Chapter 16 Ronan
Ronan
Location: Mountain Extraction Zone
The chop of rotor blades hits before the helicopter crests the ridge.
Cold air whips through the trees, blowing snow across the landing zone we carved out earlier. The Golden Team and the Delta Five form a perimeter while the medics finish stabilizing Lena. She’s pale, leaning heavily against me, my coat wrapped around her shoulders. Thick socks on her feet.
She hasn’t let go of my hand once.
And I haven’t let go of hers.
“Bird incoming,” Aaron calls over the wind, making a circle in the air with his finger. “Two minutes out.”
I tighten my arm around Lena’s waist, steadying her as she sways. Her body’s fighting exhaustion and trauma and pain, but she’s fighting too — staying alert, staying with me.
“You good?” I ask, my voice low against her ear.
She nods, though her legs tremble. “As long as you’re right here.”
It hits me in the chest—hard. What she must have gone through with those bastards.
“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
The helicopter drops lower, the noise rattling the air, kicking up snow in blinding swirls. Beckett directs the pilot with hand signals while Miles and Jase sweep the tree line for movement.
Something feels wrong.
The hairs on the back of my neck lift. That sixth sense — the one that’s saved my life more times than I can count — pulses sharp and cold.
River feels it too. His gaze sweeps the ridge. “Eyes up. Something’s off.”
Lena stiffens beside me. “Ronan…?”
“It’s okay.” I step slightly in front of her. “Nothing’s touching you.”
The helicopter lands rougher than usual — too fast, too heavy. The moment the doors slide open, the medics gesture for us.
“Pierce, bring her aboard!” one shouts over the engine.
I wrap an arm around Lena, lifting half her weight, guiding her toward the aircraft.
We’re five feet away when the world explodes.
A rocket shrieks from the far ridge, slicing through the early dawn light.
“RPG!” Aaron shouts. “Take cover!”
I grab Lena and dive, shielding her with my body as the missile slams into the ground just short of the helicopter, blasting heat and shrapnel across the snow.
The shockwave punches through my ribs.
The helicopter lurches sideways.
Lena cries out, her fingers clutching my jacket.
I cover her completely, teeth gritted. “Stay with me. I’ve got you.”
Gunfire erupts from the trees. Ascendancy soldiers pour out as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.
Miles returns fire instantly. Gideon flanks. Beckett lays down suppressing rounds.
River shouts into comms, “Contact right! Multiple hostiles—push them back!”
I haul Lena to her feet, keeping myself between her and the incoming fire.
“We have to move!” she gasps.
“We are.” I pull her toward the helicopter’s blind side, a momentary shield from the bullets.
But the helicopter is struggling. Smoke pours from the rear panel. The pilot waves frantically.
“She can still fly!” the co-pilot yells. “Get her inside—now!”
I move to lift Lena into the bird when—
A second rocket fires.
This one hits its target.
The explosion knocks the helicopter sideways, tearing a blade free. Metal screeches. The aircraft tips violently before crashing onto its side.
The medics inside scream.
Lena gasps, stumbling into me.
I grab her tighter. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
“No, Ronan—” She grips my face with shaking hands. “They’re trying to separate us. Don’t let them—”
“Not happening.”
I push her behind a fallen log, shielding her again as bullets chew through the snow.
River dives beside us. “Helicopter’s down. We need a new plan.”
Aaron slides into cover next to us. “We’ve got at least twelve hostiles, maybe more. They were lying in wait.”
Of course they were.
Roscov knew I’d come for her.
Knew I’d get her out.
And he knew the only way to hurt me now…
was to take her back.
Over my dead body.
Lena curls closer, breath shaking. “Ronan… I can fight. Just tell me what to do.”
I look at her — bruised, injured, barely standing — and something fierce and dark coils through me.
“You already fought,” I tell her. “You survived. Now let us do the rest.”
She searches my eyes and nods. “Okay, until I get stronger.”
I lean in, forehead brushing hers — not gentle, but grounding. Claiming.
“Nothing on this mountain is taking you from me.”
A burst of gunfire hits the log above our heads. Splinters rain down.
Beckett shouts from the tree line, “Ronan! They’re circling right! They’re trying to cut you and Lena off!”
River curses. “They’re targeting her.”
“No,” I snarl. “They’re targeting me.”
The rage hits cold and precise.
I rise, firing three controlled shots. Two soldiers drop. A third dives behind a stump.
River calls out, “We need to push back to the cliff road. Cyclone is routing an alternate evac. Raven, suppress! Gideon, left flank!”
But my focus stays on Lena — pale, shivering, eyes wide but unbroken.
I drop beside her again, grabbing her face gently but firmly. “When I say move, you move with me. I’m not letting go. Understood?”
She nods, breath trembling. “I trust you.”
It hits me harder than the explosion did.
I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her tight to my side. “Good. Because we’re getting out of here.”
Bullets fly.
The Delta Five roars commands.
Ascendancy soldiers push forward.
And with Lena tucked against me, her heartbeat slamming against my chest, I rise into the firefight — ready to tear the mountain apart piece by piece if that’s what it takes to keep her safe.