Whirlwind Revolution (20 page)

“Don’t get used to it,” I chuckled. “I suck at it so this was a rarity that was simply staring me right in the face.”

“Do me next,” Samantha leaned in and hissed. “Seriously. I want a hot stud fawning all over me. Just make sure she has big tits. I love big tits.”

“I’m not a hookup service,” I growled and yanked on her hair. She swatted me away and I couldn’t help but laugh. I really liked her, truly, and I knew that was important to Torr I got along with his best friend. It wasn’t hard. I couldn’t imagine anyone not liking Samantha.

We went back to work and updated the map until the early hours of the morning. When we felt we had everything currently available to us, Emrys made it appear in the new stronghold and went to tell the other leaders of our new escape. It was time to meet there and outline where everyone was going to stay and what else was needed.

* * * *

It was a
long ass
drive from New Orleans to outside Duluth, Minnesota where the stronghold was. At least twenty-two hours with stops. And we were heading there caravan style—except split between a couple for best possible routes. Torr was adamant that the royal treasury should be brought first and by felines in case it was discovered we knew too soon.

It made sense, possessions and supplies could be rebought but if the means to buy anything had to be left behind because they had to flee, all could be lost. And we couldn’t only rely on casters or sprites getting things to the new locations or being able to go back if humans invaded.

Or blew the place up because Torr’s compound was first on the human’s list to be taken out with missiles. Yeah, that wasn’t depressing.

So each armored car was escorted by two SUVs, one with guards, and another full of people packed and ready to go because the royal court was several hundred heads of people. That was a lot to of people to try and move across the country without drawing attention, but at least none of them had jobs in the human world where they’d be missed.

We’d learned from casters and Olave’s sprite friend that teleporting people was incredibly difficult. Objects didn’t move and their composition didn’t change. But people had both strikes against them and it was too tricky to do often and not if it wasn’t an emergency.

Hey, I was glad they were honest with us. I didn’t want my lower half staying behind when only my top was made to appear at the new location.

The guards rotated driving so no one tired too fast. We had all agreed stopping for the night wasn’t prudent as well. Torr talked on the phone
constantly
. It was kinda grating on my nerves.

Okay so it
really
was. He’d switch out phones when the battery died and kept going. I finally had to lie that they were all drained just so he’d rest. He shot me a knowing smirk and curled up against me.

“Then you’re sleeping too because you’re being a grumpy dick,” he murmured. “Good thing I’m not a fan of road trips either and we won’t have many in our future. Otherwise I think vacations could have broken us up as a couple.”

“We can’t have that.” I kissed his forehead and snuggled against the man I loved.

Who loved me.

We were up and back to it several hours later, missing a few stops to refuel and switch drivers. It impressed me how much the Royal Guard had their shit together. I mean, they were like machines. They definitely took their duty seriously.

It was about hour twenty—so only a few hours from the stronghold—that the shit hit the fan.

“Do you hear something?” I asked Abram. It was far off but I heard the very distinctive thunk of metal and clicking of a weapon cocking. “Shut up. Everyone shut up!” Instantly the SUV went silent, and I heard grinding metal and a firing pin clicking.
“Floor it!”

Abram didn’t hesitate, punching the gas and hitting the horn for the armored truck in front of us. The caravan took off like a well-oiled machine.

But all we did was drive into my worst hell. The glass shattered as a grenade came in my window. I grabbed it before it was lost in the car and threw it back out the window. “Cut right!” I unsnapped my belt, doing the same for Torr and took him to the floor just as the explosion went off. Seatbelts are great for collisions.

Not so much on explosions.

I felt searing heat on my back, but still, when the SUV flipped, I turned us so Torr crashed into me and not the broken glass and metal of the SUV. Something sharp punctured my chest when we stopped rolling and it became impossible to breathe.

“Are you hurt?” I wheezed as he lifted his head and stared down at me with thick fear in his eyes.

He tried to get off me gently but it wasn’t working. “No, but, Hadley, my
gods
.
Help us!
”

“Torr, babe, run. You have to be safe.”

“I’m not leaving you!” he cried as his gaze darted around. “Abram? Are you hurt?”

“Fuck yeah, but I’m alive,” the man groaned.

“Abram, get Torr out,” I ordered with what little air I had left in reserve.

I saw his head poke behind the driver’s seat and met his tear-filled gaze. “Always, my friend. Always. Safe journey to the gods and be at peace.”

Yeah, I figured it was that bad. “I love you, Torr.”

“Don’t you dare leave me, Hadley!” he screamed as he kicked the opposite door that was facing skyward. It creaked open just as I felt the darkness pull me under.
“No! Hadley!”

“Love you so much,” I slurred.

And then nothing.

Torrance

“Do you hear something?” Hadley asked suddenly. I was in between calls for once so I instantly froze. I knew to trust his instincts. “Shut up. Everyone shut up!” I glanced around as the SUV went silent. What was he hearing?
“Floor it!”

Abram pushed it to the max, the SUV lurching, and I dropped the burner I’d been holding. He also hit the horn, which confused me as to what that would do. Draw attention to our position?

Hadley’s window shattered, and he stuck his hand out to catch something. It took me a second to realize it was a grenade.
He caught a fucking grenade!

He threw it right back out the window as I gaped at him. Fuck
Superman,
I had way better. “Cut right!”

He undid our belts and yanked me to the floor, his larger body covering me.
This is going to be bad. Gods protect us.

The explosion was deafening, and when the SUV started to flip, Hadley did the same to us so he took the brunt of any injury. Stubborn man. I was going to kick him when this was all over.

When we were done rolling, I felt a scratch to my shoulder and realized it was something protruding
through
Hadley.

“Are you hurt?” he wheezed as I blinked down at him, barely able to recognize my beautiful owl through all the blood and burns on him.

