Chase raced through the woods in his wolf form, trying to run his restless energy out. He still hadn’t heard from Hannah, and he died a little more inside with every passing moment. He had to get out of that house and stop staring at his phone that was silently mocking him with no word from her. He was on the verge of going crazy.

He came out to the woods so he could run as his wolf. His animal needed it just as much as he did. He’d never felt so much heaviness and pain from the wolf. He was drowning in pain. They both were.

He should have asked Parker or Kelsey to talk to her. Yeah, he wanted her to talk to him about all of this, but if talking to them helped her come to grips with everything, then she absolutely should. She needed to talk to someone, even if it wasn’t him. He’d ask one of them when he got back from his run.

Chase slowed to a stop, his sides heaving as he tried to catch his breath. When it evened out, he started to take off for another lap, but stilled as he smelled something. He lifted his head, scenting the air. It smelled like rubber and blood.

Following the smell, he approached the edge of the woods cautiously. He wasn’t technically on Red Moon property anymore, having crossed the road a ways back. It was a no-no to leave their property in animal form, but it hadn’t felt like enough room to run out his demons.

He got to the edge and looked around, noticing a dark car stopped in the road, front end crunched in. He didn’t see any other vehicles around, so it was probably someone who’d hit a deer. Happened a lot this time of year. He huffed as he tucked his wolf back into his body. A naked man would probably startle whoever the unlucky driver was, but he was sure a gigantic wolf would be worse.

He approached warily, peering into the car to see a man around his age slumped to the side. He had a gash on his forehead that was dripping blood, a lump already forming around it. Chase opened the door, catching the man as he started to slide out, and shook his shoulder.

“Hey, buddy. You okay? Wake up, man.”

There was no response, though the man seemed to be breathing okay. Chase put his fingers on the man’s neck, breathing a sigh of relief when he found a strong pulse. He looked around and spotted a cell phone in the cup holder, and quickly pulled it out to call 911. Their emergency service was small and sometimes on the slow side, but the man wasn’t in danger of dying. He didn’t think, anyway.

Chase reported the accident, saying he’d found an unconscious man who’d wrecked, most likely hitting a deer. He turned away and caught a glimpse of red on the fender. He frowned, walking closer to get a better look. It didn’t look like blood. Maybe it was paint.

Now that he thought about it, he smelled more blood than the man’s face accounted for, and if this wasn’t blood, but paint…

Ice filled his veins, and every hair on his body stood up straight. His wolf was scrabbling violently in his chest, his every instinct on high alert. Something wasn’t right.

Chase slowly stood up, looking around for the source of his sudden unease. His gaze passed over the ditch on Red Moon property before jerking back. Red. A red… fuck. It was a Jeep.

The phone slipped from his fingers and crashed to the ground. He sprinted forward and had a timeless moment where every muscle locked in his body, his breath freezing in his chest, as he looked down, dread filling him. He knew instinctively it was Hannah’s Jeep down there, tires on the ground and nose resting against a tree. It was beat up, like it had rolled a few times before it came to a stop.

Time came rushing back to him, and he bolted, half running, half sliding down the hill, yelling her name. Please God, let her be okay.

He was just reaching for the driver’s door when a flash of pink caught his eye. He looked over, his heart stopping when he saw Hannah lying on the ground.

“Fuck, oh fuck. Shit! Hannah!”

He rushed to her side, not sure where he could touch her, or even if he should. She’d clearly been thrown from the vehicle. One of her legs was bent at an awkward angle, one arm trapped beneath her, and she was covered in blood. It was quickly spreading through her hoodie, and dripping down from a head wound, pooling onto the ground beneath her. She was unconscious and deathly still.

He leaned down, relieved to hear her breath moving slowly through her chest, but it was gurgling alarmingly. Panic and adrenaline rushed through his system, and his fingers trembled as he placed them on her bloody neck, searching for her pulse. It was barely there, thready and weak. She was losing too much blood, and clearly had some internal injuries. He felt, down to his soul, that she didn’t have much time left.

He pulled his hand away, staring at her blood staining his shaking fingers as he silently fell apart. His heart felt like someone had wrapped a massive fist around it and was squeezing tight. Hannah was his everything, his whole world. He couldn’t fucking lose her. He’d never survive it.

A world without her beautiful face, void of her laughter, wasn’t recognizable to him. It was incomprehensible. He couldn’t live without her somewhere in this world, even if she didn’t want to be with him.

His wolf was shredding him up from the inside out, scrabbling, a panicked, painful mess.

Save her. Save mate.

A sob ripped up Chase’s throat as his wolf begged. He didn’t know how. And help would never get here in time.

Make her one of us. Give her a wolf.

That’s it. He could turn her. She might hate him for it, if she even survived. He might be too late. But it was her only shot at living. Her breathing stuttered and Chase cursed, springing into action. Grabbing her hoodie, he used his shifter strength to tear it in two, quickly moving on to her shirt.

“Chase?”

His eyes jerked to hers, wondering if he was hearing things, but her beautiful green eyes were open and locked on him, heavy lidded and hazy with pain.

“I’m so… sorry,” she rasped. “Coming… to tell you… didn’t matter. Wolf… don’t care. Love you…”

“Shhh, baby. Don’t talk. I’ll fix this. You’ll be okay, I promise. I love you too.”

Chase leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, then moved to her neck and without hesitation, bit down as hard as he could.

Hannah gasped weakly, the air moving wetly through her lungs, and he pulled back in time to see her eyes rolling back into her head. He panicked when he saw blood dribble from the corner of her mouth, and her breathing stuttered again. Oh, God, please let this work. It had to work.

His sensitive shifter hearing picked up sirens in the distance, and he knew he had to get them out of there, whether it was safe to move her or not. If this worked like he was praying it did, he couldn’t have her shifting in front of humans. A few on the force and in the emergency departments knew what they were, but it was anyone’s guess who would show up today.

And if it didn’t work… well, he supposed then it didn’t matter whether he moved her or not.

Pain sliced his insides at the thought, and a sound that was half moan, half sob, tore through his chest.

He gingerly scooped her up in his arms, trying his best not to jostle her too much, and started walking back home.