A hackney arrived, and Samantha was thrown inside. Nicholas, James, and Gus climbed in with her, and then they were moving.
“I shouldn’t have gone. This would not have happened,” Samantha whispered. “Warwick—”
“Sssh now.” James pulled her close, wrapping her in his arms.
“Warwick will live, he has to.” She looked at James, Nicholas, and Gus; they all looked grave. “Lilly will heal him!” Samantha cried. Her heart raced and her body was clenched so tight she thought she’d shatter. Not Warwick, she couldn’t lose him.
“He’s bad,” Nicholas said. “I think he took the bullet to his heart. Lilly has only just healed you and been sick. I—”
“But Lilly saved D-Dev. She has to save Warwick!” She felt desperate. Her insides twisted with pain and fear. “He will live.”
James pulled her close. “We have to believe he will.”
They drove in silence, and when the hackney stopped outside Dev’s townhouse, they all jumped out and ran. Behind them, another pulled up with the rest of them. Running inside, she found the house full of voices. All of them were there, and even the older children had been roused.
“Upstairs now!” James demanded.
They all sprinted up the stairs and into Dev and Lilly’s rooms. She found it full of people. Warwick lay on his back, shirt open, blood pouring from his chest. He was pale, and… and dear God, had he stopped breathing?
“No!” Samantha wrenched from James’s arms and ran to Warwick. “He can’t leave me!”
“Climb onto the bed and put his head in your lap,” Dev ordered her. “Lilly has been unwell, so we don’t know how strong she is after healing you. We need everyone of Sinclair blood who is able to link hands.”
Someone lifted Samantha onto the bed, and she placed her legs on either side of Warwick’s still form, cradling his head in her hands. She cupped his cheeks and leaned down to kiss his forehead.
“You will wake up,” she whispered. “You will not leave me, Warwick.” Tears fell on his face as she fought to be strong. Straightening, she looked at her family around her. The twins, Eden. Alice, and Kate. Everyone was here. Despair, grief, and many other emotions she could not identify were in the room. Tears streamed down faces as they did hers.
“Everyone link hands. Ravens stand at the back. I want you all to touch your partner,” Dev said.
They’d never done that before. Had they? She’d not been here while this happened in the past. But she’d heard details.
“Lilly, my love, we will give you what we can, but I fear—”
“No one is taking one of my babies away, Dev,” Lilly said, pulling off her gloves. “I won’t allow it.”
She was pale and Samantha knew she was recovering from a chill. Was she strong enough to save Warwick?
Samantha looked down at him feeling the guilt that Lilly was weakened from healing her. Placing a hand on his chest, she waited for it to rise and fall. She felt the rattle beneath her fingers as he tried to fill his lungs with air.
“He does not have long,” Essie whispered.
“For strength, Nicholas, as you are Lilly’s full blood sibling, you stand to her left, I will stand to her right,” Dev said. “Link hands now. It’s all right, sweetheart,” he said to his daughter, Hannah, who was weeping beside him. The grief was thick and raw swirling around her. “Be strong now for Uncle Warwick.”
There was barely room to move around the bed, since it was full of people, all wanting to do what they could for the man they loved.
“You have to be st-strong for us n-now, Warwick,” she whispered. Her throat was thick with tears. “You have to f-fight with everything you have.” She kissed his forehead again.
“Now, Lilly, my sweet. Do it now before he stops breathing or you will not have the strength to bring him back to us,” Dev rasped.
Samantha put one hand on Warwick’s chest and the other on his cheek. She watched everyone connect.
One after the other, they linked hands. Mathew, the eldest of the next generation of Sinclairs, held his Uncle Cam’s hand, expression grave.
Ravens moved to place their hands on the Sinclairs they loved. Simon, the eldest Raven child rested his on his mother’s shoulder. Connections were all made, and Dev took his daughter’s hand, and cupped the back of Lilly’s neck with the other. Nicholas reached behind Samantha and took Alice’s. He gripped his sister’s wrist as she moved to Warwick’s bloodied chest.
Power filled the room. It vibrated from every person. It was so strong Samantha felt it through her entire body. Her eyes caught and held James’s behind Eden. She read his lips.We love you.
“Slowly now, love,” Dev spoke to Lilly as she touched the bullet wound in Warwick.
