Moose guided her like the giant he was, holding her inhis grip while I somehow weaved my fingers through her hair as we walked. When we fell back into the main part of the warehouse with the dirty, diluted light, I saw the whole of my pack standing around our enemy. Every single one of them was there, their faces pointed in our direction with their chins held high, their hands down by their sides as they waited for their next instruction.
Pulling her closer to his chest, Moose kept Ayda’s face buried away from the world, but the flash of light that wandered over her ripped back had the eyes of all my brothers narrowing. The low growl that each one gave out turned into a war cry from a pack of animals that were baring their teeth to their attackers, ready to strike.
Cortez was fucked.
Deeks was the only man to rush over, the lapels of his cut flapping back as he charged forward and ran his hands over her bare arms.
“Sweet Jesus,” he muttered.
Lifting my hand to his shoulder, I tried to ignore the layer of moisture that had covered my eyes. To see her that way was one thing. For all my men to see her this way was another. We were a family and the truth was, whether she’d been there for ten years or ten minutes, Ayda had become the heart of it.
“Take care of her for me while I do this, Deeks. You’re the only one she will let touch her after what she’s just been through.”
Deeks turned to me, his palms still resting on her as he spoke. “Kill him quick. Don’t waste time. That stuff is more precious now than ever before.”
“I don’t have the restraint to take it slow,” I said as my jaw tensed.
“But make him pay. Make it fucking hurt.”
The fact that it wasn’t like Deeks to speak that way didn’t go unnoticed. He was feeling what I was, only he didn’t have the black blood running through him the way I did. He had more compassion. I had more hatred.
“It’s done.” I gave him a nod before lifting both my hands to Ayda’s head and stroking her hair. When my lips met the side of her face, I pressed against her much harder than I intended, closing my eyes as I poured out every ounce of life I had left in me and aimed it all into making her better.
God, I loved her. I loved her so fucking much.
There was no sign of life coming from her, just a small roll of her head as though she was acknowledging I was there before she lost herself in Moose again.
I had to look away. The pain she was in was making the anger rise, which was perfect for what I was about to do, but I also needed to wait until just a few more things had been cleared up.
Turning to my men, I glanced up through my better eye and pressed my hands together in front of me. I was a body of blood. Their faces failed to hide their horror, which coming from a group of men that had done what they’d done in their lives, pretty much said it all. I took a moment to glance down at my feet before I managed to collect my thoughts, swallow my emotion, and roll my jaw. When I pushed my shoulders back and tried to focus through the haze, I made sure every word I spoke counted.
“Get Sutton out of here and treat him well. I’d have been dead before you got here if he hadn’t done what he did. He saved my life. Take him back to The Hut. Someone else make sure his kids are safe. All of them. If they’re scared orhurt, take them back to The Hut, too.” I stopped to swallow, ignoring the way each word sliced my throat. “Deeks and Moose will take Ayda home. The rest of you, I need you here. As you can see, I’m pretty fucked up, but I’m still here, hanging on by a thread. I need your strength. I need your vision. I need your help. I need my brothers at my back.”
My head rolled in the direction of Cortez and the disgust on my face was immediate. I wasn’t going to take a single step closer until Ayda was out of there. She’d seen enough death and destruction for one night.
Cortez looked up at me through narrowed eyes, curling his lip as he tried not to show his own agony at having his limbs twisted around behind him with a knife wound in his shoulder and a bullet in his gut.
I intended on showing him that what he was feeling then was barely an itch on the agony scale.
“Chain him up high. Feet off the ground. No mercy.”
Then my men all howled around me. Our war cry had gone out.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Ayda
The pain was everywhere. It seemed to attack in waves the farther I got from Drew. My only source of comfort seemed to come from the quiet mumblings of Deeks as Moose cradled me against him as carefully as he could. There were no arms I wanted more than Drew’s, but these guys were my family and there was a comfort in that I hadn’t expected.
I was aware of a couple more guys around us, and that Sutton was being dragged between two of them as they headed toward the van. Other than Moose and Deeks, I was completely oblivious as to whom. I was so tired, I actually blinked the small twinge of guilt away and forced myself to focus on pain management while not thinking about the fact that I was in a bra and heavily shredded jeans. Modesty seemed a pointless and painful exercise that I shouldn’t waste time on.
I heard the slide of the van’s door open, the squeak of suspension and the thunder of boots loud, even against the faint chirp of the insects that inhabited the surrounding fields. I didn’t bother looking at anything but the stars above our heads, the million points of light suddenly a thousand times more profound than they’d ever been before.
I was alive.
I wasn’t sure how, but I was, and so was Drew.
Rolling my head and pushing my temple into the leather covering Moose’s chest, I tried to find my breath. Yet again, the sobs were rising in my chest, but they weren’t out of fear or pain; they were in gratitude.
