Lone Wolfe Protector by Kaylie Newell Read Free Book Online Page A

wouldn’t need stitches, which was good, because by the time he got her down the mountain, it’d probably be too late anyway. He looked down into her eyes, and she stared back. They were wide, but weren’t wandering. She seemed focused. Other than the shivering, she stood straight and still, not swaying at all.
    “How do you feel?” he asked.
    “It was right here. It was—”
    “I’m not concerned about that right now. I’m concerned about you. How do you feel?”
    “I…” She sniffed. “My head hurts.”
    “I know it does. We’re gonna take care of that. Do you feel dizzy at all? Nauseous?”
    She shook her head.
    “Good. That’s good.” He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until she answered, and he took a deep breath. Even in this day and age, it could be dangerous living this far up. He’d seen people die from car accidents before they could get help fast enough.
    Maggie continued staring at him with those scared eyes, and he had a sudden urge to pick her up and carry her to his truck. Away from whatever had run in front of her car and could very easily have killed her. Out of this godforsaken cold-ass night and into somewhere warm and safe. She looked like someone who’d just seen a ghost.
    Taking her by the elbow, he led her onto the gravel by the side of the road. It crunched underneath his boots, as if objecting to the weight.
    “Now,” he said. “Tell me what happened.”
    “It was right here.” She pointed to the front of her car. “I turned around and it was gone.”
    “What was gone?”
    “A big dog. The biggest dog I’ve ever seen. It was at least waist high.” She motioned toward her own hips, which were partially obscured by his jacket. “And it was black. I didn’t see it until I was right on it. It came up over the hood and then rolled off to the side of the road. I saw it. I got out of the car and came around, and it looked dead. It was bloody. And wasn’t moving.”
    He looked at the hood of the car, which bore no marks, no dents whatsoever, and then narrowed his eyes at her. She might have hit her head harder than he’d thought.
    “A car passed and I turned around, and it was…gone. Gone.”
    He walked over and kneeled in front of the fender. She followed so closely that he could feel her heat, smell her scent.
    He ran his hand along the chrome, leaving a clear trail in the grime. No dent. No hair. No blood.
    He looked up, and her face contorted. “I hit something. You believe me, don’t you?”
    “I believe you hit something. But it obviously wasn’t hard enough to kill it. Or even injure it that badly if it was able to get up and run away.”
    “But it was injured. I saw it.”
    “Maybe you clipped a bear or something. It might have been able to withstand a nudge with a car.” Even as he said it, he didn’t believe it. Hitting a bear, even a small one, would have left some kind of mark on the car.
    “It wasn’t a nudge, Deputy.”
    Blood trickled from the cut on her head as if to emphasize her point, and he sighed. “No, I guess it wasn’t.”
    “Then what the hell happened?”
    “I don’t know. I wasn’t driving.”
    She looked over her shoulder into the woods. “Whatever I hit is hurt somewhere out there. It’s got to be.”
    He knew where this was going. Christ.
    “We can’t just leave it out there to die.”
    “Sure we can,” he said, standing up. “I’m going to drive you back to the Inn. You can come back tomorrow and pick up your car. There’s a good shoulder here. It’ll be fine.”
    “Deputy.” She grabbed his arm. The feel of her hand through his uniform sleeve was almost hot, in stark contrast to the bitter cold they were standing in. “Please.”
    He turned, prepared to tell her to get her ass in the truck. Prepared to make her, if necessary. It was cold, and he was tired of standing out here on the side of the road. But the look on her face made him stop.
    “Please. I can’t leave it out there, hurt. Will you just