Chapter 14
***WALKER***
It took all Walker’s skill to keep them on the road, but he finally managed to bring the car to a stop, then sat there for a second trying to catch his breath. “Shit, that was too close,” he said, then looked over at Maddie. “Are you okay?”
She sucked in a lungful of air like she’d been holding her breath and looked over at him. “I’m okay,” she said. “But we should check on the people in that car. They might be hurt.”
“Stay here, I’ll go check on them,” he said, unhooking his seat belt. “See if you’ve got any cell reception. We’re going to need some help.”
After zipping up his coat and throwing on a stocking cap, Walker opened the door and jumped out of the car, sucking in a shocked breath with his face filled with snow and the cold seemed to penetrate right through his jacket.
Hunching down into his coat and turning up the collar, he headed for the side of the road, shocked to see there was already several inches of snow on the ground.
When he peered down into the gully, he could see the car resting at the bottom as if it had been dropped there by a giant, but there was no sign of movement as he stood shivering in the cold.
Looking around, he tried to find a way to the bottom, but the sides of the gully were steep and any trail that might have been there was covered in a blanket of snow.
Feeling as if every second counted, he turned back for the car, but Maddie was already climbing out, her face white with shock.
“No cell service,” she called, shaking her head. “What are we going to do? We can’t just drive off and leave them down there, it could be hours before we can get back here.”
He looked down into the gully again, this time hearing the faint wail of a baby, then back over at Maddie, her face full of concern. “I could stay here with them while you go back for help,” he said. “It’s not that far back down to that cop, I’m sure he’ll still be there.”
“You’ll freeze standing here waiting for me,” she said, then looked down the road. “I’m not sure I can drive in this. I don’t have a lot of experience in the snow, not snow like this anyway.”
The sound of the baby crying got louder. “Oh, Walker, there’s a baby down there,” Maddie said, rushing over to look down at the car. “I can see someone moving, we have to help them, if we leave them down there they could freeze to death before we get back.”
He looked over at Maddie, her face white with worry, then down at the car, wincing at the piercing cries of the baby, and made up his mind.
“Maddie, there’s something I can do,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face him.
“But it might scare you, so I need to warn you first.”
“Walker, what are you talking about?” she asked, her eyes roaming over his face. “What are you going to do?”
“I wanted to tell you about this before you saw it, but I waited too long,” he said, shaking his head. “I just want you to remember that no matter what you see, it’s still me. Can you do that for me?”
“Walker, you’re not making any sense,” Maddie said, a touch of fear in her voice. “Just tell me what you’re going to do.”
“I’m going to shift, I’m going to turn into a dragon and save those people,” he said. “It’s a special gift that I have, I’m not the only one in the world who can do it, I would have told you sooner, but…”
“Walker, this is no time for jokes,” Maddie said, giving him a shove, her face full of anger. “There are people dying down there, a child…”
He grabbed her again. “Maddie, I’m not joking, I’m completely serious,” he said, looking her directly in the eye. “I don’t have time to explain everything now, but I’m a shifter, a dragon shifter.”
She stared at him, shaking her head. “I don’t believe you,” she said, taking a couple of steps away from him. “You’re just making that up to…”
“I’m not making it up,” he said, closing the distance between them. “I’m going to shift now. Maybe you should get in the car; I don’t want you fainting on me.”
“I’m not going to faint,” Maddie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I don’t believe that you’re going to shift, I can’t believe you’re doing this right now…”
He wanted to reassure her, wanted to tell her that everything was going to be fine, but he could hear the baby crying, but the sound was getting fainter. “Just remember that I love you,” he said, letting his magic slowly come to the surface. “And I would never hurt you.”
A second later, he let the power of the dragon take over; his human form melted away, and the dragon emerged from its deep sleep.
He heard Maddie gasp in shock. Holding perfectly still for a second, he watched her stagger back a couple of steps, her eyes full of a mixture of fear and disbelief, then her legs gave way and she plopped down into the snow.
The sound of the baby still crying awakened ancient instincts to go to the child’s rescue, making it difficult to stand still, but he gave Maddie another few seconds before launching himself into the air.
He saw her stagger to her feet just as he disappeared into a cloud of snowflakes, then he dove back down, landed gently next to the car and shifted back to his human form.
A quick glance up at Maddie assured that although she was still processing what she’d seen, she wasn’t passed out in fright or running down the road away from him.
Quickly brushing the snow off the back window, he peered inside at the baby still strapped in the car seat, its face pink from crying but apparently otherwise unharmed.
He moved to the front window, cleaned it off, then peered inside, spotting a woman with blood running down her face, her eyes closed and he quickly looked at her chest, relieved when he saw that she was breathing.
Looking around, he realized there was only one way he was going to get them out of the gully, and he looked back up at Maddie, hoping she could handle one more shock.
Gathering his magic again, he shifted, then took to the air and hovered over the car for a second, trying to decide the right way to do what he wanted.
When he came up with a plan, he reached out with his huge talons, grabbed the car, and clamped down on the roof.
Then, using all his strength, he began to slowly lift it off the ground.
