“What happened?” he demanded. His fingers curled into my hips like hooks.
“My thumb got cut off.”
His face went white. His cheeks splotched red. He looked angry. No, that wasn’t enough for it. Enraged. Savage. Rabid. “Who did this to you?” He shook me once.
I sucked in swift breath, wincing.
“Sonofa—” He hunched down to look me straight in the eye. “Who did this?”
“I’ll be okay,” I said. Not to protect Percy, but to dull the bite of wild ferocity crackling around him. His control was frayed. Every muscle knotted tight. Virulent emotion flittered across the granite set of his face and churned in his eyes. Logic was gone; he was running on pure instinct and animal protectiveness. That, and hatred. I could see it eating him, chewing away the edges of his humanity.
“How did your thumb get cut off?” His tone was almost gentle.
“Percy.” I rested the flat of my good hand against his face. “I’m okay.”
“You’re not. He burned you. He cut you. He can’t get away with it.” The last words were guttural, ripped from that dark place inside that none of us talk about, that we pretend doesn’t exist. That place where all our worst fears live and thrive.
That’s when I realized that this wasn’t just about my thumb, or even the cigarette burns. Losing me, no—not being able to protect me—was Price’s worst nightmare. The thing in the closet and under the bed that kept him awake at night and chased him through hell. Especially when I went dangerous places he couldn’t follow, like my own head.
Price was spoiling for a fight because he needed something he
could
fight. This whole adventure with Percy had put him on the sidelines while I was battling on the front lines. He’d not been able to lift a finger to help, and it was killing him.
Except, all along he’d been my anchor. I knew I could count on him to be there for me, to heal me, to hold me, to accept me, and above all, to love me. He hadn’t tried to change me, to turn me into something I wasn’t. He’d let me be myself, even though it tore him to shreds.
My heart swelled and my chest hurt. God, I loved this man.
I wound my arm around his neck and pressed myself against him. “I will never let you lose me,” I said against his ear.
His hands clenched on me, then he pulled me back into his arms. Shudders ran through him.
“You don’t stop. You don’t back down.”
“Tell me what will help.” In that moment, if he’d asked me to crawl into a bunker with him and never come out, I would have. Anything to stop the worry bleeding his soul dry.
His chest jerked as he gave a silent bark of laughter. “How does full body armor sound? Maybe a tank, snipers, and a couple dozen body guards?”
“You name it. If you ask me, I’ll do it.”
He went still. “You mean that.” Cautious wonder filled his voice.
“I should warn you that I may argue. In fact, it’s likely. Possibly with name-calling and flying debris.”
He chuckled. “I can imagine.”
“Tell me what will help,” I repeated, relieved to hear the brittle tension leaving his voice. He was still drawn too tight. I wanted, no, I
needed
to take care of him, to pull him from the edge. The same edge I’d pushed him to, my fault or not.
“Just—”
Words seemed to fail him. He swallowed and pressed his lips to my hair, inhaling my scent. He stiffened again and pushed me away. He caught my wrist in his hand. Blood drenched the rag I’d taped around my thumb, and more trickled down over my hand. “I’m an ass,” he said. “We need to get you to Maya.”
“That seems to my theme song lately,” I said lamely. Then, not willing to let the conversation go, “Price—”
He cut me off. “Shut up.”
“But—”
He put his fingers over my mouth. “I didn’t fall in love with the Riley you might become if I twisted you into the right shape, I fell in love with
you
, the cocky, irreverent, bullheaded Riley who scares the living shit out of me and gets into trouble like nobody’s business. I’m not asking you to change. I don’t want you to. I’m a big boy. I’ll handle it.”
I smiled so wide I thought my face would crack and my heart would stop.
I barely heard the noise as something clattered loudly on the concrete floor.
Then everything changed.
Chapter 21
I was no longer standing in the middle of the room with Price. I was hanging upside down over a man’s shoulder while he carried me across a snowy parking lot. It was dark. My hands were bound at my sides and my feet were tied together. I was looking straight at some guy’s ass, and he was kidnapping me.
I twisted my head. I wasn’t the only one they were taking. Madison, her father and sister, and Percy had also been bound. I didn’t see anyone else. I wriggled and jacked my legs up, but my captor only clamped his arm tighter around my knees. I twisted my hips, levering myself so I started to roll of his shoulder. He swore and hoisted me up with his arm, then with his other hand, he grabbed my bloody hand and squeezed hard. White fire spun through my head, and I screeched.
“What’s the problem, Riggs?”
