Aux’s thick-soled boots pounded the icy pavement as he bolted for the car. He jumped straight over the huge trunk of the tree and almost skidded past the front door. He yanked on the handle, but the SUV was demolished. The door was dented so badly it was melded shut.
He wiped the steamed-up driver’s side window with his arm, but still couldn’t see anyone.
Please be alive.
Please be dead, the bear inside of him growled.
Aux shook his head, rattling those awful thoughts out of his brain while he worked. He swung up onto the hood of the charcoal gray SUV and tried to see inside. All he could see was brunette hair. A woman. Shit, shit, shit.
“Miss? Miss, can you hear me?”
Her entire seat was shoved to the front and had pinned her against the steering wheel. She didn’t move or respond.
He couldn’t break the window right next to her because the glass would cut her up. He leapt off the hood and balled his fist to punch out the passenger’s side window. It would be a quick punch, and painless to him. His body was built for power and it took a helluva lot to pierce his thick skin, but that glass could hurt her paper-thin human skin.
She was already hurt.
He knew the rules. Aux couldn’t show his power to humans, but this lady was in trouble.
He looked around at the barren road, but he was all alone. Him and this lady.
“Miss?” he yelled again. Still nothing.
Fuck it. Aux tried the handle, and it didn’t budge. The door was too damaged. With a snarl he hit the window with his fist, broke the glass, and gripped the window frame. With a yank and the groan of metal, he ripped the door off and flung it into the ditch.
The woman had buckled in her hair curling thingies like they were people.
Fuckin’ weirdo.
He was a giant man. He’d never hated that until right now, when he needed to fit into a narrow space. The tree had pushed both front seats forward and caved in the space up front.
“Lady!” he barked out as he reached as far as he could and unfastened her seatbelt.
Her damn airbag hadn’t deployed, and right now he couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The thick scent of blood hung in the air.
The bear loved it.
She’s dead, the monster in him said.
“She’s not. She’s breathing. I can hear her heartbeat.” Stay in reality. Don’t let the animal take over.
Aux gritted his teeth, reached into the small space, and pulled on her arm. Fuck, she was badly pinned. Was her neck broken? Her back?
He pushed on the seat to make more space for himself but the seat only groaned against his abuse.
So much blood.
Head spinning, he scrambled back and eyed the tree. It had a clean break at its trunk. Aux looked around again. No one was here. No one would see him, and the woman was unconscious. Who would know?
There are rules. They’ll kill you.
“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled, his voice echoing through the weather-beaten forest. He couldn’t think straight when the animal filled his head like this.
“Help me.” The voice was nothing but a whisper.
Was he imagining it? Aux looked into the car at the woman. Her hand was resting near the seatbelt, palm up, fingers curled slightly. Her index finger twitched. “Help.”
And that was that.
Aux backed up and squatted near the tree for leverage, gripped it, and roared as he used his powerful legs to push it upward. The tree was huge, but not too big for him. Gritting his teeth, he picked it up out of the groove it had created across her SUV. He lifted…lifted until it was free of the crushed roof, and then with another roar he shoved it back and away from the car.
They’ll kill you. You’re dead.
Shaking his head hard, Aux ran back to the passenger’s side door and used the destroyed door frame for leverage, then shoved the seat backward. The metal screeched and gave until he had enough space to crawl inside. Sweat streaming down his face, Aux gripped the woman’s headrest and eased it back. With a few crackles and snaps, it buckled and broke.
He was breaking about a dozen first-aid rules right now.
With a gasp, the woman eased back from the steering wheel and turned toward him. Her hair still covered her face.
“Can you feel your legs?” he demanded. His voice didn’t sound human. Shhhhit.
“Y-yes. I feel drunk.”
With a frown, Aux reached for her hair to move it out of her face, but hesitated right before he touched her. Against the rules. Against the rules.
He pulled his work gloves from his back pocket and pulled them on. No touching humans. Touching human skin was dangerous for the oversensitive creatures.
He crawled back in and brushed her hair out of her face. The first thing he noticed? A nasty gash on her forehead that was streaming red down her busted nose. The second? Big, clear, scared green eyes. The prettiest green eyes he’d ever seen.
His heart thumped against his chest strangely. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”
“Are the police on their way?” she asked.
Aux pursed his lips. The cops and him didn’t mix well. They wouldn’t come way out here in this storm anyway.
“I’m close as you’re gonna get.”
Her eyes got even wider. She had gold rimming her pupil, inside the green. Pretty color. Werewolf eyes, but she smelled utterly human.
“Your voice is scary,” she slurred, then blinked slowly.
“Before I pull you out, can you move your legs?”
She nodded. That was a good sign. She shuffled both legs under the steering wheel and balled her hands into fists.
“Does anything hurt?” he asked.
“You have weird eyes,” she mumbled. “My, what big teeth you have.”
“Lady, you took a nasty bump on the head. I think we need to get you to the hospital.”
“Like mercury.”
“What?”
“Your eyes are silver and churny. I broke a thermometer on the floor once and there was a little blob of mercury. I was seven.”
“Awesome story.” Geez, stop growling!
“I want to get out of here now, okay? Me and my friend.”
Aux checked the back seat in a rush, horrified that there was someone in the back, but it was just a crushed seat full of duffle bags.
“Where is your friend?”
She pointed to the blow dryer next to her, still buckled in. “Meet Billie.”
Aux pursed his lips. This human was a strange one. He unbuckled Billie and promised, “We’ll bring him.”
“It’s a her,” the woman enlightened him.
He fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and count to ten. Of course a human would be concerned with her fucking blow dryer while she was bleeding after a horrific car crash. He would never understand the creatures as long as he breathed.
She started crawling out, and okay, she seemed to be moving fine. His hands hovered, ready to help, but he was trying to mind the rule—no touching humans.
Even with his gloves on, it felt wrong.
She slid out of the truck like a gummy worm, and her legs buckled the second her high heels touched the snow.
“What are you wearing?” he griped as he helped her up.
“Lewey-Beetons. They are off-brand, but no one can tell. They make my legs look not-stumpy.”