Page 70 of Dissent (The Dissenter Saga #1)

T he ringing was the worst part. If I thought it had been loud before, it was damn well deafening now. I seriously thought being shot— in the face —was going to hurt like hell. In fact, I was pretty shocked that I wasn’t dead instantly.

I wasn’t.

I was very much alive and in a shitload of pain. And, as it turned out, had not actually been shot.

The pull on my scalp was released, and as it did, I fell back to the ground in a twisted mess.

If I had any doubt before, there was none now—the bastard had cracked at least a few of my ribs, and there was something fierce going on with my left shoulder.

My face felt tight, swollen from the kick to the jaw.

But as my brain scanned my body for injuries, nothing registered as a gunshot wound.

A plopping noise offended my ears, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the Telvian soldier had collapsed in front of me, dead. And just past him was Wes, gun pointed, a small trail of smoke coming off the barrel. Wes holstered the handgun and was on me before I could so much as exhale.

“Hold on, Mara.” He leaned down and scooped me up into his arms, one around my back and the other under my knees. “Just hang on. I’m getting you out of here.” He tucked me into him, my head landing in the crook of his neck. I could feel his heart pound against my battered body.

“But Matias,” I began, trying to lift my head to find him. Wes was quick on his feet, spinning around and finding the strength to run across the battlefield.

“Matias can handle himself,” he growled at me.

“No!” We couldn’t leave him behind. And Edith, what about her? She had to still be alive. I wiggled in his arms, trying to get myself out of his embrace. “We can’t leave them!”

He gripped me tighter. “We’re doing this, Mara. There’s no time.” His voice was strained, probably from trying to hold me and run at the same time.

“No!” I tried to arch my back, trying to throw him off balance so he would let me go.

“Damn it, Mara, knock it off!” He held me tighter, this time causing pain where he held me. He was still running, and I glanced back to see that the camp was now behind us, growing smaller as he started running uphill, up the trail we had all so desperately been trying to reach.

“Wes, please!” I begged, sobs racking my body as a fresh wave of tears filled my vision. All I could envision was Edith, a motionless lump on the floor, and Matias… Oh my god, Matias. He was probably dead. “ Please! ”

But he didn’t let go. He just held on harder, never so much as slowing down.

“Wes!” I screamed. “Let me go! Now!” But when he still wouldn’t listen, I did the only thing I could think of. “Your brother never would have run away from his friends!”

That did it. I could feel him stiffen, his arms shaking before he slowed and almost— almost —threw me to the ground.

I landed on my feet, staggering back. I felt dizzy suddenly, becoming acutely aware of how faint I was feeling .

I looked at him, his body stiff and rigid, his hands on either side of his body, rolled into fists.

And his face, that face that looked identical to Chase’s, was twisted in hurt…

so much pain. And I felt so guilty. Because I knew exactly what I did.

I did to him what everyone did to him—compared him.

Compared him to his brother, the one he believed everyone wished had lived while he had died.

I put my hands up, taking a step toward him, “Oh my god, Wes, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. It’s just—”

“Don’t.” He wouldn’t look at me. He just kept staring at the floor.

I held my ground but brought my hands up to my mouth, my one arm grinding in pain as I did. “I’m sorry, but we have to go back. We have to help—”

“I know you don’t like me, and that’s okay.”

“Wes, I do—”

“ Stop ,” he snapped out. “I know you don’t like me, and I don’t expect you to.” A hand balled into a fist at his side. “I know you care a lot about Matias.”

Oh dear, where was this going? I tried to reason with him again. I knew every second we were here was a second that they were down there , needing our help. “And Edith. We need to go—”

His head whipped up to look at me, hands running through his golden locks in frustration. “Fuck, Mara, would you just shut up and listen to me?”

Wes’s hazel eyes glistened and then flickered like the soft flame of a candle.

Anger and hurt toiled within them, but there was something else.

Something I couldn’t put my finger on. And at that moment, he looked so vulnerable…

just like Chase did the last time I saw him.

My heart instantly squeezed, stealing my breath, and I bit my bottom lip to keep from gasping. He took advantage of my silence.

“I get that you care about them. I do. And trust me, I know I’m not my brother.” He closed his eyes, pain etched on his face, shoulders slumped as though all the rage had been sucked out of him, leaving him deflated. “But he’s dead, and I’m not him. And I’m sorry that’s how it is.”

