They slowed when they got behind the hedges of the property on the other side of the street.

  Hidden from view, the group stopped and turned to watch the destruction that they were leaving behind them.

  Smoke and dust hung thick in the air, curling into his nose with every breath. In the distance, fire burned above the rubble of stone that used to be the home of the Reaper Empress and headquarters for the Reaper Army.

  Still in Aiden’s arms, Jack moaned. Greg turned away from the apocalyptic scene in front of him to see if Jack was all right.

  “Dude. Why am I in your arms like a baby.”

  Aiden grinned. “Because you were knocked out dumb ass.” He lowered his arms and let Jack place his feet on the grass. Greg could see the blood still spilling out from Jack’s wound and knew without a doubt that they needed to get it looked at.

  Jack swayed as he lifted a hand to his shoulder and felt the moisture. Then, he looked down and saw what was causing it. “Oh fuck.” He frowned. “This is bad. Did it go all the way through?”

  Aiden peeked around him and when Greg was able to see his face again he knew that it wasn’t good. “No man, the bullet is still in there.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah.”

  Greg knew that they needed to get some medical attention for Jack as soon as possible, but they couldn’t take him to a hospital. Hannah was the only one of them who had any medical training and they had left her back in Summer Hollow. Why hadn’t they thought that they might need her on this mission for that specific purpose.

  “Aiden, radio Lou, tell him what’s going on and that we’ll be there shortly.” Greg hurried to Jack’s side. “Let’s get back to the cars and get out of here. We’ll deal with this somehow.”

  When they got back to the playground where they had parked the cars, they found Lou waiting for them, leaning against the truck and tapping a foot. Silently, he opened the back door of the truck and Jack crawled up into the seat. “I hope I don’t get any blood on your seats,” Jack told him.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Lou told him and slammed the door shut. He turned to Greg and Aiden, who stood beside him. “Look, I know it’s not the same, but I called a friend and he’s coming out to help.”

  “You know a doctor?” Greg asked at the same time as Aiden said, “We can’t afford to have anyone know about this.”

  Lou held up his hands. “Not a doctor. He’s a veterinarian, but he still has the tools to get that bullet out safely. And,” he looked to Aiden, “he won’t say anything because I have information on him that he wouldn’t want to go public. So he will help us and keep his mouth shut. But, just in case, just tell him that Jack was in a bar fight that went bad. It happens all the time so not too hard to believe.”

  Greg nodded, as did Aiden. They weren’t about to pass up medical help for Jack.

  “I’ll drive the truck and you drive the Jeep.” Lou directed this to Aiden. “Let’s get out of here.”

  They loaded up, Greg choosing to ride passenger with Aiden, with Emily and Dan in the back seat. They pulled out onto the road slowly and drove the speed limit as they made their way out of the neighborhood and back to the freeway.

  Greg thought it felt like they were moving at a snails pace. He was sure Aiden was feeling the same thing and fighting the urge to slam his foot down on the gas pedal.

  “Do you think she’s going to die?” Greg asked once they were back on the freeway and it felt like they were actually moving at a decent speed.

  Aiden shook his head. “I don’t know, but if the wound doesn’t kill her, I’d be shocked if the blast didn’t.”

  “I have never wished death on anyone.” Greg stared off into the darkness ahead of them. “But this is one time that I absolutely hope that she dies. If she lives…” Greg let his voice trail off and Aiden nodded in the darkness.

  “I know, man. I know.”

  Greg twisted in his seat to look into the back. “Are you guys okay … Emily?” His eyes met hers.

  “I’m fine. I’m not hurt,” she told him, her tone a little more clipped than he would have liked to hear.

  Dan pulled his hood down off of his head and let out a long sigh. Then, he leaned back against the seat and grinned widely. “We made it. We’re all alive.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t know if we completed the mission,” Aiden pointed out.

  “We did some major damage, either way.”

  “That’s true,” Aiden agreed, but his voice sounded far from convinced.

