Page 47 of Caught in the Crossfire

“If that’s what she wants,” Willow responded. “She needs to eat and drink. She’s exhausted. I suggest that you have food ready, and then let her decide where she wants to rest. I think she’ll sleep better knowing you’re close.”

I glanced at the massive bed Ryu pulled into the living room. He did the same while his hand tightened around his glass. We were obviously both hoping she’d choose the massive bed.

“Thank you, Willow,” Ciel said. Dark circles hung beneath hiseyes, just like I’m sure they did for all of us. Outside of a few hours here or there, we’d all been up for three straight days. It was time to rest. “For everything.”

“Thank you,” I echoed. Willow had saved us again. When I’d first woken up in her care a few months ago, I wasn’t sure if we could trust her. But now? We all owed her our lives because of what she had done for Wynn, me, and Leona.

“Of course,” she said as she slipped from her stool. Her long hair swished down her back. “Call me if you need me. I’m going to check on Wynn.”

She left the room while the rest of us sat in the dim light of the kitchen in silence.

For the first time in a very long time, I had no idea what to do next. I didn’t know how to help Leona if she didn’t want to see me.

But one thing was still certain. She had always been my greatest priority. Nothing about that had changed, except that she was the priority of four other men, too.

And now I was glad of that fact rather than scared of it.

“We’re going to be all right,” Ciel reassured. “Everyone is home now.”

“We won’t be all right until those fuckers are drained of blood and dead at our feet,” Ryu snapped. His face twisted. “We should have gotten there sooner so we could have made that piece of shit suffer a thousand times more. This never should have happened in the first place. If Wynn hadn’t?—”

He choked back the rest of the sentence, and we all stared at the kitchen island, the accusation tainting the air between us.

He downed the rest of his drink, like he needed more courage to say what was on the tip of his tongue. “If Wynn had kept her in the penthouse, this wouldn’t have happened.”

It would be easy to blame him. At first, I wanted to. They never should have left. But that was a slippery slope I wasn’t willing to go down.

Obi rubbed his forehead. “We cannot change what has happened. We can only get stronger moving forward so that this never happens again.”

“I’ll make sure it never happens again when they’re all lying dead at my feet,” he growled. Without another word, he grabbed a pair of keys hanging on the wall next to the refrigerator and stormed to the weapons closet. I followed without thinking, barely registering that he’d grabbed his knives and two handguns before he yanked open the front door.

I grabbed his arm in the hallway right outside the elevator. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to fucking murder some people,” he hissed. He tucked one gun in the waistband of his tactical pants, and the other in the holster on his ankle. “Get off me.”

I gripped him even harder. “If you think that’s what she wants, you’re dead fucking wrong. Get back in that apartment right now.”

He glared, lifting a knife and pointing its edge right at my face. “How the fuck can you say you want to protect her when you aren’t strapping up beside me, ready to hunt those fuckers to the ends of the earth?”

That’s exactly what I wanted to do. “Because right now she needs us. She smiled at you, Ryuji. A fuckingsmile. Don’t you understand what that meant? What you do for her?”

His jaw worked, and he lowered his knife.

“I’m burning up from the inside out with rage, but use your goddamn eyes. She needs you. She’s barely holding on as it is. What if she comes out of that room, and you’re not there?”

“I can’t—” He sank to the ground, exhaling heavily. His elbows rested on his knees as he crouched against the wall and closed his eyes.

“Yes, you can.” I stood over him. “If all of us fall apart, what’s she supposed to do?” I grabbed his shoulders and yanked him tohis feet. “I’m holding it togetherfor her. She’s so fucking strong, and she deserves that from us.”

He stared at the ground.

My grip on his shoulders loosened. “When she’s ready, we’ll hunt down every single one of those fuckers. We’ll carve her name onto their skin. The Vokshi Clan doesn’t know it yet, but they’ve signed their own death warrants.”

He opened his mouth, a snarl on his tongue, before he swallowed it down. He shook his head like he could shake off the storm cloud that hung over his shoulders. “I can’t lose her again.”

“We won’t.” I led him back inside. “We need sleep. We’ll focus on murder tomorrow.”

Obi and Ciel looked up when we both walked into the kitchen.