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LUCA
Watching Olivia kill Titan, seeing the satisfaction in her eyes as she took his life, is the moment I could finally admit to myself that I love her. Nothing in this world could ever get between us. It’s me and her against the world.
She is everything I didn’t know I needed, but now that I do, I’m never going to let her go. Not for anything or anyone. Not only would I burn the world for this woman, but I would die for her without a second thought.
My Raven has stripped away all the barriers my father instilled in me. She has made me see that loving someone isn’t the curse he made it out to be when he continually kept me at arm’s length, treating me more as one of his new recruits than his own son until I was old enough to kill. I’d been stripped of all emotion, caving to his desires.
We’re both a mess, but the night isn’t over yet. The gunfire has ceased below us, and when we’re halfway down the stairs, Jaxon is limping around the corner.
The relief on his face when he sees both of us is a reminder of how lucky I am to have him in my life, even when he drives me fucking crazy.
“You two look like you’ve been better,” he says, then coughs roughly, spitting up a bit of blood.
“So do you,” I reply, giving him a onceover. “Seems like we’re going to be keeping Dr. Theo quite busy tonight.”
“I already called him.” Jaxon grimaces. “Markus is driving Damon back to the compound now.”
I tense, not prepared for bad news even if I expect it, given the firepower that was exchanged here tonight.
“What happened?” Olivia asks for me when I can’t find the words.
“D took a bullet to the gut,” Jaxon replies with a frown. “There was a fuck-ton of blood.”
“And the others?” I ask, finally finding my words.
Jaxon glances behind him and shrugs. “Not sure yet, but it isn’t good. Some of these men will need to go to the hospital. Theo can’t treat everyone in time.”
“Send them,” I say. “We have the cops on our side for the night. We’ll handle everything needed to prevent this from getting out of hand.”
He nods, and the three of us move through the hallway together. Bodies litter the floor, but I don’t avert my stare. Some of these men were my family, my responsibility. They died for me, and I won’t pretend otherwise, even if I barely knew their names.
I see Liam, Aiden, and Caleb among the first group of fallen, three brothers who had lost their parents to a robbery gone wrong and wound up at my doorstep, looking for help with their vengeance.
Further into the house, there are more, nearly a dozen that I can identify and likely more that I can’t. It’s going to be a long fucking day of brutal phone calls. I may not have known any of them well, but they made a commitment to my family and I did the same to theirs.
Each of them will get a personal call from me, along with a payment that will mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, but maybe it will relieve some of the stress while they grieve.
Olivia’s grip on my hand grows looser, and she starts to wobble. “Whoa,” she says, trying and failing to hold on to me. “I think I need to sit for a minute.”
“I think you need to be stitched up before you lose any more blood,” I say, then turn to Jaxon, but he speaks before I need to.
“I’ll finish here,” he says. “Take care of your girl.”
His comment reminds me thathis girlwas also doing something important while we were here, but that’s the least of my worries as Olivia’s skin grows paler.
I pick her up and see that the SUV has already been brought up from the other house. I sit Olivia in the passenger’s seat and lean it back before buckling her in. Her head lolls to the side, and I slam the door shut before running to the other side of the SUV.
I’m tempted to take her straight to the hospital instead, but my phone vibrates with a text, changing my mind.
Markus: Damon is stitched up and the doc has done everything he can. The rest is up to D. Theo has blood for every type ready and waiting for anyone else. He can only handle five more, though.
Me: Bringing Olivia home. She might need blood.
I hit the gas and drive like her life depends on it, because I’m fairly certain that it does. While home is further away than the nearest hospital, Theo won’t ask questions that waste precious time, and I feel confident he’ll take better care of her than anyone else.
When I pull into the garage, Theo and Markus are waiting there for us. That doesn’t give me much hope for Damon that they’ve left him alone, but I can’t worry about him right now when Olivia hasn’t said a word to me the entire way back.
“She’s unconscious,” I snap when Markus opens the door.
