31
T he first thing he heard was the uproar of voices all around him.
“Get a medic!”
“Where the hell is she?”
“–find her! RIGHT NOW!”
The second thing he heard was the sirens.
Angel groaned out loud, the sounds piercing his ears enough to set his mind pounding thunderously. He shifted on one side, aware that it was Kyle who had spoken before. Aware that they were now sitting in an ambulance. Aware that he was lying on a bed with his arm propped on his abdomen gingerly.
“Angel?” came Kyle’s gravelly voice on cue and Angel flinched at the nearness of it. He put his hand on his head and groaned again.
The third thing he noticed was the throbbing of his arm. Specifically, his right arm, with shots of pain running through his bones as he tried to move.
“What the fuck happened?” he managed to wheeze as another wave of pain washed down his body. It was everywhere, that pounding, that wretched feeling of agony, and that–
Wait.
Wasn’t he shot?
Angel’s left hand shot up to his chest in surprise, just to make sure that his heart was beating. That this all wasn’t just a dream.
That he wasn’t actually dead. His eyes shot open when he felt the faint thud thud of his heart pounding against his chest .
His brows furrowed in confusion but dropped as soon as the agony in his hand intensified.
“They bombed the entire sight. We have a lot of casualties.” Came Kyle’s grim response and Angel turned his head sideways to look at him.
Kyle was slumped in his seat, his body rocking back and forth as the ambulance rushed to the hospital.
Angel frowned but pushed himself to sit up, subduing a groan as he did so. His mind had become a haze with all the memories of the previous–
“How long has it been?” he breathed as he sat back up with his uninjured hand poised against his abdomen. Kyle straightened, his hands laced together as he looked back at him. Angel grit his teeth against the sheer look of exhaustion and fury shining in those green eyes. His blonde hair was ruffled, dust and spicks of blood in those loose strands as a tick in his jaw appeared,
“Barely two hours ago,” he said, averting his gaze as he did so, “We were about to give up when we found you on the ground.”
“Akash?” he asked and saw the rage flare in those eyes. Kyle’s hands tightened to the point of his knuckles whitening,
“Gone,” he snarled venomously, “He got out with Irene and Myra.”
Angel breathed out and slumped against the surface of the ambulance as Kyle continued, “They might still be on the island though, which means we can still find them.”
Don’t be so sure, Angel wanted to saw but when he turned to Kyle– he turned away, something odd shifting in his eyes. Angel’s brows furrowed and he was about to question it when a series of images tumbled into his mind.
Ray beside him, thrown by the explosion. Akash standing above her, gun pointing in her direction –
Him covering her body with his own and –
Angel flinched, his left hand going to his back immediately as he recalled the insane amount of pain from the bullet ripping through his skin and piercing his blood before everything went dark. His brows furrowed further when he found no bullet wound on his back. His head snapped in Kyle’s direction, his eyes going wide,
“Bullet–” he managed before Kyle’s tired eyes shot down his right hand. The same hand that was bandaged and was aching as though it had been trampled upon by million elephants.
“Your hand.” Kyle responded, and Angel looked down at the bandaged mess. His brows furrowed as he tried to move it, but couldn’t bear the shot of pain that ran up his arm at the slight movement, “You were sprawled on the ground like that when we found you.”
“Found me,” Angel echoed, turning away from him. Didn’t he get shot in the back? Didn’t he cover Ray’s –
Ray.
“Found me?” he asked again, his voice going louder as he whirled on Kyle, his arm suddenly forgotten, “What about Ray?”
His eyes turned into slits, “She took a hit.” Kyle snapped and Angel leaned back at his tone, unnerved by the simmering rage in his eyes as his mind went slack at the thought. She took a hit? From what, from fucking where –
“Where is she?”
And Kyle, that asshole, turned his head away from him. His laced hands tightened, his entire body straightened like an iron rod as an odd set of silence settled .
Angel blinked at his lack of response, a ball of dread gnawing his gut as he let out a harsh breath and flinched back. Blinked. A whirlwind of possibilities dawned upon him, each getting worse. Each getting terrifying.
No.
“Where is she?” he asked again but his voice came out hoarse, came out weak as Kyle let out a soft sigh and shuddered once, but continued speaking robotically, his eyes staring into nowhere.
