Page 115

Chapter 33

Addie

Abody pressed against mine, forcing me to the ground. I tried to move my hands to cover my head, but they were firmly pinned against the rough wooden floors.

Gunshots rang all around. My men dived towards the nearest doors, flinging them open and using them as a makeshift cover.

A strangled sob left my mouth, and a pair of lips pressed against my forehead.

“Shhh...Addie. It’s okay.” Calax. He was the one overtop of me, his body protecting mine. It reminded me of the time in the resort when the tornado had struck. I had used my small, dainty body as a shield to protect Calax. I still had the scars from that day.

The day that had changed my entire life.

The day new bonds, bonds I couldn’t even begin to imagine, were forged. It solidified my relationship with the guys, deeming me as theirs and them as mine. Who would’ve thought?

“Callie…” I cried, but not from the pain. I was so fucking worried. Terrified. I could hear the gunfire, the screams, the curses, the snarls of approaching Ragers, but I couldn’t lift my head from the ground. I had no way of knowing who was hurt. Who was dead.

And I had no doubt in my mind that not everyone would leave this hall alive.

Calax let out a grunt, and his body was ripped off of mine. I let out a scream, desperately searching his body for injuries even as someone grabbed my hair. My breath left me when I finally caught sight of him. He appeared to be unscathed, his body held between two soldiers. There was a bloody wound on his head, but other than that, he was fine.

Pissed, but fine.

“No one move,” Lucian said darkly, pressing a gun barrel to my head.

My men immediately froze, holding their hands up as if to prove they weren’t dangerous. The soldiers, however, didnotfreeze. They lunged into action, collecting weapons and kicking my men to their knees.

I surveyed the damage despite the growing terror unfurling in my stomach. Asher was bleeding severely from his leg, but he didn’t appear to be in too much pain. That could’ve been merely adrenaline, though. We would need Doc to look at it right away. Ronan and Declan appeared fine, but their faces were tightened in anger. Fallon, similarly, was nursing his shoulder, but like Asher, he managed to throw livid glares at the man holding me as if the gunshot wound was nothing more than an annoyance.

“Is that how this is going to be, Uncle?” he asked, twisting the word until it was something ugly.

“I thought you were smarter than this, boy,” Lucian retorted. He painfully gripped my shoulder, gun still pressed to my head, and pulled me further down the hall. Away from them.

I continued my inventory of the men, but stopped short when I caught sight of Doc.

And Kai’s dead body.

He was on the ground, head bent at an unnatural angle. Blood cascaded around him, a dark red color. A single gunshot wound was in the center of his forehead.

Doc let out an agonized cry, folding his body over his dead lover. Tears sprang to my eyes.

Kai was my friend. He had stood by me, protected me, when no one would’ve faulted him for running. And thesemen, these monsters, had killed him. Snuffed the life out of him as carelessly as a candle flame being blown out.

My fault.

As quickly as that thought came, I brushed it away. Buried it.

The fault relied solely with the assholes holding their guns at my men and Doc. The asshole holding a gun to my own head.

Thatwas were the blame lied.

“This girl,” Lucian shook my shoulder to emphasize his point, “has the cure to this entire thing. She can save the world. For once in your lives, don’t be selfish. Let her go.”

I knew he didn’t mean that final statement literally. He meant my memory. Their love for me. Let it all go.

“Selfish?” Fallon released a humorless laugh. “You want to talk to me about selfishness? You only want her for the power she’ll bring you. The money. But this isn’t the world we knew anymore, Uncle. Money can’t buy you shit. Power can’t buy you shit. You’re going to getexactlywhat’s coming to you. And then some.”

“I’m sorry, boys. But we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this matter.” Lucian backed up another step. And then another. And then another.