Witnessing Tova lying motionless on the ground has my hands glowing fire. I know I can’t assess her pulse without scorching her. I scream for Jace. Not sure if he can hear me over the commotion outside, I slink to the opening of the tent and yell as loud as I can, “JACE!”
He butts his gun to one intruder's head, knocking him out cold, then rushes to my side.
Holding my fiery red hands out, blood drips down from my shoulder and singes as it hits my sweltering palms. I beg, “Hurry! I… I can’t touch her. Please, please, can you check for a pulse?”
Seeing the dread in my eyes, Jace rushes inside. Placing his index and middle finger to Tova’s neck, he gives me an alarmed look. Not saying a word, he immediately begins chest compressions.
Fuck! No! This cannot be happening!
I was supposed to protect her. The world is tunneling in on me. Looking at him, then Tova I begin to sway.
Jace yells, “Pierce, stay with me, man! Don’t do this!” He screams louder. From what I can make of it, he sounds like he’s demanding, “Kage, come now.”
Trying my best to focus, I glimpse Kage as he enters.
Kage stoops down beside me, “Pierce, come on now. Focus! Calm down. I know you’re in there. Snap out of it. We need you. Tova needs you.”
The rage inside me has consumed my every fiber, and I’m not just harnessing fire with my hands. My entire arms are engulfed in flames. Kage tackles me by my waist and forces me out of our tent. Swinging at him and anything in sight, I lose myself. All the Protectors attempt to put me out of action, but they’re all being charred when they get near me. I’ve set a lot of tents on fire and some surrounding trees in my swinging fit.
Adi and Dani-Jo run up as all the hullabaloo is going down. Letting out shrieking, ear-piercing screams as high as they can, they jolt me out of my trance, but my arms are still engulfed in flames. Stopping at two guys right in front of me, I see Larson rip the other guy completely in two with his brutal strength, then he runs toward Tova.
Slowing my arms from swinging, I swivel my head slowly, trying to focus. Coming to myself, Kage tackles me to the ground, knocking the breath out of me, dousing me with water from his palms to put out my fire.
The girls run over, screaming and crying, “What happened? Where’s Tova?”
Kole and Kaden hush the girls, filling them in on the mêlée that took place.
As Kage is still holding me down, I demand, “Let me up. I need to see her.”
Kage removes his tight grip from my arms and slowly gets up, assessing me as if I’m going to snap again. I throw my hands up, “I’m ok. I’ve got to get to her.”
Still unsure if Tova is alive, we all rush to the tent she’s in. Peeking inside, I see Tova, the palest blood-covered body. Jace and Larson are at her side and Larson is pressing his fingers to her neck, assessing for a pulse. I dart to her side, now able to help her in any way I can.
I drop to my knees, looking at Larson as he says, “Still no pulse.”
Immediately I jump into action, performing CPR and doing mouth to mouth resuscitation. After a few more rounds of chest compressions, I notice a spark emit from Jace’s hands. Looking up at him, I ask, “Can you shock her and restart her heart?”
Looking at his palms, then back up at me, he responds, “Um, I’m not sure. This is something new to me.”
With pleading eyes, I beg, “Please try.”
Clasping his hands together, he says, “What if I do more damage? She’s still bleeding.”
I assure him, “I’ll cauterize her wounds while you get ready to shock, ok? If we don’t try, she’s not going to make it.”
Closing his eyes, he rubs his hands together. I see sparks emit from them. Having cauterized Tova’s wound on her chest that’s now mostly closed and not bleeding anymore, I back away so Jace doesn’t inadvertently shock me too.
Opening his eyes to electric hands, he informs, “I’m pretty confident that the energy is at its max. Are y’all ready?”
“Do it!” I say, not wanting to wait for a second longer.
He places both hands on her chest, closes his eyes, and shocks her. Tova’s lifeless body jolts off the ground about a foot, then thuds back down. I immediately press my fingers to her neck to assess for a carotid pulse. Looking at the group surrounding us, I let out a panicked breath. “There is a faint pulse, but I don’t know for how long.” Turning back to her, as a tear escapes and trails down my cheek, I lean down, pressing my lips against the cool skin of her forehead. “Tova, baby, please. Please come back to me.”
To be continued…
Sneak Peek at Defending Pierce- Book 2 in the Iron Mountain series
Tova
The bright sun is shining down on the rolling hills lavished with all kinds of colorful wildflowers. The aroma smells like heaven. As I lift my leg to begin running down the hill toward the brilliant horizon, I hear the most pleading sound. This familiar voice keeps me from going.
Turning back, I see Pierce’s face desperate and so very sad. He’s reaching out for my hand, begging me to come back to him. I long to touch the man I love, to ease his hurt. I reach my hand out for his and suddenly it hurts, everything hurts, my head, my chest, my entire body.
I can hear him. I can feel him. I just can’t get my body to respond to him.
~Defending Pierce premieres Fall 2021~
***If you enjoyed this book, please be sure to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and BookBub.***
Acknowledgments
First of all, thank you Lord for giving me such a creative imagination. Secondly, thank you to my precious family, Jonathan, Brooklyn, London, & Cydney. You have been my biggest cheerleaders, my voice of reason, and mostly my inspiration driving me to achieve my dream of becoming an author.
And to the woman who was there any day or night I needed help…all the love to author Shanna Swenson for your patience, your kind words, your fierce editing, proof reading, coaching, hours upon hours on the phone helping me. For without you, I’m pretty sure this book would never have gotten published.
I never in a million years would have imagined how difficult, exhausting, and exciting it was to create my very own book, now series. Thank you to all of those who encouraged me to pursue my dream, never give up, and pushed me to keep going.
Chasiti, my sweet persistent sister, you got your wish. You kept pressing me to make it a series. Ha, now it is.
Tova, you’ll never know how grateful I am to you for allowing me to name my Main Character after you. I hope she did you proud.
Author C R Pugh, you wrote my first book boyfriend and inspired me to use Pierce as my man Main Character.
To my childhood best friends, much love to you because you’re the inspiration for my supporting characters: Wendy, Tiffany, Steffinni.
Eva, you are such a talented artist. I’m overjoyed to feature your work in my debut novel.
Abby G., your creativity in designing my webpage and logo assembly amazing.
Thank you to all of my devoted readers who actually read my very first, very rough, rough draft and giving me pointers: Rachel, Casei, Dovie, Kellie, Kelly G., Jen, April, Amy, Karen.
And to YOU, THANK YOU for taking a chance on me and reading my very first book. I hope you love the book as much as I have loved writing it.
About Havana Wilder
Havana has always had a vivid imagination and is an avid dreamer. After discovering her love of fantasy romances, she decided to put her dreams into reality by becoming an author herself.
When she's not working on her next novel or reading, she enjoys wakeboarding, chasing waterfalls, four-wheeling, and roasting s'mores around her pergola/firepit that her loving husband hand crafted for her for mother's day.
Her website is: www.havanawilder.com
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Protecting Tova (Iron Mountain Book 1) Page 24
