Breaking Free: A Colorado High Country Crossover Novel, Pamela Clare [i can read book club .TXT] 📗

crossed himself and got to his knees, praying silently in a jumble of O’odham and English, pouring out his heart about everything. His fear for Winona. His rage about his sisters and Elena. His uncertainty about his future and whether he would have a job next month. His doubts about the promise he’d made his grandmother. His love for his people.

Thank you, Creator, for bringing Winona safely through the surgery. Thank you for the surgeon and the pilot and the paramedics and the Team. Please drive away infection and help her to keep her leg. I love her. Help me to find my path. I thought I knew what it was, but now … I don’t know where I’m meant to be. Amen.

It was more than he’d said to God in a long time.

When he opened his eyes again, Chaska was sitting in the pew across the aisle from him. “Thank you for saving Winona’s life—and for praying for her. I can see that you truly do care about her.”

Jason got off his knees, sat in the pew. “Yeah.”

“The nurse came out a few minutes ago. She said Winona is asking for you.” Chaska met Jason’s gaze. “For all of her life until now, she has asked for me. When she was a little girl and had a bad dream or was sick or scared, she called for me, even before our mother died. Now, she’s asking for you.”

Jason heard what Chaska was saying and understood the message beneath it. This was a major shift for him and not altogether easy—the big brother taking a backseat to the lover. It was also a responsibility. “You’ve always been her rock. She told me how you took care of her after your mother died. She loves you.”

“I would do anything for her.” Chaska got to his feet. “Are you coming to see her or staying here?”

Winona drifted in a fog. “Jason.”

“He’s right here, little sister.”

Warm fingers took hers. “I’m here, Win.”

She opened her eyes—it seemed to take a great deal of effort—and found Chaska on her left and Jason on her right. She smiled. “You’re both … here.”

“Where else would we be?” Jason kissed her hand.

“The doctor said you’re going to be okay.”

She nodded, then remembered. “The wolf. He was hungry. He—”

“He’s safe, angel. I darted him, and the Team got him down.”

“He’s in Shota’s old pen now. Heather is coming to get him tomorrow.”

“Wasté.” Good. A worry that had niggled at her faded.

She drifted in and out after that, sleeping off the anesthesia and doped up on Percocet, her dreams uneasy and strange. She woke when the nurse walked into the room, light from the hallway streaming inside. Chaska had gone—she vaguely remembered him saying goodbye—but Jason was still there, asleep in a chair.

“It’s time to check your vitals and give you more pain meds.”

Jason’s head jerked up. He got to his feet, walked over to her, took her hand. “How do you feel?”

“It hurts.”

His brow furrowed, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. “I bet it does.”

“I dreamed that a shark tried to eat my leg, and you fought it off.”

He smiled. “Shark wrestling, huh?”

The nurse wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm. “From what I hear, that’s pretty close to the truth.”

While the machine took a reading of Winona’s blood pressure, the nurse checked her temperature and then handed her a little paper cup with two pills. “Here’s your Percocet.”

“Thanks.” Winona swallowed them with a gulp of water.

“I’ll get you more water and then let you sleep.” The nurse left them alone.

“Chaska went home, right?” It was the first time since arriving at the hospital that she’d felt clear-headed enough to have a conversation.

Jason drew the chair up to the bed and sat beside her, taking her hand once again, lines of stress and fatigue on his face. “I think he felt torn between staying here with you and going home to Naomi and the baby. I promised I’d keep him updated.”

The nurse walked in with a full pitcher of water and ice and set it on the little table. “Press the call button if you need anything.”

“Thank you.” Winona waited until the nurse had gone. “You saved my life.”

He frowned. “If I’d just been a second faster…”

“Don’t blame yourself. I should have watched where I was walking. We all knew there might be traps up there, but I was looking at the wolf, trying to gauge his responses. Did you dart him, or was that the ranger?”

Jason explained what had happened in that last hour, how the wolf had crept closer, and how Jason been afraid the scent of her blood would provoke it. “I kept tossing it chunks of meat. Every once in a while, you would wake up and talk to it in Lakota. It tried to get closer to you. I think it felt safe with you. When the helicopter came, it ran. That’s when I darted it.”

“Thank you. I was so afraid it would be scared away and starve or get shot.”

“I won’t lie. Being that close to a predator of that size was … intense.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Was my big, bad Shadow Wolf scared?”

She thought he would laugh too, but his expression crumpled, his eyes filling with the anguish of someone who’d known too much grief.

“I’ve never been more afraid or felt more helpless in my life. When I saw how heavily you were bleeding… God, Win, I was afraid I’d lose you.”

She blinked back tears, reached up, cupped his cheek. “I was afraid, too, and then you told me you wouldn’t let me die. You kept me alive. You made me feel safe.”

“I’m glad.” He gave her a sad smile, turned his head, kissed her palm.

Then something occurred to her that hadn’t before, and her heart sank. “I’m going to waste the rest of our time together in the hospital, aren’t I?”

He chuckled. “It’s not a waste of time to heal. I’ll be here every day.