10. Wynn
WYNN
The rifle cracked across the canyon.
A bullet struck the rock beside me.
Stone fragments sliced across my cheek as I grabbed the little girl and threw both of us behind the nearest boulder.
She screamed and buried her face against my chest.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
Then someone shouted.
“SNIPER!”
I tightened my arms around the child.
“Stay down.”
She looked up at me with terrified eyes.
“Are the bad men coming?”
I forced a smile.
“No. The Brave won’t let them.”
Another shot slammed into the rock above us.
Dust and fragments rained over my hair.
Then I heard him.
“WYNN!”
Lucas.
His voice carried across the battlefield.
Raw.
Desperate.
I looked toward the ridge.
He was coming down the mountain.
No.
Flying.
Sliding across loose shale so fast I couldn’t understand how he remained on his feet.
Bullets snapped around him.
He never slowed.
The sniper fired again.
The round struck several feet to my right.
I covered the little girl’s head with my arms.
Then Lucas was there.
He crossed the final twenty feet in what felt like a heartbeat and dropped behind the boulder beside us.
His silver eyes locked on mine.
One arm wrapped around my shoulders.
The other covered the little girl.
His body became a shield over both of us.
Another round slammed into the opposite side of the stone.
The impact sent a tremor through the boulder.
Dust filled the air.
Lucas’s chest rose and fell rapidly.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
He looked down at me, his silver eyes searching every inch of my face.
“You hit?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“The little girl?”
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
Only then did I realize Lucas was bleeding.
Blood soaked through the sleeve of his tactical shirt.
My stomach dropped.
“Lucas…”
He glanced down as though he’d forgotten he could be hurt.
“It’s nothing.”
“It is not nothing!”
“It’s a graze.”
I reached for his arm.
He gently caught my hand.
“I’m fine.”
The blood soaking his sleeve told a different story.
Adam’s voice came over the radio.
“Lucas, stay down. Hawk is moving into position.”
A single shot cracked from somewhere high above.
Silence followed.
Then Hawk’s calm voice came over the radio.
“Target eliminated.”
Lucas finally exhaled.
“Good shooting.”
“Told you I’d get him.”
Despite everything, a tiny smile tugged at Lucas’s mouth.
Then he looked at me.
“What were you thinking?”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“What was I thinking?”
“You were in the open.”
“I was helping a child.”
“You almost got yourself killed.”
“So did you!”
“I knew the risk.”
“So did I.”
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Then opened it again.
Nothing came out.
Because he knew.
He’d done exactly what I would’ve done.
Exactly what he’d spent years doing himself.
I carefully reached for his injured arm again.
This time, he let me.
The bullet had torn through the fabric, leaving a deep groove across his upper arm.
Not life-threatening.
Painful enough.
I cleaned and wrapped the wound as quickly as I could.
“You should’ve let me go,” I whispered.
His answer came so quietly I almost missed it.
“I already did that once.”
My hands stopped.
I looked into those familiar silver eyes.
There wasn’t any anger in them now.
Only regret.
Six years’ worth.
Before I could answer, Adam’s voice echoed across the canyon.
“Brave! Move! We’ve got incoming armor!”
Lucas stood immediately.
The conversation ended before it had truly begun.
He offered me his uninjured hand.
“Can you run?”
I slipped my fingers into his.
Just for a second.
Just long enough to stand.
“I’ve got you,” he said.
I looked at him.
At the blood staining the bandage around his arm.
At the determination in those silver eyes.
For the first time since our divorce, I believed him.
Above us, the rumble of heavy engines echoed through the canyon.
The battle wasn’t over.
It was about to get worse.