Sensing the threat, he turned on Breck, his finger squeezing the trigger. That snapped Tam out of her daze. No. She would not allow this to happen.
No.
She darted forward, shoving Breck out of the way. The bullet slammed into her with the force of a speeding transport, bowling her over.
A moment later, she heard the angry, piercing shriek of an eagle as Breck punched his talons through Stefan's throat. Blood sprayed everywhere, dark crimson. The look of shock on the man's face was almost comical. He really had thought himself invincible. But he'd been wrong. It was over. The monster was dead.
So was she.
She could feel the blood pumping out of her body with every beat of her heart.
“Good use of speed, Tam.” Breck turned to her, relief filling his expression, but then his gaze landed on the palm she had covering her wound.
“I thought you got us both out of the way.” He caught her before she slumped to the floor. He pressed all his weight down on the bullet hole.
“Deus, Tam. Deus.” Delilah hauled herself upright, her eyes going wide and wild when she looked at Tam. The lynx-shifter fumbled for her bag and pulled out a palmtop to make a call. She sounded panicked, scared, but somehow her words were fuzzy and didn't quite reach Tam's ears.
“Don't you die, Tam. Don't you fucking do it.”
Her head rolled against the floor and she looked at Breck. He was so handsome, so wonderful. She'd hurt him so much, shoved him out of her life, and still he was here, trying to save her. They could have been happy togetherâher, Breck, and Sophie. A real family. And now she'd never have the chance. She'd failed, becoming Stefan's victim one last time. But better her than Breck or Sophie.
She tried to smile at him, but it hurt. Everything hurt. Breathing hurt. There was blood everywhere, all over his hands, his clothes. Her blood. Far too much of it.
“Damn you, Tam. Why?” Fury vibrated in his every movement while he shoved down on her wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but it was a futile effort. “You were just determined to fucking die, weren't you?”
His voice broke on a sob that ripped her heart in two. She wanted to tell him that he'd been right, that she wanted to stay with him so bad she could taste it. She'd tried to find a way to stay, she really had hoped she might, but she couldn't seem to get words out past the pain. The sound that escaped her throat was a mere gurgle.
He turned his head to the side and wiped a tear off on his shoulder. “You can't die now, Tam. Not now.”
She didn't want to. No, she wanted to stay. She wanted to spend her life with him, making up for everything she'd done to bring him pain. Making him happy. Mating with him. But blackness filled the edges of her vision and she blinked, trying to focus on him. Breck.
His voice turned pleading. “Please don't go, Tam. Sophie needs you. She's waiting for you to come back to her, right now. Stay for her, if you won't stay for me. Please.”
She opened her mouth, needing to tell him how much she loved him, to thank him for everything while she still had the time, but nothing came out. A vise closed around her chest, the agony turning to darkness that roared up and swallowed her whole.
11
T
he pain of losing Tam weighed down on Breck, but he learned to live with it. He learned to breathe again and made himself get back to work. There was plenty to do from his long absence, which was a blessing. The bustle of New Chicago was a welcome balm. Home. It was good to be back. Some day it would all feel natural again, and he wouldn't turn a corner and be reminded of the precious weeks he'd had his mate in his life.
He missed her. He'd known he would, and he accepted the pain.
“Mr. Breckenridge?” One of his assistants poked her head into his office. “There's a call from Gea Crevan.”
“Put her through.” When his assistant disappeared, he closed his eyes, feeling a sharp stab of agony to the heart. These calls were a torment, but one he craved. He took in a breath. It would be over soon. This might be the last call.
“Breck.” The woman's brown gaze was steady when she met his on the vidscreen.
“Gea.” He nodded. “Any updates?”
“Yes, sir.” Her voice was carefully neutral as she spoke.
“Tam's medic cleared her fully for travel, and she's taking her sister to Switzerland.”
Sending Sophie back to boarding school. He shook his head. Of course. Nothing had changed, had it? He couldn't even muster any frustration, just resignation. He'd stayed in London long enough to make sure she was going to make a full recovery; then he'd forced himself to leave. He couldn't make himself look at her anymore. The woman had essentially committed suicide right before his eyes, and the horror of seeing it haunted his dreams, crept up to slam into him at quiet moments during his waking hours. He swallowed the bile that burned his throat, forcing his mind away from the memory of her bleeding out in his arms.
There had been a medic at the Abernathys' gala. It had been the only thing that saved her. Without that man, she'd be dead. Taken by a bullet that had been meant for Breck. Guilt hammered at him, but he crushed it. Just as he'd crushed any urging from the eagle within him to return to his mate. That was done. Over. He had to move on.
