by Stella Bryce
Dallas wrapped her arm around Ian’s back, and moved a couple of inches. Yelping, she clenched her teeth and pushed forward. “What about you? What do you do?” Talking might distract them from their pain.
“I’m a firefighter.” He took another step forward, wincing. “Or I was a firefighter, who knows if I’ll ever have the full use of my leg back.”
She felt the sting. She knew it was a thorn directed at her; a barb slicing through her already unstable mood. She said nothing. Talking was a bad idea.
The couple moved forward a few more yards and then stopped to rest. This time they stood in place, not wanting to rest for too long. They’d be racing the daylight if they took too many breaks. They were already moving at a snail’s pace.
Any other day, he’d take note of how pretty she was. He’d love the feel of her soft, rounded body pressed against him. Not today. Today, all he could feel was resentment.
Dallas started rambling. She needed something, anything to take her mind off of her mangled foot. “My father died in a freak farming accident, and my mother died of a heart attack, not long after losing my father. I’m trying to keep the farm. I spent my entire life there. My mother said I should have gotten married and started a life of my own, but I love that farm. I loved being outdoors, helping, working with my folks. I lived a good life. I can’t see letting it fall, now that they’ve passed. That farm is my world.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your folks.” It was the least he could say.
“Thank you.” She stopped talking. She wanted to stop moving, but hated being the weakest link. She pressed on, even as she was getting weaker.
Tree roots were pushed up higher than they lifted their feet. Coming out of the ground, a vein of tangled bits tripped them. Ian slammed to the ground. Dallas fell beside him. She shuddered, unable to stop the tears that followed. Ian roared. A loud growl of frustration rumbled up from inside of him. His bear was angry. He was angry. He wanted to tear off and run, be free from this awful situation.
Everything inside of Dallas froze on hearing his roar. Fear. In that instant, she remembered he was a bear, not just a man, but a full-size bear. She’d seen him with her own two eyes, when she walked up on him. She glanced over and was grateful to see him still in his human form. She should be thankful that he was helping her. He didn’t need to. He could have left her to rot on the forest floor. She stuffed her fear back down. There was no time for fear. No time for anything but surviving. They had to get up. “Come on, we need to get up,” she finally said, trying to motivate herself as well as him.
“I don’t want to move. I’m not ready,” he shot at her. The smell of dirt infiltrated his nostrils.
“We need to move.” It was her turn to be strong. “We can do this.”
He huffed in disgust and then pushed himself off of the ground, trying to find a sense of balance.
Dallas started rambling again, out or nerves and for distraction. “So my mother, she was incredible. There was nothing that woman couldn’t do. She’d bend over backwards to make sure you had what you needed. She’d cook for the hungry, sew clothes to donate to the needy, and got out there and worked with my father, side-by-side. She was the bravest, strongest woman I’ve ever known. If I can be half the woman she was, I’d consider myself lucky.”
Ian listened, but pretended not to.
“My father worked night and day to keep us fed, to keep the farm running smoothly, and taught me everything I know. He was a good, honest man, and a hard-worker. I’m glad he instilled that in me. I don’t ask for handouts, I take care of myself, and I’m willing to work my ass off.” She didn’t know what else to say. Her mind was clouding with pain again, the agony outweighing every other thought. Grinding her teeth, she clenched tight and asked him about his family. “What about you?”
“I don’t know my family. I was left at a local church as an infant, so I’ve been told. I went from home to home through the foster system.” He glared at the woman. Family was the last thing he wanted to talk about. He made it this far without relying on family; he’d save himself once again. Nobody wanted him. Nobody adopted him. He was a tough kid, trouble, a rebel rouser. He’d been pushed off to another family so many times that he lost count.
The only family he knew was the other firefighters. They watched out for each other, but even having a group around him, he still ended up being a loner most of the time. It wasn’t worth getting hurt again, the emotional dagger cut too deep. He was present in most circumstances, but emotionally, he was always distant.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m fine,” he spit back in response.
“I understand.” She wasn’t sure how to respond. Dallas tried to change the topic. “How did you end up being a firefighter?”
“It’s what I wanted to do. So I did it.” His answers were short.
She was getting frustrated. “Look, we’re going to be out here a while. We’ve got a good mile to go still and the rate we’re moving…”
He exhaled heavily; annoyed that she was pestering him to talk. “Fine. I wanted to help people, and it offered an adrenalin rush. It seemed like a good fit.”
“I ride quads for a rush. I’m not sure I could force myself into a burning building. That’s pretty awesome that you provide such a needed service. Thank you.”
He didn’t expect that answer. People rarely thanked him. He softened, just a touch. “Quads can be fun.”
“When I was small, my dad would put me on the tractor with him. I loved those moments.” She gasped, trying to catch her breath. “I need to stop for a moment. Can we rest?”
The couple leaned against a tree, trying to regain some strength to finish the distance. “How are you holding up?”
“This is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do,” she admitted. “I’m afraid I’m pretty soft when it comes to stuff like this. How are you doing?”
