“Monsters are in the city!” a man shouted, and multiple women screeched.
I tried to keep up with Frid, but she was separated from me by the crowd of people. Someone pushed me hard in my ribs and I gasped. The current was taking me to the door and I was afraid I would get flattened against the wall like a pancake.
A massive back slammed into me, and for a moment I could not breathe. I cried out, trying to push the male away from me, accomplishing nothing. I was shoved again, and my vision nearly blurred. I could not get myself out, panic swirled through me like a poisonous snake, choking my breath into uneven gasps. Dark spots swam before my eyes.
Suddenly, everything stopped. I opened my eyes wide, seeing a familiar face in front of me. It was Denis. Denis had stepped in between me and the panicking crowd, shielding me with his body. His hands were on the wall behind me, his wide shoulders gave me the protection I so desperately needed.
“I got you,” he said. “I got you,” he repeated.
At that moment, I was not sure how I felt about him. I had spent so much time avoiding him, resenting him because I remembered what he did, and Tynan did not like him. Yet he turned out to be the only one who had helped me.
“Thank you.” I whispered, just then realizing that my hands were on his arms.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” a voice thundered from behind us and my heart nearly exploded.
“Tynan?” I breathed, too stunned to process that he had come back – that he was standing just a few feet away from us.
His flying suit was torn in the front, a gash visible on his chest. His hair was wet, and his face was painted with blood, a thin streak of it contrasted sharply against his skin like a scarlet thread.
I pulled my hands away from Denis, but it was already too late. Tynan had seen us in what could only be described as an embrace.
“Darragh?”
Tynan said nothing, moving toward us. His eyes were on my face. I could see the fury, the hurt, in the depths of his dark, umber eyes.
“You finally showed —” Denis started to say, but before he could finish, he was shoved aside.
Both men crashed to the floor, with Tynan landing on top of Denis.
“Gods!” I looked around, realizing that the people were leaving the main floor. The room was nearly empty and there was no one who could stop them.
As the men wrestled, Tynan managed two blows right at Denise’s face. I finally found enough strength to get my arms wrapped around his neck, and pulled him away.
“Please! Please, stop!”
Finally, he listened. Slowly, he got up, his eyes stayed onDenis, who remained on the floor. His face burned with menace as a streak of blood oozed from his mouth.
“You’ll pay for this.” Denis hissed, wiping his busted lip with his sleeve.
“Let’s go.” I pulled Tynan away and to my surprise, he followed me all the way up the stairs, back to his room.
We were supposed to join the others in the basement, but I needed to physically separate Tynan and Denis, and that was the only way I could think of.
As soon as the door behind Tynan closed, I lit the lamp. When there was nothing left to delay the conversation, I turned to face him.
“Tynan.”
He did not answer, instead his gaze set my insides on fire. There was a raw, primal need in me when his eyes slid down my body. He wanted me – right there and then.
Slowly, I stepped toward him. His eyes followed every move I made with the focus of a predator stalking its prey.
“I missed you,” I whispered, taking his hand into mine.
He did not move, and I did what felt natural, reaching up to kiss his lips and touch his clenched jaw with my fingertips.
His warmth, the scent of fire and burnt leather, and fresh blood, stirred the desperate, unhinged desire that swallowed me whole. I could not hold back the exhale that escaped my lips, I could not conceal the way I felt about him. But that was what he wanted; to see my real feelings, and I was ready to show him every last part of my heart and soul.
Tynan stayed still, not responding to the gentle caress of my lips.
