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Rex is killing him. And he doesn’t realize it.

This man—my friends’ brother, my patient, the person disrupting my dreams—isn’t fully here.

I scramble toward them, my legs finally working. The first motorcyclist swings back for his partner. He aims a gun at the duo on the ground.

“Rex! Watch out!” I scream.

The man cocks the trigger, fires off a round, then speeds away.

The two men are motionless when I reach their side.

My heart batters against my rib cage, my blood freezing in my veins.No. Please. Please.My ears ring as images flash into my mind—Mia, all those years ago, still and silent on her bed.

I can’t loseanyone anymore.

A sob rips out of my throat, my hands trembling as I grab the shoulders of the infuriating man who has burrowed inside my heart without me noticing.

“Rex? Rex! Oh my God, please.” I search his body for a bullet hole.

Where’s the damn wound? Why isn’t he moving?

Seconds or an eternity later, I hear him groan.

His eyes flicker open. Those beautiful slate-gray eyes.

Crushing, startling relief.

I collapse on top of him, tears pouring down my face. “You’re okay. Oh my God, you’re okay.”

I barely notice the crowds. The sirens. The camera flashes. The voices—Rhys or Bree or someone else—asking if I’m all right.

I can only focus on the warmth of the man beneath me. The rapid movements of his chest. The hammering of his heart against my ear. The reassuring scent of amber and bergamot tinged with salt.

“Olive. What did I tell you in the cave? Don’t youdarethrow yourself in harm’s way again.”

His beautiful deep voice, as fine as the whiskey he likes to drink.

I’m not even mad he’s calling me by Mia’s nickname.

But then his words register in my mind. He’s pissed at me when he almost got killed?

My vision still blurry, I fist his shirt and get in his face. “W-Why would you do that? Risk your life? Why would you do something sostupid? Do you know how scared I was?”

Those crystalline eyes snare mine. The bloodlust is gone, and in its place is an aching vulnerability.

With trembling fingers, I wipe off the blood splatter marring his handsome face. His lips part, the softest hiss escaping.

He heaves out a ragged exhale and swallows.

“He hurt you. I’ll kill anyone who hurts you.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Was it The Association?”I ask Elias on the phone as I stride toward the sky deck three days later, needing some fresh air after I called him to see if he had updates about what happened in Pyrgos.

Two motorcyclists dressed head-to-toe in black, stopping only when they reached us.

I remember asking who sent them. Because deep down, I knew something was off.