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Slowly, her eyelids opened. “Roman?” she rasped.

“Shayla, I’m here. I’m here. I got you.”

“What’s going on?”

“They’re taking you to Angelthene. I’m going to find you there as soon as I get back, okay?”

“Okay,” she croaked.

“I’ll find you.” He lifted her hand to kiss the back of it. “I promise.” He forced himself to let go, even as his heart begged him not to, even as his feet continued to shuffle forward as Shay was lifted into the helicopter.

Dean was being airlifted out, too. Roman spotted him on another stretcher. He was unconscious.

The world spun beneath Roman’s feet. Just when he’d thought his life was being pieced back together, it was being shattered again.

“Roman?”

Shay’s small voice had him hurrying forward, keeping one hand wrapped around Paxton’s. “Yeah, Shayla, I’m here,” he panted. “I’m here.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

The confession pierced his heart. Rendered him speechless.

Before he had a chance to reply, her eyelids slid shut, and he was forced to step back, clearing the way for the helicopter to take flight. It took all his self-control not to throw himself in there. Not to force those paramedics to take him with.

As he watched the helicopter take off, wind from the rotary blades slashing across his face, he realized?—

He loved her, too. Even more than he had before—when he’d whispered the confession into the darkness at Motel 58. The thought of losing her again was enough to nearly bring him to his knees. A life without Shay wasn’t a life he wanted to live. A life without Shay was like the world without rain. And Roman loved the rain.

With his hand wrapped around Paxton’s, Roman watched, his heart crumbling into dust, as the beautiful thief who’d stolen his heart and the father he never knew he had were taken away from him.

115

The Harbor

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

They’d madeit to the harbor. Against all odds, they’d made it to the harbor.

When the tower had collapsed, the mass of shadow had blasted outward, moving past the coast. Rushing out toward the ocean. And because it had blinded them, there was no telling how far it had spread, but?—

They were in the boat now. All of them were crowded in a group, holding onto each other. The fact that they all fit—barely—was a miracle in itself.

Malakai was driving. Max listened in on his own headset as the Reaper conversed with Darien, whose voice was getting fainter by the minute.

He’d guided them out. As soon as the tower came down, Darien had guided them, all the way from the South Coastal District to the harbor. And now, he was staying on the line to ensure they found their way out of the darkness.

Max’s heart hadn’t stopped pounding since they’d set foot in Lucent Enterprises. He held on tightly to Dallas’s hand as the boat dipped and splashed over the waves, icy water he couldn’t see misting his face. It was impossible to tell where they were going, but?—

Getting out of the shadow was their one and only goal right now. And it was easier in the boat than it was to attempt to run blindly through the destruction of the city. This was quicker.

Minutes passed, and Max began to fear the shadow had spread too far to get out. That perhaps the life serum coursing through their bloodstreams would be absorbed by the time they got out of here. But then?—

Slowly, Max rose to his feet, a few of the others doing the same.

Blinked in disbelief.

He could see.