Dalton. Un-fucking-believable. He’d come back, only this time, he wasn’t trying to protect me.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” my captor said.
“Don’t damage the goods. The boss won’t like it.”
Fear chilled the swagger in my captor’s voice. “Yessir.”
“Get moving, then. Nice to see you again, Princess.” Dalton patted my ass and walked away. The bastard carrying me followed him.
My mind flipped rapidly through my options. That sound I’d heard just before I found myself being carried must have been some sort of spell to incapacitate us. Dalton had had time enough to get us out of the hangar, and no doubt had left everybody else tied up.
Help wasn’t coming.
Unless . . . Two people might help, if I could help them first. I was sure that ever-careful Dalton would have nulled Leo or knocked him out. I’d nulled Luke. Both of them had magic that could free themselves and everyone else, but first I had to get rid of the nulls. I’d start with Luke, since I knew exactly what kind of null I was up against.
I reached out with my senses, but I was too far away. I had a way to go farther, if I didn’t kill myself trying. I dropped down into trace mode and focused on my belly null. There wasn’t a lot of power left in it, but what there was, I used to reinforce the skull null. If I did this right, I could ride the wave of magic of the skull null out until I could reach those circling Luke’s neck. I could drain their power and pray he’d realize he had the use of his magic back. After that, I’d do the same for Leo, if he was nulled and not—
I gasped, my blood freezing. He could be dead. They could all be dead. My reaction was electric and instinctive. I bucked and twisted, unleashing my null. Pain swept over the group. The man carrying me crumpled to his knees. I fell into the snow and rolled onto my back. I flung my senses out along the wave of null magic, searching for the two necklaces around Luke’s neck. It took only a matter of seconds to home in on them. They had to be suppressing the pain of my scalp null. Good. When he started feeling pain, he’d know they’d stopped working.
I ripped the power of the nulls out, channeling the energy into the skull null. I was too weak from blood loss and using it previously to let it stay active for long. Once I passed out, it would eat me. Not even a stronger null could stop it.
Dalton’s crew had left behind another dozen nulls. I couldn’t tell which might suppress Leo’s power. One by one, I destroyed them. Each took a toll on me, wearing me down. I fed their power into the skull null, but it didn’t matter how strong I made it if I was too tired to turn it off properly, or if I lost consciousness. It would eat through all the new power and then start back on me.
I worked through the first six. Sweat dampened my body, and it turned to ice in the near-zero temperature. The seventh and eighth took considerably longer. I shivered, and my focus slipped. I caught myself, and the ninth and tenth went swiftly, as fear hardened my resolve. My focus fractured on the eleventh, and I felt minutes ticking away as I made my sluggish mind pull apart the spell and draw the energy into my own null. Finally, I was at the last one. I closed my eyes, unable to keep them open. I no longer shivered. I lay on the snow, unable to feel anything, even the molten pain of my missing thumb. I must have smashed it when I fell.
I don’t know how long the last null took. I only knew when it released. I made myself deactivate my skull null. It took me four tries. I rested after the first two. The third time I dozed. I woke with a start. I had no idea what pricked me back to consciousness. Maybe the agonized sounds of Dalton’s people. Maybe the whimpering cries of Madison and her sister, or the strained breathing of their father.
I was so tired. So
very
tired. I felt warm and so comfortable. But I had one last task, one last thing to do. What was it? The null. Yes. I fumbled at it with my mind. Thick mists crowded thoughts.
Sleep
, they told me.
Rest
.
I almost gave in. Then I remember that I promised Price he wouldn’t lose me. I couldn’t let him down. I made myself focus. One last push, and the thing was done. I opened my eyes, the black sky brilliant with stars. Diamond dust. Sparkle dust. If I’d had the strength, I’d have laughed at the irony.
Movement stirred around me as the debilitating pain I’d broadcast ended. Dalton shouted orders, called names. Confusion. That was funny, too.
“What did you do?” he leaned over me, his silver eyes flat. He didn’t wait for an answer. He grabbed my arm and dragged me upright, then hoisted me over his shoulder.
He started slogging forward, calling his people to follow. “Make sure you have Percy and the others. We want them all!”
We might have gone twenty steps when the night turned orange. Fire roared in a ring all around us. Flames reached high into the air. From upside down, they seemed to lick the stars. Dalton turned.
I heard shouts. I told myself to wriggle and buck, to get free of Dalton’s grip, but I had nothing left in the tanks. I might as well have been a wet blanket for all I could move at that point.
