Chapter 15
Fifteen
Noah stared at the tracker on Nimue’s phone, watching the blinking dot move farther from the main canyon roads, deeper into the backcountry.
His hands clenched into fists on his lap, his side screaming with every bump in the road.
There was a good chance he’d reopen his stitches. Probably already had. Could feel wetness seeping through the bandage.
It didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered but Meg. That blasted dot moving away from safety.
Away from him. Away from help. Toward whatever this madman had planned.
“Turn left here.” Noah pointed to a barely visible road—more of a track, really.
“He’s using the old service roads.” Liam downshifted and made the turn at a speed that had everyone leaning to the right. “Luckily we know this area better than he does.”
“Why would she even get in the car with him?” Noah’s voice came out harsh. “Why didn’t she run? Why didn’t she—”
“I think he was threatening us.” Nimue spoke from the back seat, her tone matter-of-fact but gentle. “Eden and me. I think she got in the car to protect us.”
Noah’s chest constricted.
Of course she did.
Of course Meg would sacrifice herself to keep others safe. That’s who she was. Who she’d always been. Even when she thought she was broken.
“I would have done the same thing,” Nimue continued quietly. “When the Bratva were chasing me, when I thought they’d hurt Liam—I would have done anything to protect him. Even if it meant putting myself in danger.”
The tracker showed the dot slowing, then stopping.
Noah’s heart slammed against his ribs.
They had stopped near the rim.
Too near. Dangerously near.
“They are a hundred yards down the next trail. He has her near the edge.” The words came out tight. Because he knew what that meant. What Jeremy could do. How easy it would be to push someone over.
Noah ran his hand through his short hair.
Liam pulled over, killing the headlights. “We go the rest of the way on foot. Quietly. If he hears us coming—”
“He’ll panic.” Noah was already opening the door, ignoring the sharp pull of his stitches.
They moved quickly through the darkness, Teague taking point, Liam close behind. Eden stayed with Nimue, and Noah brought up the rear, every step sending jolts of pain through his side that he ruthlessly ignored.
It killed him to be in the back, but he just couldn’t move as fast with his injury. Each step was slower than it should be.
But he refused to stop.
Meg was out here.
Meg was in danger.
Nothing else mattered. Not pain. Not stitches. Not recovery time or doctor’s orders.
He could hear voices ahead now—one raised in anger.
Jeremy?
He’d foolishly believed that it was over when Ryan was buried in the cave. Should have known the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Should have anticipated this.
They slowed, moving more carefully, using the trees and scrub brush for cover. Noah caught sight of Meg’s car first—parked at an awkward angle on the old road. Driver’s door still open.
Then Meg standing a few feet away, her arms wrapped around herself. Trying to look small.
And Jeremy, pacing in front of her like a caged animal. A gun hanging loose in one hand as he ranted.
“—your fault!” Jeremy’s voice carried through the night air, raw with grief and rage. “Lydia. My dad. Everything goes back to you.”
Noah’s blood ran cold. He crept closer, trying to get a clear line of sight, but the sun had fully set now and the moon, which should rise soon, sat below the horizon.
Almost total darkness. Just starlight. Not enough.
“I tried,” Meg said, her voice steadier than Noah expected. “I did everything I could for Lydia. The damage to her chest was too severe—”
“Liar!” Jeremy whirled on her. “And then you left my father to die in the cave.”
“Your father was already dead before we left the cave,” Meg said, and Noah could hear the tremor in her voice now—the fear she was trying so hard to hide. “He tried to shoot us and Noah stopped him, but it was his own gun that shot him.”
“You kill everyone you touch, and you need to pay.” The words were ice. Flat. Final.
Noah’s hands clenched and he started to move forward, but Teague’s hand shot out, stopping him.
Not yet, he mouthed.
They needed to be closer. Needed a clear opening. One chance to get this right. They maneuvered to the left, but it was so dark. Too dark to see clearly.
His grandfather’s voice echoed in his mind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Lord, You led us out of the cave when I was a child. You helped Teague find us in the cave last week. I need Your light to shine in the darkness again.
“I’m sorry about Lydia,” Meg said quietly. “I’m sorry about your father. I’m sorry you’re hurting. But this isn’t going to fix anything, Jeremy.”
Just like that, a sliver of the moon crested the canyon’s edge. Not a lot, but enough for Noah to catch the glint of the gun. The outline of Meg. Her silhouette against the sky.
