“Time to meet Slade.”
“Roger that, Cai. We’ll follow you.” Bam says.
Cai is the first to leave. He moves with the silent certainty of a man who knows exactly what he’s going to do, and is already halfway done with it. Bam follows, pulling on a jacket and strapping a blade to his thigh. He nods once, then walks out to the truck. Colt takes one last shot and heads out.
Rhett lingers. He lights a cigarette, then offers the pack to me. I decline.
He takes a drag, exhales, and says, “You ever wonder if maybe we’re just the next version of them?”
I don’t answer.
He laughs, shakes his head. “I do. Every fucking day.”
He flicks the ash into the sink and walks out, the screen door snapping behind him.
I’m almost to the truck when I hear, “Jules.”
Caius stands by the back door. He gestures with his head, and I follow him around the back, leaning against the truck bumper.
“What about your runner? Are you willing to die for her?”
I freeze. It’s not an accusation. It’s not even curiosity. It’s the kind of question only a man who’s lost everything can ask another who’s about to lose the same.
I look out at the trees, at the silver slice of moon still visible in the morning sky.
“She’s not a runner anymore,” I say.
Caius waits.
“She’s the fuse,” I admit. “None of this works without her. I’m in love with her man. Never thought I’d love anyone but myself, and yet here we are. All of us. Captured by the wild beauty they forced on us and honestly, she’s the one that forced me to be the man I need to be.”
Caius nods, slow. “And if they take her?”
“They won’t,” I say. “I’ll kill every one of them first.”
There’s a silence, the kind that says everything.
Caius nods. “She’s worth it?”
I don’t blink. “She’s the only thing that ever was.”
Caius smiles, and for a second, the cold is gone from his eyes.
“Then don’t fuck it up.” He gets in the drivers seat, as I walk to my car.
Hearing the purr as she comes to life, I ponder on what the next 24 hours will hold for us.
Death. Maybe.
Redemption. Not a chance.
Protecting those we love? Without a fucking doubt.
For the first time in my life, I don’t want to win.
I want to protect.
I want to burn the world down just to see her walk through the ashes, untouched, rising like the fucking phoenix she is.
