Page 64 of Tide Touched

Courtney’s icy eyes bore into mine. She growls in my face, her breath hot. She snaps her jaws at me. Maybe I won’t be captured after all. Maybe I’ll be murdered.

Someone tackles her off me.

It’s all over before I know what’s happened.

Something pulses, wet and sticky near my ear. I bring a hand up to my neck and a torrent of blood spills over my fingers, shining in the moonlight. It looks as though I’ve dipped my hand in red paint.

Like a wave rushing over the shore at low tide, I bleed freely onto the grass.

Chapter Thirty

Katie

A painful tugging sensation blooms over the left side of my face. As a hand touches the crown of my head, I flinch. Someone murmurs something soothing. ‘Easy, Katherine, stay still.’

Killian. I would know his voice anywhere. I try to open my eyes, but it doesn’t work. No, wait, it did work, but all I see is darkness and I’m being moved. I look up to find myself in my mate’s arms, being carried carefully toward a bonfire.

My head rests against his chest. I can’t hold it up. Everything throbs. If I thought Courtney kicked my ass before, I was wrong. I try to open my mouth, to ask what happened. The Water Pack wolves, they didn’t take me. Why not? Did Killian protect me?

My vision blurs with pain. I heave in a shuddering breath. He holds me a little closer. Killian sits beside the bonfire. ‘I’m going to take care of both of you.’

Confusion clouds my senses. ‘B-b—’ I can’t even get the word out. The world drowns before me, so I close my eyes. Killian sets me down, carefully putting something under my head, then draping a blanket over me. He presses something wet and cool to my cheek—directly in a deep wound. I let out a shriek, my eyes snapping wide at the worst pain I’ve ever felt.

‘Fuck.’ Killian drops something, then holds me close. ‘I’m sorry.’ He rocks me gently back and forth until I stop screaming. Until I can breathe again. At some point, he lays me back down and I pass out.

The next thing I know, its daylight, and someone brushes my arm. ‘Katherine, hey.’ I blink, greeted by Elijah’s jewel-green eyes, clouded with shadows. I sit up, propping myself on my elbow as my head sways. ‘Holy shit, what happened to you?’ I reach out to touch his chest, his arm, the long, horrible claw marks down his leg.

Elijah whimpers, not at my touch, but at the pain already stabbing at him. ‘Same thing that happened to you.’ He returns my friendly touch, hovering near my check without pressing. He hands me a cup of water. ‘Here, drink this.’ He helps me sit up.

‘Thanks.’ There’s something dark and hollow about him. ‘What is it?’

Killian comes over. ‘Don’t,’ he says sharply. ‘She needs more rest—’

‘I won’t lie to her,’ Elijah snaps. ‘Not about this.’ He turns to me, gaze soft. ‘Katie. Can I call you Katie?’

I nod, tears already forming in my eyes. Something is very wrong.

Elijah reaches for me, hand shaking. ‘They—the Water Pack—’ He sniffles. ‘They didn’t get you, so they took—’

‘Don’t.’ Killian lowers himself beside me, hugs me with his whole torso, as though trying to shield me. ‘You can’t.’ His voice cracks. ‘I won’t let her blame herself.’

‘It’s not her fault.’ The pain in Elijah’s voice cuts at me. ‘But we have to do something!’

‘What is going on?’ Tears slide down my cheeks, and I yelp as the salt sears my open wound.

Killian carefully wipes my tears away. ‘The Water bastards. They took Moira.’

A wave of horror washes over me, so huge and sudden, like a tsunami, I turn to the side and throw up with a racking sob. My whole body starts shaking, and I immediately pray I misheard. Two sets of hands are on my back, rubbing soothing circles.

‘Hey, easy.’ Elijah’s voice is low, pained but reassuring. ‘We will get her back, I promise.’

‘You can’t promise her that,’ Killian hisses from my other side.

A shattering sob breaks something in my chest. They couldn’t get me, so they took my best friend. My sister. I bury my face in my hands and cry as I wade into the most awful moment of my life.

I waste no more than ten minutes sobbing like a baby before I push myself to my feet, my body screaming in protest. ‘I’m going to get her.’

Elijah smiles. ‘I knew I liked you.’

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