It still takes Reid a few moments to realise how screwed he is though.
Talon leans down into his ear. “You’re not even man enough to get a woman without taking mine.” And then Tal moves, like he’s about to snap Reid’s neck!
“Talon! Do not finish what you’re doing there!” I hiss, spinning around so I’m not the wrong way up anymore.
And lucky I did too, because while Reid and Talon are on the outside of the car and my arm is suspended in mid-air because of the chain, Talon can’t see Reid being a sneaky fucker and trying to reach inside his jacket. Since I know exactly how many different places Koz arms himself, it’s not hard to put together that Reid’s armed.
I move like a whip and pull out my gun before he can. And because I am in a bitch of a mood, I shoot Reid. Twice. The first is to disarm him, my small calibre packs a nasty punch and shatters the silence and a part of Reid. Since it was the only place Talon wasn’t behind I had no choice but to aim at Reid’s arm.
With him squealing like a dog in heat, and as payback for what his mother did, I pop a cap in his knee and watch the blood drain from his face as his flight senses finally kick into action.
Reid shoves back against Talon in his need to escape, and they both stumble and fall backwards. But I get dragged along too, because of the damn chain Reid cuffed on me. I whack my head on the door so hard it brings not just stars but a cosmos of them. That is going to hurt bad.
Over the roar of the traffic and the squeal of Reid as he struggles to breathe through Talon’s renewed and even more pressing chokehold, I hear the sweetest rumble ever. Dad’s truck and the Fallen are coming. A little late, but still in the middle of the carnage I burst out laughing, making Talon freak out even more.
“Lolli? What now?”
I hold up my hand, telling him to give me a second so I can get my rush of panic out of my system and into a more appropriate response. I’m not a giggly Gert, although the dark humour of today is not lost on me. Fucking Reid managed to screw up my packing in his own unique way.
“Lolli?”
I take another steady breath before looking at him. We’ve still got some shit to sort out, like him being in the driver’s seat.
“Talon, throw him in the trunk, honestly they’ll kill him out here without a backwards glance. In front of the whole damn world.”
“They should, Lolli! They fucking should.” He barks, his alpha is not in surging dominance and errant aggression, now it’s pointed panic and unbiased attention in his midnight blue eyes that’s holding me hostage.
“And that will happen, Tal, but that’s not something the rest of the world needs to be a part of. Please, do it for me.”
He looks at me for a solid second before he throws up his hands. “Fucking hell, Lolli,” he roars, “everything I do is for you!”
I’m not sure what to say to that, so I don’t reply. Instead, I watch him closely, praying and hoping he didn’t fuck me or anyone I know over, because Talon not being in my world would be brutal. He stands there staring at me, without saying another word, but his chest heaves like he’s run up a mountain and he scents up the space between us.
I want to believe what I see. Without question, he ticks every one of my omega boxes: being so sure of himself, standing there in his ripped shirt, his hair a mess, smelling like a tasty treat. But I’ve been fooled before and looks can be deceiving. Eventually, I figure I need to break our weird moment or he’ll endanger himself. “You better get ready to explain why your fucking ass was in the driver’s seat. I don’t think they’re,” I say gently, pointing down the road towards the approaching rumble of King’s truck, “in the listening mood.”
He doesn’t act like a guilty man. He hustles and does everything I suggest including throwing a semi-conscious and banged up Reid into the trunk. And I have to stand against the car, right near where Reid is because of the stupid fucking chain still linking us together. In the middle of it, I see and experience Talon’s care in the sweetest of ways. And it feels real, when he alternates between kicking the shit out of Reid and bracing my wrist like it’s breakable crystal. He rips his shirt off to press against my bloody forehead, and even though he’s using his eyes to ask me to trust him instead of coming up with a million excuses for his actions, he also understands why it’s better for everyone when he lies down in classic takedown pose when the truck pulls to a stop.
Talon presses his nose to the road, crosses his hands over the back of his head and spreads his legs wide.
I’d run to Koz, but the cuffs keep me locked in place.
ChapterForty-One
KOZ
It’s hard to properly know how to express how I feel, but she’s standing in front of me which helps me more than oxygen in my lungs. And that was very nearly a real fucking problem when I got shot.
I’ll be like one of those fucking reviewers now leaving gushing feedback about how good the new vests the Colombians supply are. Or probably not.
I won’t think too hard about the scene we left behind me. Not when I came so close to losing her.
Over the distance, I painstakingly take stock of every inch of her. Her jade eyes are crammed full of what she went through and despite the way she sways in time with each breath I take, she stands proud like the statue of Venus.
Climbing out of King’s truck, I know she’s starting to put shit together.
“He’s fine,” I promise. And it’s an easy one to keep.
“Where’s Puck? And Hayes?” Her eyes fly wide.
