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I watched him for a few more minutes, confirming that he was really gone. His lungs had stilled. His heart had stopped. Even if his lackeys came charging to his rescue, there’d be no saving this man.
The reign of the Blood Hunter was at an end.
I stood up, swaying a little with a rush of dizziness. Triumph wrapped around my chest, but I couldn’t immerse myself in it yet, not when another concern was gnawing at the back of my mind. I needed one more thing before I could be sure we’d totally won.
Well, two more things. Two morepeople: Blaze and Garrison, standing in front of me, alive.
I walked out to my car, stepping past the fallen guards without a second glance. My head still throbbed from the beating my skull had taken, and my side ached with my broken rib, but those physical discomforts fell away in the wake of my new goal. I started the engine and turned the car toward the city—toward the storage facility where my men had last spoken to me.
I tried to adhere to the speed limit as I drove, but the numbers blurred, and the speedometer on the dash seemed to jump of its own accord. It still took too long to get there.
The gate of the facility was hanging open. I parked down the street and darted over on foot. The second I walked in, I spotted the two men I’d wanted to see crouched next to one of the storage units.
Garrison was leaning over Blaze, wrapping a bandage around his hand. “I’m going to spit on the gauze if you don’t stop bitching,” he was saying. “See how you like an infection.”
“Don’t threaten a man wounded in the thick of a battle,” Blaze retorted. “Next time it’s your turn to get shot.”
A grin sprang to my face even as tears burned in my eyes. I raced over, and both men’s heads jerked around at the sound of my feet.
“Dess!”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard a sound more joyful than my name on Blaze’s lips like that, all the pain that’d been in his voice before swept away by it. He started to leap toward me.
Garrison hauled the hacker back, clutching his hand. “I’m not finished, you idiot.” Then he caught my gaze, a smile brighter than anything he’d offered before lighting up his face. “You did it. He’s done?”
“Dead as a doorknob,” I said.
A guffaw tumbled out of him. “Nice work, sweetheart.”
“We’re going to need the whole story,” Blaze said, his leg bouncing as he waited for Garrison to finish tying the bandage. “And I’m about to hug you to Kingdom Come.”
“I’m looking forward to that,” I said, choked up. “What happened to you? When the call dropped…”
Blaze shook his head in apparent exasperation. “The bastards shot the phone right out of my fingers.” He held up the hand Garrison had just relinquished. “I’ll be typing a little slower for the next few weeks, but I’m okay.”
He wrapped me in his arms, and Garrison joined us, tucking me into a joint embrace. A deeper sense of relief than I’d ever known welled up inside me.
I was free. Free of the Blood Hunter’s influence and attacks, cut loose from his puppet strings. The Chaos Crew had survived together. A few tears spilled out, maybe the first I’d ever released in the presence of my men, but neither of them commented on it. Garrison just kissed my cheek.
“We’d better get out of here,” he said. “The cops don’t care much about this part of town, but eventually they’ll come to investigate the ruckus we made.”
“Yes,” I said. Back to Julius and Talon, who were keeping watch over my brother while they healed. Back to Steffie. Back to the rest of my life now that it was fully mine.
I started grinning at them all over again. “It’s time to go home.”
