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Was I too late?
Panic filled me as I searched the darkness. A sob tore free as movement came from the corner of my eye. Darkness closed around him as the figure strode toward me. “I’m sorry,” I called. “I came as fast as I could.”
But he never spoke, just strode toward me with long, commanding strides.
It was a man, that much I knew.
Darkness closed around him as the bestial snarl of thunder came again overhead.
As he came closer, more bright flickers of lightning followed the roar.
But it wasn’t a stranger’s face filled with chilling malice that was lit…it was Finley’s.
“Expecting someone else, Anna?” he asked.
But his voice didn’t fight the boom in the clouds above.
It bled into the sound.
In that moment…Finley Salvatorewasthe goddamn storm.
25
Finley
Her eyes widened until the whites were all I could see.
But it was all too late for her.
It was too late even for me.
I bent, grabbed her around the thighs, and hauled her over my shoulder. My boots sank into the sand, but rage and desperation supplied strength. I pushed harder, lengthening my stride. She was still for a whole fucking second before the shock wore off.
Then the kicking started.
“Put me down…Finley!”
I said nothing, just kept climbing, rage seething inside me.
“Finley, no…put me down!”
“Not going to happen,” I snarled in answer, and climbed to where the ground fell toward the sea.
She thought she could leave me. She'd thought wrong.
Her fists smashed against the back of my head, one blow driving against my ear hard enough to hurt like a bitch. I clenched my jaw and kept walking, even as she thrashed and bucked, her backpack sliding free to hit the ground behind us with athud.
I left it behind. I left it all behind. Max and Pavlov. These punishing blows in my goddamn chest. All I felt was her.
“Stop!Finley, just stop!”
She slammed both hands down, hitting the nerve in my shoulder, triggering my hold to release…and she slipped off. Her feet hit the ground hard before she stumbled backwards and fell. I was already moving, lunging to grab her, when I slipped, as well. I hit her hard, driving my body against hers as lightning raced across the sky, illuminating her face, her perfect goddamn face. In a blinding instant, everything shattered.
I kissed her, slamming my lips against hers. There was nothing kind in me in that moment. There was nothing warm, nothing worth saving. I was all beast, all hunger…all consumed.
Her mouth was warm against mine, soft and yielding. I yanked the zipper of her windbreaker, tore the catch free, and shoved my hand under her shirt.
“Finley,”she cried my name again.
