Chapter 114

Julian’s POV

In this moment, in wolf form, clinging to the top of this speeding sedan with both my front and back claws, I felt a rage stronger than that which I had ever known before.

In the past, when the airplane had taken Amber from me, I had been powerless to stop it. Here and now, I had a chance to intervene.

The driver was turning the car erratically, swerving all over the road likely in an attempt to unhinge me from the roof of this car. But I would be damned before I let go.

I would not lose Amber again.

This wasn’t an airplane. It was a car. And I wasn’t miles away. I was here. Now.

Nothing would keep me from saving the woman I loved. My mate. The mother of my child. The mother of my future children.

So I held on. No, I would stop this.

Grinding my claws into the roof of the car, I crawled my way to the front side, then reaching to the side, I punched in through the window. The driver shifted at the last moment, evading my blind pursuit, so I grabbed the steering wheel and ripped it out of the front console.

Any normal person would have eased up on the gas when they lost control of the vehicle. This driver, however, seemed to be following his own wild set of rules. He only pushed the accelerator more, adding speed to the already racing car.

Straight ahead of us, the road veered to the right. Beyond it, beyond the guardrail was a massive cliff that plunged down into a tree-filled ravine.

Shit!

I gave up my pursuit of the driver then, allowing myself to slip back a ways to the backseat of the car. There, I punched out the window and reached in for Amber. At the same moment, she reached back.

When her hand clasped mine, I yanked, pulling her through the window and into my arms.

Unfortunately, at that exact same moment, the car crashed through the guard rail and flew over the edge of the cliff.

We seemed to hover in the air a moment before gravity claimed us and started to drag us back down to the earth.

Looking over, I could see the fear in Amber’s wide-eyes. She seemed entirely lost to it.

Was this freefall forcing her to relive the past? Trapped in that airplane?

Did she think she was going to die?

I wouldn’t let that happen.

Clutching her to me, I turned so that she was entirely shielded by my shifted Alpha werewolf body. I was massive like this, able to fully cover and protect her.

Bracing myself, I prepared for the pain. I was ready for it.

Whatever I had to do to keep Amber safe, I would.

My body cracked through three trees before colliding with the earth. The car must have veered to the right, as things grew dark, I saw the explosion.

Feeling the heat from the licking flames, I rolled to the side, hoping to protect Amber.

Then, blessedly, I was saved from the shooting pain throughout my entire body by passing out.

Amber’s POV

I blinked a few times, surprised to find myself not only alive, but relatively unharmed. Julian, it seemed, had taken the brunt of the damage from our fall.

Pulling myself out from his now-loosened embrace, I looked up into his shifted wolfy face. His eyes were closed, his features slack. He passed out… from the pain?

Despite my shock, my healer brain took over and I immediately began to search him for injury. Was he even still breathing?

To my relief, I find that he was. Thank the Gods. Not dead.

There was a ton of damage to his back, which was covered in cuts and deep splinters. Seeing a task now, I set myself to removing each wooden splinter one by one. It was made easy using the light of the burning car behind me.

I tried hard not to think about what was creating those flames I was using for light, or how easily that could have been me inside of it, burning to death if the collision hadn’t killed me.

The forest was quiet now, except for the crackle of the fire and the thunder of my own beating heart.

Julian’s werewolf healing ability worked with me, pushing out the splinters as quickly as I removed them. Before long, his back was only covered with dried blood and fur. Though in a moment, even that was dissipating as he shifted back to his human form.

At some point, he must have awakened again. As I sat there, frozen, my shock taking hold, he sat up and turned to me. When he cupped my face in his hands, I blinked and refocused onto his eyes.

“Are you injured?” he asked me.

“N-no,” I said. At least, I didn’t think so. The shock could be hiding an injury, so I gave myself a quick once over. Julian did as well. Then we both looked at one another again. “I’m okay,” I said.

That didn’t feel honest. Physically, I was well, but the rest of me was trapped in a wild vortex of fear and agony, reliving the plane crash again and again.

“Amber,” Julian said, and when I finally heard it, I knew it wasn’t the first time he said my name. “Stay with me, can you do that?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“Can I help?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said again.

He thought a moment, his brow furrowing. “Can I try something?”

“Yes,” I told him. I didn’t want to keep feeling like this. If he could do something to distract me, to rattle me out of this fear spiral I was in, I would have agreed to anything.

Tugging my face closer, he leans down and kisses me.

I gasp, startled, and somehow pleased. My heart aches, but for new reasons as my mind shifts from the terror of freefall to the joy of kissing my mate again.

He was such a good kisser, always so careful with me and so attentive to my needs. Even now, he moved slowly, gently licking at the seam of my lips without pushing for more. It was only after I parted my lips, welcoming him, did he slip his tongue into my mouth to tangle with my own.

I clawed at his shoulders, instantly transported to the home we once shared. The forest, the burning car, felt like a different lifetime now, like it had happened to someone else.

Always, I had been here, safe, with my husband. With him kissing me. With him reminding me that I am his and no one else’s.

I was alive and so was Julian. We had survived this, survived everything.

I clutched him tighter. One of his hands slide around my wait to tug me closer to him. I practically crawled into his lap.

I didn’t want the kiss to end, but eventually I had to breathe.

As we separated, he pressed his forehead to mine and we breathed together.

Alive.

As one.

Too soon, he pulled away. “I have to check the driver,” he said.

I didn’t want him to go, but I understood the necessity. With great effort, I unlatched my fingers from his shirt.

“Stay here,” he told me, as he slid away from me.

My legs were so weak, I didn’t think I could follow him even if I wanted to.

He was only gone for a moment, but when he returned, he was carrying a man’s wallet. The lack of a physical person, I knew, meant the driver was dead.

Julian’s face was filled with concern.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The driver didn’t make it,” Julian said. “He was thrown from the car before the explosion so I was able to search him for identification.”

“And?” I prompted.

He looked down at the identification card in the transparent sleeve of the wallet.

“He’s from my pack.”