Page 16 of Awakening

“Don’t worry about her,” he says. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Ethan

Chloe has breakfast waiting for Nick and me when we stop at their house after an overnight search. “Thanks, babe,” Nick says, kissing Chloe on the cheek as she hands him a plate.

“You’re welcome. How did it go last night?”

I shake my head and take a bite of eggs. “Still nothing.” We’ve searched for her non-stop since she’s been missing, only taking brief breaks when Chloe forces us to come home to eat. We don’t even come home to sleep. We just crash for fifteen minutes here and there in the car when we have a chance. I’m living on pure fumes of rage at this point. Staring mindlessly at the television, something catches my eye on a Denver news station, and it sets off an instinctive alarm within me.

“Chloe, can you rewind that to the beginning of the story?”

“Sure.” She grabs the TV remote and rewinds it.

“An unidentified woman was hit by a vehicle Tuesday afternoon, and brought to a local hospital. Estimated to be between twenty and twenty-five years old, she’s 5’5”, one hundred and ten pounds, with long, dark brown hair and green eyes. Please contact police if you think you may have any information about this woman,” the news anchor says.

I shoot up from my seat, knocking the chair over behind me. The three of us look at each other wide-eyed for a second.

“Could it be?” Nick asks.

“We’re about to find out,” I say. “We’re going to Denver.”

“All right, let’s go,” Nick says with a nod. “I’ll drive.”

“Don’t even think about leaving me behind. I’m coming with you,” Chloe says, grabbing her purse.

The drive to Denver is tense and silent. The closer we get, the more I consider the fact that this woman is on the news because no one knows who she is, likely including herself. She could be badly injured and unconscious. It might not even be Olivia. I have no idea what I’m about to find.

“The news never said anything about her being pregnant,” I say, breaking our silence.

“I don’t know if that’s information they can give away to the public,” Chloe says.

“Could a werewolf baby survive that?” I ask. “Being hit by a car?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Nick says. “One thing at a time.” I nod in response.

Arriving in Denver, we go straight to the ER of the hospital mentioned on the news this morning. A receptionist confirms that an unknown woman was brought in Tuesday, and she retrieves a nurse who was on duty at that time.

“How can I help you?” the nurse asks.

“We believe my fiancée may be the unidentified woman brought here Tuesday afternoon. Her name is Olivia Newman. Is she here? I need to see her,” I say, unable to keep myself from invading her space. The nurse backs up a bit and Nick pulls me back by the shoulder.

“I remember her,” the nurse says, “but I’m sorry, she was released earlier this morning.”

“Released? How the fuck was she released without knowing her name?”

“Please, calm down, sir. All I know is that she woke up, we got a name, and then she was released.”

“You got a name? So, what is it? Is it Olivia Newman?”

“Sir, I can’t give any random person that comes in here that information. You’re going to have to contact the local authorities.”

“Any random person?” The heat rises to my face as my blood boils. “I’m not just any random fucking person! I’m her fiancé! I want to see her!”

“Sir! You need to calm down now, or I’ll have security escort you out.”

“I’d like to see them fucking try!”

“Okay, okay,” Nick says, stepping in front of me. “We’re sorry for the trouble, ma’am. As I’m sure you can understand, this has been a highly emotional situation. We’ll be going now.”

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