––––––––
The eyes that belonged to the face blinked at me. Even in the failing light I knew their color: sea blue. I opened my mouth, lips rounded, tongue pressed to teeth. There was no air.
Determined, I hauled myself through the rubble with my arm, dragging my stunned body behind me. Finally my lungs relented and air rushed in. “Liam!” I cried. I scrambled to my feet and skirted Nevin’s body. I took deep, gulping breaths, picking through the debris and tossing pieces of it aside. Liam’s legs were pinned under a heavy section of beam.
And he was pale—so very pale.
I reached him and dropped to my knees. “Liam?” He was dirty, covered in grime and soot. There was a suspicious dark stain on the side of his once blue t-shirt. It was now smudged and holey. His hair was matted and filled with ashes.
Liam took a ragged breath and winced. His eyes closed for a second and then met mine. “Hey, Princess.” The words were just a whisper.
Tears filled my eyes even as I attempted to move the beam from his legs. Liam tried to help, shifting his weight one direction and the other, but the huge chunk of wood didn’t budge. Even if I had two arms, I couldn’t do it alone.
“Gavyn!” I screamed. “Demitri!” They had disappeared into Mrs. Publey’s house, but my voice rang out shrill and clear.
Nevin’s body caught my attention. He hadn’t moved, he was still very much dead, but he served as a reminder. “Say it,” I whispered to Liam, leaning close to his face. His eyes watched me warily and I wondered how long he’d been lying here trapped. Had it been hours? Days? The past few just melted together into one long span of time. I wasn’t even sure how long it had been anymore. Was it two nights? Three?
It didn’t really matter. Liam was here!
Liam blinked at me and then a wavering smile ghosted on his lips. “Cupcake.”
I laughed and threw my arm around his neck, lifting his head up. I pressed my face into his shoulder, breathing in the scent of sweat, blood, and Liam. His entire body tensed. Tears leaked onto his shirt, but I scarcely noticed. “Liam,” I cried, holding him as tight as I could with the beam restricting his movement.
“Princess?”
I never thought I’d be so happy to hear him call me that. I pulled away so I could see his face. It was scrunched in pain. I laid his head down gently and fluttered my hand around him. “What is it?”
“You’re kind of hurting me.”
“Oh.” I shifted my weight from him as footsteps stomped up behind us.
“Get away from him and I’ll shoot,” Lena declared.
I didn’t move, but lifted my eyes to hers. She had the plasma-gun-thing trained on the two of us. “If you shoot him,” I said through my teeth, “I will rip your face off and shove it down your throat.”
Heavy silence.
Gavyn chuckled, a tense, thin sound. “So this is your Liam?”
My eyes never left Lena’s, letting her know that my threat was real. I would kill her for Liam; it wasn’t even a question.
“Lena, put the gun away,” Gavyn said, touching Lena’s arm. Lena blinked and tried to shove it in the waistband of her pants. Gavyn took it from her instead. Lena gave her a questioning look, but Gavyn shook her head once. Lena relented. It was kind of amazing.
“He’s trapped,” I said, jerking the beam futilely. Gavyn knelt beside me, carefully setting the plasma-gun-thing on the ground aimed away from us. She wrapped her arms around the beam and shot Lena a pointed look. She rolled her eyes and knelt too. The three of us shoved the beam off Liam’s legs. He gritted his teeth, but didn’t make a sound.
“Can you walk?” I asked, feeling panic bubble up in my throat.
Liam bent his legs. It was painful to watch. With me on one side and Gavyn on the other, we helped him to his feet. He was unsteady, but stood on his own. “I’m great,” he ground out. “Damn legs are asleep.” Carefully, he extracted himself from Gavyn’s grasp and stepped away from her.
Hurt flashed across Gavyn’s face. I pretended not to notice. “Come on. You’ll feel better after a shower and some food.” I infused my voice with far too much cheer. It stung my ears.
Leaning on me, Liam limped across the street. Lena and Gavyn walked ahead of us. My mind jabbered a mile a minute, wanting to tell Liam everything that happened and ask a million questions. The silence was unnerving compared to my inner monologue.
Are you okay? What happened? I missed you! Did you miss me? Demitri thinks that I love you. Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re here. Please don’t scare me like that again...
Gavyn held open Mrs. Publey’s door for us. Her bruised gaze took in Liam, grazing from his dirty hair down to his badass boots. I knew what she was seeing. Liam. Her Liam.
