Or our deaths. And maybe it was fitting that my life had begun and ended with the Rebel Kings fighting the same fight.
Because my life hadn’t been worth living till I’d found something worth dying for.
I had a Crow in my sights. I threw myself forward, battered torso screaming, but I welcomed the pain. Craved it. And for a fleeting moment, I understood Alexei’s convoluted brain.
Then a shot shattered the night, ear-splitting and final, and my mind emptied of all else but throwing myself at Cam.
26
Saint
The noise felt like it was happening in my head. I stumbled, my knees hitting the ground. More shots rang out and panic punched my chest. In the chaos, I searched for Cam, my hand squelching in mud and blood.
So much blood.
Cam’s blood?
No.
“Saint.”
No.
Someone shook me. I blinked and Cam appeared like an angel and tugged me to my feet. “It’s Viktor. They’re here. Get your head down. They’re gonna shoot every fucking one of them.”
Shots pierced the air, each one a stab to my eardrums. I let Cam haul me into his side and propel me somewhere else.
I let himcover mewith his body for a split second before I fought him to reverse our positions.
“No.” He gripped my arms. “Easy. Just fucking breathe. We’re gonna be okay.”
“Yeah?” I choked on the word.
Cam’s face splintered. “Yes. Just keep your head down till the shooting stops. I can’t live with the irony if we get slotted by Russian mercenaries.”
A fractured laugh escaped me. Cam smashed his lips to mine before pulling away with a wry smile, the soundtrack to his mind-blowing kiss the fading pop of suppressed gunfire.
Silence fell hard and fast. The drizzly rain stopped. Cautious, I held Cam down while I raised my head, listening. “Where are the others?”
Cam pointed to the shadows. “Rubes has Nash. The rest of them legged it into the woods.”
“You okay?”
“I ain’t dead.”
“Me neither.” I remembered the phone in my pocket. Pulled it out.
The screen was alight with a call.
Alexei.
He was there.
I gave the phone to Cam.
He pressed it to his ear and a real smile split his face in half. “Yeah, we made it. Just. Your friend was fucking late.”
Cam gifted me a laugh.
