The truck squealed onto the main road. Next stop, the interstate. After that, I would never catch them.
Pulling on Ambrose’s reserves, I pushed my body to its limits to pace the truck. I brushed the tailgate with my outstretched fingertips, but they glanced off as I rung a pothole with my foot.
A sickening crunch filled my ears, my balance wobbled, and I flung out my hands to stop the fall. I hit the asphalt. Hard. I didn’t look down. I knew my ankle was broken. I could tell because of the loud snap, the agonizing pain, and—oh yeah—the fact my foot was still wedged in the hole a bit too far behind me.
Water poured from my eyes, but I had this much in common with my mother. The tears were borne of rage and fury.
Not fifteen seconds later, Midas skidded to a halt next to me, assessed my injuries while dragging a hand over his mouth, then cursed in a language that I would have found beautiful at any other time.
Crouching beside me, he stabbed the air in front of my nose with his finger.
“Don’t—” he bit off the word, “—move.”
“I didn’t plan on it.” I noticed the phone in his hand. “Who are you calling?”
“Abbott.”
“Grier can fix this,” I whined. “I bet Linus could patch me up too.”
“Abbott can be the judge of that.”
Given how the air vibrated with barely leashed violence, I decided to pick my battles and whispered, “Okay.”
“I don’t trust your tone,” he admitted, “but you aren’t budging without help.”
The shadow, who hummed with energy, poked my ankle then skittered away when I yelped at him.
“We found them,” Midas said into his cell. “I need medical transport for five.”
Five meant Ares had escaped, which meant we had no fresh leads with Liz in the wind too.
On the other end of the line, the voice grew more heated until Midas held it away from his ear.
“Yes.” He flicked his gaze down my leg. “I can send you a picture.”
Quick as a flash, he did just that, and the volume on the other end of the line increased then cut out flat.
“You hung up on him,” I realized. “You actually hung up on Abbott.”
“There’s poor reception out here,” he lied. “I’ve already called Bishop. He’s on his way to meet us.”
“We need to test the Pritchards and the Whitakers.” I forced my brain to be more productive than screaming in agony. “Make sure there are no other surprises.”
“Who do you think Ares was protecting?”
Ares.
The momentary distraction kept the pain from overwhelming me. “Is she…?”
“Alive.” His lips twisted. “She’s heavily injured and unconscious.”
But was she herself or a skin or a host or some new and terrible creation?
I had already gotten my miracle—miracles—with Boaz and Addie. I was afraid to hope for more.
“She was the fifth person in need of transport.” I let that settle. “How am I getting home?”
Crimson flecked his eyes, and they shone. “You’re lucky I don’t make you stump it back to the Faraday.”
Unfortunately for his tough-guy act, a gleaming white pickup with a familiar face behind the wheel rolled to a stop beside us. Lisbeth hopped out of Ford’s truck then slapped a hand over her mouth when she got a good look at me.
“Your ankle…” She turned green. “How…?”
“You’re an LPN.” I wished I could scoot to one side or another. “Don’t you dare barf on me.”
“I’m not an ER nurse.” She breathed in deeply through her nose then exhaled through her mouth. “I saw more paperwork than patients on my last job, and no one shows up to their family doctor with their foot hanging on by a thread. They call 911 and hitch a ride to a hospital in an ambulance.”
“Okay then.” I flapped my hands at her. “How about you stand a few paces away?”
“Yeah.” She bobbed her head. “I’ll just be over there, admiring the honeysuckle vines.”
Near a ditch that wouldn’t mind if she threw up in it.
“I can’t believe Ford let her drive his truck.” I watched Midas head to the tailgate. “He never let me drive his truck.” I frowned when he reached into the bed. “I probably would have needed a booster seat anyway.”
“Lisbeth is his girlfriend,” Midas pointed out. “They’ve also lived together off and on.”
Their relationship had started out as nurse to patient. Well, a nurse with a raging Ford crush to a patient. Then he repaid her kindness when she needed it. I hadn’t framed their relationship as roomies, but Midas was right. They might as well have lived together, given how long one had been providing live-in nursing for the other.
They were moving fast. Really fast. For a human. Not so much for a gwyllgi. But Lisbeth had crushed on him from afar for so long, I imagine they were on the same page. She might even be a chapter ahead of him.
Trying my best not to move an inch, I glared up at him. “Why must you insist on using logic against me?”
“I have to get you in the truck bed and to Abbott.” Hands on his hips, he surveyed his makeshift ambulance. “It’s going to hurt.”
“Yeah.” I stopped trying to distract myself with Fisbeth, my favorite couple name for Ford and Lisbeth to date, and I focused on my own problems. “Do you think it will fall off when you lift me?”
“Your foot? Or your leg?”
“Both? Either?” I flinched on reflex when he touched my shoulders. “Do I have to pick just one?”
“It won’t fall off,” he promised me. “Keep as still as you can.”
Teeth gritted, I nodded the go ahead and let him unstick my foot from the hole, which cost me my shoe.
“Okay,” he said, his face pale. “Now I’m going to put you on the air mattress.”
“Air
