I don’t say a word. Just wait for whatever he’s going to say.
For a split second, there’s only the sound of his breathing, followed by a sharp grunt as he returns fire, making himself bait, solely for the purpose of saving me.
Then his voice cuts through, strained and filled with the type of fear I have never heard from him before. There’s no control here. No practiced detachment. Just raw panic, chaos, and cold, hard fear.
“Run.”
***
CHAPTER 25
RAIDEN
“Run.”
The word leaves my mouth, and I’m already moving.
They’ve boxed us in tight, completely surrounded from every angle. I’m trapped inside this fortress of a warehouse, and Kiara is up on the ridge. We’re not hunters out here, we’re bait in a glass bowl, lit up from every side.
Breaking from cover, I sprint along the warehouse wall, rifle snapping up as I fire into the ridgeline, and bright flashes answer immediately, the bullets ricocheting off the corrugated steel walls.
They lured her out here, and they knew I would come.
Through the scope, I catch Kiara scrambling across the dusty terrain, gravel exploding around her as rounds leave craters in theground. I adjust, fire again, deliberately stepping into view to drag their attention.
If they want a target, I’ll give them one.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t take for her. A blade, a beating, or even a bullet right to the chest.
They take the bait, not hesitating for even a second, and as they shoot at me, I watch Kiara make it to her car, her engine roaring to life and echoing through the valley. She hits the gas, and her tires spit gravel as she tears across the hard earth, fishtailing onto the only access road that leads up the ridge.
Relief pounds through my veins, and I let out a breath as I focus on me now, because if Kiara got out of here, and our cover is now blown, then this is only the start, and I’m not about to let her face whatever fresh hell is coming her way.
Staying exposed longer than I should, I send one more controlled burst of bullets into the ridgeline, and just as another crack from a gun sounds through the air, I let my body go slack, dropping hard to the ground.
The impact knocks the air from my lungs, but I don’t dare move. The desert fills with silence, Kiara’s retreating engine the only sound.
Silence creeps in, slow and cautious, and I watch through half-lidded eyes as the shadows detach from the ridge. They shift fast now, abandoning positions, rifles slung over shoulders as they scramble toward vehicles, assuming they had a clean hit.
I scoff. It’s sloppy and impatient, and not only that, it’s a lethalerror. You never turn your back on a target unless you’re positive they’re dead, and these assholes are just cocky enough to think they’re good enough to take me out.
Un-fucking-likely.
They weren’t planning for resistance. They were planning for an execution, and they’ll sure get one, only it won’t be Kiara or me in a shallow grave for the vultures to circle. It’ll be every last one of them.
They want her, but unfortunately for them, so do I. And nothing is about to take her away from me. And if they intend to take her right out of my hands, they’re going to have to earn it.
I stay down until engines roar in the distance, and once I’m certain all eyes are off me, and I’ve pulled off the perfect faked death, I roll and set my rifle straight, bringing the scope up just enough to catch the road through the warehouse’s broken paneling.
Headlights shine in the distance, and for just a moment, I’m grateful that she managed to get out of here, only as a second turns into two, it dawns on me that those headlights aren’t heading away, they’re moving toward the industrial road that I’d taken only an hour ago.
Horror slams through my chest.
Stupid girl. What the fuck is she doing?
I know she says I’m the one who’s intolerable, but shit. Sometimes I just want to rattle her.
Headlights race toward me, eating up the distance in no time. Her car fishtails again, the engine screaming as gravel sprays, then sheshoots forward toward the twelve-foot fenceline, and I realize this will have to be fast. There’s no waiting around to welcome her to the fishbowl of death and give a guided tour. She’s coming in hot, and I better be fucking ready.
