Behind the wheel was a woman. She was unconscious, and I could see her head was bleeding. I looked around, feeling helpless, unsure what to do next. Obviously, the only person around to help her was me. Bear was pushing and shoving me from behind, trying to get into the car, and I fell forward, tripping over something beside the door. Ignoring it, I pushed him back and crawled into the car.
Unsure of the injuries I was dealing with, I slowly pulled the woman away from the steering wheel. I could see a lot of blood and there were already bruises on her face. She was very pale and felt cold to my touch. I quickly undid her seatbelt and carefully tugged her over to the passenger side. I struggled, but managed to get the door shut before I moved around to the driver’s side and slid in, after getting Bear into the back. I wasted a few seconds trying to figure out how to move the seat back so I could attempt to drive the vehicle up to the house.
I heard a groan beside me and leaned over to assure the woman she was okay. Bear’s enormous head appeared over the back seat and I watched in shock as he licked her cheek, as if giving her comfort. He never went near anyone but me. I growled at him to get down and he surprised me by ignoring me once again and settled his head onto her shoulder. I saw her hand reach out and touch his fur before dropping back into her lap. Bear stayed where he was and I shook my head.
I was surprised but grateful when the car actually moved. I could hear the tire protesting as the dented metal from the car rubbed loudly where it was crushed into the wheel well and I hoped it wouldn’t go flat before we made it closer to the house. I maneuvered the car up to the barn and parked it in the empty space beside the truck. I moved around to the passenger side and opened the door. I gathered up the injured woman and heard a sudden gasp of intense pain as I straightened up. Startled, I looked down to see her staring back up at me, confused. Her tear-filled eyes were wide with pain. For a few seconds our eyes locked and then she went limp. But not before I also saw another emotion flit through her eyes.
Terror.
I laid the unconscious woman down on my bed and stood back, uncertain of what to do next. Bear sat down beside me and looked up at me with one of his chuffs.
“What?” I snarled at him.
His answer was one of his usual looks that said, ‘Duh, stupid human.’ He raised himself up on his enormous paws and pushed at the form on my bed and looked back at me.
I nodded. Right. I needed to look after her and check out her injuries. I went and got some cloths, bandages and warm water. I should probably clean her up a little so I could see what I was dealing with. When I came back, Bear was stretched out beside her on the bed.
“Yeah, get comfy. That helps a lot,” I snarked at him.
He ignored me and proceeded to lay his head down beside her. I saw a shiver go through her body.
Fuck, she was probably freezing.
Damned dog actually knew what he was doing, trying to warm her up.
I put down my supplies and got to work. I undid her wet, rather useless, coat and pulled it off her, gently lifting her to do so. Even unconscious, she let out a low groan of pain. I grabbed a blanket and draped it over her as I tried to clean up the blood on her face so I could tell if she was still bleeding or not. As I gently wiped away the blood, I frowned. The lump and bruise that were forming on her head were obviously from hitting the steering wheel. But another, even darker bruise was too low to have happened when she hit the wheel and there was a shape to the bruise. A definite outline. I bent lower, trying to discern the shape. My investigation stopped when she shivered again and I could see her shirt was wet from the snow and blood.
Taking a deep breath and hoping she didn’t wake while I was undressing her and begin screaming, I pulled off her shirt to change her into dry clothes and was horrified at what I saw: bruises covered her torso and arms. I lifted one arm and examined it. The dark impression of a large hand was wrapped around her small bicep, as if someone had used an ink roller then pressed their hand into her skin. It had taken a lot of force to make the clear imprints. Her right side was also deeply bruised, red and swollen. I shook my head. These injuries were not from hitting a tree. Suddenly furious, I removed her pants and found more bruising on her legs. Sickened, I realized I could actually make out the outline of a shoe print and, when I looked again, saw it matched one of the marks on her side.