"Aiden," I call out, or at least I try to, but my voice sounds like a whisper, strangled and weak.
I turn my head to the side and see that Aiden is still strapped in. He is unconscious, his head hanging against his chest.
I hear his heartbeat next to me, but I have to be sure. I reach out with a trembling hand and check for a pulse, and thankfully I feel it beneath his skin.
"Aiden, my love… please…" I whisper, but my throat still refuses to cooperate.
I blink hard to clear the fog from my eyes and slowly try to understand what happened.
I think I know. We crashed. The car must have veered off the road into some kind of ravine. I am certain of it because through the window I see broken branches and thick green undergrowth.
And in the front seats…
Oh, Fate!
Shock hits me when I realize that the man who was driving did not survive.
He is missing his head, and where it should be, jammed into the back of his neck, is a thick branch. His head hangs completely to the side, almost outside the shattered window, twisted unnaturally, and instead of a face there is a mangled mess of flesh and bone, so nausea surges up my throat.
I fight the urge to vomit and try to control the shock because another contraction rips through my stomach, much stronger this time, sharp and merciless.
I shake Aiden’s shoulder, but he still does not react.
My gaze shifts toward the pregnant omega who was riding with us.
"Albert?"
I think that was his name, if I remember correctly. His head hangs against his chest, but not the way his husband’s does. The omega is clearly unconscious, but I can hear his heartbeat, so I know he is alive.
"Aiden, Aiden!" I call out, but it is useless. My husband is deeply unconscious.
I finally manage to unbuckle my seat belt, and to my surprise, the door on my side is not jammed. After I ram my shoulder into it, it pops open.
I practically fall out onto the ground rather than step out. The area here is a grassy slope, the soil damp because it has been raining.
Getting around the car is not easy. Another contraction shoots through my stomach, and I also realize my pants are wet. Is that possible?
Damn it, my water must have broken…
Just my luck. What a situation.
With shaking hands, I pull out my phone, but it barely catches a signal, only a single bar.
I try calling. At first there is a ringing tone, then it cuts out and the call drops.
Cursing under my breath, I start moving around the back of the car. Behind us I see a trail of broken branches and saplings the car plowed through, but the road must be far away, and the slope rises steeply toward the direction we came from.
From here, I cannot even hear traffic. Could we really be that far from the road?
I finally reach the other side of the car.
I first try opening Aiden’s door, but it is jammed. The window is shattered. I stick my hand inside and try to unlock it this way and that, but nothing works.
"Aiden, Aiden!"
He does not respond.
I look around helplessly for a moment, then try calling again.
