“If we say run—”
“I’ll run.”
He studies my face like he’s memorizing it, before placing a gentle and all-to-quick kiss on my lips.
“I love you,” he murmurs.
“I love you too,” I whisper against his lips before he steps aside.
Jasper and Lincoln follow, each of them kissing me like the air inside my lungs is what they need to survive. And maybe… maybe it is.
Lawson saves himself for last. He doesn’t reach for me immediately. He just stands there for a moment, looking at me, committing every detail to memory. His eyes trace the slope of my nose, the freckles dusting my cheek, the way my hair catches in the wind, and the curve of my lips.
Then, he cups the back of my neck and pulls me into him. His kiss is firm. Grounded.
Not rushed or frantic. Just… certain.
When he pulls back, his thumb drags slowly along my cheek. And then he says it. “I love you.”
My world stops and my breathcatches. “Lawson—”
He clenches his jaw and his dark brown eyes dance between mine. “I’m done waiting for the right moment to say it. This is it. I love you.” He kisses me again. “I love you.” And again. “I. Love. You.”
Emotion swells so fast in my chest it almost hurts. “I—”
“Tell me after,” he interrupts gently, a small smile pulling at his lips. “When we’re done.”
His hand lingers at my jaw like it physically pains him to let go.
But he does.
And just like that, the moment is over.
I don’t miss the way Beau’s hand hovers near his coat where his gun sits.
I don’t miss the way Lawson scans the tree line before taking a single step forward.
Or the way Lincoln’s expression has gone utterly unreadable.
And I don’t miss the way Jasper’s expression shifts to that of someone that’s entirely lethal.
This is the kind of moment that divides life into before and after.
I thought once, that that moment was when I was handed over to Aleksandr. And then again to Maxim.
Then, there was the night that I ran, and the moment I stepped off of the plane in Billings. I thought every single one of those moments was the stepping-off point for the rest of my life.
But now, in the middle of the woods, surrounded by the four of them, I know that moment is now. Because somewhere ahead of us, in a cabin hidden in the trees, are men who want to tear my—ourworld apart.
They want to ruin our after.
I draw in a slow breath.
Please let my sister be there.
Please let her be alive.
The five of us move into the trees together, boots sinking into untouched snow.
