He was on his knees in a deserted car park, his arms wrapped around a woman that had defied every probability of success. The heat created by her body as she pressed against him was in contrast to the intermittent breeze that cooled the sweat on his forehead. There was a restlessness that quivered through his muscles, tainted the blood that thrummed within his veins. Rational thought had vanished, there was nothing in its place. His mind was vacant, unable to process the transition from unadulterated joy, to the black despair that it eclipsed even the pleasure of holding Kira safe, whole and unbroken in his arms.
It jarred him, shook the underpinnings to his soul. One half of him was secure, sheltered, uninjured. Safe. The other, he could not guess. Parker had Nick. Again. The unknown created its own terrible apprehension inside that gnawed and bit and terrorised.
The crease between Kira’s brows was pronounced. A single droplet of blood had stained the skin there. He licked the pad of his thumb and smoothed it over the furrow. When he had finished, both the discolouration and the frown were gone. ‘We’ll save him,’ he murmured, the rocks in his stomach settling. ‘Just like before, together we’ll bring him back from whatever they do to him.’
It echoed words Nick had said to him as Kira had been lost to them in a plume of exhaust. The reminder had him questioning everything. Their hopes, their dreams, their plans of a future together. Would he be forever fighting against hopelessness? Would he always dream of safety, only to constantly battle the effects of violence and torture? Would the walls they built to protect their souls eventually push everything out, including love? Their love?
He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t endure another moment of this undefined torment where he prayed to gods he didn’t believe in for a future that seemed impossible to obtain.
He was sick of it. Sick down to the cement pit of despair that had hardened in his stomach. He would not continue down this path, where the prize for success was the broken pieces of his heart. They would move forward with the original plan and it would soon be over. He would make it so.
Resolved, he tightened his hold around Kira. She was a slight weight that clung to his larger body. One hand was in the tangled hair at her nape, her skin damp from the physical exertions of being lost and then found. He massaged the tight muscle in defined circles. Round and round, back and forth. It was a rhythm that calmed him, that centred his mind and directed the churn of his thoughts for their next steps.
Around them, evening was taking hold. The moon was a crescent shape of white light in a cloudy sky. It would leave no illumination for those on the ground. Night time in the wasteland of the warehouses would be pitch black and all-encompassing. It would be perfect for their plans.
‘Euan?’ Her voice was soft, a whisper over the thunder in his chest, a splinter of starlight to intimidate the darkness that threatened to smother his heart.
He tilted his head to look at her, study the features that were branded onto his retina. But he could hardly recognise her soft beauty through the bruises, the swelling, the blood that had dried to stain her skin the colour of rust. Her lip was split, what had leaked from it had dried in rivulets down her throat to be soaked into the neckline of her jacket.
Parker’s parasites had done this. They had touched her with the single intent to hurt her. For that alone, they would meet their apathetic gods and beg them for mercy, for Euan would show them none.
His mouth was full of words he could not voice. His infinite love for her. The rage at her injuries. The despair at the loss of Nicky. The fear of what the man would suffer under Parker’s terror. They choked him, stabbed his throat and tore at his tongue. He couldn’t talk, suddenly, he couldn’t fucking breathe.
Bloodstained hands were on his bearded cheeks. Kira’s forehead was pressed against his, her soothing murmurs touched warm air to his dry lips.
His hands glided up her forearms and held tight. She was his anchor in the storm. Her lips were wet when she pressed them to his. He tilted his head to accept the kiss. When her tongue teased his lips, the surge of his own emotion nearly overwhelmed him. He groaned, clutched her, took the offering of her mouth so he could draw more of her essence into his body.
In his arms, pressed against his chest, she shuddered as her emotion took hold. When a single sob broke from between their lips, his alpha instincts clicked back into place. Kira needed him, she needed his dominance, strength, and direction. She hurt as much as he did. She also feared for the man that they loved. What was worse, she was no longer naïve in knowing the types of horrors that he faced.