“Sorin.” He said instead and Angel’s eyes hardened, his glare already working as Kyle lifted his hands in surrender, “He was the one who came after us. Who saved dad. He’s the one who tipped us off. There’s no way he’s the mole.”
Angel’s jaw clenching to the point of pain, his fingers fisting. Didn’t care. He didn’t fucking care.
“Mom’s in the hospital,” Kyle continued, his voice ridden with grief and pain, “And Vera is injured as well. Sorin took a bullet for dad. Almost took another for me–”
“What aren’t you telling me, Kyle?” Angel snarled softly, knowing he was rambling for no reason. He saw Kyle’s throat bob, the tick in his jaw as his green eyes hardened further. That look . That rage. Angel’s patience snapped, his mind stalling at his actions as he stood up abruptly. Ripped those IV lines from his hand and shot forward, a growl ready on his tongue as he grabbed the hem of Kyle’s shirt. Slammed him against the wall before hauling him forward and looked right through those defeated green eyes,
“ Where the fuck is she?” he seethed but Kyle didn’t balk. Didn’t even respond. Just glanced down to his bleeding hand and back up at him again.
“Sit down. ”
He rasped in response, and Angel’s fingers tightened against the fabric of his shirt. Contemplating throwing him out the fucking ambulance when–
“We found her body next to yours.”
Her body.
Angel stumbled back, letting go of Kyle abruptly, a rush of dread, of fear, of pain swimming through him at his words. We found her body next to yours.
How could that be true? How when he had tried everything in his power –
“Relax,” Kyle said and Angel’s head snapped up so fast his neck caught in the movement painfully. He grunted and braced his uninjured hand against the back of his neck as Kyle continued,
“She’s alive. In the hospital as we speak.” And as good as those words sounded, Angel could still hear the note of pain in his voice. He glared up at him, clutching his neck as Kyle shifted on his seat uncomfortably.
“But,” he said a bit weakly and Angel clenched his teeth, “She was in bad shape. Had been too close to the bomb site.”
“Cut the bullshit–”
“She’s in a coma right now.”
It took a moment for his rough voice to register. A moment for him to come to terms with the words he’d just heard.
She’s in a coma.
Angel fell back on his bed, unable to stand. Unable to do anything as his heart thundered in his chest. Thump, thump, thump it went filling that silence in his head . The breath in his lungs seemed to fizzle out, his entire world slowing .
“I want to see her.” He rasped and saw Kyle’s shoulder bunch further, his head slumping. Angel couldn’t bear this, couldn’t bear this silence. His eyes snapped to Kyle, burning with rage but not grief.
Never grief.
“I want to see her.” He said again, his words cutting past the obvious grief in Kyle’s figure. But when he lifted his head, Angel could see it wasn’t from losing Raylene Walker. His disgust, his loathing for the Lions spread at the gleam of rage in those eyes. Kyle was pissed about losing an important asset.
You should be too, a wicked part of his mind crooned, why are you grieving when you should be raging?
She isn’t fucking dead, another part of him roared.
“You can’t,” Kyle replied, his voice still subdued but firm as he looked at Angel straight in the eye, “Not until you’re in a better condition yourself.”
Angel opened his mouth to reply but the world around him spun suddenly. He blinked in surprise and slumped further against the bed, his eyes snapping down to the blood leaking from his arm and his bandage. He still managed to snap past the blinding pain that numbed his senses and turned to Kyle,
“I want to... see her .” He said through gritted teeth and saw Kyle scoff before his vision blurred.
Before his ears began ringing all over again.
“What’s the point?” he heard Kyle say and couldn’t stop that brush of grief hitting him straight in the chest, “She’s already dead.”
* *
Minutes passed. Or maybe it was hours .
He didn’t really know. He’d just awoken.
And when Angel opened his eyes, he hadn’t expected the memories to come rushing back in his mind like a fucking tidal wave. Hadn’t expected that black hole to carve it’s way through his chest. Hadn’t expected Ray’s smile, her eyes to flash in his mind.
In a coma, he thought helplessly as he stared at the white ceiling, she was on a bed, in a fucking coma.
