Highland Son (Highland Sorcery: A New Dawn) by Clover Autrey

him locked so tight in a terror this bad for years.
    Damn drugs, damn Sheppard to the worst parts of hell for this.
    “Come on, Ethe. It’s me. You’re okay. You’re not there anymore. You got away. You’re not there. You’re with me. It’s Dez. Right? Come on.”
    Tension coiled beneath Dez’s palms. The muscles of Ethan’s arms were rock hard, tight as stone, veins bulged to bursting.
    Damn it, he wasn’t getting through. “That’s it.” Dez leaned down into Ethan’s space, getting up close and personal and palmed his cheeks roughly. “Now you listen to me,” he snarled. “Snap out of this right the hell now.”
    Ethan tried to shake his head out of Dez’s grip but Dez wouldn’t let him. His eyes tracked to the side and up, anywhere but at Dez. He knew that look, hadn’t seen it since the first months after he’d found the kid in that sewer when he curled into a fetal position, afraid to go to sleep every night. It was like he didn’t even see him and whatever Ethan was seeing scared him out of his gourd.
    “Eyes on me, soldier. Front and center.” Dez willed Ethan back to him.
    Ethan flinched. His eyes shot to Dez. Something in his tone must have finally connected. Ethan stilled. His chest rose hard, hitching beneath Dez.
    Dez lightly smacked his cheek, left his palm there. “You with me?”
    Ethan’s Adam’s apple bobbed and he nodded, pupils blown wide, but he was coming out of whatever memory had a grasp on him. He was fighting his way back. Dez hated that he had to go through this.
    “Dez?”
    “Yeah, man.” Dez sucked in a needed breath of relief. “Yeah, it’s me.”
    Ethan’s gaze roved around. He yanked on his arms and his eyes widened, uncertain.
    “Hold still for a moment. I’ll cut you loose. Ethe?”
    Ethan nodded. “I’m good.” His voice grated like gravel beneath his boots. “Go…go ahead.”
    That’a boy. Disoriented, drugged to the gills, Ethan pulled himself through the haze. He stared up at Dez with a trust so certain it humbled Dez to the depths of his soul. What had he ever done to deserve such trust?
    Ethan remained still while Dez quickly untied him and then pulled him up, patting his arms to get the circulation flowing again.
    For his part, Ethan remained quiet and still during the ministrations, his gaze taking in every surface of the bathroom. “Where?” he croaked so raw the scrape of it made Dez’s throat hurt in sympathy.
    “Back at the motel. I think.” Good, Ethan was firing on all cylinders again.
    Calloused fingers bunched into the fabric of his worn shirt. “Where? Alexander?”
    Oh gods.
    Ethan started shaking so hard the hold he had on Dez’s shirt pulled tight. Heat radiated off his skin. “They-they killed him. The bastards killed him. Strung him up…like meat.” Letting go, he flattened his palm on the floor to push himself up, working on adrenaline to kill somebody. Dez was right there with him in that sentiment…that is if Ethan was in any sort of condition to remain on his feet.
    “Did you hear me?” Ethan growled. “They killed Alexander! Slaughtered him!” He crumpled over as though the weight of the realization was too much to bear in his fevered state.
    Dez steadied him. “No, not dead. I don’t think—“ He couldn’t be sure…
    “I saw it!”
    “I know, but…” Dez shook his head, rattling his jumbled thoughts. His head was still pounding, even worse than before after restraining Ethan. “Illusion, I think. I saw what you saw. The Sifts—“ He nearly gagged at the memory of it. “I also saw something else. Him being saved, by the girl—Jewel. Both images overlapped somehow…”
    Ethan snapped his face up at him, eyes wet and miserable. “Alive?”
    Dez nodded. “I think so.” He prayed so.
    “Then how? Why would you see something different?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe because I took a blow to the head, woke up while it was happening, after the illusion was cast, so I didn’t get the full whammy of