His hands slid from her forearms until they could wrap around her body once again. His muscles stretched the fabric of his sleeves as she buried deep. He brushed his lips over the crown of her head, rested his chin there. In this position, he was able to squeeze her hip bones, the fabric crunching under his palm.
He would hold her for eternity if he could. But Nick needed him. Them.
He reluctantly loosened his hold, turned, and waved Knight over. Unseen, their guardian had been a lone sentry that had watched over and protected them as they fought emotions as big as themselves.
Knight approached and Kira gasped. Euan allowed her to pull herself from his embrace and stumble to her feet. ‘Matthew,’ she cried.
Legs still weak, she was only able to take two steps before Knight caught her. Strong arms wrapped her close, pulled her against his larger body. Like Euan, he was forced to bend around her so he could whisper words of comfort and celebration in her ear.
Their embrace was short. But it gave Euan enough time to find his own feet, draw his lagging strength to the fore, and to trap the torrent of dread that twisted with the strength of a tornado inside him.
‘Is this all who is left?’ Kira asked as she gripped Knight’s bicep for support.
Euan shook his head. ‘They hit the hotel along with the house. But there are some that survived. They’re waiting for our signal further up the valley, in case we need them.’
‘And Lily?’ Kira’s eyes were wide, her voice high, her blinking rapid.
Euan knew the surgeon would be Kira’s priority after Nick. He deferred to Knight with a nod.
‘Lily is safe,’ the tall man told her.
Her relief was physical. Kira slumped and Euan took her from Knight’s embrace to encase her in his own. Her chest expanded against his when she asked, ‘How did they know about us?’
Knight’s dark gaze briefly met Euan’s. He had never asked that question because he had always known the answer.
‘Betrayal,’ Knight stated simply as he broke their connection. ‘We were worth much to the right people.’
‘The right people being Parker and his men?’
Knight nodded, his eyes downcast.
Euan interrupted. ‘I’m going to kill them all.’
They both turned to him. Blue crystal and black onyx. Kira jerked in his hold. When he gazed down at her, she blinked as her lips pursed, hardened. ‘No.’
He narrowed his eye. ‘Once Nick is free, I will kill them, Kira. I will destroy everything that motherfucker has built. When I catch him, I will carve him up and burn his bones. I will annihilate every man that dared to follow him. Leave their bodies out in the sun to rot and feed the dogs.’
Kira shook her head. She pulled away and out of his arms. Her stance was rigid, her skin pale under the grime. ‘No,’ she said again.
‘Yes.’
Beside him, Knight shifted, the gravel under his boots crunched. The wind picked up. Kira wet her lips, bit the inside of her cheek. The dark fabric crackled as it stretched and separated the dried blood as she inhaled. She did not break eye contact. Neither did Euan.
It was Kira who broke the silence. ‘I won’t let you. I won’t let you do that to them, do that to yourself.’
His voice was cold when he said, ‘I’m not asking your permission.’
Her nostrils flared and her cheeks flushed. The glare she sent him sliced through his resolve. He had been determined, but under her scrutiny, her judgement, he questioned himself, his motives and his decision. He held out his hand in placation.
She bared her teeth at his offering. ‘You don’t get to decide the fate of the human race.’
Her fury triggered him. What did she know of sacrifice? Of suffering? She judged him when all he did, every move he made, every tactic and plan he put in place was to keep those he loved safe. And she threw it back into his face.
The sneer was instinctive. ‘You’re right, I don’t.’
When she blinked in surprise, he continued. ‘But hear me, Kira. I will not have these motherfuckers take from me what is mine. I will no longer fear them. Worry for your safety, for your lives. I want sanctuary, I want hope. I want you to be happy, in a house where you can plant your flowers and where Nick can work on cars and solar panels and whatever he wants.’ He paused, took a step forward until he towered over her and she was forced to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact. ‘I want to put a baby in your belly. I want to see you grow with my child, Nick’s child. And I don’t want to be afraid that it will be taken from me. I want our children to run and play and grow. I cannot have that, any of that, if men like Parker and his hoard are on this earth. Because they will want it, they will steal it, and we will never be free.’