  The ride back to Lou’s seemed to take forever. When they pulled into the drive, a tan pickup truck was parked in the drive and the lights were on inside Lou’s little cabin.

  Aiden parked behind Lou and before the Jeep had completely stopped, Greg jumped out of the Jeep to go help with Jack. Aiden parked quickly and appeared beside him, leaving Emily and Dan to get themselves out of the back.

  “For fucks sake, I can walk. My legs aren’t hurt.”

  “Well, he’s not injured enough to affect his sarcasm,” Greg murmured. “That’s a good sign.”

  “Yeah, but I would rather have his smart ass around to piss us all off, rather than the alternative.”

  Greg didn’t have time to respond. Jack was out of the vehicle and limping toward the cabin while simultaneously swatting Lou away. They followed them inside, as did the rest of the group.

  The moment Greg stepped through the door, his eyes went to the kitchen where Lou was directing Jack to lay down on the table. The table in question had what looked like a blue plastic tablecloth draped over it.

  A heavyset man with silver hair stood at the counter by the sink. He had a case that looked like a tackle box open and was selecting tools from it and setting them out on a clean white towel.

  Jack heaved himself onto the table and lay on his back. He shut his eyes against the glare of the overhead light above him and let out a sigh. “I’m so ready for a nap.”

  “Not yet, buddy.” Aiden pushed him over a little so that he was in the center of the table.

  ‘Hey, everyone,” Lou announced. “This is Dr. Andrews. He has agreed to take a look at Jack and do what he can to fix his shoulder. As I said before, he is a veterinarian, not a people doctor, but he still has the medical knowledge to work on him. I trust him, and wouldn’t have brought him here if I didn’t.”

  The silver haired man turned to Lou and smiled. “Thanks for that lengthy intro, Lou.” Then he addressed the rest of the group. “I’ll do what I can to help your friend. Mainly, we need to get the bullet out, see if it damaged any bone, and then get him on some antibiotics to prevent any infection.

  Greg nodded along with everyone else.

  “I’m going to give you a local anesthetic.” Dr. Andrews told Jack, as he picked up a syringe off of the counter.

  “I don’t care what you do, Doc. I’d drink Lou’s moonshine and chew on a stick if that was all that was available.”

  “Good to know.”

  Greg stayed to watch Dr. Andrews work. Liv and Aiden also stayed, but the others wandered off to take showers and make phone calls to update the family and let them know that they were alive. He noticed that Emily had slipped outside. He wanted to go to her, to see how she was doing after everything. He didn’t, though. It was likely that she just needed a little bit of fresh air and time to herself. She was a solitary person who valued her alone time. Also, he wanted to be in the room while Jack was being worked on.

  It didn’t take long. As far as the doctor could see, the bullet had gone into the muscle tissue and barely missed the bone. “It should have gone all the way through. I have no idea why it didn’t.” The doctor told them as he was packing up his bag.

  “Good thing I have big muscles,” Jack mumbled, still laying on the table and slightly high from the drugs. “Saved my life.”

  Aiden rolled his eyes. “Thanks for taking care of my boy.” He shook hands with the doctor and nodded at Lou. Now that he’s going to be okay, I’m going to clean up and change clothes.”

  Aiden left the room with Liv following right behind him.

  “Come on Doc.” Lou clapped Dr. Andrews on the shoulder. “I’ll walk you out.”

  “Thank you.” Greg moved forward quickly and reached out to shake hands. “Seriously. We all appreciate you coming out here to help.”

  “No problem.” The doctor grabbed up his bag. “Keep that clean and change the bandages every day,” he directed. Then he and Lou disappeared through the front door where they were likely going to discuss terms.

  Greg moved up next to the table and stared down at the dark-haired Reaper who had so quickly become part of his family. “Well, you’re alive.”

  “Yeah. I’m not surprised. I had no intention of dying.”

  “I’m not leaving yet. I need to go back and see what happened. See if she lived.”

