“Ohfuck,” Ollie hisses, her voice wobbling with fear.
My brow furrows in confusion, my spiralling thoughts forgotten. “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes are wide with fear as she stares behind us but doesn’t answer, instead pointing toward where she’s looking. I follow her gaze and almost choke as a bolt of terror races through me.
“Bloody hell, that’s not good.” Understatement of the century. There areseveralzombies hobbling in our direction, their alien eyes too brightin the darkness. Thankfully, they haven’t noticed us yet. But it’s only a matter of time and there’s too many of them for us to take out, even if we didn’t have to worry about alerting the guards.
“We need to move,” I tell Ollie as I grab her shoulder, intending to pull her into motion.
She resists and shakes her head. “We can use this—use them—to take out the guards and even the odds since we still haven’t heard from the guys.”
“What? This isn’t part of the plan, Ollie. You know how deadly they are during the night and there’s at leasteightof them!” I snap and shake her, hoping she’ll see sense, but she’s not even listening to me. No, she has that calculating look in her eyes I saw before she started pushing cars in order to save Theo and Rhys from the horde on the road.
Bloody hell.
She’s going to do something stupid and incredibly dangerous. And there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop her aside from physically restraining her. The idea sounds tempting, but I shove it aside. I won’t manhandle her just because I don’t like that she’s putting herself in danger. No matter how much I want to.
“I think if we can get the guards to fire their guns, that should be enough to draw the attention of the zombies and then we mop up whoever’s survived,” she says with a firm nod, as if she’s agreeing with herself.
“Okay...” I say slowly. “How are we going to do that?”
She grimaces at me and I just know I’m going tohatewhatever she’s about to say. “We give them something to shoot at. Like me.”
Yep. I was right. I bloodydetestit. “No.Absolutelynot.”
She huffs and rolls her eyes likeI’mthe one being unreasonable when she’s telling me she’s going to goad the guards intoshooting at her. “Look, those zombies are going to notice us soon, and this is our best chance of survival. I’ll be careful, I promise.”
I shake my head. Bloody woman is going to be the death of me. “Ollie, it doesn’t have to be you. It could be me or hell, even Harlow.” Not that I’d ever allow Harlow in the line of fire like that.
Her expression turns thunderous at the mention of putting her dog in danger. “Fuck no,” she snarls, her emerald eyes flashing with anger. “There’s no way I’m putting Harlow in that situation,ifthey even decide to shoot at her. And I’m much harder to hit than you will be, big guy.” She pats my arm, and it’s all I can do not to growl at her.
“This is fucking stupid—”
“But what choice do we have?”
I grind my teeth together and tug at my hair, resisting the urge to rip it out.Fuck, fuck, fuck!I glance back to where the zombies are bearing down on us, shuffling ever closer. We have maybe a few minutes before they scent us and then they’ll be on us in seconds.
“Alex...”
My eyes snap back to Ollie at the soft plea in her voice. She looks resigned but determined, and I know this wonderfully stubborn woman won’t back down. I close my eyes and sigh heavily, my stomach feeling like it’s filled with rocks as I reluctantly nod.
Ollie breathes out her own sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
I open my eyes and cup the sides of her head with my hands, forcing her to look at me. “Don’t you dare die,” I order her. “Or I’ll find a way to resurrect you just so I can punish you.” I don’t know how I’ll punish her, but that isn’t important right now.
Her eyes widen at my words, but I don’t give her a chance to reply. I take her lips with mine, consuming her with a kiss filled with all the pent-up emotions I’ve had yet to put into words. By the time I pull back, she’s breathing hard, her lips are swollen and her pupils are blown with desire. It’s a fantastic look on her. One I plan to put on her again, although with fewer clothes and more orgasms.
“Since you still haven’t chosen, I intend to convince you to be mine. And that includes evening the score.” After last night, I owe her at least one orgasm. Her getting off to watching me jerk off doesn’t count.
“What—”
I don’t let her finish. I place another kiss on her lips, this one sweeter and softer, before I pull away from her completely. “Go do whatever you need to do and come back to me,” I tell her, trying to act like my heart isn’t being ripped open by letting her go through with this.
She gives me a curt nod before glancing down at Harlow. “Stay,” she commands. Even the dog doesn’t seem enthused about her owner leaving her behind, but she does as she’s told. “I’ll be back,” she promises me before disappearing into the dark.
She better be, I think as I crouch in the bushes and do the only thing I can do; wait.
Olivia