“Breck, did you hear me?” Gea's voice jolted him back to reality.
“Yes.” He pressed his palms to his desktop, letting the smooth surface ground him. He'd hired Gea and her mate to provide security for Tam while she recovered, and to keep him apprised of her condition, but that was coming to a swift close. “If she's amenable to an escort, you and Kienan will go with her.”
“Of course,” she replied. “I'll offer our services to her. I think she'll take us up on it.”
“Good. That's . . . good.” He swallowed. “And what of Leland and Nichols?”
“They've been arrested.” She shook her head. “One of Kienan's many and mysterious contacts is seeing to it that those
gentlemen
never see the light of day again.”
“Well . . . that's good, too. It's all over, then.” He let a sigh ease out. He ached to his bones, but he'd survive. What choice did he have? “Thank you, Gea. For everything.”
“You're welcome.” She gave him a smile that was . . . sad for him, and he couldn't stand that either. He was holding together by feeling as little as possible. Someday he wouldn't be so . . . empty.
“Good-bye.” Tapping his fingertip against the vidscreen, he ended the call.
So, that was that. He wouldn't let himself inquire about Tam after Gea and Kienan returned to New Chicago. That way lay madness. Tam had to figure out her life with Stefan dead, and that she was sending Sophie away to school again told him all he needed to know. He stomped down on the tiny tendril of hope that emerged because she
hadn't
sent Sophie to the missionaries. So she hadn't cut the girl out of her life entirely. So what? She was still abandoning her to be raised by someone else. Tam was, as always, determined to run away from love. That was her choice. No one could force her to
want
to stay, least of all him. He'd given it his best shot, and it had ended with Tam being shot.
He pulled up a memorandum and began to read it. There was a new merger in the works, and he needed to focus on that. It was time to get on with the business of living. Every day without her would get easier. It had to.
Â
“What did he say when you told him I got a clean bill of health?” Tam hovered outside the room where Gea had been talking to Breck.
“Not much. He never says much anymore.” Gea swiveled in her chair to look at Tam, sighing. “His assistants are worried about him. They say he's not himself.”
The look she pinned Tam with clearly said who's fault that was, and she couldn't argue. She needed to talk to him, but the conversation they had to have shouldn't take place through a vidscreen. So, she'd avoided it. Because she was scared.
“You need to get your ass back to New Chicago,” Delilah drawled from where she lounged across a microsilk chaise.
Unlike Breck, Delilah and Hunter had stuck around to make sure Tam was all right, and she was grateful for the support. She didn't know the last time she'd had anything that resembled a friend, so she had no idea what she was doing, but she was glad they were here. That was the problem, wasn't it? She had no idea how to be in any kind of relationship, just as Breck had pointed out. She ran away from them. She hadn't given anyone a chance to reject her in decades. But that was what she'd have to do with Breck. He needed her to show up and stick around. He'd told her as much, hadn't he? Before he'd walked out of her life.
She'd drifted in and out of consciousness for days, and by the time she was truly cognizant of her surroundings, he'd already gone. That had hurt, but could she really blame him? As far as he knew, she'd been a willing lamb Stefan had led to slaughter.
“I don't know what to say to him.” Tam clasped and unclasped her hands in front of her.
Delilah arched a pale brow. “Wasn't it you who told meâoh so many years agoâthat men were simple creatures?”
“That was before I fell in love with one! Then I just wanted to seduce them, shag their brains out, and get them to give me things.” Throwing her hands up, she paced around the main space of their suite at the Savoy. This was where Hunter had taken Sophie the night Breck and he had rescued her, so they'd decided to stay until Tam was well enough to travel. Which she was.
“Sounds like a good plan.” Hunter looked up from his palmtop, where he was busy running the world. “It works for Delilah every time.”
The lynx-shifter purred and leaned over to kiss him. He chuckled against her lips.
A pang went through Tam. She wanted a mating that loving. Breck had offered it to her, and she'd rejected him. Over and over again. She sighed. She didn't know how to explain this to her friends. Everything had changed. In one night, her whole world had rotated on its axis. How she looked at and treated men wasn't the same as it used to be. Breck had changed that. Hell, how she looked at and treated
herself
wasn't the same. She was still trying to find her way in this post-Stefan world. It wasn't just that he was deadâthough she was glad about thatâit was that he was no longer the man who defined her life. She'd let him be, and that was wrong.
That
was over.
Who she was now was still up in the air, but she'd figure it out. She wanted to figure it out with Breck by her side. And the only way to do that was to chase him down the way he'd done to her. She knew what she had to do, but she was flat out terrified. It was a huge risk, and the outcome would decide the course of her new life, one way or another.
