Page 130 of Requiem
“Get out of the car.”
“Adriana—”
“Now!”
Her voice is so frantic that Heather quickly reaches for the door.
But I stare at her in confusion as snow drifts heavily around us outside, seemingly getting worse. “What are you doing?” I ask again.
Her eyes meet mine, and I can suddenly see it. It’s the face I see reflected in my most troubled patients. Exhaustion, pain, trauma, and a desperate desire to forget it all.
“You need to go into the woods,” she says quietly. “Both of you.”
“No.” My chest tightens. “No, we’re staying together—”
“We can’t.” The words come out firmer this time.
Heather stumbles out first, crying openly now as snow immediately swallows her shoes near the roadside. I grab Adriana’s arm before she can pull away.
“Adriana, what the hell?”
For a second, something so painfully human flickers across her face. Then she reaches up and squeezes my hand. “Take care of him,” she whispers. “Please.”
My stomach drops. “Adriana—”
But she’s already shoving me toward the open door.
I stumble out into the freezing snow just as the SUV door slams shut again. And then she speeds away into the night.
Chapter thirty-six
JUDE GRAVES
Snow blurs across the windshield as I force the SUV around another sharp turn, tires skidding against ice before catching again with a sickening jerk. It’s a wonder we haven’t fucking died yet. The engine roars beneath me while headlights slash through the darkness behind us.
Everything inside the vehicle smells like blood.
Micah’s, it’s…it’s everywhere.
Nico’s hands are covered in it. Kieran is trying to keep pressure against the wound while Micah drifts in and out across the backseat, his breathing wet and uneven enough that every sound coming out of him makes my stomach twist harder.
“Stay with me,” Heather keeps pleading shakily from the speaker of Nico’s phone, her voice cracking apart through static because she’s still connected to us. “Micah, listen to me.Stay awake.”
“I’m awake,” he mumbles weakly.
He absolutely fucking isn’t.
Rafe is barely in better shape beside me. Blood keeps slipping between Adela’s fingers where she presses against the gunshot wound near his shoulder and neck while she straddles him. She braces herself on his lap every time I take another dangerous turn.
“Eyes on the road,” Rafe grits out.
“I have eyes on the road,” I snap back automatically.
But my attention keeps splitting anyway between the road, the mirrors, the headlights behind us, the phone, and the road again. The second my cell starts vibrating in the cupholder, I grab it without hesitation.
Emma answers immediately. “Jude.”
Relief punches through me. “Where the fuck are you? I don’t see your car, and our call dropped.”
