Reaver(15)

“If you can’t get us out of here soon, I still might be.”

“I’ll get you out of here, but we still have a three-day journey to a spot where you can flash us out.”

Three days. They might not last three hours if they ran into Satan’s minions. “Where are Matt and Calder?”

Tav used his bow to gesture to a path that wound between trees and jagged stones. “Calder’s scouting the route ahead. We lost Matt in the Valley of Screams, but he knows this is where we’re supposed to meet.” Tav’s voice, normally level, was strained. “I hope the warg’s okay. He’s my drinking buddy. Plus, he’s supposed to introduce me to his sister. She’s a porn star. Fucking cool.”

Reaver hoped Matt was okay, too, but for different reasons. Reaver liked the guy, but more important, Matt had agreed to be Harvester’s blood source. Now they were stuck waiting for him. Without blood, her wings weren’t going to heal quickly enough to help them, and without wings, she was almost powerless.

He shifted Harvester in his arms. “She needs to heal. Can you zap her?”

“No can do,” Tav replied. “I drained myself. Didn’t you see all the dead croucher demons at the top of the canyon? The ones with popped eyes?” He jerked his thumb at his own chest. “My work. I’m awesome.”

Well, Reaver couldn’t explode eyeballs, but he had other tricks up his sleeve, and they needed to take shelter. He turned to the larva-nettle bushes and froze them with a mere word, turning them into ice-glazed salads.

Harvester squirmed in his arms. “What’s happening?” Her voice was so raspy he could hardly understand her.

“We’re at our rendezvous,” he said. “I’m going to put you down.”

“Bastard.” She clung tightly to him. “Don’t go.”

Only Harvester could push someone away while simultaneously keeping them close. She was the most contradictory person he’d ever met.

And the fact that she wanted him to stay near was an indication of how traumatized she was. He’d seen her in emotional and physical pain before, and her response had always been to retreat like a wounded animal.

“I’m not leaving.” He ran his hand over her hair in long, soothing strokes, but she didn’t release her iron grip on his shoulders. “I promise. I have to clear out a place to rest, but I’ll be only a few feet away, and Tavin will be here with you. Do you remember him? He tried to kill Arik that one time. Limos still gives Tav the evil eye for nearly gutting her husband.”

“It was nothing personal,” Tavin muttered. “I am an assassin.”

Harvester nodded, but Reaver still had to peel her off him. He placed her gently on the ground, where she wrapped her arms around her knees and huddled, her body shaking. She wasn’t cold, not in this sweltering heat. But he knew too well how trauma and fear manifested, and he hoped that once she’d eaten, rested, and cleaned up her strength and stamina would return.

But would she return? She could be a world-class wench when she wanted to be, but he much preferred that over the quiet, frightened Harvester. This new Harvester could have him softening toward her, and he’d learned that she was a master at exploiting soft spots.

Tav gave him an I-got-it-handled nod, and as quickly as Reaver could, he wrestled iced-over branches aside and burrowed his way into the center of the bush. At their cores, larva-nettles were hollow, creating a natural hideaway that few would bother trying to search. Once the thing thawed, it would ignore whatever had secreted itself inside it and would go back to defending itself against anyone who came close.

He removed a blanket from his backpack, spread it on the ground, and went back outside.

Tavin grabbed Reaver’s arm and lowered his voice. “We can’t stay here long. Matt can catch up.”

“I know.” Reaver looked over at Harvester, who was still curled up tight, her forehead resting on her knees as she rocked slowly back and forth. “But she can’t continue like this. We’ve traveled for hours and she hasn’t improved. She needs rest.” He eyed the Sem. “If worse comes to worse, are you okay with letting her feed from you?”

Tavin snorted. “I’m always okay with having a female’s mouth on me.”

Reaver bristled. “Feeding only.”

“Chill, buddy. She’s in bad shape, and I do have standards.”

Reaver wondered if Tav’s standards meant he didn’t do fallen angels, or if his standards were about not screwing badly injured people. Hopefully both.

“Glad we’re clear,” Reaver said, giving Tav an uneasy look. Ingesting incubus blood made a lot of species mad with lust, and the energy expended on sex would lessen the healing effects of the blood.