Page 158 of Us Defiant Few

His large hands cupped her face, staring into her eyes with unwavering purpose. Like he’d find a way to fly into the sky and bring her back down if she tried floating away.

“Stay with me!” he demanded, tearing off his jacket, hastily covering the blade protruding from her stomach, as if that could fix her.

Khalani’s eyes were so heavy.

She slowly shut them. But the striking man wasn’t having it.

“No, you don’t.” He patted her cheek incessantly. “Keep those beautiful eyes open for me. That’s it.”

She gazed back up at him. The deep lines of worry on his face stood out, but his expression shifted into sheer determination. He carefully lifted her into his arms. But the sharp motion made her cry out.

The blade hurt.

Khalani reached for the handle, needing to rip it out of her skin, but he threaded her hand through his, stopping her.

“I know it hurts, baby, but we need to keep that in a little longer.”

Her head nestled comfortably in the crook of his familiar arms. That’s when she noticed a pale figure lying motionless on the ground. Before she could ask who it was, the dark angel took off.

He ran like a scorching fire blazed behind them. And even though they zipped past the white buildings, he held her so steady, she could’ve balanced a wineglass on her lap.

His magnetic gaze kept drifting down to her. Like she was far more than the girl who used to dream of the open sky. He stared at her like she was the sun.

But despite his urgent warnings, her eyes began to shut once more.

She dreamed of the surface.

The poems she used to write behind bars.

The family who reignited her soul.

And the man who set her heart free.

With her eyes closed, frantic yelling pierced the air, and she stirred in his comforting hold.

“Give her to me. We can help,” someone called in the distance.

The beautiful man tightened his arms around her.

“Try and take her from me and I’ll kill you.”

The words were bone-chillingly cold, but when she made a noise of pain, the softest lips brushed against her hair, his arms encompassing her with undeniable warmth.

Khalani agreed. She didn’t want to be anywhere else but in his hold.

A longer pause, and her mind drifted again.

“Friends have to wait outside until we finish.” The strange voice filtered back.

“She’s not our friend. She’s our family,” another woman said, someone so familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember her name.

“Fine. But can he at least stop pointing the gun at us? We already agreed to help.”

“I’d be more focused on your patient, Doctor,” the man snapped. “As far as you’re concerned, nothing in the world matters except this girl. And if you make the slightest wrong movement, I’ll take your life and won’t regret it in the slightest.”

Something in her chest tightened at his words, and she desperately wanted to open her eyes. To memorize the face that hovered above her with desperation and unwavering protection.

And love.