Authors: Colleen Gleason
She wheeled around to see Toryn on the ground, blood everywhere.
“Oh my God, no!”
And for the second time tonight, she thought he was dying.
Keely!
Toryn bolted upright but there was only darkness.
Where was she? Was she okay?
Muffled voices, talking gibberish. A weight pressing in on him, forcing him back. Every muscle in his body ached, every damn inch.
Shadows danced on the backs of his eyelids now. Green and blue. It didn’t make sense, though. Shadows were supposed to be shades of black and grey.
Keely! Keely!
He couldn’t tell if he was screaming out loud or in his head.
He remembered the searing pain in his shoulder, then…
running…
running…
and emptiness.
A festering ball of emptiness in his gut.
He’d been left somewhere cold. Somewhere hurting and alone.
Time passed.
An hour, maybe. A day. A lifetime.
And then he heard a groan. It took him a moment to realize he’d made the sound.
“Hey, man.” It was Konal’s voice. “You doing okay?”
He cracked open his eyes and saw that he was in his room back at the Iron Haven.
“What happened?” he rasped, his throat dry and parched. “How long have I been out?”
“All night and most of the day. You got shot and a Mind-Talent messed with your head, but you’re home now.”
Home
.
He glanced around the room, expecting to see Keely hovering nearby, but she wasn’t here. Nor was there any evidence of her being here either. No chair by the bedside. No book. No knitting project.
“Where’s Keely?”
Konal shrugged. “I don’t know. Haven’t seen her. She didn’t come back to the Iron Haven with us.”
Didn’t come back
.
The words rattled in his gut like shards of glass.
“But to be honest with you,” Konal continued, “after we got you in the boat and knew you were going to be okay, I didn’t pay much attention. Olivia made sure you were healed enough but then had to stop because she was also helping the girls. Hanna was in really bad shape. And Janie—” He shook his head, unable to finish what he was going to say.
Didn’t come back
.
Those three words haunted him. They’d been the story of his life for as long as he could remember. His mother, then Lucinda, and now Keely? He’d thought she was different. Thought he could trust her, but what the hell did he know?
“So when we got to the marina, she left?” Toryn knew he shouldn’t be upset that she’d chosen to be with her sister instead of him. But it wounded his male pride that she left without a word or explanation.
“Yeah,” Konal answered.
When he made a move to sit up, a thousand hammers pounded on the inside of his skull. “Bloody hell!”
“No, mate.” His friend pushed him back down. “Olivia said you should be resting. In fact, I’m not even supposed to be in here right now. Given what that Mind-Talent did, she said you may feel confused and disorientated at first but that it shouldn’t last.”
“I’d feel a shit-ton better if this goddamn headache would stop.” A general sense of anger gnawed at Toryn, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Konal set a bottle of pills on the nightstand next to a glass of water. “Sean said those should help. There aren’t many, but he can get more if you need them.”
“Fine,” he growled. At least his friends cared about him.
After Konal left, Toryn rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Had Keely used him to get what she wanted—just like Lucinda had? Was that it? She didn’t need him anymore? Despite her claims, maybe she’d never had any intention of spending her life with a barbarian soldier. He was just a means to an end.
He pushed himself into a sitting position, grabbed the bottle of pills and washed two of them down with a big swig of water.
One thing was certain. He was done acting like a love-struck fool.
***
Keely stepped through the doors of the Iron Haven, feeling as if a thousand pounds had been lifted from her shoulders. Sean, who’d driven her, was right behind her.
“You’re back!” Olivia pushed herself up from where she sat on a sofa in the game room doing a puzzle. She looked tired. Healing people was hard work.
“Oh, don’t get up,” Keely said. “I just wanted to pop my head in before I head upstairs.”
“How did everything go?” Olivia asked, a wary expression on her face.
“Better than I expected, actually. Hard, really hard, but in the end, it was worth it.” She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I’ll tell you all about it later. So, how are the patients?”
“Becca is sleeping now,” Olivia explained, “but she’s doing much better. As are the other girls. Although, I’m afraid, they’ve got a long way ahead of them.”
