Page 10 of Wish You Were Mine

I swerved around the icy patch and checked for more.

“Want to bet that’s what caused the crash?” I asked.

She snorted. “I’m not taking you up on that one.”

I kept my foot on the accelerator, flying up the mountain as fast as I safely could. We weren’t far from the scene of the accident now. Maybe a kilometer or so.

We rounded a bend, and then another. Finally, I spotted them. One car had rolled off the road and was upside down on the side of the slope. We’d have to be careful, or it might slip further. A woman lay on the ground, part way through the shattered windscreen. A man was still in the car, suspended from the seat by his seatbelt.

My stomach dropped as I pulled to the side of the road and parked. The fact the woman wasn’t moving gave me a bad feeling.

The second vehicle had been sideswiped, and the driver’s side was crumpled in. The driver was conscious, but he seemed to be stuck, and his shirt was crimson with blood.

“I’ve got the one that’s gone off-road,” I told Maia.

“I’m on the other one then.”

I threw the door open, grabbed a medical kit, and carefully picked my way down the hillside to the overturned car. I’d like to move faster, but if I rushed, I could end up causing more problems than I solved.

When I reached them, I knelt beside the woman, but even before I touched her neck to check her pulse, I knew she was gone. A pane of glass had impaled her, and her face and upper torso were dotted with dozens of thin red cuts. Blood was pooled around her, no longer flowing. Her eyes were glassy, and her skin was already cooling off.

This crash must have happened well before the call came in, or her temperature wouldn’t have changed yet. Perhaps all involved had been unconscious and unable to call for help until recently.

I checked inside the cab. The man was dangling, blood dried on his face, and his eyes were closed. His chest rose and fell on ragged gasps. He probably had a broken nose from the airbag deploying, and perhaps a couple of broken ribs from the impact. We’d just have to hope none of them had pierced anything vital.

Voices sounded behind me, and I turned as Liam and Zane edged down the slope toward me.

“You need to get him out of here,” I said.

I stood back as they scanned our surroundings for hazards and then levered the door open. Darcy joined us a moment later, bringing a stretcher, and between the three of them, they maneuvered the guy out of the car and onto the stretcher.

He stirred, shaking his head and opening blurry eyes. I bent over him and began to examine him for injuries. His breathing was still shallow, and it rattled in and out, but as long as it was steady, I wasn’t too concerned.

He murmured something.

“What’s that buddy?” I asked, shining a light in his eyes to see if his pupils would react. They didn’t.

Likely concussion.

Broken nose.

Possible fractured ribs.

Possible spinal injury.

“Save Susan,” he croaked.

I exchanged a glance with Liam. “Susan?”

“My wife.” He tried to sit up, growing agitated. “She’s hurt. Help her.”

“Whoa.” I pressed him back against the stretcher. “Don’t move. We don’t know how badly you’re injured yet.”

“I don’t care.” His eyes were wild, and he began to buck. Clearly his back wasn’t broken, although from the way he cried out with pain, something else might be.

“Susan!” he yelled hoarsely. “Susan! Where are you?”

“Was Susan with you?” I asked, sick in the pit of my gut as I recalled the battered body of the woman through the windshield. I hated having to break bad news.

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