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“And we won’t be seeing them for the rest of the day,” Izzy announced, making me growl under my breath. What did she expect? That I’d ever let Kaylie out of my sight again? Out of my arms? It was too close today. The line between having everything, and losing it, hair-thin.
Kaylie collapsed onto the bed once we were back in the room. Falling backward, she landed on her back, relaxing into the soft sheets, and closed her eyes. I stood staring at her dark hair spread out like a halo around her head.
“Izzy was right.” My voice was raw, but I didn’t care. This needed to be said. “You were fucking amazing.” I sat, and she pushed herself up to sit next to me. I took her hand, holding it tight over my heart. “But don’t ever do a stunt like that again. If I lost you—” I imagined it too many times since she left. Too many living nightmares playing out in my head. I prepared to take that blow, to stand there and listen as Dominic saidI’m sorry.I was prepared to die hearing the words. Having her back was more than I dared to accept. But her hand against my chest was real.
I looked at her as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. Each salty drop filled my heart until it could burst. “Kaylie,” I rasped. “You’re fucking killing me.”
She smiled through the tears.
“I love you.” Saying it after what felt like a lifetime of cold numbness felt like taking a leap off a cliff and not knowing if the parachute would open. But I was past fear. I was past everything that didn’t involve her, knowing how much she meant to me.
A sob-mixed laugh escaped her lips. Then one more. The laughter faded into sobs she couldn’t contain and the devastating sounds she made tore my heart right out of my chest. I pulled her to me, and she crawled onto my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. Adjusting her away from the goddamn sling, I held her to me, stroking her hair as she cried into my neck.
My legs were long numb from her weight pressed against my thighs, and my shoulder throbbed from the pressure the position forced me into. Neither of them mattered. Only she did. She didn’t know it. But I needed this as much as she did. I fucking needed to feel her to believe she was still mine. That she was alive and breathing. Her tears formed a wet spot on my shirt and with each quivering sob, she wrecked my heart further. I fucking wanted to cry with her, to let it all out. I couldn’t. I didn’tcry. I didn’t even shed a tear when Julie died. When I held our dead baby. I just couldn’t. Instead, I bottled it all up until the pressure became unbearable and the grief turned to hate.
She shifted against me, slowly lifting her head. “I’m sorry,” she sniveled, wiping her nose and eyes before lifting her gaze to me.
I kissed her forehead, and she almost burst into tears again. She shifted off me and moved to sit beside me.
My thighs tingled as circulation flowed back, and even though the deep pain from my shoulder subsided, I wanted her back in my arms.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” she whispered. “In that car when they started shooting… I was sure that was it. That I’d die and break my promise to you.” She glanced up at me with fresh tears brimming in her ocean-blue eyes. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
“Marc?” she whispered. “Say something.”
“You’re here,” I choked out. “That’s all that matters.”
“You’re not upset with me? For going?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. The question had no simple answer. Yes. I was fucking furious. But I was also deeply touched. Because when it all came down to it, she did it out of love. In some misguided attempt at protecting me. I saw it in her eyes when Dominiccheck-matedme. Her fear. For me. Her resolve. She blamed herself for my injury, and even though I’d never hold it against her, I could see why.
I couldn’t be mad at her for loving me when I would have done the exact same thing had our roles been reversed. I would have done so much more.
“Not anymore,” I said at last.
I woke to noise outside a couple of days later. My heart was in my throat as I darted to the window to peek through the thick, dark curtains. I gasped at the brightly lit space. The whole area surrounding the fortress was bathed in white light. Trees cast tall shadows behind them, blending the light and dark into a canvas of stripes and patterns.
Two motorcycles flew past, disappearing down the road leading away from the house. Human voices shouted in the night.
I swirled around, peering into the dark room. “Marc?”
A ray of light from the window shone onto the bed, and my breath hitched. It was empty. I took a step toward it, as if looking closer would make him appear. “Marc!” My voice rose into a shriek as fear gripped my heart.
The door flew open, and he came bursting into the room. “It’s okay.” He bridged the gap between us with a few long strides. “I’m here.”
“What’s going on?” My eyes darted to the window and the light outside, then back to Marc.
“It’s fucking war.”
“Wh—”
The window burst into a million pieces flying into the room. My scream drowned in the noise, and Marc reacted before I understood what happened. He was in front of me, blocking me with his body. Cradling my face to his chest, he stood amid shards raining down around us. When everything settled, he was just as fast to pull away. I tried to cling to him, to safety, but he pushed me behind him just in time for something topop. I shrieked, not knowing what I expected, but with everything that happened, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a freaking bomb.
Thick smoke filled the air, making me cough.
“Fuck!” Marc grabbed my arm, pulling me abruptly into motion while shouting at me to cover my face.
