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Here was my greatest fear come to life right in front of me. My son was in grave danger, andI wasn’t there.
“Del . . . ” Fin cradled my jaw in his hands, his face filling my vision. “You need to take deep breaths, or you’re going to pass out.”
“I can’t,” I gasped, clutching my chest like I might tear my ribcage open and relieve the crushing pressure. Spots glittered around the edges of my awareness. “I can’t breathe!”
Fin’s eyes were wild, the green so vivid it appeared electrified. He crushed his lips against mine, and I froze, momentarily stunned. He broke away, leaving me breathless—but in an entirely different way than before. Stunned rather than panicked.
My chest heaved as I stared at him. “Thanks,” I gasped, my lungs still pulling in deep breaths but slower than before.
Fin kissed me again, quickly, gently, then pulled away. “Any time.” He slid a hand down my arm, threading our fingers. “Let’s get out of the open. I need to do a more thorough telepathic search of the area to see what else we can discover, and we need to take stock of what we have.Thenwe’ll go after him.”
I nodded and followed him, my stomach twisting with regret. “I’m sorry,” I said as we made our way to the denser woods at the edge of camp. “I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that before. It wasn’t fair, and I’m sorry.”
“You’re scared,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze. “You’re not the only one. I get it. I am too. And I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” I said, tugging him to a halt. “This isn’t your fault.”
Fin nodded but said nothing, dragging his gaze away from me as he ran his hand over his face.
We crouched in a hollow formed of two giant redwoods, settling side by side against a massive, gnarled root rising from the ground. Tick laid down like a sphinx at the mouth of the hollow, blocking the opening to the rest of the woods.
“Guns out, tough stuff,” Fin said, glancing down at the holster belted at my hip. “If something happens—if someone finds us—I might not hear it.”
I licked my lips and nodded, drawing my pistol. I understood exactly what Fin meant. I had seen Liam fully immerse himself into animal minds before, leaving him completely unresponsive to what was happening around him.
Fin inhaled deeply, closing his eyes before slowly releasing the breath. He went completely still, the shallow rise and fall of his chest the only movement of his body.
I watched him, listening for all I was worth to the surrounding forest. Minutes passed. Tick perked up a few times, trotting off to investigate this or that, but she never stayed away for longer than a minute.
Finally, Fin sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes. “Callon and Ada are coming.”
I clutched his forearm. “But did you sense Liam?”
Fin’s brow furrowed, and he shook his head. “It doesn’t mean anything, though,” he said quickly. “Just that the slavers have surrounded themselves with a defensive nulling field. It’s clever, actually.” He tilted his head to the side, a reluctant nod of respect. “Combining a sedative gas with a nulling field would minimize struggle and loss of life on both sides during a capture.”
“So you’re sayingsmartslavers have captured our son?” I said. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Fin glanced at me sidelong. “Better to know what we’ll be walking into, right?”
I huffed out a humorless laugh. “I suppose so.”
Tick perked up again, trotting deeper into the woods. Not long after, the faint sound of footsteps crunching through the underbrush reached my ears.
“It’s Callon,” Fin said, standing. He reached down a hand to pull me up.
Callon appeared between the thick trunks of a couple of redwoods a dozen paces away, Ada trailing behind him, her skirt gathered up and draped over one arm to keep it from snagging on the shrubbery.
I rushed forward to meet Ada, overtaking Fin and brushing past Callon. I threw my arms around her, and she clutched me tightly. “You’re all right! Thank the Patrons!” I pulled back, scanning her features. “How did you escape?”
Ada averted her gaze, a rosy blush creeping up her cheeks. “I, um . . . ” She cleared her throat. “We went for a walk.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Callon, who had his hands stuffed into his pockets and was staring at the ground.
“A walk?” I repeated back to her. “Atdawn?”
Her blush burned redder.
“By the time we realized what was happening, it was too late for us to do anything but hide,” Callon said, coming to Ada’s defense. He moved closer to stand at her side. “I tried to reach you, Fin.”
