Page 99 of Before the Bond
I drove through it now and it felt like coming up for air.
I zipped past the main street and found the mountain path.
Almost there.
The Ashwood estate gate was open when I turned off the main road. The iron panels were thrown wide against the stone posts. It was never open on its own.
A wave of panic rolled through me. I drove through and looked forward. That's when I saw them. A cluster of wolves emerging through the trees, slow and deliberate.
I looked toward the manor.
Jake, Donovan, and Stella stood on the front porch in a single, solid line. I knew them well enough to read it. Jake had his arms loose at his sides, which meant he was bracing for something he didn't want to think about too hard. Donovan was still in a way that was different from his usual stillness — coiled, not composed. Stella had her chin up and her jaw set. Her eyes glared at the tree line like she had a personal grievance with it.
A little in front of them was Caleb.
He was moving through the grass and toward them, and everything about the way he moved was wrong. His features were gaunt. His henley seemed to swallow his frame. He had a cane at his side and he was pushing one foot in front of the other.
Caleb lost his footing and stumbled.
"Caleb!" I screamed.
I brought the car to a screeching halt. I swung out the door, ignition still running, and ran.
The gravel hit my shoes, cold and wet. Several times I almost slipped on the mud patches. I didn't let it stop me. The sky darkened and rain started to come down in earnest now, and lightning cut across the mountain above the estate, and I didn't look at any of it.
The only thing that mattered was the man in the grass.
My legs ached. My lungs started to burn from the cold air and the sprint. My heart was so loud I couldn't hear anything else. The clinical part of me fell behind. She was somewhere behind me. I outran her about thirty seconds back.
I wasn't a nurse right now. I was just someone who needed to get to him.
"Caleb!" I yelled again.
I registered the others in my peripheral. Donovan froze mid-motion, whatever he'd been about to do suspended. Jake's eyes widened and then his face broke into a smile so fast it looked involuntary. Stella, who was very good at keeping her reactions close to the chest, gasped.
I crossed the end of the lawn. My knees hit the ground as I dropped beside Caleb.
Water welled in my eyes when I saw him lying there, chest barely moving.
I pushed him carefully onto his back, trying to steady my breathing.
"Caleb," I said. "It's me."
I placed my hand on his chest, blinking back tears.
"I'm here."
The moment my palm rested against him, I felt it.
His heartbeat hit — strong, immediate. A wave of heat and energy rushed from him and through me, up my arm and into my chest, and for a second I couldn't tell which heartbeat was whose.
The color rushed back into his face. I felt his body grow both heavier and tighter with returning strength.
Caleb's eyes shot open. The burning red of his irises cut through the dark.
He stared at me. Brows furrowed. Not sure what he was seeing.
And then his expression turned to something I didn't have a word for. Something past disbelief.
