Davina (Davy Harwood #3)

He nodded, then left my side. The tarp was lifted and he spoke to them, “She’s in pain. I don’t think she can take too much.”


“She’s The Immortal. She can take more than any of us.” She shoved at the tarp, coming inside. I didn’t move my head over. My neck would’ve seized up again, but her anger became stronger. As she stood over me, glaring down, it was blanketing on top of me, and I struggled to push through it all.

This wasn’t normal. This was my empathic side. This was how it had been when I still struggled to control my senses. Since becoming The Immortal, I hadn’t had this problem. Everything was easily controlled, even kept at bay so I could pull it forth as I pleased. This . . . something was wrong.

“What happened back there?”

“Wren.” Tracey came inside. “Don’t berate her. She needs rest, not to be interrogated.”

“I don’t care.” She twisted back to look at her. “She brought you both here. Why? How? Was it The Immortal power in her? Is Lucan coming for us? Does he know our location? Do we even know our location? We need answers.”

“And we’ll get them.” Tracey touched her lover’s arm. Her voice gentled. “But not now. I was carrying her body. Her body, Wren. Not her, but a body. Her heart stopped.”

My eyes snapped to her, and I jerked upright.

Oh.

Shit.

I held my breath, knowing what was coming—and yep, there it was. A crest of new pain crashed onto me, and I stifled a scream. I bit down on my lip, but I was wailing on the inside.

“Davy?”

I shook my head, holding a hand up to Gavin. I’d be fine. Answers. Answers. I focused on that. Wren wanted answers, well, so did I. I waited out the pain, then lifted my gaze to Tracey’s, and I asked one word. “Stopped?”

She nodded. “I thought you died. I was carrying you when you suddenly stopped breathing.”

“And you continued to hold her?”

Tracey shot Wren a dark look. “I wasn’t going to let him have her body. She wasn’t slowing me down.”

“But you said they were going to catch you,” Wren spoke.

Tracey nodded. “They would’ve, but then,” her hand lifted toward me, “we were on this mountain.”

“I was dead?”

“You weren’t alive.”

I couldn’t—I’d been dead. Had The Immortal left me? Was I only an empath now? A cold shiver of panic wound down my spine, but I shook it off. I wouldn’t start thinking about that, not until I knew for certain. “How long?”

“A day.”

“A day?” I was gutted. I was dead for an entire day?

“She’s The Immortal. How is that possible?”

Tracey looked at Wren. “I don’t know. I didn’t think it was, but she had no heartbeat. But she’s alive again, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

But she didn’t sound so certain. Neither was I. I always had a heartbeat. Always. Not having one—I didn’t want to not be a human. I’d completely become The Immortal then and I knew that wasn’t right. I needed to hold onto my humanity as long as I could. A heartbeat was part of that.

“Davy,” Gavin said.

I looked to him.

He said, “We need to decide our next move.”

Wren snorted. “Leave. Get back to Roane as fast as possible.”

Gavin didn’t look at her. He was waiting for me, and I knew what the unspoken question was. Kates. We had left her behind.

Raw emotion rose up, threatening to choke me. Like the panic, I shoved it away. I needed a clear head. “Where is Gregory?”

Tracey answered, “He’s on point, watching.”

“We’re twenty miles away. I think we’re safe, for now.” Wren threw both a disgusted look. Her anger melted into pure impatience.

I nodded. Okay. So this was the decision that had to be made. “We go back—”

“Go back?” Wren echoed me. “To die?”

I ignored her and finished, “—for Kates or . . . we continue forward, hopefully toward Roane.”

“Can you sense him?”

I couldn’t even sense The Immortal, much less my lover. I wasn’t going to say that, though. I shook my head. “I’m too tired, I think.”

“You need to rest,” Tracey said.

“We need to move.” Wren shook her head at both of them. “We move or die. Those are the options we have.”

“Not if we have her at full strength.” Gavin indicated me. “If we have an Immortal at full strength, we can fight back.”

“We’re in Mori territory. They’re going to find us.”

He shook his head. “It’s Davy’s call. We do what she wants.”

“I want to go back.” Tracey cut through any more argument. Wren’s mouth hung open, and before she could say anything, Tracey added, “I wanted to stay behind. My niece is there. I want to know her.”

“Your niece?”

Tracey looked at me and said, “If you go back for Kates, I’ll go with you. I’ll fight at your side.”

“As will I.” Gavin stepped beside her. The two were in solidarity and both turned to Wren.

She shook her head. “We’ll die.”