Chapter 96
Raine
The city lights blurred past the windows, streaks of neon and shadow as the SUV roared through the streets. My chest heaved, my ribs screaming with every breath, but I didn’t feel the pain until the gunfire faded behind us.
Until it was over.
My pistol slipped from my hand, landing on the floorboards with a dull thud. My fingers wouldn’t stop trembling, no matter how hard I clenched them. The man we’d hauled out lay slumped against me, still breathing shallowly, his weight heavy but real. Alive.
I should’ve felt strong. Triumphant. But all I felt was shaking.
The lab replayed in my head on a loop—the straps, the IV lines, the machines humming, the woman’s cracked lips whispering a prayer.
The bullets sparking off the gurney leg inches from my foot.
The way Adam’s eyes had burned at me through the chaos, steady and fierce, while I’d dragged another human being out of hell.
It was too much.
A sob tore loose before I could choke it back. I pressed my forehead to the man’s shoulder, hiding my face, hating the weakness but powerless to stop it.
A warm hand closed over mine, firm and grounding. Adam.
“Hey,” he murmured, his voice low steel softened just for me.
I lifted my head, tears streaking hot down my cheeks. “I almost dropped him. I almost—”
“No.” His gray-blue eyes locked with mine, hard and unshakable. “You didn’t. You got him out. You got all of them out. Don’t you dare tell yourself otherwise.”
I shook my head, chest hitching, the sobs coming harder now that his voice cracked through the wall I’d been holding. He pulled me against him, one arm wrapping around my shoulders, his chest solid and warm against my cheek.
For the first time since the ridge, I let myself break.
And Adam held me through it, his lips pressed to my hair, his hand steady at my back. Not rushing me. Not judging. Just there.
“You’re stronger than you know, Raine,” he whispered into the chaos of my sobs. “And I’ll remind you every damn time until you believe it.”
I clung to him, my ribs aching, my eyes swollen, my heart raw. But for the first time, I believed him.
Because I wasn’t in this war alone.