  While he understood exactly why Jack would want to know, he couldn’t help but think that going back there was a very bad idea, and he told him as much.

  “Nope.” Jack shook his head from side to side. “I’m going to see for myself.”

  “Jack. If the blast didn’t take her out, then the gunshot wound will probably get her.”

  “There is always a chance she lived. If she did, then Lucy and the baby are still at risk. We all are.” He slammed his fist down on the table with frustration.

  “I know,” Greg agreed. “I just don’t know if we should take the chance of going back there. It’s dangerous. The last thing we need is any of us getting taken to jail.”

  Jack slammed his fist again. “Fuck.”

  “Let’s see what the others say.”

  “I don’t care what they say. I don’t care if any of you go. I’m going.”

  Jack was in pain and still a little high, so Greg knew that arguing with him right now wouldn’t do any good. Also, he did want to go back and check things out too. The need to see that they had accomplished the task was hard to resist. He just didn’t want to be caught and do prison time for the many crimes they had committed.

  “Let’s get you over to the couch. You will be more comfortable there.” He scooted Jack’s legs off the table so that they hung off the side and then, using his good arm, he wrapped it around his shoulder, and lifted him to a standing position.

  As they limped awkwardly into the living room, Jack turned his head toward Greg so their noses were almost touching. “Thanks man. I owe you.”

  Greg shook his head and began to slowly move again. “You don’t owe me anything. This is what family does. If anything, I’d owe you. Now lay down and get some sleep.” He helped Jack lower himself onto the couch where he closed his eyes almost immediately.

  It wasn’t a surprise he passed out so fast. He had been awake the entire time the doc was working on him and that had to have taken a lot out of him. Between that, the exhaustion from the night and the drugs, he was bound to have crashed soon.

  Before leaving him there, he grabbed the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch and spread it out over Jack’s unconscious body. At least they would get to take him back home with them. Everyone was alive and safe … that was all that mattered.

  He found Emily outside, sitting on one of the steps and staring out at the sky. She glanced up as he approached. “Hey.”

  “Hey. You okay out here.” He took a seat next to her.

  She nodded. “Yes. It’s peaceful. I like it.”

  “Thank you for coming with us tonight. You were great.”

  She huffed a short laugh. “Right. I barely did anything. I was probably more in the way than anything.”

  “You weren’t in the way and you did help. What did you see when you took hold of the Empress?”

  “It was quick flashes of lots of different things. We know pretty much everything I saw, but it was more about how I felt when I saw them. I saw Jack’s father dying and I felt the pain and sadness that she felt. That surprised me, because when I saw how she found out about the baby and plotted to kill Jack and Lucy, she had no second thoughts. The only hint of remorse was a slight disappointment that Jack hadn’t grown into what she wanted him to be.”

  “Damn…” Greg couldn’t fathom feeling that way about anyone he loved, much less his own children.

  Emily nodded in agreement. “It was awful being in her head like that.”

  They were both silent for a moment and then Emily continued. “They only thing that I saw that I don’t think we know anything about was a bunch of vials of blood. It might have been a lab of some kind. Her feelings during this part of the exchange were more on the frustrated side. I felt that she wanted to know more and was upset because they didn’t have the answers she wanted.”

  “What answers?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Greg thought for a moment and then it hit him. “Remember back when you and Lucy had both been kidnapped.”

  Eyes wide, Emily nodded. “Well, the Empress took some of Lucy’s blood and told her that they were trying to mix the Keeper blood with Reaper blood.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “In order to fulfil the prophecy,” Greg answered. “But she knows now that it’s Lucy’s baby that is the key, so the whole bit about the blood is probably a non-issue now.”

  Silently, he watched Emily as she thought about it and began to nod. “Yes. That makes sense, I was pulling memories and thoughts so it didn’t have to be what she was thinking of right at the moment. But, still, it’s weird that she had a freaking in-house lab for experimenting with blood.”

