“But who runs it all? Takes care of the horses and everything?” My mind was officially blown. I was so damn impressed.
“I have a friend from the UFC scene that lives on site and oversees the day-to-day running of things, and he has a team of staff. He’s part of the reason I set it up in the first place. He’d taken a bad ankle break just as his career was starting out, and instead of making it big with the rest of us, he was stuck in the hospital and rehab learning how to walk again. He was a mad horse fan, and I had stacks of spare money... With Wesley’s business help, it wasn’t so hard to get off the ground.” Cole shrugged uncomfortably again and turned to face the front.
“Cole,” I whispered, unclipping my seatbelt to lean forward and plant a kiss on his cheek. “I think that is one of the most incredibly kind things I have ever heard. Aside from Wes buying his family a place in Zurich.” I winked at Wesley, sitting beside Cole, and he grinned back at me.
“It was nothing. Just money.” Cole clearly didn’t want to discuss it any further, so I tipped his face back to me with a palm on his rough cheek and kissed his lips.
How stupid of me to sit there enjoying this lovely moment getting to know my dianoch—because I was fairly certain that’s what they all were. The only warning we got was the high-pitched screeching of tires on pavement before our SUV was hit from the side, and we were tossed over and over like a tin can down a hill.
Finally, we came to a stop.
Stupid, fucking Kit, you just had to take your damn seatbelt off seconds before impact.
While the car had tumbled, so too had I. Like a damn shoe in a tumble dryer. Radiating pain flared from every part of my body, and I knew without a doubt that I’d done some serious damage.
But I was still conscious, so there was that.
“Kitten! Talk to me!” River barked, and I heard him grunt, then thump heavily as he must have just freed his seatbelt. The car had come to a stop upside down, so while I lay broken on my back, I was looking up at the guys strapped to their seats. Caleb was slightly behind me, so I couldn’t see if he was okay, but Cole was awake. As I lay there, waiting for my magic to repair all the breaks and bleeds, I watched Cole tear his seatbelt off like wet tissue paper, then roll as he hit the ground. Roof. Whatever.
“Vixen, hey,” he panted as he righted himself and leaned between the seats to reach me. His frame was way too big to crawl through, though so he just stretched out a hand and gently grabbed mine.
“I’m fine,” I lied. “The magic is working.” My voice was a thin, pained sound that betrayed just how much pain I was in, and Cole grimaced.
“Not fast enough though. I can... feel your pain. Like a phantom limb. Hang in there; we need to get out of this car.” He released my hand and kicked out one of the windows with his heavy combat boots.
Thank fuck for armoured glass, though. Without it, I would have been grated cheese all over the pavement. Stupid, stupid move, taking my seatbelt off.
“Guess that dragon strength is coming in handy,” I croaked, still unable to move my body but mercifully feeling the crawling, electric sensation that told me my magic was working.
Without answering me, he shimmied out through the window, and I heard him talking with River in a voice too low for me to hear. The silence from Caleb and Wesley had me beyond worried though.
“Wes?” I called out to him but got no response. He was just out of my line of sight, and I couldn’t yet turn my head to look and see how bad off he was, which infuriated me to no end.
“Caleb?” I called out a bit louder while willing my body to heal faster. One of the boys groaned in response, but I couldn’t tell which.
“Vixen,” Cole said through the busted out window. “I need to try and yank one of these doors off so we can get you out of there. Hang tight.”
Without waiting for a response, his head lifted back out of sight. Seconds later, the screeching sound of tearing metal filled the small space as Cole peeled the buckled door off the car like the lid of a sardine can.
“Leave me,” I ordered as he ducked inside once more. “Get Caleb and Wesley out. They’re not responding.”
“Vixen,” Cole chastised, but I gave him a stern glare.
“No. I’m fine right here; just get them out so I can heal them when I’m done.” Cole looked like he wanted to argue again, but after a glance at Caleb behind me, he grunted in agreement.
After a lot of swearing and awkward maneuvering around the upturned SUV, Cole managed to get both boys free of the vehicle, but they looked really bad. By the time he came back to pull me out, I had almost regained movement in my limbs, and the prickling magic was no longer the burning pain of being electrocuted. In truth, I had all but ignored the pain of healing while watching the two unconscious men being pulled from their seats.
“You good?” Cole asked quietly, crouching above me and meeting my gaze with his cold, granite eyes. His face was tense and pinched, like he, too, was in a lot of pain but just holding it back.
“Almost.” I nodded but allowed him to scoop me up in his arms. He then did a sort of backward lizard walk to get us out of the ruined car and then placing me down carefully on the grass at the side of the road.
“Kitten!” River exclaimed, leaning over me and cupping my face with one palm. The other arm, I noticed, he held close to his body.
“I’m fine, Alpha, almost done. How are Wes and Cal?” I turned my head to see where they were but couldn’t see much past River’s broad frame.
“Not so good, love. The truck hit on their side of the car, so they’re pretty messed up. Frank’s dead.” River grimaced, and I noticed sweat beading on his forehead.
“Alpha, you’re hurt.” I pointed out, struggling to sit up now that my body was almost done mending itself. “Show me?”
Holding out a hand for his injured arm, I didn’t really think twice about what I was doing until he hesitated and moved farther away from me.
“No, love. I’ll be fine. Wes and Cal need you more.” He pushed up off the ground but noticeably avoided touching me as I, too, scrambled to my feet.
“Sorry, yeah, of course. It was just...” I shrugged as I trailed off.
“Instinct. Yeah, I know. But my arm will be fine; they might not be.” He nodded his head to the two badly injured boys lying in the grass with Cole hovering over them both. Terror coursed through me as made my way over to them.
“Do we know what’s wrong?” I gasped as I sank to my knees between Caleb’s and Wesley’s bodies and laid a gentle hand on their chests. They were both in a really bad way, I could clearly see that now, but with so much blood it was hard to tell where the worst of the injuries were. Tears welled in my eyes, and I took a few shaking breaths to hold them back.
Now’s not the time, Kit. You can heal them. They’ll be okay. They have to be okay.