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CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

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Geoff Askew: I know that despite this race restarting, and despite the battle for the remaining places being fierce, everyone has been waiting for news on Vanessa Lennon’s condition. I can now tell you that Vanessa is in good condition and stable.

The medical team reports that Vanessa suffered burns on her arms and legs, along with a broken arm. All indications are that she will make a swift and full recovery, as will River Daniels, who suffered burns on his hands while pulling her from the wreckage.

Charlie Amor: Thank goodness for that. I can’t stop watching that replay. There are times in Formula 1 where everything that can go wrong does go wrong. This is one of those times.

Geoff: Tell me about it. It’s still unclear exactly what happened. But in the process of being lapped, Joshua Gendra appears to have flinched. Whether he was surprised by Lennon’s speed or was surprised by Bachman’s closeness behind him, I’m not sure. You see there. He clips the back of Vanessa’s tyre, maybe more than that, and it sent her off the track at exactly the wrong angle.

Charlie: This is easily one of the worst accidents in the sport’s history, and I’m glad there wasn’t a worse outcome. From myself, Geoff, and all the broadcast staff, we’re wishing Vanessa and her pack a speedy recovery.

Geoff: Absolutely. And we’ll come to you with any further updates. Now, back to the race, where Lars Bachman has taken first place.

No one spoke in the car. There wasn’t anything to say, because all three of us had a singular goal: get to the hospital as soon as humanly possible.

Watching Vanessa’s car go into the wall and explode into flames took years off my life. It kept playing in my head, the dread and disbelief that felt like I’d been plunged into a frigid ocean. The inability to move, staring at the screens until River held his thumb up. That was just for us, I knew. So we would know she was alive. It was the signal I needed to move.

Grayson already had the car en route to pick us up, though he was pale, and both his and Beck’s bonds were drenched with the same emotions mine was.

My phone buzzed at the same time as the others.

Annika

Got her. They’re taking her for scans. She’s not awake yet. River is losing his mind while they fix his hands.

She had all our numbers, and had managed to get out of the paddock faster.

Losing my mind would be the tame description of what I would be if I’d had to pull her out of the fire.

Grayson

Thank you, Annika. We’ll be there in five.

She texted River’s room number. That would make it easier.

If they’d taken Vanessa for scans or x-rays we wouldn’t be able to see her. It didn’t matter. We were here, piling out of the car while the driver took care of the rest.

The Formula 1 staff saw us coming and pointed us in the right direction, and we were halted in front of a door. Vanessa was inside, unconscious, while being scanned. From somewhere close, River’s voice echoed down the halls.

“Go keep him calm,” Beck said. “I’ve got her.”

It went without saying that one of us would be with her at all times, conscious or not, even if we weren’t in the same room. It released a knot of tension so deep I wasn’t sure where it rested.

“We’ll be right back.” Grayson touched me on the shoulder, and we went.

The yelled words were slurred and vague. “Let me the hell out of here. I swear to god if I don’t see my Omega?—”

Grayson pulled back a curtain and exposed River on a bed, his hands being cleaned and bandaged by two different nurses. His face and neck were red like he’d been badly sunburned. I fucking wished it was a sunburn. He was sitting up, but the way his body moved side to side told me it was only at his insistence.

“Gray,” River said. “Elias. They drugged me. They won’t let me see her and they won’t tell me anything.”

The nurses stood back and let us through. I walked straight to him and pulled him into a hug, careful not to fuck with his hands. I held him hard. He was mine too, and I didn’t love him any less just because we weren’t together. He might not have seen the secondary explosion after he pulled Vanessa from the car, but I had.

We could have lost them both.

“I promise Mr. Daniels will let you finish your treatment,” Gray said. “But can you give us a moment?”

River couldn’t hug me back because of his hands, but now that I could feel him through the bond, I knew he was steadied by our presence. I felt his body relax, if not his mind. When I stepped back, Gray put a hand on River’s shoulder. “We just saw her. They’re running some tests.”

“I need to see her.” River’s eyes were wild, and not only from the medication. “I have to see her.” Beneath everything, his fear was raw. He couldn’t see her now, just like he hadn’t been able to see her through the flames. If he couldn’t see her, his Alpha couldn’t know she was safe.

