Whispers in the Dark - Maya Banks [25]
Please, please don’t tell anyone about me. Please keep my secret safe. My safety depends on it.
And then she was gone, leaving a giant, yawning hole in the pit of his soul. His fingers curled into the dirt. “No! Don’t leave! Goddamn it, don’t leave!”
“Nathan, my God. It’s me, Donovan. You’re okay now, man. We’re here. We’re not going to leave you. We’re going to take you home.”
As his brothers tried to roll him over, Nathan went ballistic. Here, when he was surrounded by his brothers, he’d never felt so alone in his life.
“Don’t go! Oh God, don’t go. Please don’t leave me,” he whispered brokenly.
Garrett palmed Nathan’s face with both hands and lowered his face until they were mere inches apart. “Nathan, we’re here. We’re taking you home. Everything’s okay now. We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Swanny. Take care of Swanny,” he managed to gasp out.
“I’ve got him,” Ethan said. “Don’t worry. We’ve got him.”
Tears streamed down Nathan’s cheeks as he stared up at the sky, so brilliantly blue. It ought to be red for all the bloodshed and yet it was pristine and soft.
“Don’t go. Don’t leave me, Shea.”
The words broke painfully from his raw throat. He hadn’t realized he’d been screaming just a moment ago. He closed his eyes as pain engulfed him.
“Who the fuck is Shea?” Sam demanded.
“Mine,” Nathan murmured. “Mine.”
Donovan knelt to wrap Nathan’s leg to stop the bleeding. He didn’t even flinch. There was simply too much pain, too much loss.
Shea. Don’t go.
He caught a vague image of her curled into a tight ball, suffering alone. It was more than he could bear. And then his mind went blank. No Shea. It was as if she’d never existed.
“Get that fucking helo here!” Garrett yelled.
“Down! Down!” Sam hollered.
None of what they said made sense but suddenly Nathan found himself covered. Donovan pressed him to the ground.
“They’re American!” Ethan hollered. “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!”
Donovan pushed himself off Nathan and then stared down at his brother. “Looks like Uncle Sam decided to come along after all.”
Nathan turned his head, squinting into the sun. The valley was swarming with soldiers. It was too much to take in. He’d been on the verge of giving up all hope of ever returning home.
Thanks to a faceless woman with the voice of an angel and the strength of a warrior, he’d survived.
CHAPTER 9
SIX MONTHS LATER
KELLY COMPOUND, STEWART COUNTY, TENNESSEE
NATHAN hammered a nail into the two-by-four and then leaned back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. His hands shook and it pissed him off. He was still weak. Not fully himself. But then it was doubtful he’d ever be one hundred percent again.
He’d gained some of the weight back, but he was still whipcord lean and a good twenty pounds lighter than his normal size.
His house was framed. It could already be built by now, but he’d shunned a contractor. He couldn’t explain his drive to build the house himself, but it had become all-important for him to drive every nail, to create the refuge exactly as he envisioned it.
These days, it was all that kept him sane.
The mere idea of small, closed-in spaces made him break out in a cold sweat.
Weeks in a hospital had in some way been as hellish as his captivity. He’d felt helpless and he fought a daily battle over whether or not he’d imagined Shea. And worrying about her if she did in fact exist.
After having her as a shadow in his mind for so long, his head was frighteningly quiet. No comforting presence. But at other times, while he slept, he could swear he felt her. Warm and soothing, easing his pain and anxiety. When he awakened, she was never there. Still, he couldn’t discount the fact that the agony that should have incapacitated him simply didn’t exist.
The medical staff marveled at his ability to withstand and block out pain. What could he tell them? That he’d imagined a savior with the ability to take his pain as her own? They would have carried him away in a straitjacket. He’d probably still be locked up in some damn institution for psychiatric evaluation.