Pierce
“Ilove you.”
I haven’t heard those words in years, and there’s no way this is going to be the last time I ever hear them.
“Thea!” I scream her name as she tumbles to the ground. Fire lines the edges of my vision, and I don’t think; I just react. My brain goes numb as my body takes over, taking out one threat after another.
Punch, jab, gun in hand. I shoot his knee. Man down.
I raise the gun at Gavin’s chest.
Don’t.
I hear Thea’s plea in the back of my mind, but it’s so far away. Vengeance is my only goal, for the woman I love who may never remember me if she survives. He tainted whatever serum he’d been using on her father for years. What if she doesn’t survive it?
My finger hesitates on the trigger.
But Cooper is there, tying his uncle’s hands with zip ties.
“I didn’t sign up to be a murderer,” Cooper says, visibly shaken. But not enough to risk losing the drive. He takes it from his uncle's pocket, but I send a kick to his back, knocking him to the floor and ripping it from his greedy fingers.
I turn for Thea just as doors and windows shatter and men in black burst into the room. There’s yelling and shooting, but I’m removed from it as I dive for Thea, taking her motionless body in my arms.
“Come back to me, Thea,” I beg, patting her cheek gently. Her pulse is there but much weaker now.
I barely register the trained agents taking care of the situation. Nothing matters except the woman in my arms.
“There’s a bomb… We need to evacuate…” I hear the words as if I’m in a dream, but it’s real.
This is all real. It hurts to stand, but the pain is nothing compared to the one in my chest. I scoop Thea into my arms and try to outrun it all.
The fear. The uncertainty. The agony of my dreams dying in my arms.
Out the door. Down the stairs. Past the cars. Into the trees. How far should I go? How long until we’re safe?
I run until—boom! The explosion knocks me to my knees, and I fall to the earth, covering Thea’s body with mine, a helpless victim to its ruthless inhabitants.
It’s loud. Then unnaturally quiet.
I hold her. And I can’t move. I will my life to refill hers. I will it all to be fine.
But it’s not.