Hammer Down: Children of the Undying: Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

blood but moving so effortlessly it was clear none of it was his own. His gaze swept the space between them, only hesitating twice—once on Shane’s body and again on Cache. “Shit.”
    Her vision blurred again. “Cache is hurt, and I need to go on ahead with her. Zel’s people are going to help you get the trucks going again. Can you stay here and handle it?”
    He caught her arm and lifted his hand to the back of her head, where his fingers came away bloody. “Damn it, Dev, you knocked yourself silly. I can’t put you in a car with two halfbloods.”
    “Don’t be an overbearing jackass. Cache needs me right now.” She pushed his hand away and took a few steps. She was steadier on her feet now, calmer and more focused. “Siphon half the fuel from my truck into Juliet’s. It’ll get them both there, and we’ll figure out the situation later.”
    He didn’t like it, that was clear, but he didn’t argue. He nodded shortly and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “We’ll be right behind you.”
    She caught his hand. “Thank you.”
    The man Zel had called Lorenzo had already carefully lifted Cache and was carrying her to the Jeep. Devi followed closely, her heart pounding. “How experienced is your healer?”
    The man smiled reassuringly, but stress bracketed lines around his eyes. “Rosalyn’s got more raw talent than anyone I’ve ever seen. She can help.”
    Zel swung into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “I’ll have her meet us at the visitors’ barracks. Devi, help Lorenzo brace your friend. It’s going to be a rough, fast ride.”
    She clambered into the back and squeezed against the seats. Lorenzo lifted Cache in after her, and Devi cradled her head in her lap. “Drive fast.” The words came out sounding more like an entreaty than anything else. “We’ve already moved her, so we may as well get her there as soon as we can.”
    The engine roared underneath them, and Zel glanced back as he shifted into gear. “Fast it is, sweetheart.”
    Cache’s dark skin was ashen even in the dim moonlight. Devi clutched her hand as the Jeep took off, rattling across the landscape.
    All they had to do was get her to a healer. It was simple enough, and it had to work, because she couldn’t lose half her team in one night. She couldn’t screw up that badly, couldn’t kill two of her friends, and still make it.

Chapter Four
    Zel had just decided to forgo the looping road to the visitors’ building in favor of driving straight across the scrubby grass when Devi’s girl woke up with a scream.
    Just noise, not words, but she sounded wounded and scared, and Zel had to harden his heart against the swell of empathy that stirred rumbling thunder as he smashed his foot down on the gas and sent them rocketing across the remaining distance. “Lorenzo? Keep her calm, damn it.”
    He immediately bent over her. “It’s okay. I’m Lorenzo. We’re taking you—”
    She swung her fist at him, and he jumped back. “Shit, she’s freaking out.”
    “Her name is Cache. She can’t hear you, and she doesn’t know who you are.” Devi took the girl’s hand and wrapped it gently around her own. “She’s hurt, and she’s afraid.”
    Zel jerked his attention back to driving as his tires spun on the damp, overgrown grass. A few harrowing seconds later, they skidded over gravel as he slammed his boot on the brakes, stopping the vehicle mere feet from the doors.
    There wasn’t time to ask questions, but he needed information. He kicked open the car door and reached for the back. “She can’t hear at all? That’s not from the attack, is it?”
    “She’s deaf.” Devi kept her eyes on Cache’s face. “Chip replacement went wrong.”
    The black-market chip Trip had mentioned. “Is she going to freak out if one of us carries her?”
    “Not if she knows I’m here and no one’s harming us.”
    The worry etched on Devi’s face tightened his chest, but there was nothing to do now but get them