Daric's Mate Read Free Page B

letting loose a string of profanities as he plowed down his front porch.
    “Fuck!” He waded through waist-deep snow, disparaging himself for not feeding. He was so fucking weak, so depleted. If he had fed, he could have been to the car right now, teleporting himself there in less than a heartbeat.
    “I can’t believe someone actually attempted to come way the hell out here. What kind of fool human actually drove the three miles from town to deliver pizza?” he growled, propelling his massive body through the snowdrifts.
    Once Daric arrived at his long, winding driveway, the snow was lighter, the wind blowing the powdery flakes toward the accumulations already present in his front yard, forming massive drifts. Still, there was plenty of the white stuff in his driveway, way too much for anyone to be on the roads that were certain to be exactly the same way.
    He found the disabled truck in the gully. It looked like the vehicle had slid off his driveway, plunging down about thirty feet head-on into a tree.
    Starting the descent on his feet, he ended up on his ass, sliding down the incline until he reached the battered vehicle. He wrenched open the door, hoping the delivery boy was safe, unharmed.
    Except, the delivery person was definitely not a boy, and she was out cold. The woman’s head was against the steering wheel, her body unmoving. The truck was old, too ancient to have airbags, and the woman had been virtually unprotected except for her seatbelt, which was securely fastened.
    Daric unlatched the belt, examining her quickly, finding a gash on the left side of her head, obviously a head versus window impact.
    For the first time in his life, Daric felt like a goddamn human, helpless in his weakness, and the feeling infuriated him. What good was he to this woman in his current condition? He put a hand to her wound, resting his palm lightly on her head, using what pathetically small amount of power he had at the moment to assess the damage.
    Pain. Loss. Betrayal. Grief. Sorrow.
    Her emotions and memories pounded him, causing him to grit his teeth to try to control the bombardment.
    “I fucking hate this,” he growled, furious that he had very little control over himself at the moment, his weakness making him unable to focus his magic only on her injuries.
    Relaxing, he let all of her emotions and memories flow over him, stopped trying to fight them. Strangely, her emotions felt familiar. Only hers were more recent, fresher, and much rawer.
    After the initial surge ended, Daric closed his eyes, focusing on her brain, trying to find the cause of her unconsciousness. He saw the crash as it happened, her head flying sideways with the impact, cracking against the window. She had a concussion and a tiny bleed in her brain, just enough that it could become serious. Time was not this woman’s friend right now. She needed care.
    I brought her out here. I did this to her. I should have called Temple’s again. Told them not to send anyone. I just assumed they wouldn’t after I heard the weather.
    Running his hands over her body, he checked for any other life-threatening injuries, running a hand down her spine to make sure she hadn’t suffered any spinal injuries. Humans were so fragile, their lives so finite and short. He didn’t want to do anything that could make her injuries worse.
    Smoothing the long, dark hair back from her face, Daric noted that the woman was pretty. And young. Probably no older than her mid-twenties. Shoving his hands under her body, he lifted her from the truck, cradling her against his chest, strangely wanting to protect the fragile, human female after experiencing her sorrow, her loneliness and a barrage of other emotions that made her vulnerable.
    Daric stood in the snow for a moment, not feeling the cold even though his chest and feet were bare, his legs protected only by denim, a fierce look on his face.
    Snow swirled around the two of them, beating at Daric’s massive body, but he ignored it,