Page 68 of His Saving Grace

Chapter 15

Masonblinked,tryingto get the inside of the truck to come into focus. The world was upside down. Gray spots swirled in his vision. They melded, growing larger, leaving everything coated in a fuzzy fog. He sucked in a breath, trying to pull some oxygen into his tight lungs. He breathed out, choppy and stuttered. Everything hurt.

Sweat trickled into his eyes and he wanted to reach up and wipe it away. He wanted to sit up and take stock of the situation. He wanted to take charge, be the commander his men deserved. Make sure everyone made it out alive.

He wanted this to all be a dream. The kind that, when you woke up, you were thankful it had all been in your head.

But more than that, he didn’t want to die with so many regrets.

None of those things were likely to happen.

“Major Callahan, are you all right, sir?”

The words came at him from far away. Maybe. Maybe not. It was hard to tell. Numbing cold flowed through him and his teeth chattered, even though the Afghani sand could scald exposed skin.

He tried to turn over, move toward the voice, but searing agony stopped him. Dragging in another deep breath, he inhaled a lung full of smoke. He hacked, the jarring motion sending pain shooting through every inch of his broken, battered body. A groan slid from his chest. At this point, he was on the verge of praying for a body bag.

Someone scrambled over him and crawled out a blown-out window. He sent a prayer of thanks that at least one of his men survived. And then, because he had nothing to lose, he threw another prayer heavenward, asking that more than one soldier made it out alive. They were good men and deserved to make it home to their families.

Family.

The word chased itself around his head.

He closed his eyes. Family. All these years, and things were still broken. Because he was a stubborn ass who couldn’t move past his own fucking anger.

So many words said, so many choices made. So many stupid mistakes and regrets. So many things he wanted to apologize for, to take back, to change.

And now it looked like he’d never get the chance.

A scraping and shuddering of the twisted metal around him brought him back from the darkness. Something clamped onto his shoulder and he opened his eyes. Lieutenant Cole Howard loomed over him, half in, half out of the window.

“Major, can you hear me?”

Mason nodded, although he wasn’t sure his head moved. He hurt so badly he didn’t think he’d be able to move ever again.

Flames flickered in his peripheral vision. The interior of the truck was burning. He reached up and pushed on Howard’s arm, trying to force him out. There was no power behind the shove, just weakness.

He was dying.

“Go.” The rough command scraped along his throat like broken glass. “Get out of here.”

“Not without you, sir.” Howard broke into a round of coughing and disappeared out the shattered window. A few agonizing seconds later, a hand reached in and grabbed him, dragging him through the broken window and away from the wreckage.

His battered body skimmed across the hot, grainy sand, and he screamed.

She was floating in liquid honey, swimming upwards toward the light, her body languid and heavy. Protected. At peace.

But something was wrong. Panic pressed against her, seeped into her pores, seized her muscles. She needed to hurry, to get back, to stay safe. She strained, reaching for the bright surface. Almost there. Just one more push…

Her eyes popped open and she gasped, sucking in what felt like her first breath.

Adrenaline pumped through her system, setting her up for flight or fight. Her heart pounded against her rib cage, almost splintering the bone. She bolted upright, her gaze sweeping back and forth through the room.

It was dark, only a shaft of moonlight shimmering through the small crack between the curtains of the bedroom window. The shadowy corners writhed with mysterious menace. Her blood rushed fast and hard, a deafening roar in the uneasy silence. She strained to see something, anything, that might be lurking in the darkness.

It took a moment for her brain to catch up and the panic to subside. Her breathing came back under control, and she realized what had woken her.

Mason was in bed with her, and he was thrashing around. He mumbled something and then shook his head violently.