“Yourwhat, Ronan? The only thing she is to you is your bounty. Face it.”
Fire grew in the pit of my chest, smoke rising from my pores. “She’s my—”
“Ronan!”
Sage’s voice, sweet and scared, quelled the heat, and I turned around. She slowly approached me, her arms wrapped around her stomach. “It’s fine. I’m not lying about the Premier, but he’s right. And your deal is running out.”
The fire fizzled and I crossed the short distance between us, taking her in my arms. Everything about her felt right, and I couldn’t deny it any longer. “I don’t know what you are to me, but you’re not just a job, Sage. And I’m ready to admit that if I have to choose between a life without you or to let it end, knowing you’re safe… I’m going with the latter.”
Garrick swore behind me and Sage gasped, wrenching herself from my hold, her eyes wet with unshed tears. “Don’t you fucking dare, Ronan! Because the only thing that’s going to help me get through what comes next is knowing you’re alive. I want to think about you getting to finally renovate your house. I want to imagine you making some friends and inviting them over to play a game. I want…”
Garrick stormed up to us, opening the back door to my car. “And I want to get fucking paid! You heard the woman, Ronan. It’s time to go. And just to be sure you don’t fuck this up any more than you already have, I’m coming with you. Ms. Hexwood?”
No… I couldn’t let her go. The ache I felt coursing through my veins was worse than anything I’d ever experienced in my life. Death would be a reprieve, a welcome one, from just the thought of her leaving me.
But not if it caused her pain. She’d had enough of that, and I had to trust her that this was the best option for now.
“I’ll find a way,” I whispered in her ear. “I’ll get you out.”
“I appreciate the thought,” she replied. “But he’s the Premier of Noctis. He’s too powerful. It will be impossible without an army, and again, it’s not worth it to me for you to risk yourself like that. Just be happy, okay?”
I breathed her in again, letting her scent calm me. “Okay,” I lied.
With one more kiss on the cheek, she left my embrace and got in the back of the car. Garrick stared at me as he shut her door.
“Don’t fucking trip at the finish line, Ronan.”
I nodded solemnly, then got back in the driver’s seat. I pulled it back up from where moments ago I’d been laying, Sage’s gorgeous legs wrapped around me, and waited for Garrick to get in.
There was no way I was going to trip at the finish line.
Because this race was far from over.
* * *
Another valet waited for us at the high-rise apartment building, this one at least knowing how to drive stick, and we made our way inside to the elevators.
I carried Sage’s medicine and care instructions from the hospital, watching her heartbeat pulse through the vein in her neck.
Her fear and anxiety were choking me, and I fought against the instinct to hold her. Victor might be watching us from the security cameras, and I couldn’t let him know how I felt about her. He’d wanted her…untouched.
Garrick, meanwhile, radiated rage. He’d spent the whole drive here berating me for going against bounty hunter codesand rules. I finally had to tell him to shut up because he’d been upsetting Sage, but that just made him angrier.
At least I’d succeeded in getting him to stop talking, though, and once this was over, I’d never have to see him again. As a matter of fact, as soon as I stepped back in this elevator, I was blocking his number on my phone. I was officially done with him and this life.
We made it to the top floor, and the same guard from before stood in front of the door. He glared at us again, but his gaze softened considerably when he saw Sage hiding halfway behind me.
“Good evening, Ms. Hexwood,” he said quietly, a note of affection in his voice.
“Hi, Giorgi.”
Garrick’s eyes shifted towards mine, confused and surprised at the casualness of their relationship. She knew the guard well, and he wasn’t treating her like a hardened criminal or enemy of the Premier. There were sympathy and pity in his eyes, almost like he was sorry she was there.
Told you, asshole.
The door opened and we’d barely made it inside when the Premier appeared, his expression cold and angry. Sage trembled but kept her head held high, stepping up to face him.
The Premier’s glamour was in full effect, and beneath it he looked terrible. He had lost a considerable amount of weight, his skin was pale—even for a vampire—and he had dark circles under his eyes.
