Page 4 of Don't Bait Me (Nora Jacobs 3)

“Well, yeah.” I’m suddenly overwhelmed with self-consciousness. I don’t understand Nick’s reaction. It’s almost as if he’s battling emotions. I start babbling because I’m nervous. “I know it’s last minute, but I’ve never had a real Thanksgiving, and I thought—” I slam on my breaks as a black SUV screeches past me and peels out of the parking lot like it’s got hellhounds on its tail. “Son of a bitch!”

“Nora?”

“I’m fine,” I grumble. “Just some asshole who really needed to get out of the parking lot before me.”

I look down the aisle to make sure there is no one else waiting to cut me off and slam on my breaks again with a startled cry. Terrance is slumped over the back of his open trunk, with three arrows protruding from his back. The half-empty grocery cart is beside him, and a bag of food is spilled on the ground at his feet.

Phone forgotten, I speed over to his car and jump out. “Terrance!” I’m searching for a pulse, when he groans. He’s alive. I remember to breathe. “Terrance! What happened? What do I do? Are you okay?”

I get no response to my questions. Blood is spilling everywhere, and I begin to panic. “Shit! Shit! Shit! Terrance, we have to get you some help. I can’t call 911, can I? Where do I take you? What do I do?”

Terrance coughs out one word with a mouthful of blood. “Enzo.”

Right. I need to call Enzo. But first, I need to get him in the car and out of sight before any humans try to call the police. He’d never fit in my little sports coupe on his best day, so I park in the space next to his and open the back door of his Cadillac. After fishing the keys from his pocket, I duck down and pull one of his huge arms over my shoulders. “Okay, T-man. I need your help. I can’t get you into the car by myself. I need you to stand up with me. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!”

Thankfully, Terrance is coherent enough to try to move with me. We get him into an upright position, but he can’t seem to hold himself up. I nearly collapse beneath his weight. Nothing but sheer determination on my part gets him into the back seat of the car. He falls in on his stomach across the bench, with the arrows still sticking up out of his back. I have to bend his legs to fit his massive body in and shut the door behind him.

I’m covered in blood by the time I’m finished, but I can’t think about it. I can’t panic. Terrance needs me. I slam the trunk shut and grab my phone and purse off the passenger seat of my car. Tears pour from my eyes as I screech out of the parking lot almost as fast as the jerk who cut me off before. “Hang in there, big guy. Don’t you dare die on me.”

I reach for my phone. Nick is still on the line and shouting angry questions at me. “Nick?” There’s a sob in my voice. “Terrance is hurt. He’s been shot by arrows.Arrows!He’s unconscious now, but he said to take him to Enzo before he passed out.”

Nick stops yelling immediately. His voice is hard but calm. “Where are you?”

“Midtown.”

“Good. That’s not too far. Listen, honey, stay calm. Terrance will be fine.”

“Nick, there arethreearrows sticking out of his back. There’s blood everywhere!”

“He’ll be all right,” Nick assures me again. “It takes a lot to really hurt a troll. We’ll get him all healed up. Just take a deep breath and relax. Won’t do anyone any good if you crash the car.”

I sniffle and swipe at the tears in my eyes. “Good girl,” he says soothingly when I take a deep breath. “I want you to bring him to the Agency. I can help with the arrows. I’ll call Enzo now and have him meet us here. You going to be okay if I hang up?”

I take another deep breath and nod my head even though he can’t see me. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Good. I’ll see you in ten minutes.”

Nick is waiting outsidewhen I get to the Agency. I barely have the car in park before he opens the back door and leans in to assess the damage. Taking in the sight, he hisses a low curse. “You’re right. That’s a lot of blood. The arrows must be iron-tipped.”

“What?”

“Iron is poisonous to fey. The arrow tips must be made of iron to keep the blood flowing like this.”

My mouth falls open when Nick pulls Terrance from the car and throws him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry as if his weight is nothing. Just how strong is he?

“Get the door for me, little spitfire.”

Shaking myself from my daze, I hold open the door for Nick. Ren and the other Agency member in the office, Darla, both jump to their feet instantly.“What happened?”Ren screeches, rushing in front of Nick down the hall to open a room that looks like an employee break room. It has a couch, a fridge, a small table with two chairs, and a counter with a sink, a coffee pot, and a microwave. There’s a first-aid kit ready and waiting on the small table.

Nick gently lays the unconscious Terrance facedown on the couch. “Ren, get me some towels or something to stop the bleeding.” He uses scissors to cut away Terrance’s coat and shirt, then pulls his knife from his boot. “Nora, grab those forceps and get over here.”

The blood drains from my face as I kneel beside Nick. I’m afraid to know what he needs the knife for. “What are you going to do with that?”

“You can’t just pull out an arrow. I’m going to have to make the hole a little bigger in order to safely remove the arrowhead.”

Nick takes the forceps from me and uses them and his knife to push the skin away from the arrow and look inside the wound.

Ren comes back and throws a small handful of towels to me. “Found some.”

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