Lavalle fell backward onto the sandy ground. He gasped once, clutching at his side as if to somehow seal the wound, but it was too late. He gave one last, rattling choke, and stilled.
Raven dropped his head and rested his hands on his knees, panting and nauseous. He could feel his strength slipping away. A steady stream of blood dripped from his head onto the ground, thick and surprisingly bright red. Without warning his injured leg buckled beneath him. He fell to the floor, and the world blurred as he tried to stay conscious.
He turned his head and saw Heloise racing across the clearing toward him, her face pale and terrified. His heart gave an irregular kick. Safe. At least she was safe.
A ripple of movement came from his left. Alvarez was advancing on him, a look of evil triumph on his face. The sneaky bastard had been biding his time, waiting for the chance to strike. Sunlight glinted off the knife in his fist.
Raven shook his head to clear the winking lights that flashed across his vision. He tried to rise but his strength had deserted him. Shit. His limbs refused to obey his commands. He heard Heloise cry out and realized with a sense of disbelief that he was too weak to fight Alvarez.
Heloise was going to watch him die.
He ground his teeth and lunged to his feet just as a shot rang out. Raven glanced down instinctively at his chest. There was no pain, but maybe the agony in his skull and his leg had disguised the fatal hit.
But then Alvarez fell backward, the side of his head blown away. Raven turned in time to see Kit slump against the wall of the church. A pistol slid from his limp grip.
“I’ve been dreaming of killing that sadistic bastard for months,” Kit rasped. He sent Raven a mocking, exhausted salute. “You’re welcome.”
His cocky grin was a welcome echo of his former self and Raven managed a weak smile in return. “Good to see you, too, Carlisle.” He glanced over at Carlos and Alejandro, both bloody, but alive, and grinned. “Well, that was exciting, eh?”
And then Heloise was on her knees in front of him, crying his name, a flurry of skirts and rose-scented woman. “Oh God, you’re hurt! Let me see.”
Raven forced himself to stand, bracing himself against the side of the wagon, even though it made his stomach heave. Sweat broke out on his upper lip as he ducked away from her questing hands. “Don’t fuss, woman. It’s nothing. Head wounds always bleed like the devil. I’m just a bit dizzy, that’s all.”
He groped his way to the back of the cart and sat down heavily on the backboard. His injured leg was in agony, a throbbing fiery pain in his thigh that burned with every step.
Heloise frowned at him. “Stop being so stupid. You’ve been shot. Twice. Now is not the time to play the hero. Lie back.”
Raven sighed in defeat and complied. It did feel good to lie down. The clouds were spinning and his words seemed slow, his brain sluggish. He experienced an odd sense of detachment, as if he were floating distant, apart from it all. Sounds came and went in waves, distinct then dull, like he was underwater. His head throbbed but through the pain came a weary relief, a relaxing of tension inside him. Safe. She was safe. That was all that mattered. Even if he died, he’d done his job. Contentment washed over him in a calming wave of acceptance.
Heloise climbed up into the cart and used her wadded skirts to staunch the bleeding from his head. She probed his hair, and he hissed in pain, half sitting up. The sense of peace receded sharply.
“Jesus, woman, be careful!”
She slapped his hand away. “I can’t help unless I can see what I’m doing. For once in your life you’re going to have to let someone else take charge.”
Raven subsided with little grace.
—
Heloise tried to disguise her panic at the sheer amount of blood streaming from Raven’s head. Lavalle’s bullet had grazed his temple, in the hair just above his ear.
She shuddered as she realized how close to death he’d been. Another inch to the left and he’d have been a corpse. A wave of nausea rose in her throat. “That was such a stupid thing to do!” she scolded.
Raven shrugged and moved his shoulders so his head was cradled in her lap, shamelessly taking advantage. “It was all going swimmingly until Lavalle showed up.”
She stroked the hair from his forehead as she continued to keep pressure on his wound. The bleeding seemed to be slowing, but it was hard to tell. Her skirts were soaked with blood. So much blood.
Raven turned his face into her palm and pressed his lips to the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist and her pulse fluttered. He caught her hand in his and held her palm against his face.
He smiled. “Enough of an adventure for you, Hellcat?”
Heloise frowned. His speech was slurred and his pupils seemed huge. He closed his eyes.
“You idiot,” she said fiercely, but her voice wavered and tears blurred her eyes. She pressed her lips together to contain a sob and stroked his cheek. The drying blood was sticky on her fingers. He seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness.
She shook him, slapped his cheek. “Hey! Don’t you dare die on me, Ravenwood!” Her voice was shrill, reedy with panic. His eyes rolled back in his head.
Rafael appeared from the trees, leading the horses, and Heloise experienced a moment of guilty horror that he should witness the aftermath of yet another massacre, but the youth merely glanced at the bodies littering the ground and shrugged.