“Thanks for everything you did to help them. I know it must’ve taken a lot out of you.”
Olivia yawned. “No problem. I’m glad I could help. By the way, Zara said to tell you goodbye. She and Vince headed back to Cascadia this morning. They came over to help with the Iron Havens, but they needed to get back to their son. She really wants you to go over there. I do, too. I think you’d like it.”
Warmth blossomed in her chest. It was nice to have female friends who cared about her. “I…I hope I can.” She cleared her throat. “So…how’s Toryn?”
Olivia gave her a sly smile. “He’s a little grumpy.”
Keely laughed. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
When she got to Toryn’s room, she opened the door quietly so as not to disturb him in case he was sleeping.
How strange. The room was empty. She’d figured he would still be in bed, recuperating.
It terrified her how close she’d come to losing him. He’d risked his life to save her sister and those other girls, people he’d never met, all because it was the right thing to do. She let out a slow exhale as the gravity of what he did sank in again. Toryn Flynn literally was her hero.
The whole time she was gone, she’d ached to be by his side, nursing him back to health, but she couldn’t for reasons beyond her control. But now she was back and she was here to stay.
She stepped back out into the hallway and saw Sean coming up the stairs. “Do you know where Toryn is?”
“He’s not there?”
She shook her head. “I thought for sure he’d be sleeping.”
“I heard someone in the garage using a heavy bag. Maybe he’s out there talking to one of the guys.”
When she got to the garage, she was shocked to see that it wasn’t one of the other warriors using the heavy bag, but Toryn.
His injured arm, the right one, was still in a sling, so he was punching the bag with his left hand only. Although it looked like he’d gone through hell and back, he was still as strong and sexy as ever. She couldn’t wait to run her hands over his body and reassure herself that he was all right.
“Oh my God, Toryn. What are you doing?” Thanks to Olivia’s healing, there were no stitches, but it still couldn’t be good for him to be doing such strenuous exercise so soon after being injured.
He didn’t even look over. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
Jeez. Olivia was right. He was in a foul mood. Maybe that’s what happened when very tough, very strong men became aware that they weren’t invincible. They turned into little boys and got pissy. But it made her all the more determined to reinforce his male ego and show him just how strong and capable she thought he was. In the bedroom would be a great place to start.
“I’m so relieved you’re feeling better.” She stepped in front of the punching bag so he’d have to stop hitting it.
Without even looking at her, he tugged angrily at his sling and grabbed his bottle of water.
She could tell this wasn’t going to be easy. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. Did you talk to Asher?” She stepped forward, tried to wrap her arms around him, but he pushed her away.
His eyes were dark with anger. “Yeah, I did as a matter of fact. He told me you left as soon as we got back in order to give an interview to that woman. Birdie Lyons.”
“Yes, that’s true and—”
“I did some checking. She’s got the highest ratings among all the news vlogs and is known as the Mouth of the Internet. When you get on Birdie’s show, suddenly you’re important. But I’m sure you already knew that, didn’t you?”
She wasn’t liking where this was going. “What are you talking about, Toryn?”
“Fame? Recognition? Sound familiar?”
His words stung as if she’d been struck with a lash. “No,” she said. “No, it doesn’t.”
“Isn’t that what your goal was? To get your sister back and become a celebrity? Your father is one. Why not follow in his footsteps? It’s in your blood, right? So the first chance you got, you betrayed me.”
“Oh my God, Toryn. How could you think that about me? I would never do something to hurt you. And I would never, ever want to be like my father. I thought you knew me well enough by now to know that.”
“I’m not stupid, Keely. Facts are facts, and actions speak louder than words. I may have been slow to pick up on the fact that you’ve been playing me, but not any longer.”
Her hand flew to her mouth in horror. Who was this man standing before her? She’d opened up her heart to him, felt more connected to him than any other person on this planet. And now this?
Stunned, she watched as he turned his back on her.
And that was it. He was done talking and had just dismissed her.
She fought back the angry tears stinging her eyes. He didn’t even give her the chance to tell him what she’d been talking to Birdie about. He’d straight-up assumed the worst.