Meg moved then, so fast Noah almost missed it. Her hand that had been resting on a ledge behind her swung around with a rock in its grip. Fist sized. Heavy. And smashed it into the hand holding the gun.
Jeremy howled in pain as the gun dropped and Meg ran.
She made it three steps before Jeremy lunged forward, his hand fisting in her hair. Meg cried out as he yanked her backward, and she fell hard, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
Noah broke into a sprint.
He didn’t think, didn’t plan, ignored the screaming pain in his side as he launched himself forward. All he saw was Meg on the ground, Jeremy standing over her with his fist pulled back, and something primal and fierce roared to life in his chest.
But Teague had moved too, and without ten stitches in his side, he was faster. He collided with Jeremy’s side and the two went rolling. Then Liam was there and the two guys were pinning Jeremy down. Knees in back. Arms twisted.
Noah dropped to his knees beside Meg, his hands shaking as he reached for her. “Meg. Meg, are you okay?”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide with shock and fear and something that might have been hope. “Noah? You’re supposed to be…you just got out of the hospital. You shouldn’t—”
“I’m fine.” He helped her sit up, his hands gentle despite the urgency screaming through him. “Are you hurt? Did he—”
“I’m okay.” Her voice cracked, and then she was crying, her hands fisting in his shirt as she pulled herself closer. “I’m okay. I’m sorry for what I said. I’m sorry for leaving you. I’m so sorry—”
“Shh.” Noah wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You were so brave. Meg, you were so brave.”
Behind them, he could hear Teague holding Jeremy down while Liam secured the kid with zip ties. Nimue and Eden were calling the police.
But Noah couldn’t focus on any of it.
All he could do was hold Meg, feel her breathing against him. Alive and warm and real.
She pulled back just enough to look at him, tears streaming down her face. “I had decided to find you. Before all this. I was going to tell you…”
“Tell me what?” His hands came up to cup her face, his thumbs brushing away her tears.
“That I love you.” The words tumbled out, broken and beautiful. “That I’m terrified but I want to try because you’re worth it and—”
Noah kissed her.
He kissed her like he’d been wanting to since he awoke in the hospital, like she was oxygen and he was drowning, like she was home and he’d finally found his way back.
She made a small sound against his mouth—surprise or relief or maybe both—and then she was kissing him back with a fierceness that stole his breath.
He felt everything she’d been holding back pouring into him—the fear that had kept her running, the hope she’d been too afraid to name, the love she’d tried so hard to deny.
His right hand slid to the back of her head, pulling her closer as his left hand trailed over her shoulder—warm and real and proof that this was happening, that she was here, that she’d finally stopped running.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer. Red and blue lights flickered through the trees.
But Noah didn’t move, didn’t let go of Meg. Couldn’t.
She was safe.
She was here.
And she loved him.
The rest they could figure out together. The logistics. The therapy. The healing. The panic attacks and nightmares and all the broken pieces.
He pulled her back for another kiss.
Now that he had her, he wasn’t letting go.
Not ever.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Not for him. Not for Meg. Not for them.
The darkness had tried. Had almost won. But the light—small, persistent, refusing to be extinguished—had won in the end.
Grace. Forgiveness. Love. Second chances.
All the things he’d thought he’d lost forever.
All the things the Lord had been offering all along.
He just had to be brave enough to reach out and take them. To accept that being broken wasn’t the same as being finished.
That fractured pieces could still create something beautiful when the light shone through.
Meg sank into the kiss.
This was different from the kiss immediately after he’d saved her. That kiss had been raw, desperate—all adrenaline and terror and relief.
But this…
This kiss was slow and soft. Deliberate. Chosen.
A promise. A beginning.
And it shattered something inside Meg—all the fear, all the walls she’d built brick by careful brick, all the lies she’d told herself about being too broken for this.
Noah’s lips were warm against hers, gentle but insistent, and she melted into him. Into the safety. Into the acceptance.
She’d been so scared. For so long. Years of running. Years of hiding.
But now, wrapped in Noah’s arms, his hands cradling her face as if she was something precious, she felt safe.
Safer than she’d felt in years.
Maybe safer than she’d ever felt. Even before her father died. Even before her world fell apart.
When they both leaned back, breathing hard, Noah rested his forehead against hers. His eyes were intense, searching her face as if he was memorizing every detail.