Page 66 of Cries of Cassie

If I had been half the man I promised her I would be, I wouldn't have been too late to save her. Cassie would be blinking up at me in relief right now if I had been faster. Harsher in my demands of Connor.

Maybe we could have done this without the FBI. We would have been here sooner. Her neck would be thumping beneath my fingertips, and I would be breathing a sigh of extreme relief.

Thump.

I should have taught her how to use a gun. She could have defended herself.

Thump.

It all goes back to the fact that she couldn't trust me enough to tell me about her condition.

Thump.

The woman I love felt like she couldn't tell me she was in constant pain. It drove her from the compound to seek help elsewhere.

Thump.

I didn't earn her trust. My knees wobble, threatening to send me to the ground.

Thump.

And it cost Cassie her life.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Fuck. Fuck! Cassie? Baby, we're here. Don't try to move."

Thump.

"No, stop, baby girl! You'll hurt yourself," Koa hisses at the same time the hair swallowing my hand shifts.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Warm air tickles my wrist, and hair slides away, no longer curtaining the bright blue eyes I thought I'd never see again. Filled with relief and so much pain, I stop breathing as Cassie blinks up at me sluggishly.

"Sweet girl?" I croak only for my words to morph into a shout for help when her eyes roll into the back of her head, and she goes limp once again. "MEDIC!!!! WE NEED A FUCKING MEDIC!!!"

In a flurry of chaos, armed men with bags over their shoulders come barreling through the dirty basement. A man and a woman drop to help Ripley, and while I'm distracted by the fight he puts up, I'm fucking detained.

"Sir," some fucking asshole says, "we need space to release her."

His words only slightly breach my brain. It's incredibly hard to accept his statement when he just pulled me away from Cassie.

Arms pinning mine behind my back, I have to wonder if I put up a fight I don't remember. Time and space cease to exist, but when four nameless people surround my woman, everything warps.

"Calm down!"

Sight, hearing, even fucking smell, zero in on Cassidy. She needs me. I need her. These fuckers won't stand in my way. Nobody will get between us ever again.

I buck, snarl, and I think I even fucking bite the fucker dragging me further away. Nothing reaches my brain. I wasn't doing jack shit to help Cassidy survive her wounds, but allowing other people near her scares me more than logic makes sense.

Right up until one of the most horrific sounds pierces the protective, devastated part of me, I'm pretty sure I plan to kill everyone in the goddamn room. The only thing that snaps me out of my delusion, the only thing that could ever possess the ability, is one of my men.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!"

Parker breaks free of two men holding him back, stumbles but catches himself with the tips of his fingers on the ground and barrels full steam ahead to the medical team.

With determination, I somehow manage to shove the guy holding me back without breaking his nose. All I know is Parker needs me, and I can actually help this part of my soul. The four of them make me the man I am; nobody is more important. If one needs me, I'm fucking there.