Page 40 of Flawed Revenge

The word screamed through his head. He couldn’t die now, couldn’t leave his girls behind. What if they were the only ones who had survived the crash? What if everyone else was dead, and if he gave in to the pain, let it devour him, it would leave them all alone? Someone must have messed with their plane. It had to be River Gardner, which meant she might be tracking it, might come for them. What would she do with his girls if she got her hands on them?

Going after the woman was one thing, letting her come after them when they were injured and vulnerable was quite another.

Had to get to his girls.

Had to get to them.

Shoving aside the pain, Lion forced his body to cooperate. Somehow, he managed to blink open his eyes, only to find himself staring at the wall of the plane. From the outside.

When they crashed, a hole must have been ripped in the plane’s side, and he must have fallen through it.

It wasn't until this moment, when his head pulsed and his vision swam, when blood streaming down his face obscured his vision, and when his eyesight faded in and out of consciousness, that he realized how heavily he had come to rely on his enhanced vision over the past ten years.

Now when he needed it the most, it was failing him.

Planting his hands against the wall of the plane, Lion used it to leverage himself up and into a semi-standing position. If he couldn’t use his enhanced vision to find his girls, he was going to have to find them the old-fashioned way.

I'm coming, Katie-Bear.

I'm coming, Ari-Bear.

I won't ever not come for you.

No matter how much distance is between us, I will tear the world apart to find you.

Still, despite his determination that he would do whatever it took to get to his girls, Lion made it only a step before his knees buckled and he went down hard.

Pain spiraled through his skull, and it was everything he could do to just keep breathing through it and not let it drag him under. Couldn’t pass out again. Had to get to his girls.

If he couldn’t stand and walk, then he’d get on his hands and knees and crawl.

Whatever it took.

Nothing was going to stop him from getting to them, saving them.

They were counting on him, and he wasn't there. No one else was out there, at least not close by to him. It was a miracle that he’d survived, unlikely that anyone else had, but he couldn’t accept that his girls were gone. Not without seeing them, touching them. Until then, he would believe that they were alive and waiting for him.

Crawling didn't turn out to be much easier than walking, and he made it no more than a yard before his arms and legs shook so badly that he collapsed onto the hard ground, the pain inside his head more than he could handle. Which was saying something, because his tolerance for pain was high, and his enhanced healing ability should already be kicking in.

Lion tried to move.

Couldn’t.

There seemed to be no strength left in his body. Try as he did, he couldn’t make it do what he wanted.

A howl of despair fell from his lips.

Lips his Katie-Bear had been kissing right before the plane crashed. Now she might be lying just on the other side of the plane wall, dying, waiting for him to fulfill his promise and come for her.

“Thought I heard something,” a voice said.

It sounded so far away.

It was a male voice.

Not Kate’s.

But someone.