My ears were ringing, my head was down between my knees, and her hand was on my back.
And for a moment, I was fourteen again, hearing Bran tell me what I'd already known--Bryan, my foster father, was dead-- his body had been found in the river.
He'd killed himself after his mate, my foster mother, had died.
Werewolves are too tough to die easily, so there aren't many ways for a werewolf to commit suicide.
Since the French Revolution pretty much unpopularized the guillotine in the eighteenth century, self-decapitation just isn't all that easy.
Silver bullets have some difficulties, too.
Silver is harder than lead, and the bullets sometimes blow right through and leave the wolf sick, in pain, and alive.
Silver shot works a little better, but unless rigged just right, it can take a long time to die.
If some busybody comes along and picks all the shot out--well, there's all that pain for nothing.
The most popular choice is death by werewolf.
But that wouldn't be an option for Samuel.
Very few wolves would take up his challenge--and those that would .
.
.
Let me just say I wouldn't want to see a fight between Samuel and Adam.
Even odds aren't what suicidal people are looking for.
Drowning is the next most popular choice.
Werewolves can't swim; their bodies are too dense--and even a werewolf needs to breathe.
I even knew why he'd chosen the location he had.
The Columbia is the biggest river in the area, more than a mile wide and deep, but the three biggest bridges over it--the Blue Bridge, the suspension bridge, and the interstate bridge--all have two heavy-duty guardrails.
There is also a fair bit of traffic on those, even in the middle of the night.
Someone is sure to see you go over and attempt a rescue.
It takes a few minutes to drown.
The bridge he'd chosen instead was not as heavily traveled and had been built before bridges were designed so that even morons would have a hard time driving off of them.
The river is narrower at that point--which means deeper and faster-- and the drop-off is .
.
.
impressive.
I could see it, Samuel on the nose of the car and the police officer running up.
It had been sheer dumb luck that the only other vehicle on the road was a police car.