But how? A nother part of his rebelled. Akash could have shot her in cold blood, but he’d covered her body with his own. He’d seen that flash in her eyes before the gun went off and the excruciating pain from the bullet left him in the dark. He couldn’t stop seeing it. It left him breathless, almost panicked because how did she–
Maybe it was the bomb as Kyle had said. But if it was, then how was she still moving before Akash shot them. Angel shifted on the bed as he thought and grunted in surprise as a shot of pain ran down his arm.
“Fuck off–”
The familiar voice, the familiar tone –
Angel shot up on his bed and immediately regretted it as a wave of nausea washed over him. Mia Andrews ripped the door to the room open and stepped in, her eyes searching for only one as he groaned and fell back against his pillows. And yet he couldn’t really help his breath of relief as her eyes widened when she saw him and she turned over her shoulder, and for now the images of Raylene Walker disappeared in the back of his mind.
“ HE’S HERE!”
Angel winced at the scream and managed a rueful smile as he heard an echo of footsteps run in their direction. Mia was at his side in an instant, her eyes already darting all around his body to search for any wounds .
Angel knew she found plenty but still deemed it enough to lift his chin and say softly,
“Just a bullet in the arm. Nothing major.”
Not when Raylene Walker was in a coma.
Mia huffed next to him, and he noticed the white bandage wrapped around her head, like the same one wrapped around his. His brows furrowed, she must’ve gotten injured during the explosion, he thought and faded back in his memories again.
Mia was in the same hospital gown as he was but was obviously in better condition. Angel could barely keep himself from swaying when he stood on his feet. He blamed it solely on that fucking explosion that had ripped his sanity to pieces. His eyes snapped up as the footsteps shuffled closer and the rest of them poured through the doorway, a tired nurse trailing after them.
“You can’t be in here – ”
“Angel!” Christina managed before Jack and Luke shoved past her and jumped on the bed. Angel’s eyes widened as the two boys, still wearing their dusty and torn tuxes, wrapped their hand around his neck and hauled him closer to the huddle.
“ Oh my–” came the nurse’s exasperated voice as Jake fake sobbed against Angel’s hospital gown and Luke patted his back, “That’s it. I’m getting security.”
Angel snapped his head up, pleading with his eyes as he looked at the older lady. She shot him a glare but he only dropped his chin, “I’m really sorry.” He managed and kicked Jack as he let out a wail against his chest, “But please don’t get security. These morons are with me.”
Unfortunately .
“I understand that – ”
“Please.”
The nurse huffed again but turned on her heels and walked out of the room without a backward glance. Angel sighed and looked past the two heads slumped on his shoulder, his expression dropping to annoyance as Christina waved at him. She was also dressed in her gown, which was ripped and spoilt from the hem but didn’t look like she was injured. She tilted her head as Angel sighed and slumped back in his bed, aware that the two idiots were still dangerously close to his arm.
“What. Are. You. Doing.” He asked through gritted teeth and frowned when Jack lifted his head and sighed,
“We’re mourning the loss of your hand.” he replied in a painfully calm voice. Even Luke looked up at Angel as though he was the idiot here.
“It’s quite obvious.” Luke continued and Angel rolled his eyes, “You disappear on us for hours after a bomb blast and we get to know you were shot –”
“In the arm,” Mia decides to add.
“In the bloody arm.”
“Christ,”
“And so, here we are.” Luke said, looking down at the blanket that was covering his bandaged arm,
“Mourning your hand.”
Angel sighed and shoved both of them off his bed with one hand, “I hate both of you.” He stated as the two landed on the floor with surprised gasps. Angel paid them no heed, just turned to Mia with an arched brow,
“How injured are you? ”
Jack murmured profanities from the floor and Luke got up smoothly, brushing an invisible speck of dust off his pants as if he hadn’t fallen straight on his ass. Mia didn’t miss a beat, just laced her hands together,
“What do you need me to do?”
“Find Akash for me.” He said and grunted as he sat up.
Christina shot forward but Jack caught a hold of her arm, a rare sort of seriousness flashing in them as Angel ignored them and looked only at Mia,
“He has a tracker on him.”
Mia’s eyes flared in realization, “You did it then.”
Angel nodded and turned to look out the window, “I did.” He said, unable to keep that note of solemness from his voice, “Don’t know what good it’ll do.” He murmured under his breath.
