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He stops with his back pressed into the dirt, staring at my face like he doesn’t trust what he’s seeing. “Ash?”
“Yes. I’m here.”
“Ash...”
“Come here, stormbird.”
He crawls the last bit between us, and I catch him against my chest, wrapping both arms around him before he can fall apart.
At first, he doesn’t cry. He just drags air into his lungs in huge, broken pulls, his face buried in my neck, both fists twisted into my jacket. Then the first sob catches in his chest, and the rest comes with it, his whole body shaking as tears cut through the dirt on his face. I sink into the wet ground with him in my lap, holding the back of his head as he shakes through it.
“I couldn’t... There were three of them, Ash. Three. I called you. I kept calling you.”
“I know. I heard you.”
“They laughed.”
“I know, stormbird. I know.”
“I thought it was you.” His fingers tighten in my jacket. “I thought it was you, and then I thought you weren’t coming. I couldn’t get out. There’s no way out, Ash. I looked, and I looked...”
“You’re all right,” I say, pulling him tighter against me. “I’ve got you. You’re here with me now. Nobody’s touching you again.”
The words slowly run out of him, leaving only the uneven pull of his breathing against my throat. I wait until the shaking eases, then wipe the mud from his face with my sleeve, taking care around the cut across his cheekbone. He lets me, chin tipped toward me, eyes closed as his breathing gradually steadies.
His eyes open. “Where are they? The men who were chasing me?”
“Down. All three of them. None of them are coming after you again.”
He searches my face. “All of them?”
“All of them.” His shoulders finally loosen, some of the fear leaving his face as he looks at me, and I’d put a ring on his finger a second time for that relief alone.
“It was Vasco.” I brush the last dirt from his jaw with my thumb. “But I promise you, he won’t be anywhere near you ever again.”
The relief that crosses his face nearly undoes me. I cup his jaw and kiss him, and his hand slides into my hair, pulling me closer. He’s cold, muddy, and still shaking, but he kisses me back with everything he has, opening beneath me until nothing careful remains.
“You came.” His fingers tighten in my jacket.
“Always.” I keep my forehead against his. “You call for me, I come. Every fucking time.”
His mouth brushes mine when he whispers, “You said I wouldn’t know when.”
“And you didn’t.” I kiss him once more, then get him to his feet and put my jacket around him. Keeping an arm across his shoulders, I start walking him down the slope until he turns into my neck.
“I’m still yours tonight.”
I look down at him. Mud on his face, cut cheek, my jacket swallowing him, eyes lifting to mine through the dark. “Say that again.”
“I’ve been running for you all night.” His hand closes in my shirt. “Don’t you dare put me in a bath and be kind to me.”
Heat drops through me so fast I stop walking, my hand already going to his jaw as I turn his face up. “We’re going home first. You’re getting warm, you’re eating something, and then I’m going to have you on the floor of our own house, my hands around your throat. You’re going to thank me, and you’re going to be so good for me, puppy.”
He shudders against me from head to foot, and I smile into his hair, pulling him closer as we keep walking.
28
JADE
