As they walked to the Huey, Ryon mulled over Nick’s intriguing statement to the sheriff. Something big and scary was in the shadows, waiting.
And he suddenly knew with absolute certainty that it wasn’t just his and Daria’s lives that were about to be changed forever.
For an endless stretch of time, there was nothing but blackness. Pain.
Then there were voices. Snarling. A dog? What was a dog doing here? Then hands, lifting her body. Agony.
More discussion. The snarling ceased, and there were soothing words. One of the voices sounded familiar. He was important, but she couldn’t recall why.
Then, something incredibly sweet trickled into her mouth. The taste was amazing, but her throat refused to work and she feared choking. Gradually, that changed. Something began to happen. Synapses fired, creating tiny explosions in every cell, making them come alive. At last the muscles in her throat cooperated and she drank the essence, greedy for more and more. When the wonderful liquid was taken away, she felt the loss like a physical blow.
The letdown didn’t last. Her arm was lifted and a warm pair of lips settled against her flesh. Lips? Before she could think on it further, sharp twin points pierced her skin, and a silent cry lodged in her chest. She couldn’t scream, and even if she could make a sound, it wouldn’t be from agony.
The greatest pleasure she’d ever known shot through her veins. Spread liquid heat to every part of her and detonated into a million shards of white-hot crystal, then solidified into a golden cord. She should’ve been frightened, but she wasn’t. The cord bound her firmly to the stranger. Her stranger, and yet it seemed she knew him somehow. She struggled to capture the memory, but it escaped.
The sharp points withdrew and she felt bereft, but not as badly as before. She could handle it now because she sensed him hovering close. Watching over and protecting her. How could she know this? But she did. Secure in the knowledge that all would be well, she drifted. Fell into a deep abyss.
When she surfaced again, it was to the sensation of floating, and an occasional rocking motion. The movement made her nauseated, but she was too weak even to throw up. Just as bad was the deafening noise threatening to split her aching head in two. It dawned on her that she was being transported, and the rapid whump-whump sound told her she was in a helicopter.
Flying. Another reason to be sick, if she had the energy. She was an earth-loving girl. If she’d been meant to fly, she would have been born with feathers. Her distress must’ve been apparent somehow, because a man’s gentle hand stroked her hair, caressed her face. She wondered whether he was speaking to her, too, though there was no way to tell over the racket from the aircraft.
Despite the noise, her sickness, and fear, darkness pulled her into the depths again. She surfaced once more, when the helicopter landed, and there was a flurry of activity as she was rushed into some sort of building. A hospital? Her brief glimpse of it gave the impression that it wasn’t like any hospital she’d ever seen. The area outside seemed rural, lots of trees. No parking lot filled with cars, no activity.
Strange. But all of that was swept away when, inside, she was rolled into a small, sterile room and a pretty woman—doctor?—with long, curly brunette hair smiled down at her.
“Miss Bradford? Just relax. We’re going to take care of you, and you’ll feel better soon. I promise.” She patted Daria’s arm. “Do you understand?”
She nodded. Or thought she did. Then the good drugs must’ve kicked in, and she knew nothing else for a very long while.
The Huey landed and Ryon jumped out, watching helplessly as the medical team whisked Daria out of the transport. He jogged after them as they rushed the gurney through the double doors, down the hallway to the infirmary, and into one of the trauma rooms. There, however, he was blocked by Noah, who placed one palm on Ryon’s chest.
“Sorry, man. You have to stay out here,” he said firmly, not without sympathy. “Better yet, head back to the waiting area.”
“But—”
“No buts. We’ll let you know how she’s doing soon.”
The nurse wasn’t going to be budged. Worse, Ryon was holding the man up from doing his job. With a sigh, he gave in. “All right. But let me know the second you can tell me how she’s doing.”
“You bet. Don’t worry, okay?” With an encouraging smile, the nurse disappeared.
“Dammit!” Raking a hand through his hair, he made his way back to the waiting room. Frustrated, he paced like a caged animal for several minutes, until Aric showed up, Rowan with him.
“You’ve gotta settle down or you’re gonna give yourself a stroke,” the red wolf observed. “Sit.”
“I can’t. She’s back there, suffering, and there’s not a goddamned thing I can do about it!”
Rowan stepped in front of him, clasped his shoulders, and tried to soothe him. “Daria isn’t feeling any pain right now. She’s in good hands, and she’s going to get better fast, thanks to your bonding.”
“She’s not hurting now, but she will be when she wakes up,” he rasped. “And I’ll have to tell her what I did to save her life.”
“One step at a time. You don’t have to get into that right away.”
“Yes, I do. If I let it slide, even just until she’s better, it’ll be the same as lying. What if she hates me for it?” The possibility had him breaking out into a cold sweat. His wolf would go insane, taking the man right along with him.
Taking his hand, Rowan pulled him over to sit in a chair and took a seat beside him. “She might be scared or upset, at first. Don’t let that eat at you. There’s nothing you could’ve done differently under the circumstances except allow her to die, and then you would have been next. Once she understands that, everything will be fine.”
“I hope you’re right.” If she rejected him, the consequences he’d suffer didn’t bear thinking about further.
A couple of hours passed. His Pack brothers came and went, checking on him and asking for word about his mate. At the moment he was alone. Tired from his constant pacing, he slumped into a chair again and stared out the window, contemplating this turn of events.
Why did he care so much about Daria? On both a primal and intellectual level, he knew what she was to him. Unlike Jax and Aric when they’d met their mates, right from the start there had been no question in his mind, or his wolf’s, that Daria was his mate. His wolf’s reaction, the beast’s attraction to her, was like a blow upside the head with a tire iron. His beast wanted to claim her, mark her with his scent. And much more. But the man cared more than one would for a stranger. It both excited him and scared the shit out of him.
Odd that he’d met her twice already—just not in person. On both occasions she’d reached out to him across miles. Had she somehow sensed their bond, causing her to act?
“Ryon?”
Pushing to his feet, he saw Melina Mallory coming toward him. The doctor’s short cap of dark hair was growing out, almost touching her collar, and framed her elfin face in a flattering way. It softened her features, made her more approachable. The rare warm smile hovering on her lips boded well, and he just about fell over in relief before she could speak. In typical fashion, the no-nonsense doc got right to the point.
“Daria is lucky to be alive. She sustained a broken arm, a broken rib, various cuts and bruises, and serious internal bleeding, which is what almost killed her. That said, she’s doing well.”
He gave a humorless laugh. “Doesn’t sound so good to me.”
“I’ll be honest. If it hadn’t been for the mating bite, her story would’ve ended in that ravine. But you reached her in time, did what had to be done, and that’s what matters. She has no serious head injury and her other wounds are healing faster than I’ve ever seen on a human,” she mused.