What was he talking about? What was he saying?

He looked at me then, gaze alive and wild with such intensity, they looked like burning coals.

“But for god’s sake, let me save you. And damn it, Mara, whether you like it or not, I’m going to get you out of here,” he said walking toward me, one foot in front of the other, closing the gap with each definitive step.

“I’m going to keep you safe. And if you want to hate me forever like everyone else, that’s fine by me, but you’ll be alive.

” He was like a tornado—powerful and terrifying, breathtaking and mesmerizing—as he stood before me, face only inches away as his fierce eyes held me captive.

Lips parted, my breath escaped me in a silent gasp. “W-what are you saying?” It was barely a whisper. My heart drummed against my sore chest, but I would be lying if I were to say that the ache inside me was from the fighting, because it wasn’t.

“I was scared , Mara,” he shot back at me. “When I found out they took you, and you were gone, I was fucking scared . And I hate you for it.”

My whole body pulsed with the ferocity of his admission. He was sacred…for me ?

“That’s why I came after you,” he continued.

“Because I’d rather risk dying myself than sit in that infirmary freaking the fuck out about you.

” He speared his fingers through his hair once more, eyes locking with mine, holding me prisoner.

And then, it was like his flame blew out.

The intensity within him collapsed as his shoulders slumped.

And it was at that very moment that I saw him.

I saw the same Wes I’d witnessed that afternoon at the Rock.

The same man that shielded himself with harsh stone to protect a sensitive and vulnerable soul.

I saw Wes—the true Wes.

I was at a loss for words. I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I felt so caught, trapped between the boy I was growing to love and the boy before me that was winning my heart. Dizziness swept through me as my vision blurred, but I steadied myself.

Wes finished closing the space between us, taking my hands into his own. His voice was soft, but I could hear the pain lingering on the edge. “Do you get it?” he whispered, one hand tracing the line of my jaw. “Do you get what I’m trying to tell you? I—”

I didn’t hear the rest of it.

My ears filled with a ringing sound that drowned everything out.

His name slipped out from my lips in a breath, but it was muffled in my ears.

I didn’t know if it was the pain from all my injuries overwhelming me, or if the blood loss, lack of food, and dehydration were finally taking their toll, but my vision faded as darkness crept in all around.

And then I was falling backwards, my eyes rolling into the back of my head.

I felt Wes’s arms wrap around me, jostling my consciousness back to the present. The ringing subsided as a loud boom went off down the trail, way too close for comfort. The ground shook beneath us. Wes cursed, muttering obscenities under his breath as he scooped me back up into his arms.

“Hang on, Mara. Stay with me. Keep your eyes open.” Then he was off running again, holding me firmly against his chest. “Just don’t fall asleep,” he said again. “We’re almost there.”

My mind was numb. I felt my vision going dark again, but I fought the urge to fall asleep.

I was just so tired, but my mind was clawing at my consciousness.

I couldn’t have possibly heard him right.

I had to be dreaming, because all of this was too crazy, and I couldn’t do this right now.

I couldn’t figure all this crap out. Everything hurt, the world was burning, and my life had been completely flipped upside down.

I should fight him, scream at him to go back.

My mind remembered Edith, and then Matias’s sweet face.

My heart ached for them both, but there was nothing I could do for them now. Nothing I could say.

Nothing.

I didn’t know how long I laid there in Wes’s arms, being carried.

It couldn’t have been long at all, but as my mind kept fading in and out of consciousness, I felt like time was passing oddly, as though each second was an hour.

In and out my vision went, but the entire time I could hear faded screams, the firing of guns, and the explosions of bombs.

At one point, I heard the thrumming of helicopters, the sound so loud that I could feel it reverberate in my chest.

My heart clenched tightly as fear renewed inside me.

Was this the finale? Was Raúl’s final blow upon us?

Would the planes above litter the ground with bombs or rain napalm down, destroying what remained of the forest, of us?

My consciousness faded again. I could hear Wes talking to me, but I couldn’t make out the words anymore.

I fought to keep my eyes open, but my lids grew heavy.

And as I slowly closed them, I just focused on the sound.

The constant sound beating in my one ear, the ear that rested against Wes’s chest. The beating of Wes’s heart.