“I think we’d better take the detour, we need to get home tonight,” Walker said, then looked over at her to double check and she nodded her head. “Which way is the detour?”
“Just take this road behind me,” the officer said, pointing behind him at a two-lane road. “It’s going to take you a little longer than the main road, so be patient, and the weather is threatening to dump on us, too. Watch for ice on the road.”
“Yes, sir, we’ll be careful,” Walker said. “Thanks for all your help.”
Walker had to back up a few thousand feet to make the turn onto the old road, but a few minutes later, they were back on the way. This time, the night was even darker as they sped through the forest. They’d only been driving for a few minutes when snow began to fall, fat, fluffy flakes that melted as soon as they hit the windshield. For a while, she enjoyed the sight as it covered the trees with a blanket of white. But it wasn’t long before the snow stopped melting when it hit the road, and it too was soon covered in a layer of the fluffy stuff.
When it began to snow even harder and the wind started to blow, Walker slowed down with a muttered curse, his hands gripping the wheel a little tighter. “This could get a little ugly before we make it home,” he said. “I’m going to take it nice and slow, so get comfortable.”
“We’re not in any hurry, everyone is asleep back home,” she said, giving him a big smile. “We have all night to make it there.”
“I hope it doesn’t take that long,” Walker said, stealing a glance over at her, a grin on his face. “Unless you’re planning a little stop for…”
Before he could finish his sentence, a car came flying around the corner in the wrong lane, going way too fast for the weather. When the driver saw their headlights, they tried to swerve backinto the correct lane, but the car’s rear tires didn’t respond, and the car began to slide across the road. Everything seemed to happen all at once. She screamed, Walker let out a curse as he tried to stop the car without sending them off the road, and the other car kept sliding until it went plunging into a deep gully, landing with a crunch loud enough to echo through the trees.
CHAPTER 14
***WALKER***
It took all Walker’s skill to keep them on the road, but he finally managed to bring the car to a stop, then sat there for a second trying to catch his breath. “Shit, that was too close,” he said, then looked over at Maddie. “Are you okay?”
She sucked in a lungful of air like she’d been holding her breath and looked over at him. “I’m okay,” she said. “But we should check on the people in that car. They might be hurt.”
“Stay here, I’ll go check on them,” he said, unhooking his seat belt. “See if you’ve got any cell reception. We’re going to need some help.”
After zipping up his coat and throwing on a stocking cap, Walker opened the door and jumped out of the car, sucking in a shocked breath with his face filled with snow and the cold seemed to penetrate right through his jacket. Hunching down into his coat and turning up the collar, he headed for the side of the road, shocked to see there was already several inches of snow on the ground.
When he peered down into the gully, he could see the car resting at the bottom as if it had been dropped there by a giant, but there was no sign of movement as he stood shivering in thecold. Looking around, he tried to find a way to the bottom, but the sides of the gully were steep and any trail that might have been there was covered in a blanket of snow. Feeling as if every second counted, he turned back for the car, but Maddie was already climbing out, her face white with shock.
“No cell service,” she called, shaking her head. “What are we going to do? We can’t just drive off and leave them down there, it could be hours before we can get back here.”
He looked down into the gully again, this time hearing the faint wail of a baby, then back over at Maddie, her face full of concern. “I could stay here with them while you go back for help,” he said. “It’s not that far back down to that cop, I’m sure he’ll still be there.”
“You’ll freeze standing here waiting for me,” she said, then looked down the road. “I’m not sure I can drive in this. I don’t have a lot of experience in the snow, not snow like this anyway.”
The sound of the baby crying got louder. “Oh, Walker, there’s a baby down there,” Maddie said, rushing over to look down at the car. “I can see someone moving, we have to help them, if we leave them down there they could freeze to death before we get back.”
He looked over at Maddie, her face white with worry, then down at the car, wincing at the piercing cries of the baby, and made up his mind. “Maddie, there’s something I can do,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face him. “But it might scare you, so I need to warn you first.”
“Walker, what are you talking about?” she asked, her eyes roaming over his face. “What are you going to do?”
“I wanted to tell you about this before you saw it, but I waited too long,” he said, shaking his head. “I just want you to remember that no matter what you see, it’s still me. Can you do that for me?”
“Walker, you’re not making any sense,” Maddie said, a touch of fear in her voice. “Just tell me what you’re going to do.”
“I’m going to shift, I’m going to turn into a dragon and save those people,” he said. “It’s a special gift that I have, I’m not the only one in the world who can do it, I would have told you sooner, but…”
“Walker, this is no time for jokes,” Maddie said, giving him a shove, her face full of anger. “There are people dying down there, a child…”
He grabbed her again. “Maddie, I’m not joking, I’m completely serious,” he said, looking her directly in the eye. “I don’t have time to explain everything now, but I’m a shifter, a dragon shifter.”
She stared at him, shaking her head. “I don’t believe you,” she said, taking a couple of steps away from him. “You’re just making that up to…”
“I’m not making it up,” he said, closing the distance between them. “I’m going to shift now. Maybe you should get in the car; I don’t want you fainting on me.”
“I’m not going to faint,” Maddie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I don’t believe that you’re going to shift, I can’t believe you’re doing this right now…”
He wanted to reassure her, wanted to tell her that everything was going to be fine, but he could hear the baby crying, but the sound was getting fainter. “Just remember that I love you,” he said, letting his magic slowly come to the surface. “And I would never hurt you.”