I tried my best to not add to his pain with my weight but it was like trying to stand on ice since he was covered in blood. “No, but, Hadley, my
gods. Help us
!”

He tried to raise his arm to push me away from him. “Torr, babe, run. You have to be safe.”

“I’m not leaving you!” I cried as I realized he had maybe minutes. We needed a way out and I looked around for one. “Abram? Are you hurt?”

“Fuck yeah, but I’m alive,” the man groaned.

“Abram, get Torr out.” I ignored Hadley and saw of all the exits the one Hadley had been sitting next to was actually the best to exit from since the blast had pretty much taken off the door.

Abram unclicked his belt and turned to check on us. “Always, my friend. Always. Safe journey to the gods and be at peace.”

“I love you, Torr.”

Gods, he’s saying goodbye.
“Don’t you dare leave me, Hadley!” I screamed as I kicked the door. It creaked open and fell to a heap just as I heard his heart plummet to dangerous rates. I turned back to him and cried out when I saw all the blood, his eyes already closed.
“No! Hadley!”

“Love you so much,” he slurred and went limp.

“No!”
I mashed my mouth down to his, trying to kiss him awake in my hysteria.

“Is the King alive?” I heard people shouting.

“Yes, get him out of here!” Someone crawled into the SUV and pulled me off Hadley.

I fought them with everything I had, tears blurring my vision. “No! I’m not leaving him!”

They dragged me out anyways, and suddenly, people started appearing out of nowhere. I guess someone hit the panic button, signaling we were being attacked.

“He’s gone, your grace,” Abram said to me as they tried to pull me away.

“No! His heart was dying but beating,” I snarled and elbowed the guard fighting to get me to safety. I raced back to the SUV, but Abram was faster, catching me around the waist. “I’m ordering you to get him out! Save my fucking mate, or I will shred your intestines into a million pieces. By the gods, I swear it! Where’s Emrys? Did he answer the call?”

“I will get him out,” the caster assured me, suddenly there in my vision. I nodded and let Abram pull me away, my legs practically giving out under me. The broken and burned SUV disappeared and then it was just Hadley.

Abram was smart and didn’t even try to fight me as I used what little strength I could control to get to the man I loved.

“No, Hadley, hang on, okay?” I looked at Emrys who was frowning. “Help him!”

“I’m not a healer, Torrance. I don’t know that magic.”

“The crystal!” I pulled it out of my shirt and touched it to Hadley. “Save him. Please, save him.” It didn’t do anything but have that same light glow to show it was working—whatever that meant—and I was the true leader. “How do I turn this fucking thing on?
Where’s the godsdamn instruction manual?
”

“It heightens your natural abilities and powers,” Emrys coached.

“Running faster won’t help me now,” I snarled as I ran my hands over Hadley’s body. I wailed as his heart stopped.

“Torrance!”
Emrys bellowed to snap me out of my misery. “Lick him. That’s what you have.”

I didn’t even hesitate, licking the huge gash in his chest where a part of the SUV had been lodged in. “I don’t understand?”
Lick, lick.
“Fine, stop the bleeding.”
Spitting in the gaping hole in his chest.
“Lessen the pain, great.”
Licking the burns on his neck.
“That won’t heal him!”

“Enhancing the powers you have,” he reminded me and then gasped. I glanced at Emrys and saw him staring at Hadley’s chest. “The wound is closing. Keep going.”

Worked for me. Emrys helped lift Hadley up enough that I could get to his back and I licked everywhere until I was out of saliva. Abram was there to hand me some water which I chugged and got back to work.

“Chopper’s ten minutes out,” Glenda informed me and I blinked up at her. “Right, we’re getting you guys out of here and to the stronghold via chopper. The casters already sent the armored car ahead, brought two other SUVs and two vampires are cloaking each.”

“I’m not leaving him,” I snarled again. I kept licking and left them to handle the shit. I didn’t care. I just needed my heart. Hadley was my heart, and I couldn’t survive without him. If his stopped, then mine would die. I realized I was manically muttering all of this as I kept licking.

Whatever. I was allowed to crack up right then.

“I think we should do chest compressions and give him a jump-start now that you’ve got most of the wounds healed,” Abram suggested. I nodded and we lowered him back down. They worked on Hadley as I kept licking any little cut I could find and not get in their way. It took a few minutes but then Hadley’s heart started again even if he remained unconscious. “Thank fuck. Much longer and his brain would have been a vegetable.”

“He’s breathing?” I asked even as I laid my ear to his chest. It was shallow and pained, but he was breathing. “Thank fuck.” I cried as I kept healing every inch of him I could.

But the time the chopper landed, Hadley’s chest was mostly closed and his burns looked as if they’d happened weeks ago. Abram helped Glenda load Hadley in the medevac as I stumbled after them.

It felt like forever until we landed again and then it was a flurry of people checking on me and helping Hadley on the way to medical. I’d hiss and point to him if any tried to tend to my injuries. They got the point and finally all focused on my owl.

“Oh my gods,
Hadley
!” a very attractive blond man cried as he came racing into the emergency clinic already set up at the stronghold. “Is he going to be okay?”

A doctor stepped away from Hadley just then after reading some test results. “He’s stabilizing. It will take some time and we want to keep an eye on him but his heart is already stronger and his breathing isn’t so labored. You saved him, your grace.”

“Thank you, doctor,” I croaked out and moved towards Hadley. Instead I ended up with my arms full of the blond canine shifter.

“Thank you so much for saving Hadley. I don’t know what I’d do if we lost him.” He kissed my cheek and went over to
my
owl and brushed his lips over Hadley’s. “Come on, Hadley. Get better and we’ll make more videos, okay? No one’s dying on me anymore.”