Page 41 of Caught in the Crossfire

“He’s…” His head lifted, caught on something behind me.

I turned.

Wynn leaned against the wall, one hand over the red-stained bandages that criss-crossed his stomach and the other braced on the wall.

“Darling.” His voice broke. He was so deathly pale. His eyes were sunken behind dark circles and sallow skin.

I stood from the island stool so quickly it clattered to the ground behind me. I sprinted across the room, catching myself before I slammed into him. I didn’t want to knock him flat, but I wrapped my arms around his neck. He washere. He wasalive.

“Wynn,” I cried into his neck. The tears I’d been trying to lock up flowed again. His body trembled, wracked with sobs of his own. “You’re alive. I thought you were dead.”

“I’m so sorry, darling,” he whispered. “I’m sorry for everything. I can’t?—”

“No,” I whimpered. How the hell he was standing? “I’m the sorry one.”

I was the one who talked him into leaving after he’d warned me it wasn’t safe. I was the one who’d made him let his guard down. I had been overconfident and self-absorbed, and that had almost gotten him killed.

He shook his head, pulling back to cradle my face. Bruises covered his face. His eyes were red with tears. “I failed you.”

“Stop,” I begged, wrapping my arms around him again. “No.”

Behind him, I caught a glance of Willow hanging back by the door to Wynn’s room, giving us space. Thank God for Willow. She’d saved two of my men so far, and used her resources to help the other girls. I owed her so much.

Another set of arms wrapped around my back, and I flinched at the pressure of a body against mine before I inhaled Ciel’s scent. With my eyes closed, it transported me right back to that icy cell. But I pushed down the revulsion building in the back of my throat. Wynn’s warmth at my front, and Ciel’s at my back, wasreal. They weremymen. They would never hurt me.

Another body crowded closer. Cas, on the other side of Wynn.

“A group hug, and nobody invited me?” Ryu teased as he, too, joined. A moment later, Obi came on his other side.

As their bodies crowded around me, the tears fell in waves. The memories threatened to burst forth, but that would just make everything worse. No, all I needed was these few moments of vulnerability. They held me up as my legs almost gave out, and I sobbed into Wynn’s chest.

I was so grateful to be home. I’d fought my way free, and my men had been there, exactly as I hoped they would be. I’d survived.

“You came for me,” I said to the six of us, still crammed in a hug. “Thank you for coming. I don’t know how much longer I could have lasted.”

“I will always find you, baby girl,” Ciel whispered. “I will follow you anywhere.”

“Can’t live without the other half of my soul,” Cas grumbled, his voice choked with emotion. “There’s no way in hell we would have left you there.”

“You’reours,” Ryu added. “Anyone who lays a hand on you will burn.”

“The Shadows need our queen,” Obi said simply.

It was without a doubt the worst three days of my life, but it had to have been a living hell for them, too.

Once my cheeks dried of tears, I promised myself all this pain could stay in our past. The only thing that mattered was confronting our future head on.

16

CASPIAN

When Ryuji had disappeared after returning to the penthouse, only to show up again for our group hug, I’d first thought he needed some space to process everything we saw. I sure as fuck did. I’d need months before I was over the horror that we’d seen her endure—the agony of her injuries and blood-covered body.

Yet instead of personal space, Ryu had yanked his mattress to the living room, and then draggedanothermattress through the hallways and plopped it right next to his. He then rearranged all the furniture to make room for a massive combined bed right in front of the fireplace.

We’d all watched curiously before he scowled. “What? I sure as fuck wasn’t sleeping without her tonight, and I knew all of you would feel the same. This was the only solution that didn’t result in bloodshed.”

“Really?” Leona said, eyebrow raised. “The only solution?”