“It sucks, but you have to push through. There’s no other way. I’m not planning on staying here to wither away. I’m going to fight for both of us if I have to.”
“Thank you. I wouldn’t make it out of here without you. I’d have given up already.” Dallas hated that about herself. She thought she was tougher. She’d been a hard worker all her life and nothing ever slowed her down. This. This took her out of the game. She’d never felt so much pain.
“We should probably get moving again. It’s easy to stop, but it doesn’t get us closer to help.” He pushed himself up, bearing as much of his weight as he could on his good leg.
Chapter 5
They were making progress. It wasn’t a lot, but each step forward put them closer to where they needed to be.
Dallas rambled some more. It seemed to lessen the pain, and took her mind off the searing agony. “So anyway, wolves keep slaughtering my sheep. I saw them come back up over the ridge. I don’t know what else to do. I didn’t have my shotgun handy. It’s not that I want to take them out; I just want to scare them away. My poor sheep, it’s horrible to hear them bleating, being torn apart, and the dragged away. I need to find a way to change things. I’ve lost too many.”
“Those aren’t the shifters. We have a pact. Even in our primal forms, we don’t take out others. You don’t know if there’s a person on the inside. You’ll rarely find shifters in these parts that will kill another animal. I don’t know about other towns, but in Mountain View Crest, it’s pretty much unspoken.” He didn’t want shifters wrongly targeted.
“Look, I don’t know where they’re coming from, but I saw them come back up over the ridge. That’s why I set the traps. And I’ve seen them…maybe some are rogue.” Saying the word trap out loud, Dallas paused. “I was just trying to save my sheep and farm.”
Ian offered suggestions. “Have you tried fencing, guard dogs, or alarms?”
“I’ve tried everything.” She felt defeated. “The dogs were more interested in socializing with one another after a certain point than they were in guar
ding the sheep. I’ve even tried a Fladry fence which helped for a short bit, then not at all.”
“What about rubber bullets, cracker shells, or bean bag ammunition?” Ian gave her more options.
“I can’t guard the sheep twenty-four hours a day. I need to sleep and do chores too. It gets to be too much.” She appreciated his thoughts, but he had no idea what she’d been up against and what a drain it had been.
“Sounds like you need a ranch hand or something.” Ian’s leg was throbbing. He shook his head, trying to push the feeling away.
“Good luck finding one for what I can afford,” she sighed. “Money is tight and keeps getting tighter.” Dallas winced in pain and begged for another short break. “So what’s it like being a bear?”
Ian wasn’t expecting that question. “I don’t know how to answer that. It feels like me, only more primal.” He wanted to see her side of things, but then said what was on his mind. “You had to know you could have been going after shifters. You’re so close to our town. Shifters are part human. You ignored that simple fact.”
“I didn’t know where they came from. I simply knew I needed to make it stop.” She grew annoyed. He was going to keep pushing the issue. She understood his personal reasoning, but he wasn’t the one trying to protect a flock of sheep from the blood-bath that kept happening. She didn’t have much choice.
“When we’re out of here, I’ll come see if I can help you find a better way,” he said disgruntled. Why he was helping the woman who mangled his leg was beyond him.
Dallas stopped in her tracks. “You would do that? After what I’ve…”
“Let’s just say I don’t want to see anybody else caught in a trap.” Ian looked away.
She looked down, feeling like a small, scolded child. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything.” He was done talking.
Another break, they leaned against a tree and scuttled forward with tiny steps and movements. Their progress felt small, but at least it was something.
It took another two hours before they saw the edge of the forest. Normally the mile would have taken someone no more than twenty minutes, but the slightest movement shot pain through them both, so each step was barely a few inches.
Chapter 6
A car was coming. Ian tried waving them down, but it just kept going. Shit.
“I thought it was over when we got to the edge.” Dallas cried. “I need to sit. I can’t keep going. I’m getting dizzy.”
“You can’t quit now.” How could she give up? They made it this far.
“Please, just for a minute. I need to sit down.” She pleaded with him.
Ian nodded and sat with her. He hated to see her cry. He gently brushed the hair back from her face. “Shh, we’re almost there. It will be over soon.”
She looked at him, and sucked her lip in. She didn’t mean to cry. It was all so overwhelming. “I didn’t think, and I ended up hurting somebody. I hurt you. I didn’t mean to.” She placed her hand over his. “Truly, I’m so sorry.”
Ian looked into her eyes. She was sincere. He could hold a grudge for the rest of his life or let her off the hook. “It happened. Let’s just get help. I’m worried about your foot getting infected.”
She looked at him incredulously. “Why would you worry about me? I did this.”
“We’re in this together now, remember.”
He saw the weight drop off of her shoulders. “I’m so sorry.” The tears turned into sobs.
Ian wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. Speaking quietly, he urged her to keep moving. “Come on, let’s go get help.”
His arms were strong and muscled. For the first time of the day, she felt secure. He could have torn into her, been so much uglier, meaner, made her guilt grow unsurmountable, but here he was trying to make her feel better.
