When I reach the parking lot, the front gates are wide open—courtesy of Declan and his pack, who let the reporters in through the front office to begin with.
“Let me go!” Adela’s voice shrieks out, and I arrive just in time to see her wrench herself out of Xavier’s grip.
Hayden, pretty far ahead of me, catches her before she falls.
Xavier stares after her, indecision warring in his eyes as he looks between her and the two men bound and gagged in the back of his car. He can’t possibly keep them all in check on the hours-long drive back with one gun.
He has a choice to make.
Fuck, fuck,fuck.
Xavier starts to raise the gun in Addie and Hayden’s direction, when the roaring of a motorcycle has his head whipping to the side.
“Vander!” Adela shouts, her voice cracking.
The man riding the bike is clearly injured, and it’s even more apparent by the way he lets his bike crash to the ground when he gets off.
He rips his helmet off, staggering to Adela. “Addie,” he groans, collapsing in front of her.
“Vander.” She closes the space between them, holding him close. “Vander, why didn’t you go to a hospital?”
“I…couldn’t…” he coughs, and when his hand falls away from his mouth, there’s blood on his glove. His head falls to her shoulder. “I couldn’t fail you again. Couldn’t let him…put you back here. It washim, Addie. Not…your dad. I…I didn’t know…not until…yesterday.”
Addie tries to shush him, even looks at Xavier pleadingly, but the beta is white as a sheet, staring at his dying son.
“I’m sorry…Addie…” He coughs again, and that’s when I see the blood seeping through his hoodie. He must’ve been shot in the side, which wouldn’t have killed him if he had gotten proper medical attention. But instead, he rode a motorcycle for two hours with a bleeding bullet wound. He’s lost too much blood, and if the bullet is still inside him, there’s no telling if it fucked up his insides on the ride over.
My heart breaks as Addie chokes out a sob, holding him close. “Don’t leave me, Vander! The baby still needs his daddy—don’t you dare leave me!”
Vander closes his eyes as he leans against her, his breathing shallow and rapid. Tears sting my eyes at the sight, my heart breaking for my friend.
He made the right choice in the end, if only it had been a little sooner.
forty-one
Jo
“You idiot!” Xavier cries, dropping to his knees, his gun clattering to the side. “You fool! Why…why did you kill yourself? For her?”
“You’re the one who put the bullet in him,” I snap, taking a step forward. “You have nobody to blame but yourself.”
Footsteps crunch on the gravel behind us, and I glance behind me to see Kole, West, and Sam slowing their jog as they get to us. There’s a sense of finality in the bond that somehow tells me they got the situation in the courtyard under control.
“He wasn’t supposed to die,” Xavier shakes his head, his voice trembling. “He was supposed to let the doctor fix him up andwait for me to get home. Then we could have proceeded with my plan together.”
A groan leaves Vander as he struggles to lift his head. “...Dad…”
“It’s over, Xavier.” As the words leave me, Vander coughs again. My shoulders relax slightly when I hear the humming of multiple vehicle engines coming over the hill. Five blacked-out SUVs tear around the corner, followed by three ambulances.
We were supposed to be long gone by the time the FBI got here, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. We’ll just have to improvise.
“No.” Xavier shakes his head, standing. “It’s not over. Not when she’s still alive.She’sthe reason he’s dying!” He grabs his gun on the ground and raises it, aiming straight for Adela.
My heart stops.
A scream wrenches from my chest as I lunge forward, and on instinct, my guys try to dive for me. She can’t die. Not after all she’s been through. Not when she still has so much life left to live.
The FBI vehicles come to a screeching stop as his finger pulls the trigger.
