His voice was hoarse as he continued to call for her and watched the sun fade behind the mountains. Pushing through more branches, he finally came to a clearing, and he could see the other wall of the canyon across from him. Moving to the edge, he studied the almost vertical drop to the bottom. It was a long, wide canyon, and she couldn’t have gone any farther than here. There was only one entrance, so Tate had said his best route was to take the long hike down the incline, find the entrance and start back. The rest of the surrounding areas were an unlikely place for her to go as it was rough terrain.
“Shit!” he uttered fiercely, frustrated and desperate. He needed to find her.
“Hope!” he roared, tormented. His own voice echoed back at him from the opposite wall of the canyon, which was higher than the side he stood on.
“Here.” A weak response sounded from the bottom of the canyon, and he froze. His heart palpitated wildly as he saw Hope lying in the middle of the canyon, prostrate on her back.
“Fuck!” He yanked his phone from his pocket and quickly called Tate to let him know that Hope was in the canyon, obviously hurt, but he wasn’t sure how badly.
Had she fallen? That thought made Jason distraught, but he tried to calm himself down. A fall from the ledge would have killed her. With most of the floor of the canyon being rocky, she would have never survived if she had fallen.
“Hope. Hang on. I’m coming down.”
“I’m okay,” she called back, her voice weak. “It’s just my leg.”
“Just my leg,” he repeated, annoyed. “Hope could probably be bleeding to death and she wouldn’t admit it.”
The thought of her being injured had him immediately on his ass, swinging himself around and clambering down the canyon wall. The rock had crevices, making it less difficult to climb, but going down was a challenge. It was harder to see his hand and foot holds. However, he was getting to Hope now. There was no way he was going all the way around and down to find the opening.
He heard her scream his name in horror as he descended as fast as he possibly could.
Hope screamed Jason’s name, trying to stop him from climbing down the rock wall. It was too high, too dangerous, and he didn’t even have a safety rope. It was mad for anyone to attempt a free climb down this rock face. Yet Jason was doing it, and accomplishing the task quickly.
Now she didn’t dare make a sound as she watched, horrified, as he steadily made his way down the cliff. One distraction could get him killed.
Oh, God. Please let him get down safe. And then I can kill him.
Hope watched breathlessly as Jason reached the halfway point and just kept going. His powerful body took on the rock wall with determination and strength.
He’s doing this for me, risking his life for me. For nothing. He could have hiked around. I could have waited.
Cursing herself quietly for crawling back to the canyon, her eyes never left Jason. She’d made it outside the canyon and into the woods. Then, she’d heard a helicopter, flying low, and she had been fairly certain a search had begun for her. Unfortunately, she’d been on her hands and knees, moving slowly. The copter had been gone before she could get clear from the cover of the trees. Sadly, she wore a green t-shirt that didn’t help her stand out for anyone searching overhead. Rather than try to move on, she’d used any energy she had left to get back to the canyon and placed herself in the middle to wait for the helicopter to fly over again. She’d be visible; she’d be rescued the next time the aircraft made a pass over the canyon. It had been hot, and she was desperately thirsty, but it had been her only real choice. She didn’t have the strength to make it back to the main path. Returning to the canyon, knowing they were looking for her from the air, had been the logical choice.
Hope’s breath hitched as Jason’s foot skidded before it found a hold as he rapidly came down the remaining part of the vertical slope. Finally, his boots hit the floor of the canyon, and Hope released her breath in a whoosh. She panted and trembled in the aftermath of watching him only one faulty step away from death.
He sprinted toward her and dropped to his knees by her side. “What happened? Where do you hurt? Jesus! Tell me you’re really okay,” he rumbled frantically, his face tormented.
Was everything that happened between you two a deception?
Tate’s words haunted her. Risking his life for her was no deception on Jason’s part. His expression was anguished, and that was no lie. He was terrified for her, put her well-being before his own. “I just hurt my ankle. I can’t walk.” She punched him in the shoulder. “Dammit! Don’t ever do something like that to me again. You just took at least twenty years off my life. You could have killed yourself.”
“I’m always going to take the fastest route to you.” He lifted her leg onto his lap as he sat in the dirt and grass. “Fuck. This ankle is the size of a melon. What the hell did you do?”
Hope bit her lip as he gently flexed her foot. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. I fell.”
“Can you move it on your own?” he asked sharply.
“Barely. I can’t bear weight on it.” She wriggled her toes and slowly rotated her ankle with a gasp of pain.
“Stop. You need x-rays. Tate’s on his way.” He gave her look of both relief and anxiety, and pushed her bedraggled hair from her face. “I should have brought water, but I wanted to travel as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll live.” Hope watched his volatile expression. She could wait until Tate arrived. “Please don’t ever risk your life that way again. Promise me,” she begged, her voice tremulous.
“I can’t promise you that, sweetheart. I take my promises seriously, and I’d do it over and over again if I needed to get to you,” he said huskily.
“You’re crazy,” she told him, bemused by his stubbornness. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she looked at Jason Sutherland, as bedraggled as she’d ever seen him. He looked as if he’d been drug through the dirt, and then hung out in the hot sun for hours.
“You made me that way,” he answered hoarsely. “I used to be perfectly sane,” he added mildly.
Hope heard the sound of an approaching helicopter, and they both went silent as they watched the aircraft land expertly, not far away from the spot where they sat.
Jason picked her up and jogged toward the helicopter, waited until the blades stopped spinning and the pilot waved them in to open the door behind the pilot seat. He placed her up on the seat and pulled himself up behind her. After he closed the door, he quickly lifted her onto his lap. “Go. She needs to get to the hospital. She injured her ankle and it could be broken. It’s swollen up really bad.”