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Whiskey. Just like another voice I’d heard that night.
A shiver racks my form, reality crashing over me like the pounding rain.
“They’re after me.” I shove at his chest, urging him up, away. “I have to go. Now!”
“Who?” He grabs my arm, gentle but firm, helping me rise.
But I don’t have time for gentle. “We have to—”
I put weight on my ankle and scream. A sob heaves from me as I lean heavily on the mystery man.
“Evelyn, you—”
“I’m not.” That’s not my name, not that it matters. “I can’t walk. Help m—”
The words aren’t even out before he scoops me into his arms, one arm under my knees, the other around my back. The tarp, poncho, or whatever he’d held over me retracts, only to come around me again. My breath hitches. It’s not fabric.
Feathers brush my bare arm.
Wings. He has wings.
An angel? I really must be dying. I shove against his chest. He’s hard as stone and just as immovable.
Panic swarms what’s left of my senses. I can’t die. I can’t leave Gran. “Let me go. Please!”
“Shh,” he croons, like I’m a wounded animal. To him, I might be.
“No. I can’t die. Not yet.” I thrash harder, but his grip tightens, holding me firm. “Please!”
“Die?” An eerie, blue glow emanates from his eyes. “They won’t have you. Never again.”
He hugs me further into his chest as if I weigh nothing at all. Sharp claws glint off his hand near my face. This is it. I can’t help but watch my own doom. Everything is suddenly cold and hot at once.
Silent tears stream down my face.Gran, I’m so sorry.
The claws dig into his palm, drawing crimson that runs down his arm. Light swells from it, illuminating our little bubble.
My eyes widen. “What—”
He latches onto my wrist. I gasp at the contact, the heat and friction over the deep scrape that I hadn’t noticed with all my other worries. My arms are smattered with mud and blood that must be mine.
The world around me swirls, and I’d swear I’m falling, despite him clutching me close.
The glow pulses. Heat rushes under my skin where we touch. It’s too much. Something tingles up my arm, racing under my skin and raising gooseflesh in its wake.
“Please…” My plea is distant, like a dull echo.
“You’re safe, my love.”
My love?His words are far away. The world blurs. My skin isn’t warm anymore. Nor cold. I’m not sureIam anymore.
“No one will take you from me now.”
My eyes droop closed.
Gran…
Her smiling face looks back at me from the darkness before everything goes black.
