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Gray leads the three men from the room, his stance tight and his shoulders bunched together. The second they’re out of earshot, Axel slams his fist into the table in anger. “Keep it together, Ax,” Ryker mutters, tension lining his face as he, too, feels the strain.
“We can do this for her, for us, for the club. We lay this all to rest once and for all. We just have to bide our time.” I don’t know if I’m trying to soothe them with my words or myself, but as true as it may be, it’s not working.
“She was almost gone. Did you see the state she was in when she hightailed it in here in that SUV with two dead fucking bodies in the back? Scarlett’s been through enough. Enough.” Axel’s chest heaves as he looks at his hands. There are smears of blood across his palms and fingertips, and seeing them there only confirms what he did earlier.
Moving around the table, I come to a stop beside him. “Are you okay?”
Three words that hold no real value for what I’m asking. He held her in his arms, almost squeezed the life from her lungs as she held him back. When he doesn’t respond immediately, Ryker breathes his name, concern etched in every letter. “Axel…”
The man in question doesn’t lift his gaze from his hands, but he leans back in his seat. “I… It’s… I don’t even know where to begin or process it. I thought she was gone, pain ripped through every cell in my body with the panic of her being in their grasp. Only for her to be back on our doorstep before we could even make a move to help her.” He gulps, blinking up as his eyes slowly travel from Ryker to me and back again. “I didn’t think. I didn’t do anything but feel, and fuck, man… it was everything. Her arms wrapped around me, and I felt like…”
Ryker pats his shoulder and finishes the sentence for him. “You felt like you were home.”
He nods, one small sharp move, and my chest fucking swells, understanding the feeling Ryker is explaining.
We’re nomads. Home isn’t something we look for, yet it somehow found us. In the form of a dark-haired, porcelain-skinned beauty who wields our hearts as well as she wields any weapon.
“We’ll figure this all out, Ax. But for now, you need to shower and take a second to feel these emotions. We’re here if you need us.” Ryker smiles, his words making the corner of Axel’s mouth tip up too as he stands.
“I’m going to go and check on my sister. If you need me, just holler,” I offer, clapping hands with both of them before I head back through the bar area. I keep my head down and gaze diverted so no one gets the idea that they can talk to me right now. I rap my knuckles on my bedroom door and step inside.
Shift darts up from his seat beside the bed, tension thick in his eyes as he juts his chin up. My eyes don’t last more than a second on him as I look at my sister’s sleeping form and the body lying beside her.
I’m moving before I realize it, rounding the opposite side of the bed as Emily’s blonde locks intertwine with black.
Scarlett.
“How long has she been here?” I whisper, desperate to reach out a hand, but fight against it instead.
“As soon as she had showered. Emily didn’t stir. If anything, I think she fell deeper into sleep in her presence.”
My heart soars, and my chest tightens with raw emotions. Everything she did to defend and protect my sister will never be forgotten. Ever. Scarlett sacrificed herself to the enemy to save Emily. And the first place she winds up afterward is back at her side.
Fuck, I love this woman.
I stroke the back of my finger over her soft skin from her temple to her chin, and that’s when I see it. A lone tear, tracking down her face.
My love for her blossoms into anger at the enemy. Fury descending over me as I promise her here and now. I will make this right. I will protect her from the storm ahead, and more than anything, I will love her to the very end of time.
THREE
Scarlett
Apparently,sleep didn’t ease any of the pain from my limbs, and the tension in my neck tells me I didn’t doze as soundly as I was hoping.
I wonder what it would be like to spend a day without being trapped inside my head.
Yawning, I slowly blink my eyes open and startle when I come face-to-face with Emily staring at me with a smile.
Fuck.
I forgot where I was for a second, but it all comes rushing back to me in a flash. The elevator. Duffer. The car ride. The blood on my hands. Graham and Declan. Shit. My mind kicks up to a mile a second and any chance of letting the stress pass me by is long gone.
“Hey.” Emily’s smile grows a little, and I force myself to reciprocate.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
Her eyebrows pinch as she regards me, a snort falling from her mouth. “AmIokay? Fuck, Scarlett.Youwere taken. Taken!” Her voice rises as I chuckle.
