Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
She shook her head slowly, not liking the way the world swam around her at the movement. “I don’t think so.”
“Good. Don’t.” He pointed at the embankment. “If something moves up there, you say my name.”
Meg nodded carefully. “Okay.” She watched Galen fight to open Theo’s door and give him the same treatment he’d given her. Theo murmured something, the sound of his voice washing over her. Theo was okay. Galen was okay. Things would be okay.
She shivered, cold despite the relative warmth of the day. Definitely shock. Nothing moved except Galen and Theo, and her thoughts drifted in lazy swirls as she contemplated that. Galen thinks someone did this to us and might finish the job. Meg blinked and blinked again, the scene in front of her moving in stop-motion snapshots.
Galen checking Theo for injuries.
Blink.
Theo and Galen going still, their gaze trained on something she couldn’t see.
Blink.
Theo crouching in front of her, his blue eyes worried. Galen nowhere in sight.
Blink.
“Meg. Meg, stay with me.” He said it with the quiet patience of someone who’d been talking to her for some time with no response.
Her body flashed hot and cold and she looked down in time to see him extract a six-inch shard of glass from her arm with a pair of tweezer looking things. Where did he get those? Theo held her arm braced between his big hands and she belatedly realized she was struggling to get away from him. “I know, I know, I’m sorry,” he murmured. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.” He prodded the wound, sending agony searing through her. “I have to make sure there’s no more glass in here or we run the risk of shredding something important when the bandage puts pressure on it.
“Theo.” She gasped, a buzzing in her ears nearly drowning out his steady voice. “Theo, it hurts.”
“I know, princess. I’ve got you. Trust me.” He cursed softly and pulled another shard from her arm. “That’s the worst of it. We’ll clean it when we get somewhere safe.” He used one hand to dig through a white box with a distinctive red cross on the front and then set to work bandaging her up. “It didn’t nick an artery, which is a fucking miracle. You would have bled out before Galen had a chance to get you out of the car.”
Meg gave into the dizziness and closed her eyes. It was easier to breathe without seeing his ministrations. “Your bedside manner leaves something to be desired.”
“There she is.” Pressure on her arm as he wound some kind of flexible tape stuff around it. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“That makes two of us.”
He stroked a hand over her cheek. “You can open your eyes now. I’m done.”
The light had changed overhead, but she couldn’t tell if it was because she’d lost time or because there was a storm coming. “How long have we been out here?”
“Too long.”
She looked around, cautious of too-quick movements. “Galen?”
“He’s doing what he does best.”
That wasn’t any kind of answer at all. She shuddered. “Shouldn’t we call for help?”
“Doing that just ensures that we’re bringing civilians into this, and paves the way for them to separate us into ambulances and finish the work they started.”
She tried and failed to make sense of that. Galen had seemed to think this wasn’t an accident, but how could someone possibly attack them and then pose as a paramedic? Things like that only happened in fiction, didn’t they? “Theo, what’s going on?”
“We’ll talk about it when we get out of here. I’ve got your wound stabilized. It’s time to move.”
She started to climb to her feet, but he didn’t give her a chance to fail. He scooped her into his arms and started through the trees in the opposite direction of the road. Meg bit her lip to avoid asking him more questions. He was right. Answers could wait. She tucked her face against his neck and tried to keep her shivers contained. There was no telling how much blood she’d lost. What if she needed a transfusion? How would they know or even accomplish it if they were too paranoid to go to a hospital?
I thought I knew the stakes. I had no idea.
“I’ve got you, princess. You’ll be safe.” He murmured against her head as he picked his way through the thick trees.
Germany seemed like such a small country on a map—smaller than many US states—but it might as well have stretched for hundreds of miles in all directions. The forest felt vast and ancient, even though part of Meg’s brain pointed out that the trees couldn’t possibly be as old as her imagination wanted to believe. The danger, she couldn’t write off as easily. “Are there wolves in Germany?”
“I won’t let you turn into a real life Little Red Riding Hood.”