Ruby's Heart, A Blue Moon Coven Chronicle

27. Fragor et Translatio ~ {Crash and Transfer}

The drive back to the pack was quiet. Evelyn Brose silently typed something into her phone while her mate, Scott, drove the newlyweds home. Ruby could feel Ryan's gaze when it fell upon her. She kept her smile, his eyes alone created warmth. It felt like a momentary lapse of air conditioning. She sat with her arm against the window while she watched the scenery go by. She had been too nervous on the ride to the Clerk's office to pay attention and now she was finally able to enjoy the beauty that they were driving through.

Ryan reached over the center seat for Ruby's hand. She looked over her shoulder at him for a moment as his fingers laced with hers. Her blue eyes drifting low to watch how their hands looked together. She could see through Ryan's window that the trees were becoming denser. They were getting closer to pack lands. Ruby turned to look through her own window again.

She was shocked to realized she was looking at the end of a road and a large truck was barreling down it into them. Ruby could see that the emblem on the front grill was coming straight at her window. At that moment time dilated enough for her to realize they were going to be hit, it did not move slowly enough for her to prepare herself. 

Ryan must have been watching as well. Without a breath taken there were arms pulling her back as the window and airbags exploded when the truck hit them. Everything was so loud it left a ringing in Ruby's ears and she couldn't hear anything past that point. She was vaguely aware of the pain in her throat and she thought she must be screaming. 

There was another bang that moved their rover around the highway. This hit did not come with the explosion of glass and airbags it only came with a sharp sound of bending steel and the feeling of spinning. After the spinning began there was another collision and Ruby's body was jolted once more as spinning gave way to tumbling. She could feel herself moving in ways that seemed unnatural. The seat belt kept her suspended and then she'd fall as the Rover had somehow flipped. She didn't count how many times she had been upside down. 

Her body hummed. She felt the body of the Rover slide away from the road as though it had been propelled. She wondered how many times they'd been hit and if there were cars on the highway prevented from adding to the accident. She didn't think it was safe to stay in the car. Her hearing was gone, and she had that vague unease she would get when Brother was breaking out of his magical binding. Everything seemed to pulse at a slow rate. Is this really happening?

She looked to see if anyone else was hurt. To her surprise, no one else was moving. Ruby looked up to the shattered window that should have been at her side and was now above her. She wiggled through the seat belt, using it to step on to push up through the window to get out of the side of the car. She had to flag someone down, she had to get help. She was aware that she'd lost her shoes, not that they'd help. They were hardly practical. The thickness of her skirt posed some issue as she got through the window, the lace threatening to get caught on the safety glass. 

Ruby could only see one other vehicle that had stopped and looked damaged. She tried to see where the truck was, the truck that had hit them. She ran across the now seemingly deserted highway and realized that there were pieces of a broken motorcycle across the road. Ruby tried to trace where the bike had come from, to see where the rider had landed. She ran down the road looking down as she crossed a bridge. She hoped she didn't see a body at the bottom of the embankment. 

Her ears were still ringing, but even through the bells she heard a grunt. She looked out onto the edge of the embankment and saw someone laying there. Ruby turned to look back at the vehicle she had been in. She could see that Ryan was climbing out of the window now. She turned back to the body and ran over, sliding to her knees as she drew close. She didn't think about the white dress she was wearing. She could see that the helmet the man was wearing had split. Ruby wondered if she was going to see his brains.

The body moved then. Ruby gasped as the man moved his arms to yank at the helmet. He pulled it off and let his arm fall again, letting the remainder of the helmet fall down the embankment to the creek below. As the man let his head fall back once more, recognition flickered in Ruby's gaze. 

It was Kieran.

An explosion of light occured around Ruby without warning. The ringing Ruby heard increased in frequency while a feeling that felt like thunder began to vibrate Ruby's chest. The pain was stark and blinding. Ruby could see nothing but pale pink light as everything suddenly burst into pale fire around her. Her arms felt as though they were being held back while her body arched to deliver this fountain of light that stemmed from her body to the body on the ground.

As quickly as the pain began, it ended. Ruby felt herself awake, but as though she had just been dreaming. She was laying over Ryan's lap on the side of the highway. She let her head fall to see that Kieran was healing now. Brother was helping him heal. Ruby was cautious about moving. Every part of her body felt heavy. Her head was pounding and her chest hurt. She wanted to stand up. She started to try but Ryan was not helping. 

Kieran started to move. Ruby didn't turn her head, she only watched him as his head moved from one side to the other. He was looking for her. When her eyes met his eyes she could see Brother for the first time. It was odd looking at Conrad's wolf, now Kieran's wolf. Ruby couldn't hear the bones starting to crack. She knew that Ryan wanted her to move now, but she was so very tired. 

She looked at her dress and realized there was blood on it. Whose blood was it? Ryan laid her down as he walked toward Kieran. Ruby could see that Kieran was beginning to shift. Ruby wanted to be there for him. She rolled to her side to use her arms to push herself up. She was aware of the pain but, Brother needed her. She lifted her hands up to show she meant no harm, much the same way that Ryan was. They both approached the half-shifted Kieran with caution.

It should have taken longer. With a lunge toward Ruby, Kieran finished his shift mid-air, landing just in front of Ruby. It startled her into taking an uncertain and quick step backwards. Her ankle turned and before she realized she had fallen backwards and begun to slide before momentum turned her body. She began to tumble down the steep embankment, headed for the creek. She tried to tuck her arms as much as she could but the stabs of pain she felt increased until she landed hard on her back. A flash of white-hot light was her last consciousness as the back of her head hit a large rock on the creekbed.

Ryan ran and then slid down the embankment screaming her name but she didn't hear him. He could see blood, lots of blood and though there were sirens, finally there were sirens, he did not hear any of them. He was afraid to move her. Once he reached where she lay, her body covered in cuts and scrapes, her dress torn to ribbons about her, he was afraid to touch her. His hand moved gently to her head, he could see that's where most of the blood was coming from. It trickled down the rock into the creek water, coloring it. 

There were many other cars at the scene of the accident now. One of those was the other Rover that carried Greg, Seb, and Cassy. Seb parked the Rover on the side of the highway as they all got out to see if they could help. There were officers and pack members using their strength to put the Rover back on its wheels so they could extract Ryan's parents. A team of EMTs  lowered a rope and backboard to pull Ruby up from the creekbed, hurrying to fasten her in while an officer had reached and was trying to get a statement from a nearly hysterical Ryan.

Just beyond the treeline, Brother stood, watching and listening for Ruby to make certain she was still alive. He could barely hold down the whimpers that left his chest as he could smell the blood thickening. Kieran was trapped as a spectator in the back of Brother's mind.