“All right. We're going to pick up all of Sophie's things that she had to leave behind, and then we're getting our asses to New Chicago, as instructed.” She tipped Delilah a nod.
“We'll escort you right to Breck's front door.” Kienan spoke up from where he stood by the window. His gaze swept the room, always alert for security issues. The man was quiet, but rock-steady.
“He hasn't asked where you're going after Switzerland.” Gea shrugged as she stowed her palmtop.
Tam forced a smile to her lips. “He doesn't want to know. He walked away, and he wanted to know only enough to be sure I was healthy and safe.”
So like Breck. Even when he was licking his wounds and determined to cut her out of his life, he took care of her. His mate. Deus, she loved the man.
“We'll take my private transport. It's faster than a commercial carrier.” Hunter waved a hand at Kienan. “And more secure.”
“And less cramped with hundreds of people.” Delilah gave a cat-like yawn. “I'm going to finish packing. When are we scheduled to go?”
“Dawn.” Hunter grinned at her when she grimaced. “Don't worry, kitten. You can sleep on the flight.”
Â
Anxiety formed knots in Tam's stomach the closer they got to New Chicago. Picking up Sophie's belongings hadn't taken much time, but the little girl had needed some closure with the place she'd called home for years. She'd bid her friends and teachers farewell, and now she curled up beside Tam on the transport ride to America. They'd be landing soon, and Tam was as nervous as the first time Stefan had forced her to pull a heist. Only this time, there was a lot more at stake. Her heart.
She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth, reaching for calm. She could do this. She
had
to do this.
Sophie stirred, sitting up and pushing her dark curls out of her eyes. “Are we almost there?”
“Yes, darling. Very soon now.”
“I'm still tired.”
“It's the jetlag. You can sleep when we get there, if you like. Breck's home has a lot of bedrooms.” She hoped that was where they'd be staying.
Sophie leaned over to look out the window, but it was a cloudy night. “Breck said I could come live with him.”
“What?” Tam blinked. “When did he say that?”
Her sister sat back in her chair, kicking her dangling feet. “People came for me, when they thought you wouldn't . . .” She swallowed, her mouth curling down. “They said since I had no one to take care of me, I had to go with them. Breck made them leave me alone. He spent a long time on the vidscreen with people, and then he said they wouldn't bother me anymore. He said I could come live with him if you didn't make it.”
Her heart broke at those words. Despite everything, he'd volunteered to take Sophie and give her the life Tam had always wanted for her. She'd never loved him more. “Oh.”
“He's nice. I like him a lot. Are you going to marry him?”
“I don't know, darling.” She stroked her hand down the little girl's hair. “I'm not really sure of much right now. But you and I will be together from now on. I promise.”
“Good.” She smiled her sweet smile. “But I think you should marry him. He cried when they said you were going to . . . die. I cried, too.”
Tears welled in Tam's eyes. “I'm sorry I worried you.”
“You mustn't do that again.” Sophie leaned close to show how serious she was.
“I will do my best to be more careful in the future.” With luck, she wouldn't have to worry about that kind of danger ever again.
“Good.” Sophie nodded decisively. “I'm glad not to be going back to boarding school. They're nice there, but it's not the same as family.”
“I know it's not.”
“We're landing.” Hunter's calm voice came through the overhead intercom.
She'd had no idea when he said they were taking his private transport that it meant he'd be the pilot, but it had simplified travel plans.
It felt like no time had passed at all before they were on the ground, hugging Hunter and Delilah good-bye, gathering their things, and then the shortest transport ride of all time had Tam standing at Breck's door. She wanted a moment to compose herself, but Sophie knocked eagerly. “I can't wait to see him. He's a hero, you know. He rescued me from the bad men.”
“Yes, I know.” She couldn't help but smile at the girl's enthusiasm. It helped take the edge off of some of her nerves.
Breck's housekeeper answered Sophie's knock, and Tam was relieved to see it was someone she knew. The older woman's mouth dropped open. “Ms. Tamryn? I had no idea you'd be here. Mr. Breckenridge didn't say a thing to me.”
“It's a surprise. A good one, I hope. May we come in?” She summoned up a smile. “This is my sister, Sophie. Sophie, this is Mrs. Hadley.”
“Hello!” Sophie bounded through the door and gave the housekeeper a hug.
“Hello, dear.” Mrs. Hadley laughed, then looked past Tam. “Are Ms. Crevan and Mr. Vaughn coming in, too?”
“No, we're just the escort. We need to get home.” Kienan stepped forward and set Tam's and Sophie's bags inside the foyer.