Chapter 36 #3
And then he’s gone, leaving me to do what I need to do while he goes to do the same with a different clarity coating my senses. I turn and assess the scene again.
Aleksei is on his way to where Sergey is. My husband’s body is sprawled backward, his shirt showing how many times he got hit with bullets. Around him are the bodies of his mistresses and his friends. I’m not overjoyed by what I see, by any means, but I can’t lie and say I’m upset either.
Part of me stays with Aleksei, but the other parts of me are already spreading out as I search for Santiago and Kade. I find them as soon as I look.
They’re together. My feet are moving already.
As my emotional side dials down, I get to take in more of what is going on.
Santiago is pressing his hand against Kade’s thigh.
Kade is pale but alert. His body is twisted, and he sits at an odd angle because Kade is pressing his hand against Nalla’s rump.
The two of them are injured. Alive but hurt.
Everything unnecessary fades away—the sounds the dying make, the lingering scent of gunfire and pain, the fear inside me—all of it shifts, allowing my clinical alter ego to step forward and take over.
I drop to my knees next to Santiago, putting my hand over his as I check him all over for injuries. His eyes are clear and hold the same blazing ego they usually do. He doesn’t have a scratch on him.
I turn my focus to Kade, instructing Santiago. “The restaurant will have to have some sort of first-aid kit in the kitchen. If not, paper towels or fresh linen will work. I’ll need some scissors or a knife and tape or something similar.”
I push him into action using my shoulder as I barge into the space he occupies.
He gets up, but before he leaves, I feel the press of a soft kiss on the top of my head.
It’s as solidifying and centering as Aleksei’s touch was.
I need to unpack so much of their actions and my own responses, but now is not the time.
I can’t look Kade in the eyes until I know about his injury. Ripping his suit pants, I need to see what I’m dealing with. I need him okay. I need him, period.
The wound is simple enough, typical of a gunshot.
The impact site is mid-thigh, off-center in the fleshy part of his leg, but it’s messy, cavitised, because the weapon was high-caliber.
The blood flow is an indicator the bullet didn’t hit an artery.
And all that registers, but try telling my heart that.
“Anywhere else, Kade?” I demand, finally looking up at him. His eyes are glazed with adrenaline and pain.
“Quinny, I’m okay.” He reaches a hand up to cup my face.
I smack his hand out of the way. “I’ll be the judge of that,” I snap.
My detachment to him and the situation is coming from a place of growing horror and endless maybes. If he had been one step ahead, or one second slower, when he was shot, he would be bleeding out. And I wouldn’t know what to do.
He doesn’t let my bitching stop him. His hand cups the back of my head, and he snatches me out of my cold place, drawing me to him with the strength of a hundred men. I couldn’t stop him from kissing me if I tried. Not that I do. At all.
Kade’s mouth is on mine, his sweet cinnamon taste on my lips, and he uses his breath to fill in my lungs with all the air in his. A very necessary reminder that he is alive.
It’s like being dipped in icy water, freezing my shock in place, letting me focus on him being alive.
“I’m okay,” he whispers, showing me how alive he is. Giving me another kiss before letting me push him away.
I’ve never treated someone I’ve been intimate with. Throw in the fact that this Beta is incredibly special to me, and the shock I felt when I realized he was injured nearly consumed me…until his sweet, gentle nature overrode my fear.
With Kade’s taste on my lips, I can face anything. Perhaps he senses that and takes advantage of the opening he has.
He clears his throat softly. “I should have told you sooner. Not about my job, because what I do is not at all important. What was, and is, important, and what I’m apologizing for, is not telling you that very first night.
After you so eloquently fell into my arms and my head was spinning, I knew I was committed.
So, I apologize, my scent-matched, perfect, stunning, intelligent, sexy, funny-as-hell, determined, sweet and gentle Omega, mate, woman, but you are mine.
You always have been, and you always will be. ”
“I knew too, Kade,” I say before he’s even finished speaking. But I can’t look at him when I say it.
I’m freaking out.
Jesus, people are dead and dying around me, and I’m hearing, and seeing, feeling hope for the first time in a long, long while.
I need a moment, and of course because it's Kade, he knows it too. He lets me do my thing without saying another word. I undo his belt, and he wiggles from side to side so I can free it, and then I have to swipe a hand over my cheek to wipe away my tears.
