Page 69 of Won't Back Down

At the sound of my voice, her fingers dug into my forearms, gripping tight. “Don’t let go. Don’t let go. Don’t let go.”

I held on tighter. “Never. I’m here. I’m right here.”

Her breath went short and ragged, and she started to tremble. Roy barked, leaning against us both in the water. Keeley got in on the action from the other side. Nothing seemed to stem the rising tide of panic that had her in its grip.

“Get her out of the water,” Gabi ordered.

I scooped her up, and she cried out, her face twisting in pain. Shit, had something stung her? Whimpering, she curled into me as I hurried back to the beach.

“Willa, what’s going on?” Gabi reached for one of her wrists, but Willa only clung tighter to me, so Gabi slid two fingers against her throat. “Jesus, her pulse is racing.”

Tremors wracked her body.

Gabi whipped the phone from her pocket and turned on the flashlight. “This is going to suck for a second, but I need to check your eyes, hon.” She pried each of Willa’s eyes open. “Massively dilated.”

Willa turned her head away, whimpering.

“Get her back to the house. I can look her over better there.”

Back inside, I tried to settle her on the sofa in the den, but she wouldn’t let me go, so I just sat down myself. While Jace paced, Gabi checked her over more thoroughly, finding no signs of a jellyfish sting or any other external trigger for what was happening. The shaking had stopped, but I didn’t think it was over. Willa lay limp in my arms, but for the death grip she had on my shirt.

Gabi stroked the hair back from her face. “Willa, honey, does your head hurt?”

Not even a flicker of a response. Willa just continued to stare off into space, her gaze unfocused.

I’d seen her have a panic attack before, but it had been nothing like this. Whatever this was scared the shit out of me. I tightened my hold on her. “Wren, you’re scaring me, baby.”

With a little whimper, she turned her head into my shoulder, toward the sound of my voice.

“She’ll respond to you. Keep talking,” Gabi ordered.

“Do you have a headache, sweetheart?”

I felt the barest of nods against my chest.

“Do you want your migraine meds?”

Another nod.

“I’ll get it. Where are they?” Jace asked.

“Drawer to the left of the fridge.”

He was back in less than a minute. Gabi took the box from him and pressed the injection pen to Willa’s leg. She didn’t even flinch.

I kept up a running litany of reassurances, since the sound of my voice seemed to help, and we waited. Within ten minutes, her eyes drifted shut and the last of the tension drained from her body. She was sleeping.

With a shuddering breath, Gabi dropped onto the edge of the coffee table. “She should rest now.”

Daniel straightened from where he’d apparently been leaning against the wall. I hadn’t even realized he was in the room. “Bree, you wanna lend me a hand gettin’ the food together and makin’ sure that fire’s good and out?”

Obviously anxious herself, Bree stood. “Yeah. I can do that.”

Gabi waited until we all heard the kitchen door shut behind them. “Okay, what the actual fuck was that?”

Jace and I exchanged a look. This wasn’t ours to tell.

Gabi scowled. “Stonewall me all you want, but I’m not leaving until I get answers. If that means I need to sit here until she sleeps this off to get it direct from the horse’s mouth, I will. But something is wrong with my friend, and I’m going to help.”

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