Free Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) by Kita Bell Page A

was low.
    Eva
felt as if cold water had just been thrown over her. “So there are Sakai
here? I thought maybe I was imagining…” her words dwindled under Joshua’s
disbelieving look.
    “What,
you chose to run away from the Walmart parking lot? You just thought you’d go for an excursion through the park at night, naked? Is this something
you do often , kitten?”
    “Joshua.
Suggestions rather than criticism?” Brand interrupted in a clipped tone.
    Joshua
turned back to him. “I need some of her hair.”
    Eva
flinched back even as she heard Brand growl. “ No .” Anger rose inside
her.
    “If she
had older clothing, something with a scent-mark, I’d use her shirt,” Joshua said
patiently, ignoring her. “But since she doesn’t, I need either her blood, or
her hair. Then I’ll go out through the trees and mark a trail. The Sakai will
think she doubled back. They’ll follow, then the two of you can start for the
car.”
    “What
about the police?” Eva asked.
    Joshua
gave Eva a long look. “Now that you aren’t furry, I don’t give a damn about the
human police. We don’t have much time. Hair or blood, Eva. Make your choice.”
    Eva
stretched slightly, feeling the scab pull at her back. “Blood might be easier.”
    “Then
give me something I can work with.”
    “How…”
Eva flushed, not sure how to go about doing that.
    Joshua
snarled softly, focusing on the trees. “God, female. Do you want to be
tortured by Sakai again? Because I certainly don’t.”
    And Eva
snapped into focus. “Don’t look,” she said fiercely, and turned her back on
them as she scooped a pair of socks from the sack and gritted her teeth,
preparing for the pain that would come when she ripped the scabs on her back so
she could bleed…
    …and
jumped, crying out as a large hand gripped her shoulder and took the socks,
stopping her.
    “Hold
still,” Brand murmured, his low voice vibrating against her ear, “You want me
to do that. If you have a fresh wound, it won’t matter how hard Joshua tries to
confuse the trail. The Sakai will find us regardless. They can track blood like
sharks. I’ll have to heal it for you.”
    Brand
was close, Eva could feel his breath on her neck. He was big, tall. Warm. Eva
forced herself to relax, then nodded.
    And
then his large hand pushed up under the back of her sweater, smoothing along
her spine as he searched out the furrow of the bullet wound from the other
abrasions. He growled softly when he found it, and traced the edge of the
injury with his fingers. Eva tensed, preparing herself for the pain when he
would rip the thick scab open, then instead felt the sharp prick of a
razor-sharp claw as it lanced down through the skin just beneath the edge of
the scab, neatly slicing it open.
    Eva
froze, shaking. The claw withdrew, swiftly replaced by the rough cotton texture
of the socks. 
    It was
almost…painless.
    Brand
was running his other hand over her shoulder blades, back and forth, as if
trying to soothe her. It was working.
    Well,
soothing and other things.
    “I’m
sorry, Evita,” he said softly, and she shook her head. It hadn’t hurt. Not like
the original wound.
    “Not
many can do that,” she finally said, striving for control, but her voice was
uneven. She couldn’t see Brand’s face as the material withdrew. She felt his
fingers come to rest against the fresh wound. “Shift just their claws, I mean.”
    Brand
hesitated. The hand that had been stroking her shoulders dropped down, almost
seeming to trace her waist. Perhaps she was imagining it. “All of my family
can.” Brand’s voice was rough as that amazing healing ability of his seemed to
lap away the fresh pain in her back.
    “Amazing,”
Eva said softly. But it wasn’t the claws. It was Brand’s healing ability. I
wish I had an ability like that . God, the ability to fix people. To
help their pain. Even if it was just scratches.
    The
ability to just, well, do something.
    His
ability was always there for him,