“No!” He would never be that.
Solan snorted. “Then what do you call it when you’re on Bridgebane’s payroll, just like the rest of us?”
At that, Tess’s breathing turned so hard and erratic that Shade could feel it punching into the back of his neck.
Don’t lose it on me now, baby.He still had to figure this out.
“I can’t…” Tess didn’t finish, and an audible shudder leaked from her mouth.
His stomach sank. This was not going to end well.
Over his shoulder, talking fast, Shade said, “Listen to me, Tess—”
“No!” He caught a flash of her eyes—two bright-blue bombs ready to blow.
“Tess, listen—”
“You listen tome, Shade Ganavan.” She uttered his name like a curse. “I will hate you until the day I die.” She rammed her hands hard into his shoulder blades, shoving him forward a step.
She ran just as Solan sent off his first shot. Shade lunged after her, trying to stay in between them enough to mess with Solan’s aim and shield Tess.
Fiona suddenly curled her upper body around the doorway and started spraying Grayhawk bullets all over the place. Solan and Raquel ran and dove behind the supply crate that Shade had left on the dock, and Tess sprang toward her ship. As if by magic, Jax appeared. She raised her arms, and he hauled her up, throwing her away from the opening and out of the hunters’ line of sight.
From the cover of the crate, Solan started firing back at Fiona. His angle was nearly impossible for aiming inside the ship, but dents started showing up on the outer hull near the door. With only her arm and one eye visible, Fiona kept hammering off shots that pinged off the big metal box. Out in the open, Shade figured it was only a matter of seconds before he caught a ricochet and got hit.
Something seared his skin.Shrapnel?He reached up.
No, Raquel and her fucking darts. Unlike Solan, she never missed. He ripped the tranquilizer from his neck.
Shade knew he was practically in the cross fire, but he had to tell Tess. She had to know…
Safe.
He staggered, the strong sedative hitting him fast. Gunfire roared on his left.
“Tess!” he croaked, reaching for her. His hand wavered in front of his face.
From just a few feet away inside her ship, Tess stared at him, her fiery eyes gone cold, her beautiful face turned to rock.
“In or out?” Jax yelled, his eyes sweeping back and forth between Shade and Tess.
If Tess hesitated at all, Shade didn’t see it. “Leave him with his friends,” she answered, stepping back.
Shade felt himself crumbling, falling apart. It wasn’t only the drug. He’d lost. He’d losteverything. Again.
A ball of fur streaked past Tess’s legs and jumped off the ship, landing like a gray torpedo on the platform and racing away from the noise.
Panic replaced the hatred on her face. “No! Bonk!” she yelled, lunging after her cat.
“Stop!” Jax’s bellow probably wouldn’t have stopped her, but his hand grabbing the back of her jacket did. He jerked Tess back.
“Bonk!” Her frantic shouts rattled like a nightmare in Shade’s spinning head.
With the last of his strength, his knees giving out, Shade lurched toward the exterior lock—because he was the asshole who’d programmed his own handprint into Tess’s new door. But before he could lock her in himself, Jax slammed his palm down on the interior control, still gripping a struggling, screaming Tess in his other hand. The door whooshed shut, ending Fiona’s hail of bullets toward the other hunters and cutting Shade off from the woman he’d fallen for so hard that he’d ruined his life.
He wanted to howl in misery, but his mouth wouldn’t open for anything other than breaths. He fell onto the platform, darkness crawling over him, empty and void like space.
He heard the ship take off, felt the slap of hot air and the vibration of the engine as Tess flew out of his life.