***Maddie***
Unable to do anything but watch, mesmerized by the huge beast slowly rising out of the trees, the wrecked car clasped firmly in its claws, Maddie backed away from the edge of the gully.
Her head was swimming in shock, her mind telling her what she was seeing was impossible, but he’d done it twice.
He had shed his human form to become the dragon currently flying toward her.
When he set the car down, then landed next to it, her legs went wobbly and she found herself sitting in the snow again, her heart pounding with excitement.
Walker stood next to the car, his eyes locked on hers, and she felt a wave of warmth slowly spreading through her, calming the panic inside her and leaving her with only a deep curiosity.
Getting slowly to her feet, she found her balance, then started toward the dragon, the need to touch it slowly settling over her as she got closer.
Without even thinking about it, she found herself reaching out to touch the downy feathers on the dragon’s breast, not the least bit afraid.
She looked up at him, still stroking his chest. “I think I get it now,” she said, then stepped back. “Maybe the other Walker could come back now.”
Only seconds later, she was staggering into his arms, her legs unable to hold her, but he held her close, whispering in her ear until she was able to stand on her own again. “I’m sorry, Maddie, this isn’t the way I wanted you to find out,” he said. “Are you okay?”
She looked up at him. “I think so,” she said, then shook her head. “But I might freak out a little bit later if that’s okay.”
“I think that’s perfectly understandable,” he said, leaning down and giving her a kiss. “I’ll stay right there with you the whole time.”
“What are we going to do now?” she asked, looking over at the car. “Do you know how bad they’re hurt?”
“I think the baby’s okay, but his mom has a head wound,” he said. “Let’s see if we can get the doors open.”
Feeling a bit as if she was in a dream, she followed Walker over to the car and between the two of them and a crow bar from the trunk of the car, they managed to wedge the door open.
The woman opened her eyes when the cold air hit her, then immediately tried to sit up, but let out a groan of pain and fell back in her seat.
“The baby, I hear him crying,” she mumbled. “Where’s the baby?”
“It’s okay, you’re both fine,” Maddie said, unhooking her seat belt. “We’re going to get him out as soon as we find out how bad you’re hurt.”
The woman opened her eyes and looked up at Maddie. “My head hurts and I feel a little dizzy, but I think that’s it,” she said. “Could you please unbuckle the baby and hand him to me? He needs me.”
She looked over her shoulder at Walker, who nodded his head and forced the back door open. “Just hang in there, we’re getting him right now,” she said. “Try to stay calm. If you’re hurt, we don’t want to make it worse.”
Walker gently lifted the baby out of the car seat and handed him over to his mother, who began to cry when she saw that he was okay. “Do you think you can get out of the car?” she asked. “We really need to get somewhere safe. The snow is getting worse, and we’ll all freeze if we stay out here.”
The woman nodded, then tried to swing her legs out of the car. “Let me take the baby,” she said, when it was clear she couldn’t do it holding him. “I’ll be right here next to you the whole time.”
The woman reluctantly handed the baby over, then let Walker help her out of the car and over to their vehicle. “Let’s get you two into the car, then we’ll figure out what to do,” he said, letting the woman lean on him. “Maddie will be right behind us with the baby.”
After tucking them into the backseat, they climbed in and Walker started up the car, blasting the heat, hoping to thaw them all out.
“I don’t think we can make it back to town in this storm,” he said, starting up the windshield wipers.
“I know there is a cabin a few miles up the road. I think we should try to make it there and wait out the storm.”
She looked in the backseat at the woman, who was beginning to shiver violently. “I think that’s a good idea,” she said. “We need to get them someplace warm.”
It took more than half an hour to get to the cabin, but it looked like a castle when they pulled up, and she let out a huge sigh of relief. “Now let’s hope it’s unlocked,” she said, taking off her seat belt. “I’ll go check.”
She was out of the car before Walker could object.
The cold air felt good on her flushed cheeks, but the cabin was locked when she tried the door.
Not about to give up, she looked around on the porch for the key, then, when she came up empty-handed, picked up a decorative rock and smashed the window on the door instead.
Reaching through, she flipped the lock, then opened the door, relieved to see a fully furnished living room on the other side.
Making her way back to the car through the knee-deep snow, she helped Walker get the woman out of the backseat and into the house, relieved when he flicked a switch and the lights came on.
Looking around the tiny cabin, she saw the fireplace and led the woman over to it, helping her down onto the couch, then pulled back the blanket to look at the baby, who was fast asleep.
“Thank you, we would have died out there,” the woman said. “But how did you get us back on the road? I’m sure I remember falling…”
“Don’t worry about that now, let’s just get you warmed up,” she said, tucking a blanket around them. “I need to get your head cleaned up. It looks like you’ve got a pretty big bump on your forehead. How do you feel? Any dizziness?”
The woman shook her head, then winced. “My head hurts, but I don’t feel dizzy,” she said. “I’m just really cold.”
“Okay, we’ll get a fire started that should warm you right up,” she said, turning to find Walker, but he was already carting in firewood. “I’m going to go see if this place has a kitchen. Maybe I can make us something hot to drink.”