“You’re going to see her,” Gray said. “You just have to let them finish looking at your hands. Vanessa can’t see you right now anyway, and once she wakes up, you’re not going to want to leave to get your hands bandaged, so do it now.”

River frowned, slumping. “I don’t care about my hands,” he mumbled. “I care about her.”

Moving his hand to the back of River’s neck, Gray gripped it. “Of course you do. We all love our Omega. But we love you too. So get your hands fixed or I’ll tell them to knock you out completely.”

“Fine.” His tone made it clear he wasn’t happy about it, but he seemed calmer now, though his bond didn’t feel that way. He felt like he was on the edge of utter panic. I couldn’t argue with the feeling when I was barely pushing it down.

“You got her out,” Gray said quietly, still gripping River’s neck. “She’s safe. She’s here. She’s going to be okay.”

It didn’t matter that we could still feel his nerves. We all needed to hear the words—River especially. Grayson stepped back to the curtain and nodded to the nurses who were dressing River’s hands. They hadn’t even gotten his gloves all the way off yet, parts of them fully melted and clinging to his skin.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Lie down, you stubborn ass,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “You’re swaying more than a drunk at a pub crawl.”

I felt the burst of fear that went through him, even as he forced himself to slump back onto the bed. The shaking I saw wasn’t from pain, it was shock and terror. Everything sinking in.

“Hold on a second,” I said, ducking back into the hallway and retracing our steps. Beck still stood where we left him, watching Vanessa through the window. Seeing her still like that...

I hated it.

Closing my eyes, I took a breath to control my own fear and be grateful I didn’t have the same instincts that were making this so much worse for them. Beck put a hand on my shoulder, and we simply stared at her for a moment.

Lifting my phone, I snapped a photo through the window.

“He all right?”

I shook my head. “No, not really. I think his hands will recover, though they’re burned, but he’s terrified.”

“I can feel it.”

Beck’s bond was low and dark. He was tense and holding it together, pushing everything he felt aside so he could focus on our Omega and our pack. He was relieved River was all right, but couldn’t tear his eyes away from Nessa.

“I think if I show him a picture he’ll be better.”

“Yeah.”

I zoomed in on the photo I’d taken as I walked back to River’s room. “Here.” I held the screen where he could see it. “There she is. They’re scanning her. She’s still out. Beck’s watching her through the window.”

River blew out a shaky breath. The fear didn’t disappear, but it lessened. “Thank you.”

The doctor stepped through the curtain and nodded to Grayson before shaking his hand. “Good to see you, Grayson.”

“Sorry I can’t say the same.” Gray smiled tightly. “His hands?”

“They’ll heal. Won’t be fun, and there are a couple of small places we’ll have to keep an eye on to see if they need skin grafts. His face and neck will be fine. All things considered, it could have been worse.”

Gray glanced toward River, whose eyes were now closed, the drugs taking a deeper effect. He wasn’t asleep, but he wasn’t listening either. “Will he be able to race?”

The doctor chuckled. “Any chance we’d actually be able to stop him if I said no?”

“Not likely,” I said.

“He should be able to, but he’ll have to follow the care instructions to the letter.” Then he nodded at us to follow outside of the curtain. We followed him back to where Vanessa was being wheeled out of the testing room.

“What do you know?” Beck asked, joining us.

“I did an exam when she first arrived. Her right arm is broken, and she has some burns. I need to wait on the results of the scans to make sure we’re not dealing with anything internal, but things look good so far.” He blew out a breath. “I can’t lie to you. She was lucky. I saw the replay. If anything had gone a different way, or River hadn’t gotten her out before the secondary explosion?”

The silence became thick and heavy with unspoken possibilities. “Yeah,” he finally said. “She was lucky.”

“Can we see her?”

“There are a couple other tests I’d like to run, just to make sure we’re covering all our bases. So not quite yet. As soon as we put her in a room, you can see her.”

“Thank you,” Gray said.

All three of us watched them wheel Nessa into another room. The second she was out of sight, it felt like a hole had been punched through all of our chests. Now all we could do was wait.