you wish you had brought my hoodie now," he smirks, walking two steps ahead of her, but still being able to hear her teeth chatter every so often.

"Fuck off, I wish I had brought duct tape for your mouth," she grits out, clenching her teeth to stop them chattering.

"Well, would you look at that," he gasps in fake astonishment, "you didn't say you didn't want me here."

"I would have been fine handling that on my own," she responds irritably.

"You would have gotten in, and gotten yourself stuck. Besides... You clawing my arm didn't say that," he states nonchalantly, and Avery's eyes widen.

"Would have been better if it was my back, though," he smirks, glancing over his shoulder to see her bright red face.