“I’m on it.” She said and immediately turned on her heels to walk out. Angel admired her for it, for not making a big deal out of the state he was in. For being who he needed her to be right now.
“And Mia?” he started, his voice coming out raw. Mia paused at that tone, and knew his words before he said them.
“I saw her.” She said quietly, and yet, and yet, and fucking yet.
That numbness just spread.
“She’s in the ICU, under intensive care. They’re doing everything possible.” Mia continued and Angel shook at her words. Didn’t see Luke and Jack carefully sit on the corner of Angel’s bed with their head dropped. Didn’t hear Christina’s silent intake of breath as she turned away from all of them. Felt nothing when Mia continued,
“But in the end, she’s in a coma...”
Angel just stopped listening after that. He was breathing, in and out. In and out. He was breathing, wasn’t he ?
Angel looked down at his hands, not shaking, unrelenting. And despised himself for it. Hated himself for having gotten in the way of this mess.
Hated someone else for shoving him into this life so soon.
And hated himself some more for that thought.
“–wait for her to get up.” Mia completed and Angel looked back up, and she seemed to take a step back. He didn’t know what his face held for her to have such a reaction. Didn’t really care.
“Get me out of here.” He said gravelly, unable to hear his own words. Unable to understand them. Because Angel wouldn’t lose hope. Not now.
Not ever. Because what right did he have?
Who was she to him?
“And find out where Akash is.” He rasped and saw Mia nod briskly at his words, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Her hospital gown swayed with the brush of wind, but Angel glanced away from her. Away from the rest of them and chose to stare out the window. At the dawning sky that was just beginning to rise. He blinked, just once and barely noticed Mia walk away. He didn’t really want to deal with questions he himself didn’t have answers to, didn’t want to think about things that might be true. So, he turned to Jack,
“Where’s Noah’s body?” he asked, and Jack sat up straighter on the corner of his bed, “Does his family know?”
Jack didn’t miss a beat but was unable to hide that note of grief and pain in his voice as he replied, “Kyle must’ve been counting on–” a pause and Angel lolled his head to look at him. Showed him he didn’t care, and Jack seemed to straighten at that, “They don’t know yet. News hasn’t broken.”
Angel’s brows shot up. How much money had they spent to stop this from spreading? Well, he’d have to do the same regardless. He turned to Christina, who looked at him with a mix of attention and concern in her eyes ,
"I’m fine,” he started and saw the concern dim, “Focus on keeping it within borders for now. No news of Ray, of Noah gets out.” He ignored the flash in Christina’s eyes at the mention of her name, “People must’ve turned on Akash, but that doesn’t mean they’re on our sides now. If they get to know one of the two key players of this alliance are dead, then this would all have been for nothing.”
He wouldn’t acknowledge it. She would make it. He would fucking make her.
Christina must’ve seen that fierceness in his expression because she took a step back, her shoulders straightening to a painful degree,
“We’ll be fine.” She stated it like a fact. Angel sighed at that conviction, somewhat relieved his teammates weren’t as close to crumbling as he was. As if on cue, those honey eyes flashed past his mind, making his vision blurry for just one second. Angel jerked forward, his hand going to his head as he masked the throbbing with a subtle sigh,
“How much harm did the explosion do?” he asked. Kyle hadn’t told him all the details, but Sorin’s words, his actions still kept ringing in his ears. Sorin took a bullet for Dad, Kyle had said and had continued before leaving Angel in the hospital room,
“He’s admitted now. Dad knows about it but mom’s injured because of the bomb–” a pause, a catch of breath, “So it doesn’t matter right now.”
“Maya’s in dire condition.” Luke began in a quiet voice as Christina shut the door behind him. She came and sat beside Jack, who put his arm around her shoulder and tucked her closer without saying a word, “Akash, Myra, and Irene are M.I.A, and Neera is injured as well. Cameron’s here with her. ”
Angel grit his teeth and averted his gaze, his hands fisting as he thought of the ground underneath shaking to the point of shattering. To the thunderous sounds that the explosion emitted before it threw him and Ray off,
“The event’s a massacre. The airports should have been sealed, but they’ve been kept open for specific people. Alessandro should be flying out today with Maya to check her into a better hospital.” Luke continued and Angel turned to him, his brows furrowing, his head pounding,
“What happened to her?”
