It was over.
It had to be over.
The worst had happened and ended in the same breath.
Sabine rested her head against my chest, thumb creeping toward her mouth before she stopped herself, remembering she was five and not a baby.
I brushed damp hair away from her forehead.
“You’re very brave,” I whispered.
She blinked up at me solemnly.
Kane exhaled slowly beside us.
Only then did I look at him fully.
He was pale under the tan of his skin. Jaw tight. Eyes darker than usual.
“You okay?” I asked.
He nodded once.
“Yes.”
But his voice held something.
Restraint.
We locked eyes for a long second.
And then—unexpectedly—something in me snapped.
Not from fear.
From relief.
I leaned toward him and kissed him.
Hard.
Not slow. Not tentative. Not romantic.
Desperate.
Alive.
His hand came to my jaw instantly, steadying me, kissing me back with a force that matched the storm we’d just walked through.
For a second, the world shrank again.
Not to a gun.
To him.
To breath and heat and the fact that we were still here.
When we broke apart, my forehead rested against his.
