Page 80 of Raven

Her breathing slowed. I had to throw her over my shoulder because she could no longer hold her arms around my neck.

She was sweating. Delirious. Slurring her words.

Faron was ahead, hacking through vines like a man possessed. The other nuns said nothing except to mumble a prayer for Sister Jude.

“Where’s the damn team?” I muttered into my radio. “We need the med teamnow.”

“We’re ten clicks out,” came the reply.

Not fast enough.

I dropped to my knees, laying her down gently. “Hey,” I whispered, tapping her cheek. “Stay with me. Come on, smart mouth. Say something annoying.”

She blinked up at me, unfocused. “You… have really weird eyebrows.”

I let out a rough laugh, blinking fast. “There she is.”

Then her eyes rolled back.

“Jude.”

No response.

I looked at Faron. “We can’t wait. We move now.”

“I’ll carry her,” he said.

“No,” I growled. “I’ve got her.”

And I did.

Because somehow, between the teasing, the jungle, and the almost kiss, she’d become something more.

Someone I wasn’t ready to lose. Even if she was a nun, I couldn’t help how I felt.

Not now.

Not ever.

* * *

Cyclone

I’d carrieda hundred wounded men out of combat zones. Some had made it. Some hadn’t.

But this?

This felt personal. I picked her up and let her body relax against mine as I carried her through the stinking jungle.

Jude’s skin was clammy. Her breath ghosted my neck in uneven bursts. Every few minutes she stirred—sometimes mumbling, sometimes squeezing her hand around my shoulder strap like she was trying to ground herself.

“Almost there,” I whispered. “You just hang on, alright?”

She didn’t answer.

Until—

“I lied,” she murmured.

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