Alec turns his attention to Angel. “Are you hurt?”
She shakes her head. “No. I’m fine. But—” Her voice cracks. “Whathappened?”
“Come on,” Alec says. He extends one hand to Angel and the other to me, then effortlessly pulls both of us to our feet. “We can go into the dining room now. It’s safe.”
From across the kitchen, Kyle calls out, “Is it safe?”
“Yeah.” Alec wraps his arm around me and pulls me to his side. “It’s safe. The police should be here any second. We got the guy. He’s not going anywhere.”
“The guy?” I whisper. “Who?”
Warm lips press to my forehead. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“What about Frank? Wendy?”
As we push through the double doors, Alec replies, “Frank’s fine.”
“Wendy—”
But as soon as we walk into the dining room, the rest of my words dry up.
It’s a mess.
Both windows are broken. Motes of light filter through swirls of dissipating smoke. Chairs are flipped over and one table lies on its side. Shards of glass are scattered all across the floor. The large mirror behind the bar is splintered into hundreds of cobwebs.
Over in one corner, a man is tied to a chair. Frankstands off to his side, scowling as he points a rifle at him. Wendy is sitting in a chair near the bar with a reddening towel pressed to her arm.
“Wendy!” It bursts out of me before I can stop it.
She turns to me. “Oh, Hazel. Are you okay, honey?”
“You’re hurt. Oh, Wendy. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just a little glass.”
A cacophony of sirens approaches with lights flashing. Red illuminates the room, flooding it with an eerie, malevolent glow.
Alec leads me to a chair and guides me into it. Now that I can see him more clearly, the worry in his eyes is evident. He crouches in front of me and cups my face with his hands. “I know I asked you before, but are you hurt?”
I shake my head. “What happened?” With a quick glance at the man tied up in the corner, I add quietly, “He was here for me. Wasn’t he?”
Alec’s lips thin. “I don’t know yet. But I’ll find out.”
“Alec.”
He sighs. “I haven’t been able to look outside yet. And I don’t know if he had an accomplice. But I believe he cut the power. Right after the power went out, two rocks came through the windows, followed by two flash bangs. So everyone was disoriented. I think he figured that would give him the advantage. But he didn’t count on me being here.”
“Alec took him out like a scene in some action movie,” Frank adds. “It was almost completely dark, smoke all over, we’re panicked, and then Alec just comes flying out of nowhere and takes this bastard down. It was really something.”
Alec was fighting with that man?
Panic surges through me. “Alec. Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” I start patting him all over, searching for blood, for broken bones, for any sign of injury. Pressure builds behind my eyes along with a fresh round of tears. “Oh, Alec. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
The front door to the bar opens, and a crowd of police officers comes rushing in, their guns raised and voices shouting.
For a second, everything shifts.
I’m not at Blissful Brews anymore.
