ELIANO
The change that comes over Salt is hard to put into words, it’s something you kind of have to see to believe.
It’s like someone wiped a layer of black paint off a colorful picture.
He looks almost drunk with joy. The entire way home he’s bouncing, shouting, throwing his arms in the air, even dancing.
Other couples stare at him like he’s lost his mind, but he doesn’t care. Happiness fills him so completely it’s as if it’s replaced the blood in his veins.
I can see he can’t even find the words for what he’s feeling. Every so often he just presses his hands to his eyes, like he’s trying to make sure this is real, that Senu is actually alive.
I’m happy for him, truly, but I can’t say I feel optimistic overall. In the back of my mind, another mode is already running, full of thousands of thoughts about what I need to do next.
I have a lot of plans and ideas, still hazy, but some of them are slowly starting to take shape. One of them involves accepting my brother Mauro’s offer to stay in one of his year-round rental cabins, but I have serious doubts about how safe that really is.
I’ve also been reading about different options in the Beta Activation program, and I came across an interesting initiative they run on the side. Even there, though, I can see several obstacles that could make it hard to actually use this opportunity.
Right now, my thoughts are a mess, though maybe ‘creative chaos’ fits better.
Knowing that Salt actually trusts me means a lot.
It flows through me like a rush of energy, but I’m fully aware that part of this sudden faith comes from how he’s tied together two things in his head: my accidental discovery that Senu is alive and my supposed ability to solve insanely impossible problems.
Those two things don’t really go together, and I try not to get too carried away.
Still, what matters is that Salt’s mindset is different now, clearly lighter, and that alone makes me happy.
From the day I met him, there has always been that shadow hanging over him, probably from the day Senu disappeared. Now, though, it finally feels like things have snapped back into place.
When we reach the house, Salt jumps straight onto our bed.
Sometimes he cries.
Sometimes he laughs.
Through his tears, he looks at me.
And that’s when I realize something is wrong. I don’t know what yet, but I catch a strange scent in the room, quite intense.
Salt clearly doesn’t notice it. There’s a smile spread across his face.
"Oh, Eliano, how a day can change in a split second," he says. "From bleak and hopeless to wonderful and full of promise."
"And the other way around," a low voice answers from the room, one I recognize instantly.
The shock hits me like a battering ram. I literally shiver, feeling an immediate adrenaline rush.
Drax!
What happens next is so fast it barely registers as anything more than a flash. The only thing my mind manages to record is his massive silhouette standing in the dark rectangle of the bathroom doorway.
It’s absurd, but even in that instant a stray thought crosses my mind, that Drax probably had access cards to the secret bathroom doors in every unit.
One thing is certain. He does not try to fight me. In that fraction of a second, Drax raises his hand and fires.
There’s no time to act, no chance to react or dodge.
The gunshot is deafening.
The only instinct I’ve ever truly learned from years in the mafia is this: when someone shoots at you, turn sideways to reduce your profile.
That’s why the bullet doesn’t hit me square in the heart.
I twist, and it catches me near the shoulder instead.
The momentum of the turn sends my body flying backward with double the force, and I hit the floor hard.
At the same time, I hear Salt’s terrifying scream.
"Nooooooooo!"
Even as I’m falling, I see Salt leap off the bed and rush toward me in a truly heroic move, throwing himself into the bullet’s path as if he means to shield me with his own body.
My brave, beautiful Salt.
If there’s one thing no one could ever take from him, it’s his courage and loyalty. I don’t know anyone who is as uncompromising.
I hear the bullets strike his body instead of mine… and the sound is the most horrific thing imaginable. There is nothing worse.
And then another miracle happens, something unbelievable that Salt produces out of himself.
A sound tears from his throat, something I’ve never heard in person before.
I’ve heard of it, seen recordings, clips in documentaries.
It’s the famous Omega Stun Sound.
A sound at such a high frequency that it causes disorientation and loss of consciousness in any alpha who is not the True Mate of the omega producing it.
The piercing shriek rips through the space around us. Drax folds in on himself, his weapon slipping from his hand as he collapses to his knees, stunned.
I know I have only seconds to act.
Despite the blood pouring from the ripped artery in my shoulder and the shock pounding through me, I understand this is a life-or-death situation.
