shepherds saved the day and partly because she was my emotional support animal, and if anything bad had happened to Sebastian, I’d need her.
“Looks like the dog has something.” Deacon had called 911 again, and this time they were keeping him on the line. “We’re heading southwest, toward the bluffs, I think. No, I have no idea what his condition will be. We’re trying to locate him now. He wasn’t where the vehicle crashed. We believe he moved from that location on his own.”
“She’s heading that way,” someone shouted from behind me.
Morrigan moved fast. Even I had to scramble to keep up with the pace she set. Then suddenly there was a break in the trees, and she skidded to a stop at the edge of the earth.
“Jesus. Did he fall?” Deacon asked. “Oh my God, do you think he—”
Morrigan barked wildly at the cliff’s edge. Time froze as we looked at one another in horror. The craggy edge of the cliff itself looked like it could crumble beneath our feet. I didn’t hesitate because I might have fallen; I couldn’t move because I didn’t want to see Sebastian Keye lying broken on the beach.
I took a deep breath. “Let me check it out.”
I got to my knees beside Morrigan and crept forward carefully. I saw nothing on the beach, but despair hit me hard when I realized we'd recently had high tide.
If Sebastian fell, his body might have washed out to sea.
“What?” Deacon’s voice trembled.
“I don’t see him. Let me just…” Bits of earth skittered down to the beach in front of me as I pushed far enough forward to see directly below. “Oh my God. There’s a ledge, and Sebastian’s on it. He looks pale. His arm is at a funny angle. There’s blood, D. He needs rescue right the fuck now.”
Deacon relayed the information he had and held on while police and EMTs got updates. Minutes dragged by so slowly they felt like hours.
From above us, the rumble of a helicopter filtered through all the sounds around me. Distant but approaching. Did that mean help was on the way? We needed a medic. We needed…my fingers grew numb. My heart was a trip hammer.
We needed a medic. Where were they?
Seconds ticked by. Minutes. We needed a medic. We needed—
Morrigan licked my face and kept licking. Not only that, but she was nudging me hard. Giving me puppy punches with her less than ladylike monster paws.
“Ow.” I blinked against the light. “What happened?”
“You with us, Stone?” I opened my eyes and found Molly kneeling beside me. “You feel the dog’s tongue? What’s she smell like?”
“She smells gross. What are you—” I swallowed. “Where’s Sebastian?”
“We’re still waiting. Maybe you could come away from the edge there, so when EMS gets here, they can rappel down and get him.”
“He’s so still.” My last glimpse of Sebastian before they pulled me back and put a blanket around my shoulders was bloodless and utterly vulnerable in contrast to the vast ocean and the ancient rock face.
I buried my face in Morrigan’s neck, reminding myself to notice things like the texture of her fur, the pain of my scraped palms, the grit of dirt beneath my knees.
“Help will be here any minute,” Molly assured me.
“Morrigan found him.” I rubbed my face against the dog’s. “Probably someone would have found him anyway, but she headed straight for him.”
“Aw…” Molly squeezed in for some dog kisses. “I knew I loved this dog.”
“Did anyone see Sebastian move? How long has he been there? He could be fighting hypothermia.”
“He was gone before I got up this morning.” She started to cry. “I went to call him, but my phone was already blowing up from the video. He must have gone crazy when he saw it. Do you think he—”
“It was foggy last night. I’m sure he wandered off-course and crashed somehow.” I wasn’t ready to believe anything else. “He was dazed after the accident. He was probably looking for help when he fell.”
“Sure.” She grabbed my hand. “That could have happened here easily. There was no light.”
“The fog was thick. No visibility.”
“Right. It was bad even when you walked me back.”
“I walked Sebastian home too. We had to use a flashlight and stay on the gravel or we’d have ended up lost then.”
“So it could just be he was burning off steam.” While we’d been talking, Deacon had been nearby, listening. I couldn’t read his face. Did he think Sebastian had crashed on purpose? Jumped on purpose?
Deacon