Hayley POV
The loud squeal of tires skidding across asphalt disrupts the peaceful morning air and I whip around to see where the noise is coming from. Then I see him. A young boy in a bright blue coat, standing in the road, his little face frozen in shock, staring wide-eyed, as a dark grey van hurtles towards him. My heart jumps into my mouth and I take a step towards him, already knowing that I am too far away to help. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a blur of movement as a man launches himself into the road.
In a split second, he has somehow pushed the boy clear, but just as he climbs to his feet to get out of the way, the van barrels into him with a sickening thud, and his body is sent flying through the air by the force of the impact. My stomach lurches at the sight, and I'm frozen in place, horrified at the scene unfolding in front of me.
The sound of screaming fills the air and breaks me from my stupor. The little boy's mother races to his side and collapses on her knees beside him, sobbing, holding his little round cheeks between her two hands gently as she checks his body over for injuries. He's sitting up already, and even though he is crying and clutching his leg, at least he doesn't seem to be too seriously hurt. The driver of the van clambers out from behind the deployed airbag with a loud groan before collapsing on his hands and knees, bright red blood pouring down the side of his face from a gash above his brow.
My feet have already started carrying me in the direction the man's body was thrown, despite dreading to think what I might find when I reach him. I sprint across the grass verge at the side of the road and scramble down the steep slope almost on my backside, using my hands to keep my balance as my feet slip and slide on the loose rocks.
As I hit the flatter gravel section at the bottom, I straighten and look around, desperately searching for where he has landed. I see him, and my blood runs cold. He is floating face down in the middle of the water, arms spread out, his head bobbing slightly in the slow-moving current.
Shit, shit, shit.
He is not moving and is clearly unconscious, if not already dead.
Don't think like that.
I kick off my runners, peel off my hoodie and t-shirt and launch myself into the ice-cold water in just my running shorts and sports bra. It is a beautiful sunny spring day, with clear blue skies, but the water is still shockingly cold. I gasp as I plunge into the dark river and my lungs constrict, refusing to work properly. I fight to keep my breathing even as I swim out to reach him, grabbing him from behind and rolling him over quickly to get his mouth and nose out of the water.
I tip his head back, wrap my arm under his chin and start to swim back towards the riverbed. I am going against the current and I'm panting hard by the time I reach the edge. Grabbing him under the armpits, I plant my feet firmly into the mud, pulling him back onto the bank, using every ounce of strength I have left to haul him onto dry land.
He is tall and well built, compared to my slight frame and shorter height, and I won't be able to move him any further than this by myself. It's probably not a good idea anyway with potential spinal injuries to worry about. I drop down to my knees beside him, stones sticking into my bare skin, but I can hardly feel them, I've gone so numb from the cold water. A couple of bystanders watch horrified from the top of the bank, but nobody comes down to help me, perhaps thinking he's already dead.
I can't give up though, I have to at least try.
I touch under his clean-shaven jaw and check for a pulse but feel nothing. I put my cheek to his mouth to see if there is any air flowing past his lips or nose, nothing again. Rocking back onto my heels, I focus on his muscular chest, but I can't see any movement to indicate he is still breathing either.
I grimace at the nasty cuts across his forehead, right cheek, and jaw, his broken nose, and the blood dripping down the side of his face into his wet dark hair. A quick glance confirms that he has suffered some serious injuries, his left forearm is bent at an odd angle, and his shoulder on the same side appears to be dislocated, maybe broken at the collarbone as well.
And that's just what I can see on the outside.
It seems too cruel for him to die after committing such an act of heroism, but any other outcome seems unrealistic looking at him now, deathly pale and still.
I shake my head and refocus, silently thanking the gods for mandatory health and safety training as I start CPR, even though my limbs feel tired and heavy from dragging him ashore. I pray that the approaching sirens get here quickly. I'm aware of someone sinking to their knees in the mud beside me and gripping the man by his shoulders as I continue compressions.
"Cooper! Jesus, this can't be happening." The man beside me says, leaning over to take his pulse again. Suddenly Cooper jerks and coughs violently, choking and retching as his body expels the water from his lungs. Tears of relief prick my eyes as I tilt his large shoulders over to allow the water to pour past his almost blue lips and into the dirt.
"It's ok, you're going to be ok," I whisper into his ear with as much conviction as I can muster. I smooth back the hair from his beautiful deep brown eyes as they blink slowly. I hear the rattle of a stretcher being carried down the bank and paramedics surround us, crouching down beside him to take over.
I attempt to stand from my kneeling position to give them more space but collapse backward when my legs refuse to work, landing on my ass on the hard ground. Strong hands reach under my armpits from behind, gently pulling me up to a standing position and back a couple of steps so that I'm out of the way.
"Thanks," I mutter, looking over my shoulder at my helper but he isn't even looking at me, he is staring at the man on the ground and knows him well judging by the look on his face. He pushes his jaw-length blonde hair back roughly with one hand, blinking back tears and cursing under his breath about that being a close call. I'm not quite as optimistic that his friend is out of the woods yet, so I say nothing. Once my jelly legs start to work again and can hold me upright on their own, I step away, wrap my arms around myself, and watch as they load Cooper onto a backboard to carry him back up the hill.
My body starts to shiver now that the initial adrenaline rush has passed and the cold that has seeped into my bones finally registers with my brain. My legs start to give way again but the man behind me catches me before I hit the ground. He turns me to face him, holding me steady by my shoulders and I stare dumbly into the brightest pair of icy blue eyes that I have ever seen. He bends down till we're eye to eye and looks at me with concern as my teeth start to chatter, before slowly looking me up and down, taking in my wet hair and lack of clothing.