I’m not ashamed of them, or maybe I am; either way, they make it hard to see properly.
When he rests his hand on my shoulder, I lean into it, relishing in the warmth his touch radiates.
It reaches all the way down to my toes while the words he said keep swirling in my subconscious, gathering strength until I’m ready to face them.
Once I have the tourniquet in place, I think a little clearer. Reaching up to steal another of his reassurances, I whisper my truth against his mouth. “I was scared of losing you. I still am.”
He drops his forehead to mine, his eyes closing, a soft smile on his face as his scent wraps around and binds me even more to him. “No more fear, Quinny. We have forever, and if you get his dog ready to move, we can get out of here and start on our forever.”
I turn, ready to have a look at Nalla. She’s no less important than Kade, but her mate, who has never hidden his bond from the world, has been next to her the whole time.
Roshka is licking her face, and I give him a gentle shove so I can see her without him being there.
She’s panting, but her breathing isn’t labored.
I pull one of her eyelids back and find her pupils dilating.
She gets pissed off halfway through my assessment and twists around to try and take a lunge, trying to nip me.
I don’t even get my mouth open to tell her off and Roshka is growling at me.
Santiago returns as we’re having a silent standoff, and he barks something at Roshka, making both the dogs pull back their aggression.
I wasn’t waiting for him to step in and save me like that, but at the same time, I felt him coming closer. In truth, I think I was more focused on him than I was on sorting out the snapping dogs.
Something has changed between us all, and it’s pretty obvious there’s no going back to how it was. Kade’s comments about no more fear are as easy to hear again as Santiago’s presence is to feel and Aleksei’s touch is true.
Santiago sits next me, placing everything within easy reach. His aura is so obvious, it’s like stepping out of the shadows and into glowing sunshine.
A sudden spike of emotion diverts my focus, and I look to Aleksei, knowing it’s from him. He’s dragged Sergey away from the others. I’m on my feet, going to him before I take another breath.
We came too close to death tonight. The reminder of how short life is brings clarity to what I’ve always known but haven’t been able to act on.
Sergey is badly hurt, critically so. His skin is gray and his face is soaked in sweat as his body fights to keep itself alive.
He’s talking urgently to his brother, probably demanding help.
He won’t get anything from me. Perhaps he really believes this is going to end differently, or he can’t foresee his death, but then again, it’s not Sergey I am worried about.
I read Aleksei’s conflict and determination in the straight set of his shoulders. I sense his emotions twisting like a tornado through our bond. He draws me, like a moth to a flame, and of course, in his darkest hour, I kneel down next to him.
It might be because of a million reasons or just because he wants to, but Aleksei drops all pretenses and his shields fall away, allowing his Alpha designation to pulse out of him in violent waves.
How people didn’t see this power was contained in him makes me both proud he guarded his secret so tightly and apathetic to those who never saw his true potential.
Everything about him is more intense, and he feels more like mine now. His scent is redolent, woody, and animalic, and it does all the things your Alpha’s scent should.
He wraps an arm around my shoulder, and he pulls me gently to him, kissing the top of my head before shifting his touch. He holds me in such a way, in front of his brother, that there’s no way to mistake I am Aleksei’s and not Sergey’s.
Sergey tries screaming, but he chokes on his own anger. The angry Russian words he spews when he finally realizes what he always should have noticed is satisfying to hear. But Aleksei's triumphant smile is more heartwarming and important to me.
He bends down and kisses me tenderly, like I’ve dreamed of him doing since I first tried to deny his claim. I’m starting to see now it was never going to happen, because we were destined to be together.
He teases me with a swipe of his tongue, and the rumbling groan he makes is heavenly. He has me believing we have all the time in the world, and we’re not sitting on a restaurant floor saturated in death.
Sergey splutters again, and I look at him properly.
Perhaps today really is a day of revelation because as I peer past the color of his eyes, I see he is nothing more than a means to an end.
I thought the action of taking his life had to be mine, but the fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter who does it, as long as he fucking dies.
Aleksei twists around so he can lift me up to my feet, giving me a gentle push back to them. “When the time comes, don’t watch, maya.”