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I turn, show the man I’m unarmed, and then I get down on my knees with my hands locked behind my head. He takes his gun off her and I leap at him, tackling him to the ground, hoping like hell she gets the fucking memo and runs like hell out of here.
His gun falls out of his hand as he grabs me around the neck. I struggle instead of throwing us back on the ground and taking him out that way. I know he still has a gun. Other weapons. I do, too. But right now, I can’t take the risk and grab for one.
I buy her time as I fight him. His hand closes around my throat. As I start losing vision, struggling for breath, I hold off fighting back for real until she has enough of a lead.
Fuck. I need to risk it. I reach up, digging thumbs into his eyes and he lets me go enough for me to break free. I whip around when a gun goes off.
Then I hit the ground for real.
THIRTY
dakota
I jam my hand in my mouth to keep the scream from tearing through the air when the bullet punches Orion. A sob rises in my throat as sharp clawed things drag through my flesh, horror and terror erupting from deep inside. I stagger into a tree, clutching it as my knees quiver and my mind spins.
I’m frozen. If I move, I might be the catalyst of his death and?—
Tears swim hot, bright in my eyes as my throat clenches and my stomach roils and knots.
“Orion.” The word rips from my lips.
If I lose him… I can’t. I can’t.
It’s a second, a moment. One that takes forever, stretching out into oblivion, but in that forever moment, he doesn’t move. He’s down and motionless.
Everything stops. Time. My heart. My breath.
Then it snaps and he’s up. Alive.
He’s up again, yes, and he’s bleeding.
But he’s strong, fierce, and his eyes flick to me, the message more than clear.
He took that bullet for me. Went down for me. To buy me time.
Everything inside of me swoops and drops like I’m riding the world’s worst roller coaster.
And I can’t help the fleeting, awful, selfish thought that it’s beyond hot how he’s fighting for me.
Do something, Dakota.
He told me to run if something happened and he’s right, I should. I’m no good with men who outweigh me, who trained for this kind of thing. And the man he’s fighting is well matched. The one thing I should do is run.
How can I go? How can I leave him?
But how the hell am I going to help without making it worse? I stand next to the tree, useless as the man whose eyes he gouged comes flailing at him, a war cry on his lips. The gun is still clenched in the man’s hand. And he’s aiming all over the place because he obviously can’t see after the damage Orion inflicted on his eyeballs.
Orion kicks him square in the chest and the man staggers back, then comes at Orion again.
Everything seems to happen all at once. Before, time just stopped. Now it’s speeding by crazy fast and I’m the one who’s slow.
Do something.
Run.
I’m not running. I need to help him.
I love him.