Kira’s chest rose and fell in time with his. Her eyes shone, her chin trembled. ‘You want a baby?’
When the soft smile touched his lips, he lifted the hands that had been clenched at his side and cupped her cheeks. He thumbed the bruises, the swelling. Over her head, he caught Knight’s gaze. The man nodded. Euan returned the gestured before he once again focused on Kira. ‘Yeah, sweetheart, I want a baby. But I want Nick safe and you happy more. Feel me?’
She reached up and wrapped her hands around his wrists. ‘I do. But you can’t kill them all. It’s not the answer.’
His hands tightened. ‘Then give me one.’
She held his gaze. Crystal blue turned cobalt. Her trembling jaw turned to granite.
Euan braced.
‘Help me and Lily lead them.’
He closed his eye. His fingers twitched as he held her face. The draw of air into his lungs was slow. ‘It’s suicide.’
‘I’m not asking your permission.’
His eye snapped open. She was an inferno encased in ice. In her face, there was a determination that would obscure the fissures in even his jaded heart. She could do it, he knew she could. It wasn’t a question of if, it was a question of how.
He bent, put his nose to hers and asked, ‘Why? They don’t deserve you. They don’t deserve anything.’
Her breath teased his lips. Her eyes flashed with blue flame. ‘They were once brothers, fathers, sons. They have humanity left inside them. I know that they can be brought back from this hell they have created. They just need the right person to drive them in the right direction.’
Euan’s voice was laced with disbelief. ‘You’ve seen what loyalty looks like, Kira. I’ve just walked through a blackened forest to get to you. The eco-hotel is destroyed. They blew Mickey-O up. He was once their leader. How do you think you’ll fare?’
She swallowed. She didn’t implore or beg. In her jaw there was perseverance, her spine straightened with conviction. ‘I don’t know,’ she told him honestly. ‘But I do know that I’ll have you and Nick beside us, protecting us, guiding us. Knight will be there too. Showing us how to be the best women we can be. You always have. I know you always will.’
At their side, Knight moved into their bubble. ‘It could work, McKay.’ His tone was hopeful, even as his hand was on his gun and his eyes were to their surroundings.
Euan ignored the plea. He squeezed her cheeks, cupped one hand around her skull and brought her body closer to his. ‘I won’t risk it, Kira. I won’t risk you.’
Her fingernails were embedded into the skin of his wrists. ‘You just said we were never going to be free of them. We have to do something if we’re ever to be safe. There is nowhere left to run.’
Euan huffed. His hands pulled free of hers. The muscles in his face were tight. He pushed his sleeves up and set his jaw. ‘Let me kill them.’
She mirrored everything he had done. ‘Let me lead them.’
Gazes locked. They tugged and warred. He had once thought that the intrinsic nature of a woman was at the core of what had driven the demons from Nick’s soul. Compassion, empathy, persuasion. A genuine preference for compromise over argument. In Kira, there was determination, kindness, an inherent considerate nature. In Lily, there was a strategic mind and a methodical nature. Nick, Knight and himself behind them, they could form a council worthy of humanity’s future.
But he wouldn’t risk it. Never would he risk her for the sake of them. He was through. He would do as he had planned.
Kill every last one of them in a blaze of fire and ash. Pain and blood.
Surrounded by the remnants of a lost civilisation, Euan turned to Knight. ‘Radio Lily, let her know we have Kira, but they now have Nick. We’ll meet up, drop her off, and then move forward as planned.’
‘I’ll never forgive you for this.’
His back was to her. He scrunched his fists tight at her words, allowed his heart to fracture at the venom, at the truth. He readjusted his eyepatch to his ruined face. The scars pinched from memory alone. ‘For your life, Kira, I’ll take your anger. I’ll even take your hatred. But I won’t risk you. Not ever.’
‘You promised.’ Her voice broke.
His head shook as he met Knight’s dark eyes. His grisly features were impassive. What the man thought of Euan’s position, he couldn’t read. At that point, he didn’t want to. ‘Radio Lily, now.’