The Wolf's Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats Read Free

down the slick snow covered hill. He’d
grabbed their medical kit, but had no real illusions that the human
or humans inside the car were alive. As the car came into view, it
was clear it had rolled. The windows were shattered, the light from
his Magnum picking up the broken pieces like diamonds on the
snow.
    “Fuck me.” Eryx said quietly. He agreed
completely. The closer they drew to the car, fighting through
several feet of snow at the bottom of the hillside, the more edgy
he felt, as if there were something horribly wrong about the whole
scenario. Not just the potential loss of life, but another thing
entirely.
    Sleet whipped inside the car from the broken
windows, and the blood covered head of the poor human was slumped
to the side. He could see the lightly tanned skin of the human’s
neck, striped with blood. Delicate and small, it was clear this was
a woman. Eryx shined his light inside the car and they both reached
their hands to the neck of the woman at the same time. The instant
they touched her skin, a sizzle of warmth shot through him and he
looked at his brother and saw Eryx had the same startled look.
    “Eryx?” He whispered, his throat suddenly
dry.
    “I feel it, too. Tell me she’s alive, Ethan.
Please.” Eryx made room for Ethan’s EMT expertise, and he pressed
his fingers into the side of her neck for her pulse and found it
surprisingly strong.
    “She’s alive.” He assured his brother, and
Eryx let out a breath he’d been holding and clicked the radio on
his collar, barking for the ETA on the rescue. The crackle of the
night operator’s voice over the radio sounded harsh in the quiet
stillness of the valley, “10 minutes, boys.”
    Ethan smoothed the hair gently from the side
of her face that was resting on her right shoulder. A gash just
above her hairline over her left ear must have happened when she
hit her head on the door, and leaning inside, he could see a cut on
her forehead that was bruising quickly but had stopped bleeding,
probably from the steering wheel.
    “Can we, should we get her out?” Eryx asked,
shifting nervously on his feet.
    Ethan tested the door after unlocking it and
it was damaged enough it wouldn’t budge without considerable force.
“If we force the door open, we might hurt her more. It’s best to
wait for the squad.”
    “So we do nothing while our mate lays there
bleeding?” Eryx growled and Ethan felt the same raw protectiveness
for this stranger who was immediately imbedded in his heart.
    He began to unbutton his coat. “Not nothing,
we can at least keep her warm. Give me your coat.”
    They didn’t really need the coats. Cats ran
warmer than humans, so giving her the wool coats they were both
wearing didn’t hurt them any, and they’d both risk frostbite for
their mate anyway.
    Mate. He let the word roll around in
his mind, loving the way it sounded. Mountain lions didn’t have
mates, but the woman in the car was theirs. He was certain of
it.
    They kept silent as the squad used the Jaws
of Life to cut the car apart, but they were both worried. He could
feel his brother’s concern because it was a mirror of his own. It
took a half hour to get the door off, and he had to stop both
himself and Eryx from rushing to her side. The locals knew they
were lions, but they didn’t go parading around with fangs and
claws. And he knew if he touched her even once more that he would
never want to let her go, and she was injured enough to need
medical attention. Although he desperately wanted to take care of
her himself, it was in her best interest to let the professionals
handle things.
     
    **Eryx**
     
    “If he touches her again, I’ll rip his head
off,” Eryx growled under his breath as the EMT from the fire
station in the next town looked over their mate on the
stretcher.
    “He’s supposed to touch her; he has to make
sure she’s okay. Calm yourself.” Ethan whispered, but Eryx picked
up the same tension in his brother’s voice that he had in his