Page 70 of Deceptive Lies

He hadn't lost her yet, and now he actually had a chance of saving her life.

There was no need to make sure his brothers had followed him, he knew they would. Knew they had his back. Hell, they’d jumped on a plane and managed to track him down in Egypt.

“What happened?” Cole asked as he knelt beside Willow and immediately reached for her wrist to check her pulse. Cole was a medic, and never traveled anywhere without a fully stocked first aid kit.

“What didn't,” he said wearily. “We got caught by Mahmoud’s men. They took us to a warehouse and broke Willow’s finger when she wouldn't give them what they wanted. They were transporting us on a helicopter to meet with Mahmoud who was going to kill us.”

“Tell me you didn't,” Cade said, voice tight.

“I did.”

“You crashed a helicopter?” Jax asked incredulously.

“Well, it wasn't on purpose, but it did get us away from them. Willow is suffering from dehydration and heat stroke.” His voice had a pleading quality that he knew his brothers wouldn't have missed. But thankfully no one called him on it.

“How long as she been unconscious?” Cole asked as he began to rifle through his medkit.

“She’d been fading all day, but she passed out about an hour or so ago, hardly stirred since,” he answered as he reached out to grab Willow’s good hand, clutching it tightly between his.

“We have to get her temperature down,” Cole said. “Get all the water we have in the truck,” he ordered the others.

While Connor, Cade, Jake, and Jax ran off to do as Cole ordered, Cooper stared helplessly at his little brother. “Tell me it’s not too late,” he begged.

Cole’s dark eyes met his, the truth was plainly written in them. “We’ll do everything we can for her, okay?”

Cooper nodded because what else was there to say?

Help had arrived in enough time to save him, but maybe not to save Willow.

“Let’s strip her clothes off,” Cole said, but sat back and allowed Cooper to be the one to remove the long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans he’d bought for her, baring her pale, bruised skin to the moonlight.

His brother’s jaw tightened as he took in the bruises littering almost every inch of Willow’s body. “She went through hell,” he snarled.

“She did.”

“She survived it. She’s a fighter,” Cole added as he pulled out an IV kit and started setting it up. “We’re going to pump fluids into her and get her temperature down. Start washing her down,” he ordered as the guys returned with several bottles of water. “Don’t worry about saving any, we can get more when we get to a motel. I’m giving her fluids intravenously, so keep a bottle or two for Cooper, the rest is best used to cool Willow down.”

“We’ve got icepacks in here, too,” Jake said.

“Neck, groin, and armpits for those,” Cole ordered. “You, drink first.” His little brother pointed a finger at him then the bottle of water he’d just set down on the sand beside him.

“Willow needs?—”

“Willow is getting what she needs,” Cole countered. “Right now, you're also dehydrated and need water. Just because it hasn’t progressed as quickly doesn’t mean you aren't also in the early stages of heat exhaustion. Rest. Drink. Trust your team to have your back and hers.”

Trust wasn't the problem right now.

There was nobody in the world he trusted more than his brothers and stepbrothers—and his little sister, but right now Cassandra was safe at home—but they weren't miracle workers, and in the last forty-eight hours Willow had become important to him.

Knowing there was still a good chance he could lose her, that help had arrived too little too late, made it almost impossible to breathe.

What was he going to do if she didn't make it?

July 14th

8:08 P.M

She was cool.

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