Page 42 of Frosted Torment

Coughing, she rolled onto her side and spat out a tooth. “You don’t have much time,” she stated before her gaze shifted past me and focused on Vincent. “Maros is coming for Noa.”

Baz stretched his mouth wide and howled a primal cry that echoed off the mountains, then was joined by the distant cawing of crows. Lex and Jossy dashed over to me then hoisted Ivy up, each of them supporting one of her arms. She had endured a beating from that sadistic bastard.

Vincent’s brows snapped together as he waved for Nevaeh. “Get Nakoma here, please. And fast!” He turned to Jossy and Lex. “Let me have her.”

My eyes filled with tears as I scrambled to my feet and followed them. “Is she going to die?” I questioned Vincent.

Vincent avoided looking at me as he carried Ivy across the path, his face warped with rage. “If the injuries are bad enough and she doesn’t get enough time to heal, then yes,” he yelled back to me.

My body locked up as I wrapped my arms around myself. “This is wrong on so many levels. Vallen… he caused this!” I shouted.

“Jossy, follow me,” Vincent ordered, his tone clipped.

I rushed after them, not wanting to leave Ivy when Lex stepped in front of me with my flannel shirt.

“You dropped this,” he said, then followed Vincent and Jossy into the house.

As I slipped into the shirt again, someone who resembled a younger version of Nevaeh appeared on the porch. I hesitated when my eyes caught a glimpse of a rifle in her hands. She smiled and raised a hand, but it didn’t matter. I needed to helpIvy. When I reached the top of the steps, Nevaeh stood in front of me with a camouflaged coat.

“Take it,” she offered, then placed her hand on the small of my back and guided me closer to the other woman.

I pressed the jacket against my chest and shook my head. “No, Ivy needs me.”

“What Ivy needs is for you to be safe, Noa. And that is not in this cabin,” she insisted.

Baz stood on the other side of the railing waiting for me, his eyes following my every move.“You’re exposed here, Noa; an easy target.”

A rusted truck with a significant dent in the front fender came around the corner at a ridiculous speed. As the truck pulled to a stop, Nakoma jumped out with a medical kit in his hand. He left it running, but offered a slight nod as he rushed into the cabin. I whirled around to follow him, but Nevaeh sidestepped in front of me.

“Let’s go,”Baz demanded, then sauntered toward the truck.

“I can’t leave her,”I argued while keeping my feet planted on the porch.“Besides, the wards are fine. Nothing got through them.”

“You need to get out of the open, then we can assess the situation.”His tone left no room to argue.“If it’s safe, you can come back.”

“Noa, this is Ena. My granddaughter and Nakoma’s sister.” Nevaeh gestured to the woman who now held the gun with a finality that was almost unsettling. A flicker of apprehension flashed across my mind—one more stranger thrown into this chaotic mix.

Ena’s smooth raven-braided hair brushed the top of her butt as she searched the sky. “Nice to meet you,” she said with bright eyes.

“Ena’s going to take you to my house,” Nevaeh advised. “My husband, Dawson, is waiting there.”

My best friend needed me, and I needed her. My skin flushed, and my feet turned to concrete bricks.

“Please,” I begged, with an ache ripping through my heart.

“This is new to you, Noa, but angels can endure more than any human,” Nevaeh assured me with a soft smile. “She’ll be okay. Besides,” she added, “you want answers, don’t you?”

I sniffed and wiped tears from my cheek. “Yes.”

“Then go. Trust your gut, Noa.” She raised a brow and gestured her head over her shoulder.

Without realizing it, I was somehow standing on the passenger side of the running truck. Baz nudged me with his snout.“I’ll lead the way.”

I climbed inside as Ena secured the rifle to the gun rack above our heads, then drove us toward the back of the property. I couldn’t shake off the image in my head of Ivy’s battered figure. Guilt gnawed at me; she had suffered because of me, because of a world I didn’t know or understand.

Maros was coming, and I didn’t care how powerful he was. I had to stop him. Especially, since he started attacking the ones I loved. If he could do that much damage to an angel, then what else was he capable of doing?

It was evident he only kept Ivy alive to deliver that message. And as much as I hurt leaving her behind, Nevaeh wanted me to know something that seemed like Vincent wasn’t ready to share.

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