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Scrambling up next to her, it took everything in me to not force her to get her safe. But I felt her, her stubbornness, her claim as my equal. She was by no means a damsel in distress and would always stand by my side and fight, as I would her.

“Sprig!” I yelled again, desperate to see him climbing from the flat’s window. The twins scaled up to the roof as we covered them. The moment their boots hit the roof, I grabbed Kat’s arm, pulling her as I ran over the uneven terracotta tiles, firing back at our assailants.

Bang! Bang!Bullets whizzed by us, forcing us to duck and weave, slowing us down as they gained on us.

In the distance, the bay sparkled with the final hour of daylight, a beacon of hope. Of freedom.

Water equaled sovereignty. Get a few miles off the coast, and Batara was no longer in his domain. He was in ours.

BOOOOOM!

The roofline shook as an explosion thundered behind us, throwing us forward, debris showering down around us. Covering my head, I peered back. Smoke billowed up from where the safehouse once was, now a chasm of rubble and dead bodies.

Acid poured into my gut, my chest clenching as I stared back in horror.

“Sprig…” I muttered, my head shaking. “No.” I pushed up, despair raking at my airways, a terror so deep I couldn’t process anything. Though I knew Sprig was the one to do it. He took out more than half the men coming at us, but in doing so…

No, my head shook, not able to say the rest, not able to even think the rest. Did he sacrifice himself for us?

Popopopopop!

Gunfire skated by my face, grazing my chin and bolting me out of my trance. My stomach sank at the sound of yells from below. Batara’s men filled the street, some on horseback, shoving people out of their way, a few holding black market automatic rifles pointed right at us.

“Kat!” I grabbed her, yanking her up, right as a spray of bullets dug into the clay tiles where she had been.

Survival instincts kicked me to act, to keep her safe. My legs pumped, my gaze noticing a gap between apartment buildings up ahead.

“Faster!” I bellowed, sprinting. My legs stretched, leaping onto the flat roofline with a crunch, rolling over it. Katrina easily leaped it, her body landing near mine.

Bullets shot out, and Hurricane hit the roof with a cry.

“Cane!” Kat moved for him, but the bullets ducked her back into me.

Ty landed by his brother.

“Brother!” His gaze went over Cane in worry, seeing where he had been shot.

“Fuck,” Cane huffed, holding his side, blood leaking through his fingers. “Keep going. I’ll catch up.” He waved us to go, sweat pouring down his face, pain turning his skin pale.

“I’m not leaving you,” Ty clipped in anger. “We stay together. Always.”

Voices from below were moving in closer, trying to find ways to get up to us, while there were still more coming after us who didn’t get blown up.

“You two go,” Ty ordered us.

“No.” Katrina shook her head.

“As long as we’re alive, our duty is to keep you safe, Captain. You must gonow,” Ty gritted through his teeth, practically giving her an order.

It was the only way for us to all survive. To split up. I may not have liked the twins, but one thing we all had in common—keeping Katrina safe.

“No—”

“Meet us at the dock.” I cut her off, clutching her arm, looking directly into Typhoon’s eyes. “Whateverit takes.” I wouldn’t let Katrina lose any more people she cared about.

He bowed his head.

I sprang up, moving away from the twins, firing my gun at the guards about to leap over to us. Katrina discharged a flurry of bullets with me, tearing into the group, dropping the numbers to only a handful before our guns clicked empty.