No! my mind shouted, he’s my Liam.
“What are you doing?” Lena screamed. There were shuffling footsteps, and then a pop and shrill tinkling of glass. It didn’t sound like someone shifting, more like an implosion.
Liam, who seemed to be working on adrenaline alone, pushed me behind him with one hand and wielded his switchblade with the other. Gavyn shoved around us and as a group huddle, we entered the kitchen.
Demitri sat at the table holding a gleaming and empty syringe. There were only five vials left. Two red, two yellows, and one blue. The remnants of the other vial were scattered on the floor. There was a single line of blood that trailed from the small cut on Demitri’s forehead. His pupils were dilated and unfocused.
“What did you do?” Lena moaned. She plucked the syringe from Demitri’s hand and capped it with sure fingers. She set it on the counter and glared at Demitri.
I stepped around Liam, eyes wide. I followed him as he limped to the table and picked up the vials. “Where did you get these?”
It was Gavyn who answered, “From the warehouse. Lena’s dad works there.” All the blood drained from her face.
Liam read each of the labels, his expression growing darker and darker. His eyes went back to Demitri. “Which one did you use?”
“The blue one,” Lena said. There were tears in her eyes.
“Will it kill him?” Gavyn asked.
Liam shook his head. “Do you realize what you’ve done? Do you even know what these are?” His expression was downright scary. I put my hand on his arm and he glanced down at me.
“We were going to use them to find you. We just didn’t know which one to use,” I said quietly.
He smirked. “We won’t be finding anyone, now. They’ll find us.” Liam grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the front door while I dug my heels in and refused to budge. “We’ve got to get away from him.”
“What? Why?” I yanked my hand away. “Stop it, Liam. Tell me what’s going on.”
Liam spun. He looked at each one of us in turn but spoke only to me. I couldn’t help but notice how he cringed when he looked at Gavyn. “He took a tracker, Princess. The Pershings’ army will be here in no time.” He grabbed my wrist in a vice. “Which is why we’re leaving.”
“No.” I shook my head, my curls bouncing maniacally. “I can’t leave them.”
“Why not?” Liam exploded. He winced and clutched his side. “They’re going to get you killed.”
I swallowed and glanced at Gavyn. She bit her lip. “They’re my...friends.” The side of Liam’s shirt looked wet, like he was bleeding, and I remembered the knife wound Nevin had inflicted. “Besides, you’re not in any shape to shift.” I touched his side gently and he took a sharp breath.
“I’m fine.”
Demitri stood then, his hand pressed to his forehead. “I’ll leave.”
“No!” Gavyn and Lena said in unison.
“I’m the idiot who used the wrong vial,” he argued.
Lena scolded Demitri and Gavyn jumped in. Their voices seemed abnormally loud and a headache started pounding at the base of my skull. To my consternation, Liam joined the fray, yelling just as much as the others.
“Stop,” I said. Of course, they ignored me. “Stop!” I stepped between the four of them and held up my arm. “Stop it now.” My head felt like it was splitting in two. They quieted, though continued to stare each other down. “How long do we have before the army comes?”
Liam shrugged. “Depends on how far away they are. They’ll be led straight here.”
I sighed and rubbed my temple. “Do we have an hour?”
Liam pressed his lips into a straight line. “We probably have a few, but we need to spend them shifting away from him.” He pointed an accusatory finger at Demitri, who stared guiltily at the floor.
“Look—” I rubbed my temple harder. Damn, my head hurt. “We can compromise. Demitri’s probably got a concussion, Gavyn was nearly choked to death, and Lena...” I trailed off. I wanted to say is a bitch but I bit my tongue instead. Now was not the time to be arguing, though that seemed to be all we were doing. “We need sleep before we do anything,” I decided. Looking at them, I knew I was right. They felt as awful as or worse than I did. I’d at least gotten a nap.
“We are not staying here.”
“Liam.” I glared at him and he smiled. Despite the situation I found myself smiling a little too. It was so good to see him. “If you would let me finish...” He held up his hands in surrender. “We can go down the street to a different house. We’ll get cleaned up and rest. Then we’ll start shifting. If the army comes before then, well, I guess we hope Mrs. Publey has more plasma guns.”
“She does,” Gavyn said. “A whole bunch of guns. I think she’s a freak or something.” She frowned.
“Great.” If I had two hands, I would’ve clapped. “It’s settled then.” I glanced at the clock. It was just after two a.m. “We’ll meet here at eleven. That should give everyone enough time to clean up and sleep a little. Then we’ll shift out of here. Together,” I emphasized.
