He gives a quick nod, his face as hard as stone and not giving away a hint of his true emotions. His gaze drops to Haven’s friend, lying motionless on the ground.
“The demon?” he asks.
“It’s gone,” is all I say.
I’ll have to tell him what I saw, but later. First, I want to take care of Haven, make sure she’s safe. Then we can deal with the fallout of whatever I interrupted that demon doing to her and the fact that it was able to hold a shape and speak separate from its host.
Another nod and Kade goes over to the girl, dropping to the ground to check her over. Probably in vain. I’ve seen what the demon leaves behind after it leaves its vessels.
Haven’s low moan draws my attention, and I glance down in time to see her eyes crack open. Seeing her beautiful brown eyes loosens the knot that tightened in my chest the moment I realized she’d been taken.
“I’m here, I’ve got you,” I quickly assure her.
Her eyes flutter again, and I think she’s going to pass out, but then she blinks them open, fighting against the exhaustion trying to pull her under.
“Tate?” Haven asks, her voice weak.
I’m about to shake my head, when Kade speaks up. “She still has a pulse.”
A relieved sob shakes Haven, and I clench her tighter as Kade hefts the limp body of her friend into his arms.
He turns to me, his face grim. “Let’s get out of here.”
Haven’s sleep is not peaceful as she lays in the bed. Her eyes move back and forth beneath her closed lids, and she jerks periodically. I want to wake her up, pull her into my arms and soothe her, but I was told very explicitly not to bother her, that she needed rest to recover, and waking her would do more harm than good. But watching her now, I don’t know if they’re right.
My gaze drops to her hands. They look so pale and delicate, placed on top of the thin blue blanket draped over her.
I reassure myself that this is the best place for her. The Order has some of the most highly skilled creature doctors in the country here in the New York City headquarters, but the instinct to wrap her in my arms and take her somewhere safe, just the two of us, flares anyway. As it does, teal scales flash along my forearms.
Haven makes a whimpering sound, and my resolve cracks. She needs sleep, but she’s clearly distressed. I’m not going to sit here and watch her suffer. Not when it’s within my power to do something about it.
As gently as possible, I slide an arm around Haven, lifting her slightly so I can fit on the bed with her, holding her as she sleeps. She rouses slightly as I shift us into position, but after only a few seconds settles again, falling back to sleep. I don’t even think she was aware enough in that moment to know where she is.
Once I have her wrapped in my arms, I notice how cold she is. She should be warm by now, but that’s something else I can help with. Good thing dragon shifters run hot.
At first, Haven still seems agitated, but as the minutes tick by, her body relaxes. Eventually, her breathing evens out and the jerking stops. She sinks into a deep, restful sleep.
I haven’t forgotten the conversation we had before everything blew up. She found out about my history with Locklyn, and I hadn’t been the one to tell her.
She’s mad. Feels betrayed and lied to. But it makes warmth fill my chest to know that on a subconscious level she feels safe with me. That I can soothe her in this way.
I don’t want to think that this will be the first and last time I get to hold her in my arms like this, but it very well may be. When she wakes, she may never want to see me again. But the slowing cadence of her heartbeats and the evening of her breathing gives me hope that she’ll at least hear me out.
Because Haven is not Locklyn, and I need her to know that.
I’m worried about the future, about the demon, what it did to Haven and what else it wants from her. About how we’re going to defeat it and how I’m going to keep Haven safe. But in this moment, with her resting in my arms, I’m at peace.
I don’t want to miss a second, but my body is still healing, my adrenaline spent, and the weight of the last several hours crashes into me all at once. My eyes grow heavy and I must drift off, because when I blink my eyes open again, it’s to find that Haven has turned in my arms and is resting on my chest now, her sleepy gaze fixed on me, undoing me completely.
She’s so beautiful.
“Hi,” she says, her voice rough.
She winces, making me think that even uttering a single word must hurt. Her throat is probably raw from screaming. The thought of that pains me.
“Shh,” I say quietly. “You don’t have to talk.”
She nods, but then asks, “Where are we?”
