"Aunt Bianca promised we can do the night ride on Saturday!" Lucas yelled over the Pack radio, his voice crackling through the dashboard speaker of my sedan.

I gripped the steering wheel, keeping my car at the very back of the charity convoy. Bianca's silver SUV was two vehicles ahead. Lucas sat in her passenger seat, his face occasionally appearing in her roof camera feed on the shared event screen.

"Only if you finish your history essay," Bianca answered.

"I will. You can help me write about the founding Alphas."

"Deal."

I pressed the transmission button. "Lucas, seat belt check."

A theatrical sigh came through the speaker. "Still on, Mom."

"Good."

Adrian's voice cut into the channel from the lead vehicle. "Mile Marker Seven. Keep twelve car lengths. The hill begins after Nine."

The route marshal confirmed each vehicle in order.

When my turn came, I answered, "Rear escort clear."

My palm settled over my lower stomach. The white ultrasound envelope rested inside my jacket, protected beneath the seat belt. I had decided I would tell Adrian and Lucas the moment we returned to the estate. No speeches. No perfect family dinner. Just the truth.

"Lucas," I said over the radio, "do you remember what sits in the second drawer of the study desk?"

Silence.

That drawer held my Advanced Healer acceptance letter. Years ago, Lucas used to pull it out and trace the gold seal with one careful finger. He would announce to anyone nearby that his mother was going to be the greatest healer in the territory, even after I gave up the program to stay with him.

"I do not know," he answered finally. "Who cares about the study right now?"

Bianca laughed. "Leave him alone, Claire. We are planning an adventure. You can quiz him later."

I released the button.

The baby news stayed behind my teeth.

Mile Marker Nine passed beneath my headlights.

The road tipped downward.

Bianca's brake lights flashed once.

Then again.

Her silver SUV jerked violently to the left.

"Bianca?" Adrian's voice snapped over the radio.

"The brakes are not responding!"

Her scream tore through every speaker at once.

The silver SUV shot across the center line. Bianca hauled the steering wheel right, missing an oncoming delivery van by inches. The rear end fishtailed. Lucas's voice exploded through the radio.

"Dad!"

"Stay belted!" I shouted. "Lucas, do not unclip!"

The vehicle in front of me slammed on its brakes. I hit mine and swerved onto the shoulder, narrowly avoiding its bumper.

Bianca's SUV struck the guardrail nose-first.

Metal screamed.

The impact spun the vehicle sideways across the downhill lane. A second car clipped its rear quarter and ricocheted toward me.

I turned hard left.

My sedan missed the spinning car but hit the stone drainage barrier at an angle. The airbag detonated against my chest. Glass burst across my lap. My right door folded inward, pinning my thigh between the seat and crushed metal.

For several seconds I heard nothing but a high, steady ringing.

Then the pain arrived.

My pelvis felt split in half. A hot line burned down my right leg. I tried to move my foot and got nothing.

"Claire!"

Adrian's voice came from somewhere outside.

I blinked through the airbag dust. His black Alpha SUV had stopped farther down the hill. He was running toward me.

"Lucas," I gasped. "Where is Lucas?"

"He is conscious. Bianca's vehicle took the worst impact on her side."

Adrian reached my window and grabbed the shattered frame. His face was streaked with blood from a cut near his temple.

"Do not move," he ordered. "Rescue is coming."

"My leg is trapped."

His eyes dropped to the bent door. For one second, terror broke through his Alpha control.

"I am here."

The words almost undid me.

I fumbled inside my jacket. The ultrasound envelope had folded at one corner but remained intact.

"Adrian, I need to tell you—"

A scream erupted behind him.

"Dad!"

Lucas crawled through the broken passenger opening of Bianca's SUV. Blood ran down one side of his face from a shallow cut. He could stand. He could breathe.

Relief slammed through me so hard I sobbed once.

Then Bianca screamed.

Her door was crushed around her. Smoke poured from the engine compartment. The rescue crew split, half running toward her SUV while the others approached mine.

"She cannot feel her hands!" Lucas cried. "Dad, Aunt Bianca cannot move!"

Adrian looked from my trapped body to the silver SUV.

"Stay with me," I said.

I did not ask him to rescue me himself. I knew trained crews were already coming. I asked for the one thing a mate could give without interfering: presence.

His hand tightened on my window frame.

A paramedic reached my side and shoved a stabilizing wedge beneath the chassis. "Door is compressed against her pelvis. We need cutters. Do not move the frame until the second hydraulic unit arrives."

I tried to shift my right foot again. Nothing. A colder fear moved through me. I could feel blood beneath my hip, warm against the seat, but I could not tell whether it came from my leg or the baby.

"Adrian," I said, forcing his eyes back to mine. "There is something in my jacket you need to see if I pass out."

His face tightened. "You are not passing out."

The certainty sounded like a command, not comfort.

"How long?" Adrian demanded.

"Five minutes, maybe six."

From the other vehicle, a medic shouted, "We need Alpha stabilization over here! Her wolf is losing control!"

Bianca's terrified howl ripped through the mate-link frequency used by emergency teams.

Adrian flinched.

I saw the decision before he made it.

Lucas stumbled toward us, tears cutting tracks through the dirt on his face. He grabbed his father's sleeve.

"Dad, Mom is strong," he sobbed. "She always gets through everything. Aunt Bianca needs you more."

My chest went cold.

Adrian looked at me.

"Claire—"

"Do not promise you will come back," I said. "Just choose."

He hesitated for one heartbeat.

Then Lucas pulled again. "Save Aunt Bianca first!"

Adrian turned away from my shattered window and ran toward her.