Screaming to a stop in front of the abandoned auto shop, I burst out of the car without even turning off the engine. The easiest way in was around the back, but I didn’t have time to waste, so I kicked in the front door and broke it off its hinges. The shattered door hit the ground and revealed Lucy still tied to a chair in the middle of the floor with the two massive goons beating the shit out of her.

At my abrupt entrance, one of them took off towards the back door, but Caleb gave chase, leaving me to deal with the other. The asshole actually started to laugh at me, and I lunged at him with a solid kick. He crashed into the wall and crumpled into a heap. I gave it a beat, made sure he stayed down, before I went to Lucy.

Rushing over, I slid to a stop on the floor next to her. I tore the ropes from her wrists and ankles before gently setting her on the floor and removing the tight gag from her mouth. Her delicate, pixie face was almost unrecognizable in a mass of fresh bruises, swelling, and gashes. Her body probably wasn’t much better. There was a sickening, wet rattle in her breathing, which suggested she might have broken ribs. God, what if one was piercing her lungs?

“Lucy!” I fluttered my hands over her face, wanting to check her out but not wanting to hurt her. “Jesus, fuck, Lucy. I’m s-so sorry.” Tears streamed down my face. “Luce, p-please be okay. I’m so so s-sorry.”

She didn’t move, and my heart shredded. How the hell did I drag her into this mess? Why hadn’t I kept her out of it? If she died, it would be entirely my fault. Why did I keep pushing for more information? Why couldn’t I have just looked the other way at those stupid goddamn files?

Get your shit together, Kit! Lucy needed help, real help. Forcing my breathing to slow down, I glanced around the room. I needed a phone, and mine was at the house.

A rush of motion near the door had me leaping to my feet, ready to defend my broken friend against a new threat. It was the rest of the team who poured in, and I dropped back to Lucy’s side. Wesley took her other side, checking her over with practiced skill.

Austin checked the goon I had kicked into the wall and declared him dead. Good. He deserved worse.

Wesley’s motions grew more frantic. “We need to get her to a hospital. Cole, help me get her into River’s car; it’s the fastest. We don’t have time to wait for an ambulance. Let’s move.”

Cole gently lifted her tiny body in his massive arms before striding out to the car and carefully placing her across the back seat. Wesley climbed in with her, sitting in the foot well and holding his fingers to the pulse in her wrist. I ran around the car and slid into the passenger side as River took the wheel and smoothly accelerated out of the parking lot.

The drive to the hospital was tense, and no one spoke except for Wesley giving us updates on Lucy’s vitals every few minutes. River’s hands were clenched tight on the steering wheel, his knuckles white, while I stared ahead, tears flowing silently down my face as I willed the vehicle to go faster.

We were still too far from the hospital when the wet rattle of Lucy’s labored breathing stopped, and Wesley began to swear.

“River, you need to get us there now!” His scream echoed the wrenching in my heart, and I twisted in the seat to watch as he tried to resuscitate my best friend.

River tossed me his phone. “Call ahead; let them know we’re coming.”

Of course. It made sense to alert the hospital. I called and managed to answer all of the nurse’s questions in a mostly clear voice. She assured me that they would be waiting, and a minute later when we screeched to a halt in front of the emergency room doors, I was relieved to find she was right and a team of doctors waited with a gurney ready.

River helped them carefully lift Lucy onto the bed, and Wesley rattled off everything he had observed while another nurse took over the resuscitation. They were a blur of motion, wheeling her into the hospital and towards an operating theatre as Wesley ran alongside, continuing his report. I stood in the doorway, frozen, watching them get farther and farther away.

I was shaking, and I knew on some level that I was in shock, but I couldn’t move. It was like my muscles had shut down and I was just an observer, looking out from behind watery eyes.

River wrapped his strong arms around me, then led me over to the waiting area. He murmured words in my ear that were no doubt meant to be comforting. When he pressed me into a chair, I obeyed, too busy drowning in a lake of guilt to argue.

He continued talking to me, but his words had no meaning. His lips moved, but all I heard was a sharp ringing in my ears. The intensity on his face suggested he wanted to tell me something important, but I didn’t care. My best friend—my sister might be dying because of me.

