Ysis #6
“MR. MYLES!” No sooner than the words left his lips, the estate windows exploded and bullets began to rain across the yard, dropping bodies left and right.
My mind went into shock, refusing to accept what my eyes were seeing, grasping for any explanation that made more sense than the violence unfolding in front of me.
Crystal shattered behind me, spraying across the patio as screams erupted from every direction.
For one suspended heartbeat the entire baby shower stood frozen, everybody looking around trying to understand what had just happened.
Faces twisted with confusion, mouths hanging open, bodies locked in place as if moving would somehow make everything real. Then panic spread faster than thought.
“Oh my god Kade—”
“DOWN!” Kade slammed into me so hard my feet left the ground, both arms wrapping around my body as he twisted himself between me and whatever danger he’d seen. One massive hand covered my stomach while the other locked around my shoulders, forcing my head against his chest.
The command ripped from him with enough authority to silence every other voice inside my head.
I’d seen my husband angry. I’d seen him jealous, possessive, obsessive, and completely unhinged.
I’d watched him stand toe-to-toe with men twice his size without blinking.
I had never—not one day since meeting Zephyr Kade Myles seen fear.
Real fear. The kind that stripped a man down to nothing but instinct.
His heart pounded violently against my cheek as his breathing turned ragged, every muscle in his body tightening around me like he was physically trying to become armor.
“Kade!” I cried, clutching his shirt. “What’s happening?”
He didn’t answer because he couldn’t. His eyes never stopped searching beyond us while another deafening burst echoed across the estate, followed by more exploding glass and another wave of terrified screams that swallowed every ounce of celebration we’d been standing in only seconds before.
“Move!” he barked, tightening his grip until it hurt.
“Move, baby! Now!”
“GO!” Yayo’s voice thundered across the property, louder than every scream surrounding us.
“GET HER THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”
Everything blurred after that. Marcus was already moving families away from the center of the yard while members of Kade’s security detail rushed past us toward the front of the estate.
Cassian appeared from somewhere near the driveway, sprinting without hesitation as though his only concern was reaching whatever had interrupted our day.
Mama Sina reached me first, grabbing my hand with trembling fingers while Kayla took my other side.
Lauren slid in beside her. Bree stayed close behind me.
The women didn’t hesitate or wait for instructions.
They closed ranks around me until I was completely surrounded, instinctively becoming a human shield.
“No!” I protested, searching through the confusion.
“Where’s Kade?”
“I’m right here!” His voice came from behind me.
One arm remained wrapped tightly around my waist while the other covered my stomach as he practically carried me across the lawn.
Everywhere I looked people were crying, calling out names, dropping gifts they’d been carrying only moments earlier.
Beautiful little boxes wrapped in satin bows now lay scattered beside stuffed animals, balloons, torn tissue paper, and shattered glass.
A tiny pair of baby shoes someone had just gifted us sat abandoned near an overturned dessert table, looking heartbreakingly out of place in the middle of so much confusion.
“We’re almost there,” Kade kept repeating, though I couldn’t tell whether he was reassuring me or himself.
Then out of nowhere my body betrayed me.
A sharp pain exploded low across my abdomen with such force my knees immediately buckled.
Every ounce of air disappeared from my lungs as pressure wrapped around my back and tightened until I couldn’t tell where one hurt ended and another began.
“Kade...” He caught me before I hit the ground.
“Baby?”
“I’m trying...” another wave crashed through me harder than the first, folding me forward as I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt trying to stay upright.
Every breath became a fight, the pain so blinding I couldn’t make sense of where it was coming from or why my body suddenly felt like it was turning against me.
The words barely existed. Then warmth spread rapidly down both of my legs. I froze. The sensation was immediate, unmistakable, and terrifying.
No... please, no.
My shaking hands searched my stomach, my side, my dress, terrified to look down. My heart pounded so violent, it drowned out every scream surrounding us. My fingers swept frantically over my body, searching for the wound I was certain had to be there.
I’ve been shot.
The thought came so fast I didn’t even question it. There wasn’t time to question it. Not with bullets still flying. Not with bodies lying across the yard. Not with my husband shielding me with his own body.
Everything else around me disappeared. The world narrowed to one horrifying possibility as I stared down at the damp fabric clinging to my legs, completely convinced the babies and I had just been torn apart in the middle of our own celebration.
Terror hollowed me out from the inside, stealing every coherent thought I had left.
“Oh God!” I cried as another contraction ripped through me so violent I screamed, every muscle in my body locking beneath the force of it. The pain stole the sound from my lungs before I could even catch my next breath.
Kade dropped to his knees in front of me, both shaking hands framing my face while tears immediately filled his eyes. His eyes searched every inch of me, desperate to find whatever had hurt me, desperate to convince himself I was still standing in front of him.
“No...no...baby...not right now.”
“They’re coming.” I sobbed, unable to breathe through the pain. “Kade...our babies.”
For the first time since I’d met him, my husband looked completely helpless.
His eyes darted wildly around the estate, panic replacing every ounce of composure he’d been desperately trying to hold together.
His chest rose and fell in frantic breaths as he fought to think through the fear threatening to consume him.
His voice exploded across the property so loud every person near us turned.
“CALL THE DOULA!”