Chapter 23
***COOPER***
Cooper pumped his powerful wings as hard as he could, but he knew that they weren’t going to make it out of the cave before the explosives detonated and caught them in the backblast. He knew the moment was on them when the alarm suddenly went silent and braced himself, aimed his head for the opening, hoping that Stephanie wasn’t thrown from his back.
There was a delay of only a few seconds between the explosion and the wave of air that propelled them up and out of the cave, hitting with so much force it took his breath away for a second.
Before he could recover, they were plummeting toward the trees, the air rushing past him as they fell.
Stephanie screamed from his back, and he flailed in the air trying to recover his balance, but it was too late; they hit the first branch with a sharp crack, then another and another as they crashed to the ground.
On the way down, he managed to wrap his wings around Stephanie, cradling her to his chest, but each branch that bashed into the back of his head left him a little woozier.
He was barely conscious when he felt the cold ground beneath his back, but Stephanie was safe and sound, still cradled in his wings like a baby bird.
Relief poured through him as the world began to go dark, and he welcomed the break from the pain that was slowly creeping through him.
The reprieve was short-lived, however, as he woke only a few minutes later to Stephanie crying over him, her face buried in the feathers of his chest.
“You can’t leave me, I love you too much, I can’t live without you, you’re everything to me,” she sobbed. “You promised me that we’d be together, you promised, you promised…”
It took a few more minutes for the worst of his wounds to heal, then he shut down his magic and slipped into his human form, gasping when the pain doubled. “I love you, too,” he managed to croak. “I always keep my promises.”
Stephanie stopped sobbing and sat up, tears streaming down her face.
She looked down at him, then began to cry again.
“I thought you were dead, I thought I’d lost you,” she said, but this time there was a smile on her face.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.
I can’t live without you. I love you so much.
I just didn’t understand how much until now. ”
“Then we’re even because you’re my entire world, Stephanie, and you always will be,” he said, grimacing as bone healed and tissue mended itself. “If you’ll give me a few minutes, I’ll show you just how much.”
She laughed, “Cooper, you’re hurt,” she said, shaking her head. “How can you think about that right now?”
“Sweetheart, I’ll be dead before I stop thinking about it,” he said, grinning at her. “Now help me up, we need to get out of here before someone comes, and then we’re going to talk about our future. I love you, Stephanie, and I can’t wait to begin our lives together.”
“I love you too,” she said, giving him a big kiss, then helping him to his feet. “You’re the greatest treasure I’ve ever found.”
They walked away from the site with Cooper leaning heavily on Stephanie.
Gabe was waiting for them in the parking lot, and they sped away, no one aware of what had happened inside the cave.
No one, that is, but Sebastian, who was pacing restlessly around the crypt, circling back to the blocked stairs and his escape every few minutes.
He refused to admit defeat, refused to acknowledge that one of the Sigmas had beaten him again; he’d find a way out or die trying, and when he finally emerged from his prison, he would get his revenge.