  “Yeah. But honestly, nothing about that woman surprises me anymore.”

  Emily slowly bobbed her head in silent agreement.

  “I’m exhausted,” Greg finally admitted. “I’m going to go to the RV to lay down for a while if no one has claimed the bed yet. You’re welcome to join me if you want. I know you have to be tired too, now that the adrenaline is starting to wear off.” Even as he said it, Greg regretted it. He desperately hoped that she didn’t think he propositioning her.

  She turned, her dark eyes finding his and they locked gazes. “I will, but later. I’d like to sit out here and enjoy the night for a while longer.”

  “All right.” He tore his eyes away from hers and stood up on the steps. “I’ll save you a spot then.”

  “Goodnight, Greg.”

  “See you later.” He started to walk away and then suddenly he turned and faced her again. “You do know that I didn’t mean join me for … I wasn’t asking to…”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “Yes … yes, I know that. Now relax and go get some sleep. I’ll be there in a little while.”

  Greg felt his face flaming and quickly turned toward where the RV was parked and jogged over to it. Well, that didn’t go exactly like he expected, but at least she didn’t blow him off. He felt so awkward sometimes and wished that he had the self confidence that James and Dan had. Even Jack and Aiden didn’t worry about what anyone thought of them. He had always been more sensitive than the others, but generally, he did a pretty good job hiding it. Well, he thought he did anyway.

  He was asleep when Emily slipped beneath the covers and snuggled into him. She wore shorts and a tank top, so he could feel her skin against his. On his side, he groggily lay his arm over her waist and pulled her close, then, burying his face in the wild mass of curls, he fell back to sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  EMILY

  She woke with sunlight streaming through the tiny windows of RV and wrapped up in Greg’s arms.

  It wasn’t as if she had never woke up in the arms of a man before, but never with a man who knew who she was and what she could do. They hadn’t slept together in a sexual way, but waking up in his arms seemed somehow so much more meaningful than anyone else she had ever been with.

  Wanting to savor the moment, she didn’t rush to get up. She couldn’t see his face, since he was spooning her from behind. Her head lay on his right arm and she could feel his breath, hot against the skin of her neck.

  The Florida heat had crept into the space of the motorhome and the humidity was so high that even the one thin blanket they had over them was too much. A thin sheen of sweat was starting to form on her skin and she suddenly wondered what time it was.

  Her phone was on the table beside the bed and she couldn’t reach it without moving out of Greg’s embrace, so she stayed where she was and closed her eyes, simply enjoying the comfort it brought her.

  It wasn’t long before she felt Greg stir. He moved a bit and then gently tightened his grip on her waist, pulling her tighter against him. “Good morning,” he murmured.

  “Morning,” she whispered back.

  “It’s hot in here.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m okay with that.”

  “Me too,” she told him, hoping he got the meaning that she was okay with it only because he was with her.

  “Did you sleep well?”

  She turned over, rolling her body so that she was facing him. Her head still rested on his arm, but now she could look into his eyes while they spoke. His hair was mussed and, like her, sweat was beading up at his hairline. “Yes. Really well, actually. You?”

  “Same. We probably slept so hard because we were totally exhausted from last night.” For a moment, it appeared as if he had something else he wanted to say, but then changed his mind at the last second.

  “Yeah. Probably.”

  Greg glanced down at his arm around her waist and then back up and met her eyes. “I’m sorry if I…” he paused, looking for the words. “If I crossed a line or something. I didn’t mean to invade on your space.”

  “It’s okay,” she assured him. And then, after a long, drawn out moment of silence, she decided to just say it. “I like your arms around me. I like waking up with you.”

  At her words, his eyes seemed to light up and a slow smile tugged at his lips. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “I’m glad.”

  She had zero idea where her boldness was coming from, but she inched her face forward, moving slowly, so that he could stop her if he wanted to. But he didn’t stop her. She softly touched her lips to his, a gentle testing kiss.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17