His Deadly Devotion (Obsessive Love Trilogy #2)

Chapter 1

F ear. It’s not something I’m accustomed to feeling. I can’t remember a time I’ve felt the bone-chilling, panic-inducing fear that I’m experiencing right now. I’m frozen to the spot. I know I need to get up. But even as my brain is yelling at me to run—to get up and run—I can’t.

Connor lies limp on top of me. He’s not moving. I’m not moving. We are not moving. I can hear my name being yelled in the distance but it sounds foggy, as if I’m underwater and someone is trying to pull me to the surface.

I heave in a lungful of air, struggling against the full weight of Connor’s body. Why? Why the hell would he do that? Why would he put himself between me and a bullet? Doesn’t he know that his life is worth far more than mine?

His life is mine. If he isn’t breathing, then I shouldn’t be breathing either.

Because there isn’t a god cruel enough to make me face living in this world without my soul.

And that is something that Connor completely stole from me.

Whether he intended to do it or not, he has it and I don’t want it back.

I still can’t tell if he’s breathing…

I try to focus all my attention on his chest, see if I can feel movement there. Instead, I feel his weight being pulled off me as I’m forced to look up into a pair of dark, furious eyes.

“Enzo?” My voice is raspy, my lungs still struggling to maintain airflow.

“What the fuck are you doing, Aurora? Get up.” My brother drags Connor off me. I grab on to his shirt and try to keep him there.

“No. I’m not moving,” I say. I can’t leave him.

“We need to get out of here now.” Enzo pulls at my waist. My fingers continue to cling to the fabric of Connor’s shirt. Two shots. I heard two shots. He’s been shot twice. I need to do something.

“Let go of me. I need to help him.” I buck against my brother’s hold.

“They’re his family, Aurora. They can help him,” Enzo says.

“They’ll kill him,” I reply. My hand lands on the rise and fall of Connor’s chest. “He’s still breathing.

” Relief washes over my entire being as my own words hit me.

He’s breathing. “Where are they?” I need to find the holes, stop the bleeding, and sew him back up. I’ve done it before. I can do it again.

He’s not gone. He’s still alive.

“Fucking hell,” Enzo growls. “Fine, move. I’ll get him.” My brother bends and somehow manages to lift a six-foot-something Connor and throw him over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Be careful,” I hiss.

“Move. Now.” Enzo glares at me while gesturing a hand to the left. “That way.”

“Okay, just… don’t drop him.” I do as I’m told, looking back over a shoulder every now and again. I need to make sure Enzo is actually bringing Connor with us.

After ten minutes of navigating the dense woods, we make it to an SUV parked on the other side of the cabin. I open the back door and wait for Enzo to place Connor on the seat, which he does without any grace or care.

“If he dies because you were rough with him, I’m going to kill you,” I tell my brother.

Enzo rolls his eyes. “The bullet hit his shoulder. He’s not dying.”

“Why’d he pass out, then?” I ask, climbing in and inspecting the upper part of Connor’s body. I don’t see anything until I turn him to the side. I rip my shirt over my head and hold the fabric against the entrance wound. “There’s no exit. The bullet is still in there somewhere.”

“You are aware I don’t give a fuck if he lives or dies, right?” Enzo says as he maneuvers us out of the woods and onto a main road.

“Well, I do. Very much. So start caring.” A silence falls over the car as I focus on watching Connor’s chest again. “I need you to wake up. I can’t yell at you if you’re asleep,” I whisper.

“Probably wise he stay asleep then.” Enzo chuckles.

“Not funny,” I tell my brother. “Why isn’t he waking up?”

“Don’t know.”

“We need a doctor. Where are we going?”

“I’ve got a place, not far from here. I’ve already been in contact with Pops. He’s gonna have a doc meet us there,” my brother tells me.

Shit, my dad knows?

“Papa is there?” I ask. He’s not going to help Connor. He’d be more likely to finish him off.

“Yes.”

“Don’t let him kill him,” I plead.

“Yeah, because I have the power to stop Pops from doing anything.” My brother shakes his head. “He’s not going to kill him, no matter how much he might want to.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I couldn’t do it. If I couldn’t do it to you, no fucking way Pops can either.” Enzo sounds like he’s disappointed in himself.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“I hope—for your sake—he’s worth it.”

“He just jumped in front of a bullet for me. What more proof do you need?” I counter.

“Pfft, anyone can jump in front of a bullet.”

“But they wouldn’t.” And once I’m done giving Connor a piece of my mind, he won’t do something so damn stupid again either. “I heard two shots,” I say more to myself.

“I fired the other one… at the asshole who had a rifle pointed at you,” Enzo grumbles.

That’s why he’s pissed. He wasn’t quick enough. If it weren’t for Connor, that bullet would be in my head instead of his shoulder. I’m not afraid of death. I never have been. But I am afraid of living without Connor. That fact was made very clear today.

Even though he says he hates me, you don’t put yourself between a person you hate and a rifle. He loves me. I know he does. I just have to figure out a way to remind him. As soon as he wakes up, and after I’m done yelling at him.

Enzo pulls into the driveway of a suburban house. The garage opens and he steers the SUV inside, waiting for the door to go back down behind us before he climbs out. Then he steps around the car to meet me, and the moment I go to tug at the handle to follow him, my dad is there. Waiting for me.

“Aurora, fucking hell.” He drags me to my feet. His eyes roaming up and down my entire body as he searches me for injuries.

“I’m okay. It’s him. He needs a doctor, Papa,” I say.

“He needs another fucking bullet,” my dad growls.

“No. Please, help me help him. I need to help him. Please,” I beg, and my father looks at me. No doubt surprised by the desperation. It’s something he’s not used to seeing on me.

After a moment, he sighs. “Enzo, the doc’s in the main bedroom. Help me carry him up there.”

I throw my arms around my father. “Thank you. Thank you.”

“I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing it for you,” he tells me.

“I know.” I smile as I push up on my tiptoes and kiss my father’s cheek.

“It’d be much easier to just end him here and burn the place down,” Enzo grunts as he pulls Connor’s body out of the back of the car.

I choose to ignore my brother’s words. Despite what he says or feels, he’s helping Connor.

I follow them through the house, stepping into the main bedroom, where Doc has already laid out his surgical equipment. “The bullet is still in there. You need to get it out and wake him up. He needs to wake up,” I rush out in one long breath.

“Okay, let me work on him.” The doctor nods at me condescendingly.

“If you don’t fix him, I will kill you. And then I’ll make sure your wife and children get a small piece of your body delivered every week with a note reminding them of what a failure you are,” I tell him.

“Aurora.” My father’s voice booms from behind me. “She didn’t mean that, Doc. She’s still in shock.”

I could correct him, explain that I very much meant it. But what’s the point? They all think I’m crazy. The thing is, if they don’t fix him, the whole world is going to find out just how crazy I can be when I have nothing left to lose.