Galen’s seat sat empty, door closed. The windshield was gone, but she couldn’t tell if it had happened during the crash or afterward. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was getting out of this car and then getting Theo out as well. Cars didn’t really explode as easily as the movies made it look, right?
Oh god, what if they did?
She fumbled for her belt clasp, her movements slow and uncoordinated.Must have gotten knocked on the head…or it’s blood loss. The roof of the car over her head was stained a wet red that made her stomach lurch. How long had she been unconscious?
Too long.
She pushed on the latch, but it resisted. Jammed. “Oh, fuck.”
Footsteps outside her door. Meg blinked, but she didn’t get a chance to react before someone wrenched her door open and then Galen was there. He looked just as shitty as she felt, small cuts peppering his face. It didn’t seem to bother him, though. He touched her head and then cursed as the sight of the glass shard in her arm. “Hang in there, baby.”
“Theo.”
“He’s breathing. He just knocked his head really good.He’snot bleeding out.” He pulled a knife from somewhere, a viciously long serrated blade that had her heart leaping into her throat. Galen guided her uninjured hand over her head to brace on the ceiling. “I’m going to cut you out of your seatbelt.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Try not to crack your head.”
This was right about the time she should fire off a snappy reply, but Meg didn’t have anything. She just nodded and locked her elbow as best she could. Galen sliced through her seatbelt and her arm went out. He must have expected it, though, because he caught her around the chest and helped ease her down. “Almost there, baby. You’re doing great. We need to get out of the car and then I can get a better look at your arm.”
“Theo,” she insisted.
“I know.” Galen dragged her out of the car and propped her against a nearby tree. He paused, staring up the embankment where they’d been driving not too long ago. She couldn’t see the road from her position, couldn’t hear anything that might be a car driving past. Galen turned back to her. “Are you going to pass out again?”
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.”
