“Don’t worry, Doyle,” I whisper, voice calm, cold, eternal. “I’ll find you in hell… and I will make your eternity so much worse.”
Then I let his corpse drop with a wet slap and turn around. I stride outside and stop at the door.
“We texted Kaden the second we rolled up,” Kian says, voice tight. “He’s coming with the medic.”
I nod once, eyes locked on Declan. He’s cradling Autumn against his chest, her limp body wrapped in a blood-spotted sheet, head lolling against his shoulder.
“Is she—” The words fracture in my throat. My hoodie and jeans are soaked through, warm and heavy, dripping a steady red trail across the floorboards.
“She’s alive,” Declan says, firm. “Breathing’s steady.” Then his gaze drops to my side, and his face goes stone. “Fuck, Flynn.”
The room tilts.
My knees hit the ground hard enough to rattle bone. The world tilts again, slower this time.
“Flynn!” Declan’s roar is distant.
Kian’s hands grab my shoulders. “He’s bleeding out, bad.”
“Hold her,” Declan snaps.
The sheet rustles. Then Declan’s palms slam over the knife wound, pressing so hard my spine bows. Blood seeps between his fingers like warm syrup.
“Stay with me, mate,” he growls. “Eyes open.”
Everything narrows to a pinprick. I’m floating, weightless, so fucking tired.
“Flynn?”
Her voice, soft, cracked, perfect, slices through the haze.
She’s there, on her knees beside me, sheet clutched to her chest, tears cutting clean tracks through the blood on her cheeks.
I lift a shaking hand, cup her face. My palm leaves a red print on her skin.
“Wife,” I rasp.
“You came,” she whispers, leaning into my touch like it’s the only real thing left in the world.
“Always, trouble.” My arm drops, feeling too heavy.
“I love you,” she breathes, forehead pressing to mine, warm breath ghosting my lips like silk over steel.
I open my mouth.
I love you, Autumn Brady.
The words don’t make it out.
The darkness rushes in, but her name is still on my tongue when it takes me.
The steady beep-beep-beep drills straight through my skull. I groan, cracking one eye open.
“Hey, sleeping beauty.”
Declan’s smug voice hits like a hammer. “Tell me I didn’t almost die just to wake up with your ugly mug first,” I rasp.
He grins, jerking his chin to the left. “Turn your head, Brady.”
