“You,” I breathed, the word barely audible.
His jaw tightened. “The kids... We need to go, now.”
The urgency in his voice sent ice through my veins despite the fever. He knew who I was. Who they were. And judging by his expression, that knowledge came with implications I didn’t understand.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I tried to pull away, but my legs had other ideas about supporting my weight.
“Lina, please,” he caught me again as I stumbled. “I know what you’re thinking. I know who you think I am. But right now, none of that matters. That bite is going to kill you if we don’t get help, and those kids...”
He looked at Rowan and Thea again, and pain flashed across his features.
“Those kids need their mother alive.”
16
— • —
Lina
The world tilted as Noah threw me over his shoulder with the casual efficiency of someone who’d clearly done this before. Through my fever haze, I registered the twins’ reaction, which was not at all what a responsible parent would hope for.
“Mama’s flying!” Rowan shrieked with delight, running after us with her arms spread wide. “Me next! Me next!”
“This is not a game,” I tried to say with authority, but it came out more as a wheeze against Noah’s back. The man moved fast for someone carrying a full-grown woman, already at his car before I could formulate a proper protest.
He deposited me in the passenger seat with surprising gentleness, then somehow managed to buckle both twins in the back with the speed of a NASCAR pit crew. Rowan went willingly, probably because Noah smelled interesting orwhatever weird criteria my son used to judge people. Thea required bribes of seeing “the puppies” which, what puppies? When had puppies entered this equation?
“You’re kidnapping me!” I gasped as he slid into the driver’s seat, my fingers fumbling uselessly with the door handle. The child locks were on. Of course they were. “This is literally kidnapping! I have a business! People will notice I’m gone!”
“It’s a rescue,” Noah corrected, starting the engine and pulling away from my house with zero regard for speed limits. “That bite happened what, twelve hours ago? You’re already showing symptoms that take most people days. You’re dying faster than normal, Lina.”
The words sent ice through my already confused system. “So I’m not turning into a beast?”
“Oh, you are.” He took a turn that made my stomach lurch. “Your friends will understand when you’re not dead.”
“Mama, are you dying?!” Thea’s voice came out small and terrified from the backseat.
My heart clenched. “No, baby. Mama’s just sick. This nice man is taking us to get medicine.” I forced cheerfulness into my voice despite wanting to strangle Noah for scaring my kids.Diewas a banned word from now on.
“Special medicine,” Noah added, catching my glare. “Your mom’s going to be just fine.”
“Special like us?” Rowan asked quietly.
Noah’s hands tightened on the wheel. “Yeah, buddy. Special like you.”
Great. So apparently my kids’ weirdness was connected to whatever was happening to me.
I tried to focus through the fever fog as he drove, recognizing the route with growing alarm. He was heading toward the forest road, the one everyone in Pine Valley avoided unless they had a death wish. The one that led to...
“No. Not there. Anywhere but Ravenshollow.”
Noah’s jaw clenched but he didn’t slow down. The trees closed in around us, creating a tunnel of green that seemed to swallow the afternoon light. My fever-bright vision made everything look threatening, though honestly, this road was creepy enough without supernatural enhancement.
“You can’t take us there,” I protested weakly as another wave of heat washed through me. “No one goes to Ravenshollow. It’s cursed, everyone knows that.”
“Everyone knows wrong,” Noah said firmly, but even he couldn’t completely hide his tension.
“Really? Because the evidence suggests otherwise.” I shifted in the seat, trying to find a position where my shoulder didn’t scream. “That town’s been there longer than Pine Valley, completely isolated, refusing all contact. Mail gets delivered to a box at the town limits because even the postal service won’t go in.”
