Page 98 of Healing Conviction

Flying mace… Pix’s favorite.

He carefully sidestepped the tripwire he’d hidden and continued down the path until he finally reached the clearing where their site had been. His chest soared with relief and he almost grinned, except…

It was empty.

Their bags were there, but there was no little pixie to give him a hard time.

She had to have made it. Where the fuck—

“—are you, little bitch?Fuck, that hurts.”

Sweat pricked on his forehead and he tightened his grip on his knife before melting back into the forest. A large tree protected him from view as he tried to assess what direction the sound was coming from. The intruder wasn’t even trying to hide their presence anymore. The lumbering footsteps drew Draco to the trails on his right.

He edged back into the forest, trying to remember which trap he’d laid for that location. When he came across the reflective tape, he recognized the area and ducked before circling the pile of leaves he’d gathered. He’d made the spring-loaded trap too high for Pix to get caught up in, but it still made him nervous that she could be close by.

A soft, distant voice accompanied the loud man’s grumbling. Draco’s head snapped toward the new voice.

Shit.

Desperate to find Pix before the enemy did, Draco pivoted so quickly he tripped and had to use a tree trunk to keep him upright. A shock of panic jolted through him as a short figure emerged from the thick brush right into—

The wire bent as the figure walked straight into it, tripping the bullet Draco had spring-loaded in the gun at the base of the tree, right where he’d buried a block of Tannerite in a pile of dry leaves and brush.

The path exploded.

Ha! Fucking cool—

The blast flung Draco back, landing him against a root system and making him drop his knife. He winced and caught his breath before he huffed a laugh.

I can’t wait to tell Pix—

The small figure…

A horrifying male scream erupted from the explosion. Relief that he hadn’t just blown up Nora flowed through him, collapsing him against a tree trunk.

Too close… way too goddamn close.

Another male scream and simultaneous percussive boom clapped through the woods. Pained cries from the man on fire in front of him literally died on the guy’s lips as he crumpled to the ground.

Is that a fucking siren?

Way too much was going on, too fast, and he just wanted to get to Nora. He pushed from the tree and picked his knife back up.

Go back to the campsite. She’ll be there. She has to be there.

He forged ahead, carefully treading away from the burning body and the fire popping in the leaves. A brief look back showed the flames spreading away from the campsite, and a brief pang of guilt for burning the forest made him wince. Hopefully, it would die down, but he had to focus on getting to Nora first. She was the priority. Always.

Anticipation, hope, and firelight had him navigating the forest with more ease, and in a matter of minutes he was back at the site. He stayed close to the clearing before entering, still wary. His heart clenched at the sight.

Pix was on her knees, with the firelight in front of her illuminating her side profile for him. Her dirty cheeks glistened where the light highlighted wet tear stains. She stared at the dirt on her fingers, crying, coughing, seemingly lost in thought and pain before she spoke barely loud enough to hear.

“I trusted you, handsome. So where are you?”

His breath stalled in his chest.

She trusts me.

He couldn’t wait any longer, he took a step into the clearing—