Page 36 of Mountain Summons

Lena winced. “From the day I got lost in the mountains?”

Val smiled. “No. From Tristan. Good things only, I promise.”

Lena felt herself blush. “Is he really going to be okay?”

“He’s going to be fine,” Val said, “and I don’t make such promises lightly. He should be waking up soon. Maybe you want to see him?”

Lena took a small step back. “No, I … it’s not like that, between us.”

Val took her hand in hers. “We’ll go in, just the two of us. I want to check on Alex anyway.”

“How’s he doing?” Lorenz asked, rubbing the cast absentmindedly.

“Grade 3 concussion, but I left him arguing with his doctor about why he didn’t need to stay the night in the hospital.” She shrugged. “Yvette was on the doctor’s side, so I’m pretty sure how that worked out for him.”

“We’ll pick him up tomorrow morning,” Lorenz concluded, laughing.

Val smiled. “Come with me, Lena.”

Lena hesitated. She’d be selfish to accept. Here was his team, who’d been waiting to see him. And she was just going to come in and?—

She didn’t care. She needed to see Tristan. Seeing him with her own eyes was the only way she was going to start breathing again.

After checking in with the nurse on duty, who raised a hand in the universal sign forfive minutes only, Val brought her to Tristan’s room.

The extra-wide door, designed to accommodate hospital beds, scared Lena more than she wanted to admit.

“Go on,” Val said gently. “He should be awake. I’ll go check on Alex and come back to find you, okay?”

“Okay. And, Val? Thank you.” The woman had only just met her. She didn’t have to do this.

Val smiled, a reassuring, knowing smile. “Relax. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Alone in the hallway, Lena took a deep breath to steady herself. It didn’t help much. Her hands felt ice cold, her pulse too fast, her stomach twisting into knots as she reached for the door handle. She didn’t want to knock in case she woke him up, but barging in unannounced seemed wrong as well.

In the end, she decided waking him up was worse, so she pushed the door open and quietly stepped inside. Tristan was lying on the narrow bed, his upper half propped up slightly, his face pale and lined with exhaustion. An IV was taped to his forearm. Everything was silent except for the steady beep-beep-beep of a heart monitor.

A fresh bruise darkened the side of his jaw and neck, disappearing beneath the hospital gown. But it was his blue eyes that caught her breath in her throat.

They were open.

Watching her.

Lena froze, suddenly unsure of what to do with herself. She’d been running on fear, running on the need to get to him, ever since she heard about the accident—and now that she was here, she felt adrift.

“Hey,” Tristan murmured, voice rough, hoarse. “If I’d known this was what it took to see you, I would have crashed a helicopter sooner.”

Lena blanched.

“That was a joke. Sorry. Bad sense of humor.” He raised his hand, the one that wasn’t hooked to the IV, as if afraid she was going to bolt.

She blinked rapidly, trying to will away the sting behind her eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Okay, stupid question. But she’d be damned if she could think of another one.

The corner of his mouth tipped up slightly, but it wasn’t his usual smirk. It was weaker. Slower.

“Doctors patched me up. I need to stay here a couple of days, though.” He shifted in bed, winced, then quickly smoothed his features. “Nobody will tell me anything about Alex and Lorenz. Have you seen them?”

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