Whispers in the Dark by Maya Banks Page B

breathe again. It was so damn peaceful that for a minute I thought it was the end.”
    Nathan looked up at the sky, closed his eyes and breathed out as his shoulders sagged.
    “You played it off, man. And I let you. But you know you fed me a line of bullshit. Angels, God. Yeah, maybe, but you know more than you’re letting on.”
    “I don’t know! I wish to hell I did,” Nathan bit out.
    He balled his fist in frustration and pressed it to his forehead.
    “Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe we both are.”
    “I’m perfectly okay with that explanation,” Swanny said calmly. “But we aren’t. Now stop holding out on me.”
    Nathan stumbled back toward the sleeping bag, sat down and pulled his knees to his chest. Beside him, Swanny crawled into his and stretched out on his side. For a long time, Nathan just sat there, staring into the distance. The silence was brooding, but Swanny waited. He just lay there and watched Nathan, waiting for him to speak.
    “Her name is Shea,” he said quietly. He wasn’t betraying her because Swanny had already heard him calling her name on more than one occasion.
    “Yeah, I gathered that much. The question is who is she and…well…who is she?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Swanny sighed and rolled to his back to stare up at the sky. “Has anyone ever told you what a frustrating son of a bitch you are, Nate?”
    “I thought I imagined her. Right up until the time she emailed my brothers to let them know where to find us.”
    “How the hell did she do that? There weren’t any women that I saw in that hellhole.”
    “That’s just it. She wasn’t…there. She was here,” Nathan said, tapping the side of his head. “She talked to me in my head. I don’t even know where she was.”
    Swanny turned back to his side and stared at Nathan, mouth agape. “You mean like psychic shit?”
    “Well, she wasn’t telling me my future,” Nathan said dryly. “She’s telepathic and she can…”
    “She can what?”
    “She took my pain away. Took it on herself. And when I was tortured, she took that too. She suffered. I hated it.”
    “Holy fuck,” Swanny breathed. “You’re serious?”
    Nathan nodded even though he wasn’t sure Swanny could see.
    “That’s some freaky-ass shit, man. You didn’t imagine it? Like as a coping mechanism?”
    Nathan made a dry sound of amusement. “I would have said absolutely yes except for the very real email that my brother received telling him exactly what I told Shea to tell him.”
    Swanny went silent. For a long while he lay there motionless as if grappling with whether or not to believe Nathan.
    “Where is she now?” he finally asked.
    “I don’t know,” Nathan muttered. “She was in trouble. She wouldn’t say much. She was too determined to shield me from pain and get me the hell out of there. She was afraid, though. I could feel her fear. I felt it tonight.”
    “Damn.”
    “Yeah.”
    “What are you going to do?”
    Nathan leaned back and pulled the sleeping bag around him as he settled down once more. “I don’t know. What can I do? I know nothing about her. Just her name, and she begged me not to tell anyone about her. If I tell what I know, I could endanger her. I don’t know enough to find her.”
    “That’s fucked up.”
    “You don’t think I’m batshit crazy?”
    “Nah. In a weird way it makes total sense. I have no idea how it’s possible. Maybe we’re both crazy. But I know what I felt. I know that whatever she did, she saved us both. Instead of spending time worrying that I lost my marbles, I’m just going to be damned grateful she did what she did.”
    Nathan chuckled. “You certainly have a way with words, Swanny. The hell of it is you make complete sense.”
    “I do that every once in a while.”
    Nathan laughed again, and some of the tension seeped from his bones, leaving him exhausted and barely able to remain awake.
    He relaxed and closed his eyes, but he was haunted by the music of her voice and memory of her