Chapter 77

• Lucian’s POV
• For over five hours, I had been driving along an endless, desolate country road. The miles stretched out before me like a never-ending ribbon of green and brown. Exhaustion weighed heavily on me, but the thought of Aurora kept me going. Praying silently, I hoped she was still alive. The thought of her being hurt—or worse—made my throat tighten with fear.
• Suddenly, a loud thud pierced the night, followed by the unmistakable sound of rubber tearing against asphalt. Dammit, a flat tire. The worst possible time and place for this. Cursing under my breath, I pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed the spare tire and tools from the trunk. I needed to fix this quickly; I was in the middle of nowhere, and every second counted.