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A soft smile barely lifted the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, but I thought I was too late.” His mouth pinched with anxiousness. “We have to get out of here. It’s not safe.”
“The third Raven Mocker?” I asked, looking for the bird.
“It was sucked into the vortex with the woman.”
At least those two would be gone for a while. I tried to move again, but my body was slow and sluggish.
Collin climbed to his knees and pulled me with him, but when he got us to our feet, my knees buckled and I fell against him. The front of his T-shirt was drenched in my blood, and a large puddle was still pooled in the street. How much blood had I lost?
“Don’t look at it, Ellie. You’re safe now.” He scooped me up in his arms and started for the corner of the building, but something shiny caught my eye.
“Collin, wait. The sword.” It lay on the pavement, several feet from the bloody body of the homeless man. He was one more person I had failed to save, but I couldn’t think about him right now. I was lucky to have survived myself.
Collin’s body tensed. “Fuck thatgoddamned sword,” he forced through gritted teeth as he kept moving toward the front of the building.
Some of my strength returned and I squirmed in his arms. “No! I need it!”
His feet froze and his face contorted in anger. “I’m not taking that fucking sword with us! It almost got you killed!”
“No!” I protested, still struggling, but I didn’t have the energy to fight him. I was barely hanging onto consciousness. “Collin, please. I need to be able to defend myself. You know there are countless creatures that have me on their hit list. Okeus’s protection isn’t enough.” I leaned my head on his shoulder. “You can’t leave me unprotected, Collin.”
I felt his resolve soften. “You won’t be unprotected, Ellie. I’ll be here for you.”
“You can’t be with me every minute of the day. I need to learn to defend myself.” I forced all my strength into lifting my hand to his cheek.
His gaze drifted to my face and I saw the terror in his eyes.
“Collin,please.”
He lowered his head until his forehead rested against my hair. “I’ll get it, but it doesn’t mean I’m just going to give it back to you.”
At least it was something.
Grumbling, he turned around and squatted next to the sword, then picked it up with me still in his arms. He carried the weapon in one hand, the blade pointing away from us. Collin’s truck was parked two streets over. He opened the passenger door and set me gently on the seat and buckled me in when I struggled to reach for my seat belt. The physical exertion from fighting him had sapped what little energy I had left, and sleep was quickly overtaking me.
“I’m tired.”
He cupped my cheek, searching my face. “You just fucking bled out, Ellie. I can’t believe you’re sitting here talking to me. You need sleep. Hell, you probably need a transfusion.” His gaze drifted from my shirt to his. “Do you have any clothes in David’s car? We’re going to get a shitload of unwanted attention in these blood-soaked clothes.”
I nodded, or at least attempted to.
He shut my door and the truck engine turned over. My awareness faded, and when I came to again, he was back on my side of the vehicle. He stripped my shirt off and leaned me forward to look at my back. His fingers trailed down my spine, sending sensation shooting through me. “I can’t believe it. Not even a scar. Your back was ripped to shreds.” Then he tugged another shirt over my head and gently rested my head on the back of the seat.
“We have to save David,” I said, but my words were slurred like a drunk’s.
“We will,” he whispered next to my ear. “I promise.”
The truck began to move again, and I pried my eyes open. “Where are we going?”
His gaze turned to me, serious and protective. “Chapel Hill.”
Sleep took over before I could ask why. And when I awoke hours later, we were parked in front of David’s house and Collin was watching me with a guarded look.
I was on my left side, my back slumped against the door. At some point Collin had rolled the open window halfway up. “David’s house? Why are we here? How did you know where it was?”
“We need somewhere to clean up before heading to Durham. And I found his address in his bag.”
I pushed myself into a sitting position. “You had his bag?” But I also noticed he was wearing David’s short-sleeved button-down shirt—David’s favorite, a white and blue plaid. Anger raged to life inside me, accompanied by the irrational desire to demand he take it off. But Collin’s shirt had been soaked inmyblood. It was smart for him to change, and I was sure that Collin hated wearing David’s clothes.