“Princess, I don’t—”
“Liam!” I interrupted. His eyes widened. “We’ll see you in a few hours.” Holding my head high and leaving no room for discussion, I marched out the front door. Behind me, Lena snickered.
I didn’t turn to see if Liam was following me. At this point, it didn’t really matter. Either he would go along with me or he would drag me kicking and screaming to another dimension. Regardless, we needed to talk. There were things I knew now that he hadn’t told me—important things, like how there was a bounty on my head. Seemed he should have mentioned that sooner.
I strolled down the street and stopped at a large tan house. It was as good as any, I decided. Liam had followed me, I realized as I turned the door handle. “No locks,” I said, entering the house. Liam stepped inside behind me and shut the door. Flipping all the locks, he finally turned to me. He carried the plasma-gun-thing. One of the others must’ve given it to him. The ugly gun made me feel safer. What was the world coming to?
“When did you get so bossy?” Liam cornered me. The house was open and airy, the second story balcony looking down on the entranceway.
“When did you get so stupid?”
He grinned and pulled me into his arms. “I missed you.” I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his dirty shirt. I didn’t even care that he smelled terrible. It was Liam. Beneath my cheek his heart beat steadily. He held on to me for a long time. When he pulled away his face was serious. His fingers grazed the healing cut on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” With unsteady fingers, I lifted the bottom of his shirt to see where Nevin had stabbed him. Liam caught my wrist.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“You’re hurt.” I pulled free of his grasp and tugged his shirt up, bracing myself for the worst. The wound wasn’t at all what I’d expected. It was shallow and long. The knife had cut into Liam’s skin, traveled underneath it at a downward angle and then poked out again by his hip bone. The edges were red and angry, but it was superficial, which meant it missed any of his organs. It probably hurt like hell.
“Ouch,” I said, trailing my fingers over his smooth skin next to the cut. I took his hand and pulled him deeper into the dim house. A table lamp in the living room provided the only light. I didn’t dare turn on another. I opened doors until I found a bathroom. The light flickered on automatically and I flinched. Fortunately the room was windowless. I pushed on Liam’s chest until he sat on the counter. Turning, I shut the bathroom door and pushed in the lock, just in case.
He raised an eyebrow. “Are we going to play doctor?”
I snorted. “Stop. Just stop.” Stifling my giggles I said, “Take off your shirt.”
“Whatever you say, Princess.” Teeth set, he removed his shirt.
I ran my hand over his stomach, smudging the grime there. I tried not to stare at his muscles, but how could I not? He was shirtless—and totally filthy or not, he was smoking.
“God, you’re dirty.”
“I’ll be as dirty as you want me to be.”
“Liam!”
He chuckled. “You’re the one who’s ordering me to take my clothes off.”
“Can you just focus?” I was having trouble focusing, in fact.
“Oh, I’m focused, all right.”
I sighed.
“You know you missed me.” He pushed my curls over my shoulder. He was right, of course. I’d missed him like crazy, not that I was going to admit that to him this second. Ignoring his gigantic ego, I dug around in the medicine cabinet. Jackpot, I thought, pulling out a small first aid kit. I opened it and set it on the counter.
“You should probably shower before I do this,” I decided.
“I thought you’d never ask.” He stood and started unbuttoning his jeans. They dropped to the floor.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked. My face burned. Oh. God. And I was staring.
“Showering,” Liam said, opening the glass door. “What’s it look like?”
“Right.” I bit back mortification. He’d already seen me in nothing but my bra and underwear, but seeing Liam naked, or close to it, made my palms sweat with anticipation.
He shut the door behind him and then threw his boxers over the top. They landed at my feet. The shower door was frosted for privacy, but it really didn’t work too well. I could see Liam, all the way from the top of his head to his toes. The water started. I swallowed hard. “I’m, uh, just gonna wait, uh...outside.”
He poked his head out the door; his bare chest dripped onto the rug. His expression was amused. “Don’t bother. I’ll just be a second and then you can play doctor.” He wiggled his eyebrows and closed the glass.
At a loss, I sat on the toilet and fidgeted. I rolled and unrolled the toilet paper. I sniffed the perfume on the counter. I inspected my cuticles. I did everything I could to not look at the completely indecent shower door.
Liam, oblivious to my discomfort, sang at the top of his lungs.