Wiping a tear roughly away, she spun on her heel and left. There was no way in hell she was going to let him see just how upset he’d made her.
Toryn was a complete stranger to her, not the man she thought she loved.
Toryn was sitting in a booth at the back of a tavern, nursing his second beer. Keely had been gone for over a week now, and he’d been utterly miserable. He’d been unable to sleep or eat, and the only thing he wanted to do was get shit-faced every day. He didn’t want to think about the sad, stricken look on Keely’s face right before she left.
He looked up from his glass when Sean slid into the seat across from him. “Thought I’d find you here.”
Al’s Tavern was the closest pub to the Iron Haven, about thirty miles away. He should’ve picked a different place. In New Seattle. In the Circus District. Near Sisters Books and Fortunes.
Screw that. She left him. She abandoned him.
“Can’t a guy get a little peace and quiet by himself?” he growled.
“Listen, I don’t give a shit about you.” Sean glared at him from across the table. “It’s Rickert. He needs to talk to you.”
“What the bloody hell is your problem?” Toryn asked. “Tell Rickert I’ll be back when I feel like it.” The big man didn’t budge. “Go. Leave.”
Sean sat back in his seat and folded his muscle-bound arms across his chest like the smug sonofabitch he was. “Look at you,” he said, shaking his head, a disgusted look on his face. “You’re a self-centered asshole with a perpetual chip on your shoulder. I honestly don’t see what she sees in you.”
Toryn jumped to his feet. Sean did the same. Damn, he was big. Normally, the guy backed down when Toryn confronted him, but not this time.
“Why?” Toryn seethed. “Are you jealous?”
Sean’s punch came lightning fast, catching him on the edge of the jaw. He sprawled backwards and careened into some empty chairs. A few customers gasped.
Sean stood over him, a beast of a man. Legs spread, hands on his hips, he grabbed Toryn by the collar, hauled him to his feet and out into the alley.
“I get that you don’t like me,” Sean said through clenched teeth once they got outside, away from prying eyes. “And frankly, I really don’t give a shit whether you do or not. But for some reason way beyond my comprehension, Keely loves you. She would never betray you. Ever.”
“But Birdie—”
“Fuck Birdie Lyons. That gold-digger and her camera crew were at the marina when we got back. They caught wind of what was going on and were waiting for us, ready to go live on the air.”
Toryn frowned and rubbed his sore jaw. “But that would’ve jeopardized all of us.”
“Exactly. And Keely knew that. So she made Birdie a deal. Said she’d give her an exclusive interview about her father and what she knew about his involvement with Reaux in exchange for turning off the cameras and not going live with the story until we were gone. And she wanted a chance to tell her mother in person without her hearing about it first on Birdie’s show.”
“And Birdie agreed?”
“Hell yeah. Turns out Keely’s father is with a rival blog network and Birdie has been frothing at the mouth for a chance to take him down.”
Toryn leaned back against the brick wall of the alley in shock.
How could he have been so stupid? So blinded by his own fears and wounded pride that he didn’t see what he had until it was gone? She wasn’t there when he woke up because she’d been protecting them. She’d sacrificed any future chance she might have had to reconcile with her family in order to save him and the rest of the Iron Guild warriors.
Sean was right. He was a fucking asshole. Keely Weber was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Toryn straightened his jacket. “I’ve got to go find her. Tell her I’m sorry and beg her to take me back.”
Then he looked at Sean as if seeing him for the first time. He was a kind and hardworking man who saw the good in people…even if they didn’t deserve it.
“Thank you,” Toryn said. “And I’m sorry.”
Sean frowned, clearly not believing him. “For what?”
“Thank you for making me see what a jerk I’ve been. To Keely…and to you.” When he got to the door, he turned around. “You’re a good man, Sean. And a good friend.”
The big man pressed his lips together into a not-quite smile. “Just remember that actions speak louder than any words can.”
***
Toryn arrived at Sisters Books and Fortunes to see Verla packing up boxes.
“Where’s Keely?” he asked, looking around the empty shop. “Is she upstairs?”