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“Where’s Tracy? Is the cabin okay?”
Griff’s smile was replaced by a frown. “Cabin’s fine. We heard the slide, but we weren’t close to it. From what I could see on the way here, it was pretty contained to the area around the creek. The park folks showed up right after it happened.”
He stopped talking. Something was wrong.
I looked to Ben. He gave me a shrug, acting casual, and alarm bells went off in my head. It was obvious he was putting on an act for Antonio’s benefit. His voice was carefully even when he spoke.
“Tracy went with Barb. They’re sending a medical transport up here to come get you. Should be here soon.”
Now I understood the feeling I was getting from both of them through the bond. Hollowness. Theywere relieved I was okay, but Tracy was gone. And we couldn’t talk about it yet.
Antonio tightened the splint, and I hissed in pain. He shook his head with a pinched smile, looking sympathetic.
“The drive down is going to be bumpy, sorry. But the guys in the ambulance will be able to give you something for the pain. Hang in there.”
Griff and Ben both turned their focus to me, worried again. The three of them got me on the stretcher, and they started to hike me out. Everyone was silent. If Antonio noticed the tension, he didn’t comment on it.
It was strange when we got back to the cabin. Quiet. Night had already fallen, and an ambulance with all-weather tires waited with its lights on, casting a glow over packed-down snow. The noise I’d heard earlier must have been a plow.
Tracy’s truck was gone.
This place had been the scene of the best couple of days of my life, and now it was over. Very rudely over.
We could just…drive away.
The guys loaded me onto a gurney and into the ambulance. Antonio stayed outside to consult with the medics. Griff and Ben joined me after a few minutes, pulling up stools and closing the rear doors for privacy. They leaned down, speaking quietly.
“When we heard the mudslide,” Ben started, “Tracy panicked. We had to hold her back to keep her from running after you. We told her you were hurt but okay, and that was when the park people showed up. They were surprised to see her with us.”
“She was embarrassed,” Griff scoffed. He was downplaying it, but I could tell her reaction had seriously bothered him.
Ben frowned. “No one around here knows she’s an omega, or at least they forget she is. I think she didn’t want them to know she’d had a heat. She used me as her excuse to explain why she was there, that she was helping me with research or something. Then when the ambulance got called, she said she’d just be in the way and went back down the mountain with her co-worker.”
“She barely looked at us.”
Griff said it like she’d ripped his heart out and stomped on it. I was sure that wasn’t what she’d intended, and I laid it out for him.
“Hey, man. She’s got a lot to work through. We’re going to have to be patient. It makes sense that she didn’t want to announce what really happened to her co-workers. That shit’s private.”
Ben was nodding. He looked like he was going to say more, but then the rear door opened. Antonio popped his head in and asked the guys to make room so the medics could get me started on a drip.
Griff and Ben managed to give me encouragingsmiles before they climbed out of the ambulance. The rest of this conversation would have to wait.
The pain in my arm faded as soon as the IV was hooked up. All at once, I felt exhausted. Griff called out that they’d meet me at the hospital, and the doors banged shut.
I closed my eyes as the ambulance lurched down the mountain. My mind went to Tracy. To her laugh and her smile. Would I see her again? The drugs in my system made it hard to worry, but anxiety was there at the edges.
It was an afterthought when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to cook for a while.
We finally pulled onto the main road, and the drive smoothed out. I had to believe I’d see Tracy again soon. With that thought in my head, I drifted into sleep.
25
TRACY
The drive down the mountain was slow and difficult, more so the darker it got. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, negotiating the steep, slippery road. My headlights only illuminated each turn just before I had to take it.
At least I couldn’t let my mind wander. Not too much, anyway.