At some stage, the rest of the team arrived. Caleb swept me into a tight hug, kissing my hair and rocking me back and forth. For some reason, his actions snapped me out of my daze, and the paralysis caging me burned away under my anger.

Breaking free of his hold, I shoved him away then glared daggers at all of them. He stupidly reached for me again, and I swatted his hand away from me, hissing a little in anger.

“Do not fucking touch me,” I spat, sparing none of them my wrath as I glared at each in disgust. “This is your fault! If you hadn’t turned down that psycho bitch’s offer, none of this would have happened!” I recognized how unreasonable I was being, but the fury kept building in me, and I needed to blame someone other than myself. They had made a unilateral decision about me without me there, and then Austin had run with it.

“Kit.” River layered a command in how he said my name and demanded my attention. “Now is not the time. You need to calm down before you burn out.”

I glanced at my hands, which were shaking so hard I must have looked like I was having a seizure. My terror was causing a massive adrenaline overload, and I was probably minutes away from a blackout. There were too many witnesses at the hospital, so I headed back outside. The Aston wasn’t in the ambulance bay any longer. River must have moved it into one of the parking slips nearby.

River followed me, but none of the others. They probably thought he was the best one to deal with me. Maybe they were right.

I didn’t care.

Dropping to a crouch, I slid my hand under the cuff of his slacks where he kept a small, but sharp knife. Freeing it, I took the blade and cut a deep gash in my forearm from elbow to wrist.

“Fuck,” River gasped. “Kit.”

Hot blood gushed from the wound, but the skin was already knitting back together as good as new. The rush of healing should have balanced me out, but the buzz, while decreased, wasn’t gone.

So I repeated the action, only I cut deeper this time and it hurt like hell. Healing flooded to my arm, and the skin sealed closed. Still, the wildness coursing in my veins seemed to throb. I might need a third injury; maybe I could dig the blade in deep through muscle. Head spinning, I tried to steady my breathing. I’d never healed so quickly or had so much energy surging through me.

I staggered, losing my balance. River didn’t let me fall, though. He pulled me close even as he slipped the blade out of my hand. I let him hold me while I caught my breath. Steadier, I pushed away from him and wiped the blood off my arm onto my T-shirt.

“Talk to me, Kitten,” River begged, not letting me get too far away before he cupped my face in his hands. “What the fuck was that?”

Meeting his gaze, I shrugged. “You told me to sort myself out. I didn’t think this was the right time for a thirty-mile sprint or a quick fuck in the car, so I gave the energy something to heal instead. I’m fine now.”

My voice sounded as flat and numb as I felt, despite the roller coaster of guilt and blame in my gut. Tugging my face away, I turned to head back inside. I needed to wash my hands, and hopefully the staff would think the blood was Lucy’s.

Lucy. My heart squeezed.

River moved with me, a hand on my lower back. I was too exhausted to tell him not to touch me, so I said nothing. Once back inside, I chose a chair in the corner of the waiting room and curled into a ball with my head against my knees. No one spoke, but they also didn’t leave. After an eternity, I must have fallen asleep because a gentle hand shaking my shoulder woke me.

“Miss Davenport?” The nurse asked in a careful but friendly voice. “The gentlemen over there told me you are Miss Jones’ next of kin?”

“I... yes, yes I am. How is she? Is she okay?” Shaking off the fog, I rushed to my feet. The nurse’s relaxed smile offered me the first real measure of hope since I’d answered the video call earlier.

“She’s in critical but stable condition. We have her in a medically induced coma until the swelling in her brain goes down, but her vitals are good.” She patted me on the arm. “Do you want to see her? It’ll have to be quick though.”

Did I want to see her? I nodded eagerly and hurried to follow her to the Intensive Care Unit where Lucy rested in a private room.

Lucy looked so tiny and frail covered in bandages and with her right arm in a thick cast. She had a breathing tube in, and her face was a patchwork of different bruises. The machines around her beeped steadily.

“Why don’t you sit with her for a few minutes? A lot of people think you can still hear your loved ones talking to you through a coma.” She gave me one last pat on the arm. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

I sank into the chair beside Lucy’s bed and stared at her. I had no words to say, and even if I did, I doubted she would want to hear my voice. It was my fault this had happened to her and no amount of apologies would change it. So instead I sat there, crying silently and praying she would be okay.