Page 107 of Dark Fey Captive

I ducked under one of his arms and tried to help him stand. My efforts were laughable.

“Help me, Gwen. We can’t leave him here.”

She hurried over and took his other arm.

“Shit. He’s heavy,” she said.

“Pull,” I said, tugging with all my might.

He rallied enough to get to his feet with our help and topple into the boat on his side. We scrambled in after him. I kicked supplies out of the way, knelt in front of him, and took his hand.

“Please tell me you’re going to be okay.”

“I’ll be okay,” he said. But he didn’t sound like himself. He sounded winded.

I looked up, meeting Gwen’s worried gaze as she grabbed a towel and pressed it to his back. He grunted.

The boat rocked underneath us sickeningly, reminding me we were on the water as Lynn used the engine to pull away from the dock.

“Get flat, Arena,” Gwen said. “I can only worry about one of you.”

Feeling out of air myself, I settled next to Nav, facing him as Lynn opened the throttle. His pain-glazed gaze locked with mine as we bounced on the bottom of the boat.

The gunfire started to fade.

So did the light as we sped away from Ashland.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

NAV

For a female, Gwen had a great deal of strength, and it felt like she was using all of it to push against the bullets lodged in my back. Pain pulsed through me, making it hard to think.

I saw Arena pale, and her eyes rolled closed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my words slurred.

“She’s afraid of the water,” Lettie said. “She’ll sleep until the boat stops, hopefully.”

The boat landed hard on the next wave, sending a spear of pain through my back and jostling Arena. I released her hand and tried to put my arm around her waist, but my back burned when I moved.

“You need to hold still, Nav,” Gwen said, adding more pressure. “It’s going to take us an hour to get to where we’re going, and you bleed more when you move.”

I grunted and took Arena’s hand again.

“You’re not going to die, right?” Lettie said, sitting behind Arena to help brace her.

“No, I won’t die.”

Lettie let out a shaky breath. “Good.”

Her answer surprised me. Usually humans who feared us wanted us dead.

She drew Arena’s head into her lap and brushed her hand over her hair like she was comforting her. Keeping Arena’s hand in mine, I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pain.

“How are we going to get him out without hurting him?”

The sound of Arena’s worried voice carried over the crash of waves against rock and pulled me out of the fog. Pain radiated through my back.