Remy (13 page)

Chapter 20

“Put my sister down!” The vicious words bounced off the walls as Remy turned with Harlow still in his arms to face-off with Mason. 

He knew Mason was coming.  Walkers had been filtering in through the mist all afternoon, letting him know Mason was looking for Harlow, that Mason was hunting
him
, that Mason vowed retribution if Harlow had been hurt in the attack.  Now, Harlow’s typically impeccable brother was covered in soot and grime.  His suit coat was gone, his button-up shirt was ripped, and blood stained the front over his chest.

“NO!” Remy growled, his hold on her tightening.  “She’s mine!”

“The fuck she is!” Mason was nearly to them, but Bishop, who’d followed him in, shot out a hand to clamp onto Mason’s shoulder, halting him.

“What in the fuck were you thinking?” Remy growled, facing Mason fully with Harlow still held in his arms.  “You make your sister a soldier, send her into battle!” he sneered.  “She could have died today.  She
nearly
died today!”

Bishop pulled Mason back, giving him a look before he stepped forward and held out his arms. “Give Harlow to me, Remy.  You and Monroe discussed this.  Don’t go back on your word.”

Remy seethed.  He’d promised Monroe that there would be no games with Harlow, but things had changed.  He’d been afflicted.  Harlow belonged to him.

“Don’t you fucking hide behind my sister,” Mason challenged.  “Face me like a fucking Walker.”

“Everyone, just stop.” Harlow spoke calmly, drawing Remy’s gaze. 

He looked down at his Angel and had the urge to brush his lips across hers, but he didn’t.  Mason was right.  She shouldn’t be held between their wrath.  He smiled as best he could.  “Go with Bishop now, love.  I’ll come for you as soon as I can.”  Looking up, he frowned at Bishop.  “Look at her throat,” he growled, watching as Bishop’s eyes dipped to Remy’s halo banded around the slender column of Harlow’s throat.   “You know what that means.”  He held out his arms. “Take care of her.”

“Wait.”

Remy’s heart soared as Harlow cried out, reaching for him even as Bishop took her.  “I know what it
looks like
, Remy.  If you’re playing games here…”  Bishop didn’t finish.  He didn’t need to.  

Turning to face Mason, Remy could still hear Harlow calling for him as Bishop took her into the next room.  “Wait!  Remy!”

“I was giving you the chance to prove yourself,” Mason challenged with a deep scowl, clearly satisfied that Harlow was out of the equation as Bishop left with her.  “I was trying to prove that I didn’t hold a grudge.  My Amanda begged me to entrust you with Harlow’s care so you could show you meant what you said, and I could show that I believed it.”  His hands curled into tighter fists.  “I was trying to put this thing between us to rest.  But if I find out you endangered my sister’s life on purpose…”

He didn’t get the chance to finish.  Remy was in his face in a second, the air crackling between them with dominance and the need for battle.  “I may be many things,” Remy ground out between gnashed teeth, “but I’d never endanger a female to prove a fucking point.”

Undeterred by Remy’s display, Mason took a step closer, the last step that remained between them, pressing his nose to Remy’s.  “You did it with Aries Drago!”

That was all it took.

Remy’s fist connected with the side of Mason’s face, sending the Walker’s head snapping to the side before he retaliated with a punch of his own.

The two Walkers fought viciously.  Fists flew, sharp incisors elongated, and animalistic snarls rent the air as the two Walkers battled again over love for the same woman.

***

Remy was hauled off of Mason and, even with the perpetrator’s pair of steely-gray eyes mere inches from his, he recognized Commander Conn Drago from the rough white scar that slashed over one eye and the bridge of his nose to the opposite cheek.

“
Tell me
you are not fucking with Harlow EnemyHunter!”  Conn shook him once, hard, his eyes narrowing to slits.  “Are you?”

“Easy, Conn.”  Aries Drago’s voice had Conn’s sneer slipping as he inched back and released Remy.

Stepping back, Remy righted his shirt, scowling at a room suddenly filled with Walkers.  Mason bled near the door, while Aries walked to her mate, Conn.  Tyce entered, shaking his head.  He looked like shit.

“NOW?” Tyce barked in agitation.  “We’re under attack, and you claim Harlow
EnemyHunter
now?” 