If I don’t do something now, none of us will survive.
I vault past Salt, jump toward Drax, grab the gun from the floor, and fire, aiming straight for his chest and stomach
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then I fling the weapon behind the bed and rush back to Salt, who has dropped to his knees and is already tipping backward, about to collapse onto the floor.
I catch him. Panic floods me as my eyes race over his body.
One bullet seems to have passed through his left lung.
Another probably hit his side, grazing his ribs. I heard three shots, so in terror I slide my hand to his abdomen, convinced there must be another wound there, but I don’t find an entry hole.
Moments later I locate it. The bullet passed almost under his arm, tearing through his pectoral muscle near the armpit.
Our eyes meet. The smell of blood fills my nostrils, mine and his.
Salt opens his mouth, and I freeze when I see blood there. I remember what Anzo once told me, blood in the mouth means certain death.
As I stare at his lips, I see them shape a single word.
At first I don’t understand it, then it hits me.
"Joining."
He must see the shock on my face, because he nods firmly and his lips move again. He repeats the word. His hand, the one on the side that wasn’t shot through the armpit, grabs my shoulder and yanks me closer.
"Joo… ining…" he rasps.
I realize what’s about to happen. Our souls are already bound. If Salt dies, I die too, instantly. It’s happened before in my family, the day Anzo came to our house and killed my dad. The energy coil ruptured, reducing them to ash. They died at the same moment.
Joining is a powerful healing process between fated mates, something that can repair wounds over time, but can it work this fast? When we’re both injured and Salt is on the edge of death?
But do I even have the luxury of thinking about that, or about the morality of penetrating my dying mate when we have absolutely nothing left to lose?
We might have one or two minutes left on this planet.
A final, vague chance.
With the hand that isn’t wounded, I tear at his pants and open mine.
In a situation like this, an erection should be impossible, but the moment I press my cock to his entrance, something incredible happens.
His muscle ring tightens around me, almost drawing me in, as if it knows something drastic is happening.
My body responds in kind. I feel my blood rushing downward even though there’s no arousal, just that strange, almost invasive sensation of stretching unready tissue, and yet it happens.
A moment later, I slide into him.
I press myself against him, my uninjured hand dropping to the wound on his chest, pressing hard to slow the bleeding.
Salt coughs dully, a thin stream of blood spilling from his mouth.
I squeeze my eyes shut and press my face to his cheek.
What if this is the end, if the magic of True Mates isn’t enough to stop it?
Our last moments on Earth.
I want it to mean something.
"I love you, baby," I whisper. "Everything will be okay. Whatever happens, we’ll go together. Our souls are one now."
That’s all I manage to get out.
From the corner of my eye, I notice a vast pool of blood spreading near my shoulder. The bullet must have hit an artery. It’s everywhere.
Well, no point in dwelling on this. It doesn’t matter anymore.
Instead, I feel myself slipping away, sinking into darkness, falling into a deep void.
The last thing I hear is the sound of fists pounding on the door, voices shouting from outside; people were probably drawn by the gunshots.
I can’t answer. I lose consciousness.
◆◆◆
I open my eyes and realize that I’m alive. Wow. What a strange thought.
Alive!
That alone feels like a small miracle, because to be honest, I never expected to wake up again.
Above me there’s a bright light. Under different circumstances, that might be unsettling, but this light feels far too much like a hospital fluorescent lamp to be anything heavenly.
I blink slowly.
What happened… shit, we were shot, that much I know.
I turn my head, searching for Salt, because I’m already certain that if I’m alive, then he must be alive too. The energy coil didn’t rupture.
I meet a pair of gray eyes watching me closely.
Salt lies in the hospital bed next to mine, turned slightly in my direction. At least it looks like a hospital bed. We’re both hooked up to IVs and electrodes, probably monitoring our heartbeats. The room is small, definitely not a city hospital. We’re most likely still on the island.
Without thinking, I smile when I see his catlike, familiar face, and Salt answers with a wide grin of his own.
"Fuck. We’re alive," I blurt out in disbelief, stating the obvious.
Salt chuckles.
"Very much so. Probably just because before they could get into our unit, they had to send for Harvey Bram. Only their people have universal access cards."
I stare at him blankly.
"I don’t understand."