Page 378 of Romeo

“Come here.”

She crossed the room before I finished saying it.

My hands were on her the second she reached me, moving over her face, her shoulders, her arms, checking every place Mac had touched and every place she might have hit when I took them down.

“I’m okay,” she told me, catching my wrists.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

“Fi.”

“He scared me.” Her fingers tightened around mine. “You scared the hell out of me when you threw yourself at us, but he didn’t hurt me.”

Air finally moved through my lungs again.

I pulled her against me, and she wrapped both arms around my waist. The shaking started once she was against my chest, subtle at first, then harder. I pressed my mouth to the top of her head and held her while I listened to the silence outside.

Mac hadn’t come alone.

The men around the cabin were still out there unless Gator had reached them.

I hated releasing her, but I forced myself to ease back enough to see her face. “We’re not clear yet.”

“I know.”

No argument. No panic. Just trust.

I shifted her behind my shoulder as I turned back toward the room. Mac still hadn’t moved. My pistol lay near what remained of the table, while the gun he had dropped during the fight sat closer to the couch.

I started toward mine.

Fiona’s fingers suddenly twisted into the back of my shirt.

“Jasper.”

Something in her voice made me turn before I understood why.

Mac was pushing himself up.

One knee beneath him, one hand braced against the floor while the other disappeared beneath his jacket.

Fuck.

I moved backward and shoved Fiona completely behind me at the same moment Mac pulled out another gun.

Backup piece.

I should have searched him.

The realization came too late. My pistol was several feet away, and Mac already had his weapon clear. There wasn’t enough time to reach mine, no time to close the distance before he fired.

Fiona’s hands clenched in my shirt.

I planted myself between them.

Mac raised the gun.