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“Oh, my God, Pixie. You’re here. You’re okay.” Talia rocked them both back and forth, endlessly.
Pixie didn’t know who Talia was reassuring, herself or Pixie, but it didn’t matter. Pixie’s ordeal was over.
Or was it?
“Peter?” she managed to ask into her sister’s shoulder, which now that Pixie was more coherent, she realized wasn’t exactly comfortable.Right.Tallie was wearing her bullet-proof vest, hence the unforgiving hardness.
“Doug and a couple more of my squad members are tracking him. I expect to hear any minute that they have him in custody.”
Pixie felt a moment of panic and stiffened. Would Peter hurt Doug?
“He’ll be fine, Pixie,” Talia soothed, clearly knowing where her thoughts had gone. “He’s trained for this, and Peter is a clueless asshole.”
Pixie laugh-sobbed. “You’ve got that right.”
“Now let’s get you out of here, and as soon as Doug and the others have completed their objective, I’ll let him know that we have you and that you’re safe.”
Pixie understood. Talia didn’t want to notify Doug immediately, or it might distract him from his mission. She sniffed and nodded.
“How did you find me?” Pixie asked.
Talia grinned. “It’s a long story, but let’s just say that Harlan is your new fairy-godfather.”
“Harlan?” Pixie’s brows went up.
“I’ll fill you in, later.” Talia backed off and sent her gaze down Pixie’s body, eventually landing on the sorry, ripped up condition of Pixie’s feet. She shook her head, clenching her jaw, taking a moment to center herself.
“Barry.” She turned to her squad mate and used his first name, so Pixie knew Talia was going to ask the man for a favor. “Do you think you can piggyback my sister out of here?”
“Not a problem, LT,” the large man answered, then turned his back to Pixie. “Hop on, short stuff.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Hoofing it out of the woods to the small town a mile downstream proved quicker than going back to the cabin, and that was fine with Pixie. She never wanted to see that rotten place again. When they’d trooped into the small burg, locating the one-man police station, the sole officer there had been shocked to see them. But it had only taken him a second to get over his surprise. As soon as he heard their truncated story, he called for an ambulance crew.
Once the EMT’s arrived and had a chance to look her over, they determined that Pixie was cut up and bruised, but as she figured, she’d sustained neither a concussion nor broken bones.
While she was being treated, their group finally heard from the rest of the team; from Quint. Talia gave a chin dip, listening on her mic, then turned up her volume so Pixie could hear.
“Just wanted to let you all know. We have Peter in custody.”
When he didn’t mention if any of the team had sustained injuries, Pixie piped up to make herself heard.
“Tallie,” she called out from her perch on the back of the ambulance. “Ask if Doug’s okay.”
Tallia snorted, conferred quietly with Quint, then walked over to Pixie unclipping her mic from her vest. “Ask him yourself,” she grinned, holding the device out to Pixie.
Pixie’s eyes went wide, but with a shaking hand she took the communications tool and held down the button. “Doug?” she asked tentatively. “Are you—?"
“I’m here, Pixie.” The reply was immediate, cutting her off. Before she could ask anything else, he was already sending a question her way. “How badly are you hurt?”
“Nothing major,” she assured him. “Bumps and bruises, but otherwise I’m good.” She wasn’t going to say that her feet stung like a bitch where the medical crew had scrubbed the dirt and debris out of her raw soles, but the soothing gel they’d put on after they were done, was starting to do its job. “How areyou?” she managed to get out before he interrupted again.
“I’m fine. Peter put up a little struggle, but he’s been subdued. We have to bring him in, so it’ll take a while before I can see you. I understand you’re all going back to the Sothard’s farm.”
Pixie nodded, even though he couldn’t see her, then gave an inadvertent, tiny whimper.Dammit.Why now? After all that had happened to her—how stoic she’d been—why were her emotions suddenly getting the better of her?Oh.Because she couldn’t hold Doug, immediately.
“I’ll make it there as quickly as I can, Pixie,” Doug gently assured her. He must have heard and understood her dismay.
