Page 53 of Run Wild Omega

“Look at me,” I command.

She does. Her eyes are dark, pupils blown wide, filled with an adoration that undoes me. She leans down, her hair tickling my chest, and presses her mouth to mine. The kiss is salty, sweet, everything I’ve ever craved.

She rocks her hips, taking me deeper, and the pressure builds at the base of my spine, a white-hot coil ready to snap. I’m close. God, I’m so close.

“Wyatt!”

A loud noise rips through the haze, but it’s not her voice. It’s not a moan of pleasure. It’s a ringtone.

My eyes fly open.

The truck is gone. The heat is gone.

I’m sitting in a hard plastic chair in a hospital waiting room. The fluorescent lights overhead cast a sickly green pallor over everything. My body is thrumming with leftover adrenaline and frustration, the ghost of the dream fading into a dull ache.

My phone vibrates on the small table next to a Styrofoam cup of cold coffee.

I grab it, swiping to answer on the first ring. “Callahan.”

“Wyatt.”

It’s Daniel. His voice is tight, stripped of its usual lawyerly polish. He sounds like a man who has been pacing a hotel room for six hours.

“Hey, Daniel,” I say, rubbing a hand over my face.

“Talk to me. How is she?”

“She’s in surgery. They took her straight in when we arrived. As soon as I get any new information, I’ll let you know.”

I can hear him exhale, the sound rushing through the speaker. “Thank God. Mara is… she’s a mess. She’s trying to be strong, but she’s terrified.”

“Tess is tough. She’ll want to see you as soon as you can get here.”

“We’re trying,” Daniel says, the frustration bleeding back in. “We’re stuck at the Brown Palace. The airport is grounded, and the roads are officially closed. The governor just declared a state of emergency for the mountain corridor.”

“Last I heard they weren’t letting anyone up or down I-70 until the plows cleared the drifts.”

“What about the chopper? Can you send her back?”

“Too much wind. The bird that brought us in is grounded until morning.”

“Damn it.” I hear him pacing. “Okay. Listen, my parents are ready to go the second the plows open the canyon. They’re packing the car now.”

“Good. They need to be here. Maggie—that’s the head nurse—wrestled the reporters away from the family waiting area, but it’s only a matter of time before they find a way back in.”

“Reporters?” Daniel’s tone drops an octave.

“Yeah. They smell blood. A high-profile rescue in a blizzard? It’s a feeding frenzy. They tried to swarm the LZ when we landed. I had to physically block a camera from getting a shot of her leg.”

“Keep them away from her, Wyatt. I mean it. If they get a picture of her in that bed…”

“I will. I’m not leaving her side.”

“Good. And Wyatt?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you. For… everything. You brought her back.”