More shouts, and a few shots popped off. Snow melted, and the air turned humid. I waited for Dalton to do something, but he didn’t move. Then feet splashed toward us through the rotting snow, and once again, Price was there. He pulled me off Dalton’s frozen shoulder and stood me on my feet. I sagged. He held me, slashing at my bindings with a knife. He cut my wrists apart and then my legs.
“Talk to me, baby. Tell me what’s wrong. Did they hurt you?”
“Tired,” I whispered, barely able to make my lips bend around the words.
I don’t know if Price heard me. He swung me up into his arms. My head fell against his shoulder. Now I could see that Leo had done what I’d hoped. He’d caught Dalton and his team in shackles made from the metal of their own guns. He now cut Madison free while Touray freed her father and sister.
“Riley needs to go, now,” Price told his brother.
“A minute. Who are these people?” Touray asked.
“This one’s Dalton, the one who was leading her bodyguard squad,” Leo reported, coming to stand in front of the man in question. “The one she thought was working for you.”
Touray looked demonic in the flickering shadows of the fire. “Who
are
you working for?” he demanded.
Dalton’s mouth pulled into a flat smile. He didn’t look scared. Didn’t even look a little bit nervous. That made me worry.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” he replied.
Touray shrugged. “Very well. There are ways to take what you refuse to give.”
“You can try.”
His total lack of concern didn’t seem faked. My worry tightened.
“Damned right, I will.” Touray turned his back on Dalton. His own people had arrived on the scene and were gathering up the prisoners. “Take them to the bunker. We’ll get answers there.”
Another day I’d have flinched from the cold brutality in his voice. At the moment, I couldn’t manage to scrape up even a little bit of fear or judgment. I was surprised I was still conscious. I didn’t think I was dying. Not this time. Vaguely, I wondered where my thumb might be.
Taylor appeared out of nowhere with blankets. She shook two out and wrapped them around me, then helped wrap Madison; her sister, Robin; and their father. He was looking haggard, and his breathing was harsh.
“We should get in out of the cold,” Taylor said. “Turn the flames off, would you? We don’t need the fire department here,” she told Luke. Her voice was thin and strained, but she remained ice cold. Whatever else you might say about her, when the shit hit the fan, my sister had nerves of steel and brass balls. She’d fly a helicopter into a hurricane without breaking a sweat.
The flames doused at once, but sirens blared. Too late for discretion. Touray turned to Price. “Get Riley out of here before the cops arrive. Leo and Taylor, you go with them. Take Madison and her family with you.”
“The hell I will,” Taylor said. “This is my place and these are my people. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’ll stay, too,” Leo said.
“Fine, but I want Percy out of here. Throw him into one of the vans and take him to the bunker, along with Dalton.”
“What about him?” Leo asked, pointing at Luke. I got a good look at him then. He looked hollow and worn. He was shaking. He was going to want a fix soon. He watched Madison comforting her sister and father. He reminded me of a man out in the cold, looking through a window into a room full of treasure he could never touch.
“Null him out and take him, too.”
Luke woke up at that. He gave a little shake of his head. He glanced at me and gave me a little salute, then stepped back. A wall of fire roared up between him and us. It spread outward. I didn’t doubt that when it died, he’d be long gone.
“We’re leaving,” Price said. He carried me to an SUV parked out on the street a hundred yards away.
“Are you okay, Riley?” he asked. “I need you to stay awake, baby. I know you’re tired and cold. You’re soaked through. You did it, though. I don’t know how, but you made it so Leo and Luke could get free. You’re amazing. Terrifying, but amazing. Come on, now. Talk to me.”
I muttered something that wasn’t all that polite.
His chest rumbled as he laughed. “That’s my girl. Almost there. We’ll get the heater going and have you back in Maya’s care in no time.”
“She’s going to want overtime pay.”
“I’ll pay her anything she wants,” he said, pressing his lips to my forehead. “I’ll give her the moon, if necessary.”
“How will you get the moon?”
Another rumble. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t promise her that, then.”
He paused, looking down at me. I couldn’t see his eyes. The night turned them to velvet shadow. “If she wanted the moon to make you safe and well, I’d sell my soul to get it for her.”
My heart clutched in my chest. “I meant what I said, earlier. Tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”
He took a long breath and let it out. “I just need you, baby. Just you.”
He pressed a fast kiss to my lips and started walking again. I stared up at him, so full of emotion I could hardly breathe. I couldn’t believe he’d asked nothing. He gave everything, and took just me. I was enough.
I was never going to let him regret it.