Luke shook his head, but Angel didn’t miss the way his laced hands tightened, “She was too close to the bomb site. Glass shards, the overall impact threw her hard enough to sustain heavy brain and lung damage.”
“ Shit ,” Angel swore, and ran a hand through his hair abruptly,
“Shit indeed,” Echoed Jack as Luke slumped further and continued,
“Noah’s body has disappeared. Good chance Akash took it with him to parade it across the world and use it to frame us.”
“He can’t –”
“He can.” Christina interrupted, “If he buys off enough of the world, he can get the power the Larsens hold. He wouldn’t have caused such a big mess if he wasn’t ready to deal with the consequences.”
Angel's head was beginning to hurt with all this information. With the thought of Ray, of his world, of what this meant for him, everything. He didn’t know what to do–
Because somewhere along the line, he’d started believing in something he’d long lost hope in. Believing in someone he’d long hoped to meet. And now he didn’t even know where she was.
“If Akash is smart, he would leave. ”
Angel said, voicing his thoughts out loud, “He would leave this wretched island and twist a story about something that would leave us vulnerable.”
“He already has enough allies to support this.” Christina agreed and sat straighter against Jack, “If we don’t say anything, by tomorrow he’ll have the world believing a story that never happened.”
“It doesn’t matter–” Luke started when a large bang had all of them up on their seat.
Maybe a part of Angel had numbed to this sort of situation because instead of jerking in his seat, he just lifted his eyes to see Verana Smith slam his doors open and storm in. His eyes widened when he saw the bruises, the bandages winding up her arm as she strode in with a hand braced against her abdomen.
“Vera?” Luke began softly and started towards her when she dodged out of his way and slammed her hand against the rods of his bed. Angel didn’t flinch when the bed jerked violently. Just breathed out and raised a brow as the other girl snarled dangerously,
“What the fuck happened out there?”
Ray. Bomb. Bullet.
Angel couldn’t help the ugly twist of his lips as he gripped his sheets and growled back, “Why don’t you tell me? Considering how you squandered the fucking announcement.”
Verana, to her credit, only barely blinked at the blatant accusation. Just shook her head and gripped those metal rods harder, “Ray was last with you. Tell me why she was found in a worse condition. How she ended up in a fucking coma. ”
Angel scoffed, “Why don’t you ask Sorin? He’s the savior of the day, isn’t he Kyle?”
The blonde boy strode into his room quietly and Verana turned on her heels at his presence. Didn’t back down, instead just shot ahead and jabbed a finger right in the middle of his chest, “You believe him?” she seethed, “The guy who placed the wretched bounty on her head?”
Kyle blinked down at her but didn’t move to push her hand away. Did something far worse instead.
“What’s done is done.” He said without a hint of emotion in his voice, “We’ve lost an important part of the alliance. But it will proceed. We will find another mediator.”
Angel’s mind blanked at those words.
So easy, he thought as he stared into those cold, green eyes, it was so easy for him.
And that rose an unholy sort of rage in his mind. In his chest.
But it was Vera who snapped first, “Another mediator?” she started softly and snapped her head to glare up at him, “Our member isn’t even fucking dead–”
Angel flinched then.
“And you care about replacing her?”
“She might as well be,”
Even Vera fell silent at that. A sudden roar began in the back of his mind as Kyle continued calmly and stepped away from her, “We can’t focus on – ”
“You asshole.”
Was the only warning he got before Verana lost her patience and forgot about her injuries .
Just chose to whirl back in his direction and pounced with her fist raised in the air. Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise, and he stumbled back when Luke stepped in between them and grabbed a hold of her with a silent grunt. Angel's blood was still simmering when Vera screamed something incoherent and struggled in Luke’s arms.
He looked at Kyle's surprised face just once, but it was Luke who said in a quiet, dangerous voice, “Watch how you talk of the dead, Kyle Larsen.”
Goosebumps erupted on his arm as Luke looked over his shoulder and Verana relaxed in his arms. Began shaking terribly as he pulled her closer and glared at Kyle, who had paled.
“They have a way of coming back to haunt you.”