Remy had vowed that his feud with Mason was finished, and it was.  But he had never expected to become afflicted by Harlow.  She was his true and rightful Angel, but he had no way of proving it to any of them.  They would never believe his claim was genuine, that his love was true.  Unless…

“I’ve claimed her,” he spoke evenly.  “I’ve collared her.  All that’s left is for me to bind her, and if I did, there wouldn’t be anything
anyone
could do about it.”

Mason snarled, shoving off the wall with a menacing growl.  He was restrained by Conn.

“But I won’t.” Remy looked straight at Mason. “If this was about hurting you, it’d be easy to do.  It’d be done!  I could have made her believe I wanted her, and used her as a weapon against you.” 

This time both Mason and Conn growled.

“But I would never do that to Harlow.  Because I
love
her!  And because I love her, I’m going to do the one thing that proves I’m not out to use her.”  He scanned Mason with condescending eyes. “I don’t give a fuck about hurting you.  My only concern is that Harlow knows that what I feel for her is real.  So, I’ll prove it.”  He stalked to the door and shouldered Tyce aside.  In the sitting room of his suite, Harlow was propped on the couch, Bishop crouching at her feet as he held a glass of water to her lips.  When she looked up expectantly, it gutted him.  She shoved Bishop’s hand aside like she expected him to go to her, which made walking away from her the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.  He’d prove love by walking away from the only thing he’d ever valued in his entire life.  He walked away from his heart.

***

Harlow watched Remy walk out of the room, and it felt like he was ripping out her heart and taking it with him.  Why was he leaving her?  After his proclamation, and his blood oath…why?

Mason entered the room, making a show of trying to rebutton his tattered shirt. “Harlow!  Are you okay?”

“What did you do?” she snapped.

“What?  What do mean, what did I do?”

She shoved up off the couch, forcing Bishop back as she wobbled, then steadied herself. “To Remy!  He was bleeding!”

Mason was unamused.  “
I’m
bleeding.  Any concern for that?”

“We were trying to clear things up!  Why did you chase him off?”  She turned for the door.

“HARLOW!  I
forbid
you to go after him.”

Halfway to the door, she stalled, slowly turning to frown at her brother.  “You forbid me?  You.  Forbid.  Me?”  She jabbed a finger in his direction, then just as quickly jerked her thumb back to jab it into her chest.  “Were you ever going to tell me about Amanda, or were you satisfied letting me find out the hard way?”

Mason paled.

“Yeah!  I know everything, and you know what else I know? That if Remy wanted you hurt, he had no better opportunity than to let David keep me and turn me over to the Megalya as he intended.”

Utter shock took Mason’s features.  “You were taken?”

“Yeah, I was, and you know who saved me?  You know who came for me?  Remy! And it doesn’t make sense, does it?  If he wanted to hurt me, he could’ve just let them keep me.  If he wanted to hurt
you,
he could’ve just let them keep me.  He didn’t do either of those!  Instead, he came blazing in that damn hut and took me from them to bring me back here, back to you.”  Her eyes turned imploring, “He’s a good man, Mason.  Can’t you see that?” 

He snarled, “No!”

Harlow opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out as she stared at her brother trying to formulate any response that would favor Remy in his eyes.  It took her mere moments to realize there was nothing she could say that’d ever make Mason understand.  Closing her mouth, she stared at him for long moments before giving him a sad smile then turning to head for the door.

“Harlow!” Mason barked, and she stilled, turning back to look at him with sad eyes.

“He’s
my
man, Mason.” Then, she was gone.

Chapter 21

Harlow raced to catch up to Remy, finding him just as he was about to go into the office she remembered as Monroe’s.  “REMY!”

He stilled, then turned to face her.  “What are you doing?”  He looked down the hall over her head as she approached.  “Get back to Mason.”

“Why?” she asked, stopping just in front of him.

“He’ll keep you safe.”

Harlow swallowed hard, then lifted a hand to grip the halo around her throat.  “It’s no longer his responsibility.”  She canted her head. “Is it?”

Remy scrubbed a hand down his face with a harsh sigh before glancing over his shoulder at the raised voices on the other side of the door.  “Look, I…”

She held up her hands.  “I know!  I know this isn’t how you wanted it to happen.”  She glanced at the door, flinching when something crashed against it and the arguing on the other side grew louder.  “And I know there isn’t really time for this right now.  You’ve got obligations,
duties
to attend, that are so much more significant than me.”  She heaved her own sigh and dropped her shoulders.  “But I want you to know, I’m here.  I want you to know that I’ll be here when this mess is settled. I’m not a drama queen, and I’m not looking to draw this out.  You won’t have to chase me.  When you’re ready, when you have time, I’ll be here.” 

