“Raylan,” I breathed, struggling with everything I had to get up off my knees and run to him. He’d come. Just like I knew he would.
I pushed up with all my might, rising to my feet, but hunched over in pain. “Raylan!” I called out on a sob.
“If I can’t have you, no one can, you fucking whore!” I heard from behind me, and just as I twisted my neck to look back over my shoulder, a shot rang out, and suddenly everything went deathly quiet.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Raylan
The waiting room of the vet’s office was cram-packed with all the people who loved Lennix. I was holding my Chaos in my lap, refusing to let her go any farther from me than that, but I was still struggling with the realization that it was finally over and she was safe.
The last several hours had been excruciating. The image of Lennix thrashing and fighting that motherfucker for her life, then the sight of those green eyes, wide with terror and hope when she recognized me, was burned into my brain. But it was the memory of Davis climbing to his feet behind her as she struggled to get to me, arm raised in the air, a heavy, jagged rock in his hand, that I would never forget. That memory alone was certain to give me nightmares for the foreseeable future.
I hadn’t given it a second thought. Instinct kicked in, and I reached for the rifle I kept in my saddle in case we ever encountered any predators on one of the trails. Zephyr had barely come to a halt before I lifted the gun, lined my sights with the target, and fired.
He hit the ground before Lennix even knew what was happening. It hadn’t been a kill shot, but it had been enough. Part of me hated the fact that psychopath was still breathing air, but there was another part of me that was grateful I hadn’t taken a life, because the truth was, I didn’t know how I’d handle something like that.
I’d run to Lennix, scooping her up and holding her against me as she sobbed uncontrollably. She’d been hurt, but she was alive. My fighter. Zach had gone to Davis, keeping his own rifle trained on him until the police and ambulances arrived. Well,afterhe’d beat the bloody shit out of him first. I might have put a hole in the man’s shoulder, but I was sure Zach had broken several bones and caused no small amount of internal injuries. I didn’t fault him for a single second. All I felt was a twinge of envy that I hadn’t gotten to pound him into the dirt myself.
There were countless cuts and bruises across her body, but for the most part, they were superficial. The only real injury was what he’d done to her cheekbone when he punched her.
But according to the paramedic, my girl gave even better than she’d gotten. So had her dog. Sure enough, his leg had been mangled by Ziggy. The frying pan to his head had caused a serious laceration, and the jab to the eye didn’t just look gnarly, there was a good chance he’d never be able to see out of it again.
When that dog made it out of surgery to repair the broken ribs from being kicked, I was going to make sure he ate nothing but the finest cuts of meat for the rest of his life. The extra time we’d needed to get to Lennix had been given to us by that derpy three-legged dog. I might have taken Davis down, but Ziggy had been the one to save Lennix.
That was why, after getting the all-clear from the doctors at the hospital, instead of going home, we were camped out in the waiting room of Hardin’s veterinary practice. The room was filled with her family and mine, along with several friends—whowere basically family themselves. Lennix wouldn’t hear of going home. Not once she found out Ziggy had been injured saving her life. I’d put in a call on the way to the hospital, explaining to my buddy Connor what had happened. He’d gone straight to our house and waited with Ziggy for Hardin to show up.
That led us to now.
Lennix’s body trembled with another shiver, and I tightened my arms around her farther. She kept doing that off and on, the adrenaline from the day’s events ebbing and flowing.
I pressed my lips to her hair and breathed in that scent I loved so much. “Baby, we don’t need to stay. Hardin’s already assured us Ziggy’s going to be all right.
She shook her head, her mottled features hardening with determination. I kept reminding myself that the bruises and cuts would heal, but the sight of them still twisted my stomach into knots. “I’m not going anywhere until Hardin comes out here and tells me my boy’s going to be okay. It’s the least I can do for him after he saved my life.”
She had a point there.
“All right, Chaos. If that’s what you need, that’s what we’ll do.”
The two of us lapsed back into silence, content to hold each other while quiet conversations took place around us. When I lifted my eyes, they landed straight on Gypsy. My big sister, my rock and the closest thing I had to a parent, was watching me closely. I didn’t know what she saw when our gazes connected, but after a couple seconds, the worry that marred her brow smoothed out and she smiled. I returned it, feeling some of the weight that had been sitting on my chest all goddamn day fall away.
“You know I love you, right?” Lennix whispered.
I tipped my head down and locked eyes with her. Under the wounds, her beauty shone through clear as day, and when shesmiled up at me, the rest of the weight disappeared. That smile told me all I needed to know. She was going to be okay.Wewere going to be okay.
“I do. And I love you right back, Chaos.”
She let out a sigh and snuggled back into my chest, her next words cutting me open in the very best way. “I knew you’d come. Never doubted it for a single second.”
With those words, my world got a bit brighter.
Epilogue
Lennix
Afew months later
I stoodat the entrance of my barn, leaning a shoulder against the open doorway as I watched Raylan and Toby brushing down Corona and Zephyr.
