Seri gasping in fear had Severo’s eyes snapping open. Sweat dripped down his brow as he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.
“Hand over the child,” demanded a man dressed, head to toe, in all black.
His gaze flicked to Seri. Three other men were already working on getting the rubble off the Nymph. The beam had shifted when the floor collapsed, and it now laid partly on his chest, instead of pinning his leg. Blood was dripping from the man’s lips…
Seri was trapped… He was too far away… He couldn’t risk it… Tears rolling down his face, he stared into Seri’s golden eyes, and with all his might, he willed that the man understood why…
A shot rang out.
“NO!”Seri screamed out in horror.
A bloody hole appeared in Severo’s forehead, the Dweller collapsing, but not before Seri got to see the empty look that entered the man’s eyes in death. The dreams that had been growing, ones of their future together, dying with him.
“SEVERO!” he wailed, not even acknowledging or caring when one man placed a thick shackle on his wrist while the others continued to try to dig him out of the rubble.
“Severo,” he said again hopelessly. He wasn't fighting them in the least as they finally dragged him out from the rubble.
It hurt…everything hurt so much. Yet…none of the physical pain could compare to the ache forming in his chest.
Whole body shaking with the force of his sobs, Seri’s breath kept catching. Moments ticked by, each second becoming harder and harder to breathe.
As one of the men continued to stand there in the growing bloody puddle beneath Severo’s body, he lost it. “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!” he exploded in a fit of rage. Struggling then, he kept screaming, “I’LL KILL YOU ALL! I PROMISE!”
They said nothing, their grips tightening the harder he fought. His screams were filled with pain, and promised retribution. As he was held there, twisting and fighting against their hold, he noticed something. Something that managed to catch his attention long enough to make it through his despair, enough to make him think. Seri slowly stopped fighting to eye the bastard who had shot Severo.
The man was prying Skya from the Dweller’s hands…yet…Skya…wasn’t crying…
His tears dried up. Something…was off. The child looked like his…in every way, yet her eyes were…hollow.
“Ha…” Seri burst into laughter, each syllable sounding more deranged than the last. The men eyed him warily as he continued on, beginning to cough as more smoke filled his lungs. His laughter crescendoed when at last, the bodies of Severo and Skya disappeared into the shadows.
Clutching his hand around his necklace, he continued to laugh. What happened to him didn’t matter. None of this mattered…because Severo and Skya were safe. Preston hadn’t won. And he never would, because Seri wasn’t alone anymore…
His mind filled with rage, tears ran down his face as Severo held tightly to Skya with his right arm. His left hung loosely by his side, blood dripping from a large gash on his forearm that went deep enough to expose bone.
Above the anger was the undeniable screaming urge to go back. His heart broke more with each step he took away… Seri… Seri had been trapped…
But was that an excuse?! What else could he have done?! He could have caused so much damage had he tried to pull Seri into the Shadow Realm… Was losing a leg…worth getting away?! If it was between Seri getting away and Severo losing a leg, he’d have done it in a heartbeat…but this was Seri…he…
Doubt entered his mind. Could he…have waited? Severo could have waited… Waited until they freed the Nymph to grab him… But the men…the weapons. He couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t have risked Skya…
The little girl was crying in his arms. Clinging to him, her cries were hoarse and weak. How much smoke had she inhaled while he’d been arguing with Seri? The cold probably wasn’t helping. She was out here in a simple onesie with stars.
“Oh-Oh,” she cried.
He gently ran his hand over her curls. “I've got you, Skya. I've got you,” he rasped hoarsely.
Severo cried out as he forced his left arm to move, using both to shield her from the cold wind.
Seri had been right, he should have gotten Skya and left right away after realizing he couldn’t free Seri on his own. Fuck, he should have gone to her first… If he had been a minute later…she’d…
He had failed Seri… He had failed to protect the man he loved. He had failed both of them.
His mind a mess, Severo kept walking, one foot in front of the other, heading right to the parking deck—to the SUV. He eyed it with trepidation. It could be tracked. Or had it already been tracked?
Dammit, he couldn’t risk it…not until he knew…. Until he knew who had betrayed them. Slipping out of the Shadow Realm, he unlocked it, and gritted his teeth just barely holding back his scream of pain as he pulled the door open with his left hand. He jumped in, sitting down before shutting the door.
The other seat currently held Skya’s multi-functional car seat. They’d placed it there months ago after buying all the things it could turn into. Severo dragged the shopping bag, he luckily had been hiding from Seri, closer. It had been something he’d planned to surprise him with during Halloween.
