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Alaric curses profusely and shoves past scrambling people rushing down the stairs. All worried about themselves instead of stopping to help.
Bastards.
Alaric finally reaches Ryth’s side and together they throw their weight against the door until it opens.
Waves of heat roll out and they fall back against the hard stairs. “Fuck, this is going to hurt. They rip off their shirts and use them as masks against the black smoke.
Marco turns to the mother. “Why the fuck did you run out and leave your child?”
Marco roars his wrath at the pale woman.
Wild eyes turn our way. “I…I didn’t. I was out here running up and down the stairs. It’s my morning routine. And then the whole building shook and gave way.” She takes a key out and acts like she’s going to run into the smoke. Alaric puts his arm out, blocking her path. He snatches the key.
“Get Nyx out of here. We’ll meet you downstairs. And you,” Alaric turns on the lady. “We will get your child. Follow them out.”
Marco bends and lifts me over his shoulder, already moving before the words are completely out of Alaric’s mouth.
A hurricane of emotions rips through me.
“No! I can help! No!” Fear a thousand times stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before storms my heart and leaves me gasping for air. But it’s not coming no matter how hard I try. Slung over Marco’s shoulder I can only watch as my men disappear into the smoke.
“We have to go back. We can’t leave them, damn it! Put me down.” Marco ignores me pounding on his back and rushes me down one flight and another until we bust out the side exit on the ground level. People pour out behind us, all of them scattering the second they are free.
“Oh my God! Marco, listen to me. We have to help them! We have to go back!” This is all my fault. This is all my fault. The broken record of my guilt plays through my head at full volume.
Marco doesn’t put me down until we are across the street from the high-rise and breathing fresh air. Cars have skidded to a stop in the middle of the street and pedestrians and drivers alike do nothing but gawk.
The worried mother is on her knees in the middle of the street with other mothers holding her from running back into the building. Tears burn my eyes from the sheer amount of pain in her screams, but I force them back. I have to be strong.
Marco winds his arms around me and we are both looking at the same thing. “I can’t lose them. I just found them. I can’t lose them. I can’t lose any of you.”
He brings his lips to my ear. “You won’t. Give them time. They will find a way back to you.”
“How?” From this viewpoint I can see the damage done to the building. Glass covers the street and smoke is coming up from the bottom levels. Flames have erupted on several floors. “The building looks like it’s going to topple any second.”
Multiple sirens split through the early morning. Fire trucks and police cars roll up on the building and start moving people away.
I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.
“Who would do this?”
The bunching tendons in his neck tell me Marco knows. Heated fury simmers just beneath the surface. “I think we are about to find out.”
Marco jerks his chin to the right of us. A black SUV squeals tires around a tight corner and speeds toward us. Marco pulls us away from the curb just in time for it to come to a complete stop two feet from the tips of my Kicks.
The doors fly open, and I am instantly relieved and pissed off all at once.
I’m out of Marco’s embrace. Two steps and I am rattling the side of my brother’s face with a solid right hook.
“You son-of-a-bitch,” I seethe with rage. “How dare you leave me worried!”
Wolfe is decked out in black tactical gear and an imprint of my knuckles on his jawline. But he’s alive. He’s fucking alive! I throw my arms around him, and he chuckles. “I should be beating the shit out of you, not hugging you.” Water shimmers along the fringes of my eyes and this time I don’t worry about the tears.
He rubs at his jaw. “Glad to see you too, sis.” He picks me up like all big brothers do and I can’t breathe for a minute from how he is hugging me so tightly. “More later,” he promises.
“I’ll hold you to it.”
I release him and step back into Marco’s arms. Marco and Wolfe eye each other and there is a whole conversation that happens in those two seconds. I figure they have a lot to talk about, too.
