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When they went outside, it was to find chaos. Bodies were…everywhere. But all the Weavers were standing. The instant relief threatened to knock his knees out from under him. He stumbled a step and Hale put a hand on his arm.
“You okay? Is it your feet?”
“No, I’m okay,” he replied a little more brusquely than he’d meant to. He didn’t want Hale to know how rattled he was. The man was already injured and he didn’t need to worry about the one powerless human in the group.
The motel’s caretaker was outside, looking frazzled, and other people had come out of their rooms. Grey was going to have a hard time erasing all those memories. But there was no choice. As it was, sirens sounded in the distance, and he wondered if Grey planned to mind-bend the cops as well. It was either that or they were all getting arrested. Wouldn’t that throw a wrench into their plans?
Hale groaned, grabbing his attention. He still held a towel to his chest, the white material soaking up the blood and looking more gruesome by the second. There was no point in putting on a shirt.
A wave of protectiveness filled Harrison, and he gently put his arm around Hale’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s get you to Dane.”
Chapter
Nine
Hale clenched his teeth and tried not to think about the searing pain across his chest. He leaned against the car door on his left while Dane tried to heal the open wounds on his right. Clay was behind the wheel, racing them from the last of the fighting at the motel toward a safe location.
But the bigger concern than the pain or his fellow Weavers was Harrison.
The Keeper’s face was pale under the splash of blood. He was seated in the front passenger seat but was twisted around in such a way that he was nearly wedged between the two front seats as he attempted to see exactly what Dane was doing.
“Why isn’t the wound closing? Are you sure you know how to heal him properly?” Harrison demanded yet again.
The SUV lurched to the left as Clay passed a car on the expressway traveling far too slowly. Hale hissed as new pain surged from his arm to across his chest when the hand Dane had on his arm pressed in closer to the open wound.
“Sorry,” Dane murmured.
“Not your fault,” Hale managed between clenched teeth, though he was starting to wish Dane could just knock him out while healing his wound. He was covered in a cold sweat and muscles were spasming in his arm where he’d wrenched it doing that chokehold. He was pretty sure he’d suffered worse cuts and scrapes in the past, but the pain was so bad, he was struggling to draw air into his lungs.
“Why isn’t the wound closing? Maybe we should take him to a hospital. We can tell them he was attacked by a cougar or a bobcat,” Harrison continued.
“Will you sit still!” Clay bellowed. “It’s hard enough to drive without you trying to climb back there as well.”
“But the wound—” Harrison started to argue.
“Harrison!” Hale finally snapped. The man’s eyes went impossibly wide, and he fell silent in an instant. “It’s okay. Dane’s got it. I can feel his power working on the cuts.” Which was only partially true. He could feel a warm, soothing ripple of power running through his veins, but it didn’t seem to be doing much to relieve the pain trying to tear him apart. But the wiser action was to calm Harrison down before he caused Clay to wreck or distracted Dane more than he already was.
“Are you sure?” Harrison inquired. He still sounded worried, but he was a little calmer now.
“It’ll be okay,” Hale replied as evenly as possible, trying to convince Harrison and himself.
“He’ll heal,” Dane added. He flashed Hale a small smile, then turned his attention back to his side. “Clay had similar slashes across his chest and they slowly healed. This was before I even got my powers. Pestilent talons apparently leave behind some kind of poison that is incredibly painful and slows the healing process.”
“Wonderful,” Hale muttered. He closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing, pushing the pain from his mind while Dane worked. Unfortunately, it meant that parts of the fight flashed through his brain, and he didn’t want to relive that. The blood and chaos. Harrison had been so close—
Thunder rumbled across the sky and Hale’s eyes popped open. Yeah, he wasn’t thinking about that.
“How did the pestilents find us in the first place?” Harrison demanded.
“We’ve never gotten an answer to that, but we think they can track our magic. It’s not like they’re going to tell us if we ask,” Clay grumbled.
“True, but we’ve got to find a way to stop that. Otherwise, they’ll be hounding our every step to Sedona.” Clay grunted in response to Harrison’s observation. It was clearly something they’d discussed in the past. Of course, until the arrival of Hale, the Weavers had enjoyed the safety and protection of the barrier around the house. Now they were on a deadly road trip across the country. Protection was a lot harder to come by.
