Whispers in the Dark - Maya Banks [132]
“And if they decide to silence you?” Sam asked.
Resnick’s face hardened. “My team is loyal to me. They take orders from me. I won’t go down without a fight, and if that’s the way this is going to play out, then I won’t remain silent. I’ll go public in a big way. I won’t let this happen to Shea again. Grace is still out there. I won’t let this happen to her.”
“I don’t like leaving you,” Sam said.
“You’re wasting time,” Resnick said impatiently. “You heard what Joe had to say. Your priority needs to be her and Nathan. Now get the hell out of here.”
“Someone tell me what the fuck is going on,” Nathan snarled. “Where’s Shea? What happened?”
“She’s taking your pain,” Garrett said quietly.
“Yeah, I know that much. Where is she? Why are you all looking at me like that? Why can’t I reach her?”
Sam knelt by Nathan’s side. “You have to talk to her, Nathan. And we have to get you to her as soon as possible. She’s bleeding heavily. She’s sensed that you were hurt but she’s out of it. She’s been out of it ever since Joe found her. He hasn’t been able to break through. You have to or we’re going to lose her. Do you understand me? She was in no condition to take this on, but she’s afraid you’re going to die. You have to convince her otherwise and break the connection before it kills her.”
All the blood left Nathan’s face. Fear knotted his gut and panic rolled over him like a tidal wave. No. Oh dear God, no. Not again. Never again. She’d taken more for him than she ever should have taken.
“Take me to her,” he demanded. This time when he pushed upward, Garrett didn’t stop him. Instead he and Ethan each got an arm and hauled him to his feet.
“You’re not going to like this, but we can move a hell of a lot faster if we just carry your ass,” Garrett said.
Without waiting for Nathan’s response, Ethan and Garrett hoisted him up and took off double time for the back exit, Steel and his team leading the way.
Shea. Baby, where are you? You have to talk to me. I’m okay. I’m not dying. It’s just a flesh wound. The knife didn’t go deep. Do you hear me? Shea, you have to listen to me. You have to break off. Somehow you’re connected to me even though you aren’t aware of what’s going on around you. It’s our bond. It’s unbreakable. No one can take that from us. But baby, I need you to break away. Please, you have to do this. For me. I can’t lose you, and you’re too weak to endure this. For once let me be strong for you. This wound is nothing. I wouldn’t lie to you about that. I’ll need a few stitches and I’ll be good as new.
He sucked in his breath. His heart felt near to bursting out of his chest. He had so much fear and he hated that he couldn’t find that pathway to her, couldn’t break through the wall of silence that seemed to shield her on all sides.
She was protecting herself. She’d erected the wall to keep the pain away and now he couldn’t break through.
Don’t do this. Please don’t do this, Shea. Let go of me. Let me take this for you. You’ve protected me for so long, baby. For once let someone else take care of you.
I love you. I love you so damn much. Come back to me.
CHAPTER 42
“WE can get Nathan patched up in Taos,” Ethan said. “But what about Shea? How the fuck do we explain identical stab wounds? I thought when she took pain and shit that the phantom wound disappeared quickly?”
They were still two klicks from the rendezvous point, but they were hustling over the terrain, like Nathan weighed nothing. Ethan and Garrett were easily keeping pace with Sam and the others.
“Want me and Dolphin to take over?” Cole called back to Garrett.
Garrett shook his head and kept moving. Nathan dragged himself from his concentration on Shea to answer Ethan’s question.
“She’ll heal. Or usually she would. It’s temporary. But now? I don’t know. Joe and Van said she was out