"Are you ok? Fuck, I think you need to get warm..." he looks at me, expecting me to move or to formulate an answer, but my brain can't seem to force out any words through the fog in my mind and so I just continue to stare. I don't think I even manage to nod.
He frowns before sweeping me up into his arms, and my head rolls back to rest on his shoulder as I just kind of flop in his arms, all my energy spent. He adjusts my position and holds me tightly against his solid chest before turning to carry me up the hill behind the stretcher. A deep rumble reaches us, sounding almost like a growl to me, and he jerks his head up quickly to stare at his friend, before looking back at me with a curious look on his face. After depositing me carefully on a waiting stretcher parked behind one of the ambulance’s open doors, he cups my face in both hands and leans in close.
"Cooper would be dead without you; I have no words." He shakes his head before meeting my eyes again, "Thank you." I grip his hand and give it a quick squeeze.
"Is he going to be ok?" I manage to stutter out as I am strapped down and loaded into the back of the ambulance.
"He'll be ok." He reassures me, giving me a little wink before nodding once, sprinting to the back of another ambulance where Cooper is and jumping in beside him before the doors slam closed. There is a crowd gathered now, drawn by the flashing red and blue lights, all huddled around with worried faces and speaking in hushed voices.
So much for laying low and avoiding any drama.
All that work trying to find somewhere to hide and build a new life, and something tells me I've just ruined it all. I shut my eyes and despite the paramedic beside me asking me to try and stay awake, I feel myself drifting into sleep as the siren turns on and the ambulance pulls away.
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Hayley POVI blink my eyes open and squint. The fluorescent lights above my bed are uncomfortably bright and not helping my pounding headache. It takes me a second to remember what happened and realize where I am. Groaning out loud, I cover my eyes with my arm. I am supposed to be staying below the radar, not ending up all over hospital and police reports."Welcome back Hayley. Headache?" my nurse says brightly, picking up a cup of water from the sideboard in the room and handing me a little plastic container with a couple of painkillers in it. I tip the tablets into my mouth before taking a few sips of water. I scoot back up the bed into a sitting position, pulling the thin blue blanket up with me."How are you feeling? You’ve been out for a few hours," she asks gently, coming to my side to take my pulse, and wheeling over the blood pressure monitor."Fine," I answer, "I feel like a bit of a fraud for taking up a hospital bed, to be h
Cooper POVBeep, beep, beep. The slow steady noise beside my head drags me from my sleep and into what feels like the worst hangover ever. I open my eyes slowly and it takes me a couple of seconds to get my bearings and realize that I am in a hospital bed. I try to sit up but a sharp stabbing pain in my stomach makes me lie back flat on the bed. I wince at my splitting headache and the agony I feel as I try to move my arms and legs. I hurt everywhere. I growl to myself, not liking this feeling of weakness one little bit, and lower my head back to the pillow. As a wolf shifter and an Alpha at that, I pride myself on being strong and nearly indestructible. I guess a speeding van is the exception."You're going to be a terrible patient, aren't you?" My sister Leila is standing in the doorway with her hand on her hips, chuckling to herself. I ignore her and close my eyes tight against the pain. She lifts the chart at the end of the bed and scans down over it,
Hayley POVThe next morning, a nurse arrives just after breakfast and hands me two clear plastic bags. They stink. She raises the first one and holds it out for me to take."Your hoodie and runners from the scene of the accident, Ethan dropped them off last night, along with your keys and phone which were still in the pocket. And he drove your car back here from the park rather than leave it there overnight." She holds up the other bag, "These ... are the mucky, wet shorts and top you came in. I've brought you these to put on instead, so you have something dry to wear home." I wrinkle my nose before reluctantly taking them. I hope I don't smell as bad as that."Oh god, yuck," I say as I look at the wet dirty clothes through the plastic."Yep." She responds, obviously keen to get rid of the offending items before she hands me some green scrubs."Thanks for these. Wait, he drove my car here!? I was just going to get a taxi home." I stare at her in sh
Cooper POVI fume all the way back to my house and there is silence for the entire 30-minute drive. I try to stay calm and fight the urge to kick Ethan and Leila out of the car and race straight back to the hospital. Even though I know Ethan is just enjoying winding me up, it doesn't stop me from wanting to tear his head off for daring to touch what is mine. My beat-up old blue pick-up is parked at the side of my small log cabin as we pull in and beside it is my dad's shiny brand new one. A loud sigh escapes my lips as I swivel and glare at my sister in the back seat, who at least has the good grace to look ashamed of herself."You told them?" I ask her in disbelief, "I haven't even met her yet and you told them? What are we, 17 years old?""I was just so excited!" she says sheepishly, "and I only told Dad. Not Mum. I'm not stupid. She would have been down in the hospital trying to fit her for a wedding dress already if she knew." I wish she were joking but that
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Hayley POVWow. Just wow.I stay out on the porch for a good five minutes trying to work out what on earth just happened. When I heard the truck coming into the drive, I just assumed it was a delivery driver from the hardware store with my next load of supplies, but when I realised who it was, I felt butterflies in my stomach like a teenager with their first crush in high school.I had seen his picture printed beside mine in the local paper and had been drooling over it all week. I'm ashamed to admit this was on top of turning the thank you card that he sent me over and over in my hands as if it was my very first valentine's day card. Is it possible to fancy someone's handwriting? Was it possible that the card smelled like him?Yes, I sniffed it.Even I am embarrassed at my behaviour on that one. I was acting like a crazy woman, getting obsessed with a man I didn't even know. But then there he was, looking even better in person, and I knew instantl