Finally, after what felt like forever, a pick-up truck pulled to the side of the road. The driver got out. “What happened to the two of you? Are you okay?”
“It’s a long story. Is there any way you can take us to the hospital?” Ian asked.
He helped them into the back of the truck. Climbing into the cab might have been harder, trying to squeeze everyone into the space.
Dallas bit her lip, the searing pain was unbearable. She held back the tears the best she was able. Settling into the truck bed, she leaned against a sideboard as the man drove them to the hospital. Ian thanked the driver profusely, and then went inside the hospital with Dallas.
A security guard brought a wheelchair over on seeing them pull up.
“Take her first, she has a gunshot wound,” Ian directed.
“Ian,” she called out, not sure what to say. She wasn’t ready to part ways.
“Go! I’ll check on you later.” He limped on his lame leg and fell into the admissions counter of the emergency room, hugging onto it for dear life.
They moved him to triage and then to a curtained off room. He suddenly realized the gravity of his own situation. His adrenalin was coming down and the pain was greater than he knew it could be. Shock had buffered him previously, but now on the hospital bed, the pain shattered him.
The doctors were talking fast and moving faster. He was losing track. There were streams of words and he was pretty sure at one point they were directed at him, but all he could hear were Dallas’s groans as they worked to remove her shoe. She needed stronger meds, they both did. As the drip started into his arm, calmness washed over him.
He wanted to help her. He wanted to comfort her. And yet she was a stranger. She was the reason he was here. They were better off parting ways. She wasn’t his responsibility.
The doctors spoke… “May need to remove a portion of your leg…toxins from damaged tissue…organs…bloodstream…”
Ian was drifting on the high of the medication. Relief was coming fast. He was exhausted. He tried to focus on the words, but his mind was clouded. He nodded along, as if he knew what they were talking about.
The doctors were still speaking. “We need to see if the muscle is dead. Our goal is to stop hypotension, which can occur when the fluids of your body pool to the damaged area, leaving vital organs in danger. We’re also concerned about debris and myoglobin from the dead muscle tissue causing kidney problems.”
Ian nodded and then drifted off. A pleasant detached feeling eased his ails. His thoughts bounced around to Dallas and the two of them hobbling together…her long blonde hair…sheep, something about sheep…Dallas leaning against him. She was so soft and pretty. He needed to see her again.
Chapter 7
Dallas went into surgery. The surgeons did an extensive clean out of debris and foreign matter, along with looking for fractured and splintered bone. They needed to remove bullet fragments, dirt, and rock. Once the basics were done, it was time to try to repair nerves, joint cartilage, tendons, and muscle. She’d go through negative pressure wound therapy and have her bandages changed often. It was more complex than she could have imagined. Skin grafting was healing now. She would be braced up so the foot repairs would have time to knit together as well.
She hoped somebody was looking after her sheep. In a panic about her farm, she finally reached a friend. Not to worry, they’d make sure everything was okay. The community would pool together to help pay for extra help during her recovery if need be. Her family was part of the community for years. Her parents had helped many others when their neighbors were down, and they were there to return the favor. She was overwhelmed by the generosity.
***
She didn’t expect to see Ian again, certainly not at the hospital or with a look of concern. What she expected was anger and bitterness. The nurse’s aide left him in a wheelchair next to her hospital bed. Ian thanked the aide for her help.
“Sure thing; I’ll be back for you in an hour. You have therapy later.” She turned to leave.
“Ian?” Dallas wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t stop staring at his face.
“Hey. How are you
doing?” His voice was soft. He wasn’t angry. He was worried about her.
Dallas stared at the man, not sure what to say. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She looked away, not wanting him to see. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t. What’s done is done.”
“I can’t take it back. How are…” she stopped in her tracks, looking down. The tears started again. “I’m so sorry.”
He was still coming to terms with losing his lower leg, but to see her reaction burned. He saw the pain and guilt she was shouldering, and understood it, but there were no guarantees in life. It came down to complications, recovery times, problems that could arise over the next few weeks or months, and with too much risk to his organs with toxins and debris in his bloodstream, he opted for the amputation.
She finally found her voice again. “Your leg…”
Ian nodded. “It had to come off.” The adjustment was one that would take time. They’d fit him for a prosthetic, but when it came down to it, what’s done was done. He made his peace after he came out of surgery. Going in, he wasn’t so sure. It was a scary choice and he was groggy. He had to trust the doctors and didn’t have time to weigh a lot of options. He heard words, explanations, and then he woke up from surgery with part of a limb gone. When it came down to it, he had to decide on his leg or his life…and he chose life.
The guilt burdened Dallas in ways she didn’t even know she was capable of feeling. Shame clouded over her like a dark storm. She tried not to stare. He watched her reaction. Would she see him as less of a man?
“Why are you here?” She stiffened, guarding herself. “What do you want from me? Just have your lawyer contact me and we’ll take care of things. It’s obvious you wanted me to see…”
Ian waited as she rambled defensively. “Are you finished yet?”
Dallas closed her eyes to collect her thoughts and let out an exasperated sigh. “I guess I am.”