“I hate this!” he snarled, then immediately regretted it when Harlow backed up a step, looking up at him uncertainly.  “I don’t hate
you
.  Never you, Harlow.  I just hate what you…”  He plowed a hand through his hair.  “I hate what you do to me.  I hate how I-I can’t think when I’m around you.  I abandon all duty, because the only thing I care about is your safety and well-being.  Hell, when I was afflicted, I put Shane in charge of the teams, so I could go after you.  I didn’t give a damn about the Estate, or the Megalya, or the war raging here.  My only thoughts were of you.  And now, even now, with responsibility weighing on me more heavily than it ever has, I want nothing more than to take you back to my suite and show you that, in my eyes there is nothing, and never will be
anything
, more significant to me than you.”  He reached for her, then faltered.  “You scare me.”

“Me?” she squeaked.

“Yeah,” he chuffed a laugh, “you.  You mean more to me than anyone ever has, more than I thought anyone, or anything, ever could.  When I saw David take you,” he shook his head as disgust curled his lip.  “And all I could do was lay there and watch.  I hated myself for putting you in that position.”  He leveled her with a look.  “I never wanted you to be a Sentry, Harlow.  Still don’t.  And if I get my way, you’ll never see combat again.”

She smiled weakly at his admission.  “Again, I’m pretty sure you need my permission for something like that.”

“I made you mine without your permission,” he smirked.  “If that worked, there might be hope for me yet.”

Her smile faded as she eyed him steadily.  “It worked.”

Remy’s smirk vanished as his eyes shot to hers in silent question.

“I’m in this with you.  I accept your vow, and I reciprocate.  I know I don’t have time to go over how I’ve thought about nothing but you since that first night we were together, but once this war is settled…”  She glanced to the side.  “I’m not sure where my place is now.  I think we agree I wasn’t cut out for soldiering, but I’d like to help defend the Estate.” 

Remy was shaking his head, a stern look on his face.

“I’m gonna do my part, Commander.  I’m going to pull my weight until things are right here again, and you’re gonna let me.”  She reached out and grabbed his hand, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles.

Looking down, Remy watched her stroke him before looking up and asking with a grin, “Oh yeah?  And why would I do something like that?”

She tilted her head.  “What did you call yourself?  After your vow, you called yourself something,” she tapped her chin then her eyes lit.  “Oh yeah.  Because you’re ever mine.”

His grin faded and dark brows speared down.  “I don’t know if I can fight this war knowing you’re in harm’s way, Harlow.  How can I stay focused on what I need to do when all I really care about is whether you’re okay?  I’d order you not to fight, but that halo around your neck trumps any stars or bars I carry.  You’re my Commander now, but I’m asking.  I want you to promise me that when I go, and I will have to go, that you’ll stick close to Mason, that you’ll keep your head down and your eyes open.” He tugged her arm, pulling her into his chest before wrapping his arms around her and burying his nose in her hair, breathing her in as she hugged him back.  “It’d be my fucking luck to lose you now, and it’d be what I deserve, but I’m praying the Gods show mercy.  If anything happened to you…”

She pushed back to stare up at him.  “Just know I feel the same.  You come back to me, Commander McCabe.  We have unfinished business.”

“I’ll move heaven and Earth to make it so.”

She smiled sadly, and couldn’t hide the tremble of her lip or the tears that flooded her eyes. Suddenly, the door was jerked open and a large Walker poked his head out.

“King needs you
now
, Commander!”

Remy pulled Harlow close, holding her tight as his lips sealed over hers.  He kissed her hard, pouring all his heart and intention into it, praying she could feel with her heart what he couldn’t formulate with words.  Harlow did the same.  When he finally pulled back, he looked at her with worry.

Clearing her throat, Harlow stepped back.  “Get back on the clock, Commander.”  She snapped to attention, saluting him before relaxing.  “And just remember.  I’m ever
yours
.”

She turned quickly, knowing that if she didn’t leave now she’d beg him to stay, or to take her with him, and neither of those things would help Remy right now.  So, she hurried down the hall, giving him the only thing she had to give a solider leaving for war. Something to fight for, and a promise to be here waiting for his return.  Strong as she was, it didn’t help the ache in her chest, or the tears that slipped past her lids as she rushed to her suite.