Sharp, shallow breaths extinguished the confidence he had in battle. Hammer placed his head between his knees and covered his head with his hands. He tried to calm his panic, but it wouldn’t stop.
The tension spiraled into a tight ball of his chest. He couldn’t breathe or see as his fear blackened his vision.
Then, like a beacon, Charlie’s face bobbed into his mind. She was why he was out of that life. He was cursed without her. She was his saving grace in more than one way.
His breaths became longer. The spiral of anguish unraveled. Hammer held onto the image of Charlie. Her sapphire eyes. Her dark hair. Her scent of rosemary.
Hammer inhaled. He mixed all the parts together, and they built strength inside him. He saw her face with a shining light haloed around it. Hammer knew he could
