One - The Accident

Althea’s p.o.v

The rain came without warning.

One moment, I was driving through the winding mountain road with nothing but clear skies and the hum of my old Honda's engine for company. The next, the heavens opened up, and sheets of water slammed against my windshield with such force that my wipers could barely keep up.

"Come on." I muttered, leaning forward and squinting through the downpour. My hands tightened on the steering wheel as the road ahead blurred into a gray wash of rain and fog.

I shouldn't have taken this route. The main highway would have been safer, better lit, and actually maintained. But I'd wanted the scenic drive, the mountain views and the feeling of freedom that came with taking the road less traveled. After spending most of my twenty-four years tethered to hospital beds and heart monitors, I'd earned the right to be a little reckless.

Or so I'd thought.

The transplant had given me a second chance at life. One year ago, I'd been dying, my weak and failing heart barely managing to keep me alive. Now, I had a strong, healthy heart beating in my chest. A gift from a stranger. A miracle I still couldn't quite believe.

I'd left my mother's house three days ago, determined to start fresh in a new town, to live the life I had always dreamt of. No more cautious steps. No more living in fear.

But right now, as my tires skidded on the slick road and my headlights barely pierced the storm, I was starting to think caution might have been the smarter choice.

I was so lost in the thoughts that I didn’t see the curve coming too fast.

I saw it too late. The sharp bend in the road, the way the asphalt disappeared into darkness. I slammed on the brakes, felt the car hydroplane, felt that sickening loss of control as the vehicle spun.

My heart lurched.

Not with fear but with pain.

A sharp, stabbing sensation burst through my chest, stealing my breath. My hands slipped on the wheel. The world tilted as my car careened off the road, crashing through underbrush and slamming into a tree with a sickening crunch of metal.

The airbag exploded into my face.

Then, silence.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't know how long I sat there, dazed and trembling. The deflated airbag had draped across my lap like a collapsed parachute. My ears were ringing. My chest ached, not from the impact, but from that strange, unexplainable pain that had seized my heart just before the crash.

Panic clawed at my throat. Was it rejection? Was my new heart failing already? I didn’t want to experience death again.

I pressed a shaky hand to my sternum, feeling the steady thump thump beneath my palm. It was beating and still strong.

"Okay." I whispered to myself.

"You're okay. Just stressed. Just scared."

But I wasn't okay. My car was totaled, wrapped around a tree in the middle of nowhere. Rain poured through a crack in the windshield, soaking my seat.

My phone? I fumbled for it in the cupholder but it had no signal.

Of course it didn't.

I took a breath, forced myself to think. I couldn't stay here. I needed help. Somewhere in this godforsaken forest, there had to be a house, a ranger station or something.

I shoved open the door and stumbled out into the storm.

The forest was darker than I'd expected. The rain had lessened to a steady drizzle, but the canopy overhead blocked out what little moonlight remained. I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering as the cold seeped through my drenched clothes.

I had no idea where I was going. I just walked, one foot in front of the other, my sneakers squelching in the mud.

The trees seemed to close in around me. Tall, ancient pines that loomed like silent sentinels. The air smelled of wet earth and pine needles, and something else. Something musky and wild that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

I had been walking for maybe twenty minutes when I heard it.

A low, rumbling growl that left me frozen to my place.

My heart kicked against my ribs as I slowly turned my head, scanning the darkness. Nothing. Just shadows and trees and the faint patter of rain.

Then I saw them.

Eyes.

Glowing. Yellowish. Watching me from the underbrush.

My breath caught. An animal.

Something big.

Could that be a bear or a mountain lion?

My mind raced through possibilities as the creature stepped forward, and my stomach dropped.

It looked like a wolf. But wolves didn't get that big, did they? This thing was massive and easily the size of a small bear, with sleek dark fur that glistened in the rain and teeth that gleamed when it curled its lip back in warning.

Maybe it was a hybrid. Some kind of wolf dog crossbreed. People kept those as pets sometimes, didn't they? I tried to comfort myself.

But my foot caught on a root and I stumbled backward. I went down hard, mud splashing up around me. Pain flared in my palms as I caught myself.

The animal prowled closer, and I could hear its breath now. It was deep, rumbling and far too intelligent in the way it watched me.

"Good dog." I whispered, my voice shaking. "Nice dog. I'm not going to hurt you."

God, that sounded stupid. Like it could understand me.

The creature's ears flattened against its skull and it took out its canines.

It took another step forward.

I was going to die out here. Survived a failing heart and a major transplant surgery only to get mauled by some overgrown wolf in the middle of nowhere.

I cursed myself. I should have stayed there and waited until a vehicle would have passed.

A sharp whistle cut through the air.

The animal stopped. Its ears perked up, and it turned its massive head toward the sound, then, impossibly it seemed to relax. Like it was obeying a command.

I concentrated on the sound and I heard footsteps. It was heavy and deliberate.

A man emerged from the shadows where the dog was looking.

My breath caught for an entirely different reason.

He was tall. Well over six feet, with broad shoulders and a presence that seemed to command the space around him. Dark hair, damp from the rain, fell across his forehead in a way that should have made him look disheveled but instead made him look dangerous. His jaw was sharp, his features striking in a harsh, unforgiving way.

But it was his eyes that made my heart stutter.

Silver. Like liquid mercury in the dim light. Cold and piercing, they locked onto me with an intensity that made me feel pinned in place.

He looked at me like I was something distasteful he had found on his property.

"You're trespassing." He said, his voice a low rumble that seemed to resonate in my chest.

I struggled to my feet, mud clinging to my jeans. "I-I didn't know. My car crashed, and I was looking for help.."

"I don't care about your excuses." The word 'excuses' came out sharp and dismissive.

He took a step closer, and I had to fight the urge to back away. There was something about him that screamed danger. Not in an obvious, threatening way, but in the way apex predators didn't need to prove anything.

"This is private property. You have no business being here."

Private property? Out here in the middle of the woods? Were there any construction in process? But at this hour?

"I'm sorry. I didn't see any signs. I'll leave right now if you just point me toward the nearest road." I said quickly, my heart pounding.

His silver eyes raked over me. My muddy clothes, my bleeding palms, the way I was shivering in the cold. There was no sympathy in that gaze. Only contempt.

"You're weak." He said flatly, like he was stating an obvious fact.

"You won't make it half a mile in your condition."

The words shouldn't have hurt. They were just words from a stranger. But something about the way he said them, the absolute disdain in his tone sent a spike of pain through my chest.

I gasped, my hand flying to my heart. It felt like something was squeezing it and crushing it from the inside. It was not a heart attack though. I knew what those felt like. I had watched my old heart fail enough times. This was different. It was sharper and more targeted.

My knees buckled.

The man's expression didn't change. He didn't move to catch me. He just stood there, watching me collapse with the same cold detachment someone might watch an insect struggle.

"Pathetic." He muttered.

The pain intensified when he said that, white-hot and blinding. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. My vision swam as I fell forward, my hands sinking into the mud.

What was happening? Was it rejection? Was my body finally giving up?

"Get up." He commanded. His voice cut through the haze of pain.

"Or I'll have my men drag you out of here."

Men? What men? The only thing I could see was that massive wolf-dog sitting calmly beside him now, watching me with those eerie yellow eyes.

I tried to speak, to explain that something was wrong, that I needed help. But my body wouldn't cooperate. My heart felt like it was tearing itself apart.

The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was those cold silver eyes, staring down at me without a shred of mercy.

And the last thing I thought before I passed out was that I had survived death once already.

I wasn't sure I would survive whatever this was.