Page 61 of Her Tempting Protector

“Is he good?”

She just nodded.

“Give him to me.” Shada’s screams had turned into moans. “Check on Shada.”

She unwrapped Adam from his sling, and carefully handed the squalling child to Cullen. He looked around them. It was cramped as hell in the truck, but there was no way he was going to risk going outside on the highway or go into the bed of the truck with the newborn—he wouldn’t put Adam into that kind of risky situation.

Carys was opening her door. He dropped the phone and grabbed her arm. “No.”

“What? I need to get back there.”

“Crawl over the seat. I don’t want you outside this truck, it’s too dangerous on the highway right now.”

She scowled but nodded. Then she scooped up the phone that he’d ignored and handed it to him as she somehow managed to twist and wiggle her way over the front seat.

He heard Shada’s groan of pain as Carys landed.

Fuck.

But it couldn’t be helped.

“Cullen! Answer me.” It was Raiden’s voice on the phone. He did not sound happy.

“I’m here,” Cullen answered above Adam’s cries.

“Explain to me what is going on, it’ll make it easier for me to help you.”

You had to hand it to Sato, he knew how to sound calm in any situation. Cullen explained about the wreck and that they were on the side of the road.

“Perfect. It will make it that much easier to stop and fill you with fuel.”

“So, you want me to stay here?” He did not like this plan. Not at all. “How long will it take you to get here?”

“Twenty minutes. I’m going to be the one to stop. I might have lost the coin toss, but my vehicle doesn’t stick out like Kane’s.”

“Get here faster, Raiden, because if the RSF stops here at the wreckage site, they’re going to see Carys’ ass up in the air in the backseat working on Shada, and me in the front seat with Adam. I don’t care if I’m in a thobe or not, it’s going to be suspicious as hell.”

“I promise you, I will be there as fast as humanly possible.”

“Be faster than a human.”

“Roger that.”

* * *

Carys wanted to scream.

She wanted to cry.

The blanket that covered Shada was bloody, that meant that the bandage and the sheet beneath the blanket had to be soaked in blood. The only blessing was that Shada had passed out when she landed on her legs.

Carys unbuckled her and unwrapped her from the bedding as fast as she could. When she took off the bandage, she could see that blood was still pumping out of the incision. The surgical site had dehisced, opened up, probably due to infection and made worse by the driving, and now the woman was in danger of wound evisceration—an organ could actually protrude through the wound. And if the blood’s coming from a tear in her abdominal aorta...

Carys backed up on her hands and knees, and opened the back passenger door, praying that Cullen’s tie down of the medical kit had held up during their near-miss.

“Carys,” Cullen roared when he heard the truck door being opened. She ignored him and got out. She didn’t bother to respond. What was the point, she was going to do what needed to be done, with or without his permission.

She saw two people standing next to their vehicle, and one person kneeling next to someone lying on the ground near a car that was on fire. She ignored it all. She had to get back to Shada with her kit, or she would die for sure.