Page 49 of Wolf's Fate

The responder was pretending not to listen, but he kept shooting me worried glances as I gave a very emotionless, detail-less account. Like I had something to hide.

“You got it?” I asked as the silence stretched.

“We have an idea of your location,” Royce confirmed. “We’ll find him.”

I heard movement in the background and hung up. I took a moment to delete the call history, handing the phone back. It wouldn’t stop him from searching his phone record to know, if he wanted, but not many people were that invested.

“How much farther?” I asked, reaching out to take hold of her hand.

“Almost there.”

My finger traced her vein, feeling the throb of herpulse, not trusting the machine that they’d hooked her up to. Her pulse was faint. I clutched her hand tighter.

“This shouldn’t have happened to you,” I whispered hoarsely, my voice heavy with regret. I leaned forward, gently raising her hand to my lips, and pressed a soft kiss to her bruised knuckles. The kiss lingered for longer than it should have, but I couldn’t pull away. My hand trembled as I held hers, wanting to protect her, but I was too late.

Willow lay unmoving, but the machine told me she was alive, though her chest barely rose, her breathing shallow. The sight of her, lying like this, twisted inside of me, the ache of regret and guilt.

I’d failed her.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured against her skin. “I won’t let you die,” I told her.

Her fingers moved slightly, barely a movement, so subtle I could have imagined it, but I held her hand tighter. “That’s it, fight, Willow.” I looked at the EMT and he nodded. Had he seen it too?

“We’re here,” he announced.

I stayed out of the way as they unloaded her, and the surge of doctors and nurses swallowed her up, rushing her to the ER.

“I’ll fix this,” I promised the cold night. “I’ll make this right.”

It wasn’t an empty promise, because the thought of her suffering more than she had, because of me, was more than I could bear.

Whoever had attacked them, I’d find out.

Then…I would kill them all.

SIXTEEN

Willow

Everything hurt.

Everything hurt and it was very loud. Machines were whirring, and a strange sound like an air pump kept hissing.

It was dark.

Where was I?

Panic seized me as I remembered the accident. I’d been in a truck, and I remembered the terror as the truck rolled.

Beeping sounded all around me.

The air pump was hissing louder.

Oh God, where was I?

Something was holding my eyes closed. Is that why it was dark? I couldn’t move. I couldn’t see.

Panic overtook me, and I struggled to fight against my restraints. Shaking my head from side to side, I fought to see. Voices penetrated my panic, and then warm fingers curled around my arms, a familiar touch.