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“But—”

“I’ll meet you back at yours.”

“You promise?”

“I fucking promise, Angel.”

Dropping his knife to the floor, he twists his bloody fingers in my hair and slams his lips down on mine.

Just for those few seconds, everything fades away, and it’s just the two of us on that beach again. But the second he pulls back, it’s lost.

“Ready?” he asks.

He lifts my arm, raising my gun as if I’m going to need to shoot someone.

Hauling Jerome from the floor, Daemon encourages us to help him before reloading his gun and getting ready.

“Three. Two.” My heart beats out of rhythm as I try and focus, blood rushing past my ears and making everything blur. “One. Fucking run.”

I do as I’m told because it’s Daemon. I’d be stupid to do anything but what he says in a situation like this.

Gunfire explodes behind us as Jodie and I half drag Jerome toward the doors.

“Are you all okay?” I shout as we spill out into the darkness of the gardens beyond.

“Yeah,” Jodie agrees while Jerome just groans. I take that as agreement, because I can’t cope with anything else right now.

We continue to run as fast as we can with the almost dead weight between us as the carnage continues behind us.

The ground rocks with another explosion, and I stupidly risk a look back.

A scream rips from my throat as I watch the part of the building we were just in collapse.

“He’ll be okay, Calli,” Jodie assures me, reminding me that she witnessed that kiss. “We gotta keep going.”

We spill through the trees, leaving the barely standing building behind us.

The SUV is at the end of the driveway with the lights on.

The second we’re spotted, both Stella and Calli jump out and rush toward us, taking Jerome’s weight from me.

“Calli, get in the fucking car,” Emmie screams when I come to a stop and turn around, watching the dark smoke pluming into the sky.

I’m just about to move when a body explodes through the trees. I raise my gun on instinct when I see his face covering, my finger on the trigger and ready to shoot.

But our eyes collide and my heart sinks into my feet.

He pulls his balaclava off and a sob erupts as I stare at the boy I foolishly trusted.

My own stupidity slams into me.

“Calli,” Ant breathes. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Burning hot tears flood my cheeks as I stare at him with my gun still raised.

“I’ll get them out, all of them. I fucking promise you.”

It’s stupid. But as he says the words, I have no choice but to believe him, even in the middle of this bloody war.