Ranier wouldn’t risk the girl in an explosion. He would’ve sent men to subdue her quietly and take her back for more.
There was nothing stealthy or careful about the carnage spread out before him.
And then Reaper caught a glint of sunlight on pale blonde hair fanned out on the ground 10 feet away and his entire world stopped turning.
“Caroline!”
Reaper hopped across the distance separating them and dropped to his knees beside her, running his hands over her body, searching for injuries. The only thing he could find was a small trickle of blood leaking from near her temple.
She didn’t move. He laid his head against her chest and strained to hear a heartbeat. And it was there. Strong and steady, the rhythmic thump, thump, thump. She was alive.
Reaper dropped his head against her chest, unable to hold himself up.
She was alive. He still had a chance.
But there could be more men coming.
There wasn’t time. Did he dare risk moving her when it was possible she had a broken neck or spine? “Caroline, baby, please open your eyes.”
She didn’t give so much as a flicker of her lashes against her dirt-smudged cheeks.
“Caroline, I order you to open your eyes right now!” He put force behind this command, willing her to awaken.
Shit, shit. He had enough field medical training to know that moving someone in her state was too much of a risk to permanent injury, but he had enough instinct to know there were more men on their way.
“Goddammit, Caroline, open those big blue eyes of yours.”
If Reaper had blinked, he would’ve missed it. Her eyes moved beneath her lids. Had she heard him? “Come on, baby, wake up. I can’t move you unless you wake up.”
A low groan escaped her lips, and she turned her head an inch to the left.
“That’s it. That’s it, come on, you can do it.”
She moaned again and it was sweet, heavenly music to his ears.
“Reaper?”
His hands quivered as he drew her hair back from her face, careful to avoid getting close to her injury. “I’m right here, baby.”
She kept her eyes closed, but her beautiful lips turned down into a small frown. “You came back.”
“I was a fool, an idiot; I never should’ve left you. I swear to God I’ll never leave your side again, even if you tell me to.”
A tear traced down her cheek, dropping into a dark stain in the dirt below. “I thought—I thought—
“Hush, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is I’m here with you and I’ll protect you until I die.”
A cough racked her body and she grimaced,
“Open your eyes for me. Let me see those baby blues.”
She hesitated a moment and then he was lost in the depths of her gaze.
“I’m so sorry, I know I can never make it up to you, God, I’m sorry.”
Reaper bowed his head low, and waited on her to curse him, to tell him she never wanted to see him again. The thought of living his life without her left him desperate and hopeless, but at least she would be alive.
A shudder racked his body. “I thought I lost you for good.”
