Neve stiffened next to her. “There’s someone here,” she whispered, her throat tight and mouth dry. “There’s someone near enough that I can feel it. Do you feel it, too?”
She didn’t wait to hear what Marin would say; she forced herself back to her feet and clutched the borrowed blanket around her shoulders as she got her crutches back underneath her again. Her heart was beating fast, too fast.
There’s someone or something here and I’m not sure I like any bit of it. She caught her lip between her teeth and had hobbled to the door by the time Marin was on her feet and coming after her.
“Neve, slow down!”
Her heart was hammering too fast for that. Marin grasped her shoulder and Neve cursed under her breath as pain shot through her collarbone. Marin’s fingers sprang open and the other woman cursed softy.
“I’m sorry,” Marin said. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know.” Neve took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “But we’ve got to move. There’s something here and I can feel it.”
“You keep saying that,” Marin said as she grabbed the lamp and shoved her feet into her boots, “but you’re not explaining it and I’m not following what you are saying.”
“I—” Neve stopped, swallowing hard. “I’m not sure what or who it is,” she said after a moment. She grasped Marin’s arm, fingers digging in. “But I know it’s powerful.” That could be really good or really bad. I just…it feels familiar. “And I think I’ve felt it before.”
Marin shook her head as she yanked on her jacket. “That could be really good or really bad. “ She checked the lamp, then nodded toward the door. “Go, I’ll follow with the light.”
Neve nodded and started into the corridor, moving as fast as she dared, Marin following close on her heels. Her throat was tight and her heart was trying to batter its way past her breastbone and out of the cage of her ribs. Why is it so familiar? Dammit!
They pressed on past the fire, startling Rory, who blinked at them, half rising.
“Mar, what’s the—”
“Just stay there,” Marin snapped as they kept moving. “I don’t know, just stay there.”
None of us know, but she’s right. He needs to stay right where he is until we know more.
No sense in putting five of us in danger.
She wasn’t quite sure why she assumed Thom and Cameron were in the midst of some kind of encounter, but in the pit of her stomach, she knew—beyond the barest shadow of a doubt, she knew.
They were half a dozen steps away from the spot where the snow gusted into the tent, carried by the wind. Their men stood silhouetted in the light of the lamp Thom carried.
“Oh no,” Neve breathed. I know—
“Hello, sister,” the stranger in the dark cloak said. “It’s been too long.”
