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Eden

A pretty face isn’t everything.

Five months after leaving Bristlebrook

I feel the earth-shaking boom first. I hear the screams next. This time, not just men, but women too. My women.

My brutes.

Katherine rushes past me, then past the rest of the civs who weren’t in on this fight. I fumble to find the extra medical bag that was in Beau’s tent, then break into a run, my terror turning me cold and numb.

This was just a normal fight. We’ve been doing this for five months. Dom has this down to an art. Why would there be explosions?

And why are my women screaming?

They don’t scream. Not like this.

Not without a reason.

We race over the pastures, toward a tractor parked lazily on one of the dirt roads, and Katherine starts it with visceral urgency. My heart pounds as I watch her turn the key, and I feel the tires skid out while Emerson is still climbing in the back.

“No, no, no, no,” Katherine prays under her breath as she speeds toward the violent sounds.

I stay perfectly still in my seat, staring into the distance like sheer will alone might improve my eyesight. But my hands shake in my lap.

It’s my nightmare. The one I’ve been having since we agreed to all of this.

Something’s gone wrong.

Something even Dom can’t control.

And one of us is . . .

For all I’m feeling and hearing, it’s still far too long before I see anything.

My brutes spill out of the forest, the civs right behind them just as our tractor stops hard. A few Reapers stagger out from the trees, but I don’t pay them any mind as I jump out from the side door.

I’m too busy staring at the carnage.

“Area’s clear!” Dom shouts, and he’s the last to exit the woods.

I see Ava first. She’s burned all up her left arm, and her hand is spurting so much blood, she’s soaked in it. It floods Jayk’s shirt, and he drops to his knees to settle her in the grass.

“Beau! We need you here!” he shouts.

“I need five!” Beau yells back, and Sloane shifts to the side enough for me to see him bending over Jasper, whose entire face seems ripped and is pouring blood.

A scream leaves me, and I stagger to a stop, staring as Beau snaps rapid instructions to Dom. Lucky is standing next to them, his bloody hands in his hair, silent, terrified tears coursing down his face.

“We don’t fucking have five!” Jayk growls, and shockily, my head turns back toward him.

Ava’s screams have stopped, and her eyes roll back in her head. From this close, I can see it’s her ring finger and her pinky. They’re gone above the first joint.

The burns along her arm are... they’re not good, they’re blistering but not blackened, a little more raw on her forearm, but that bloodis still pumping.

Shaking, I drop down to my knees and pull the medical bag around. It takes me two tries to unzip it, but I find the gauze in moments, and I bite my trembling lip in relief when my hand closes around it. I pull it out.

“Could someone please bring me some water?” I ask huskily, though I’m not quite sure who’s near enough to listen. “Only pre-boiled, as much as you can. Thank you.”

I hear someone’s footsteps move away.

I don’t know why everything feels like it’s moving so slowly.

A second ago, it was so fast.

“Hold her hand up, please. It needs to be elevated,” I choke out, and it’s too polite, but Jayk only gives me a sharp nod, holding up Ava’s poor hand.

Someone sets down a canteen of water, then another, and I pour it over her bloody fingers.

Do I even try to clean them when there’s this much blood flowing? I don’t know ... This is beyond my textbooks. Trying to stop my shaky jerks, I give up and press the gauze against the stubs where her fingers were. It soaks through in moments, so I grab more.

“Jayk, could you hold pressure there for me. The burns...”

Jayk’s hand closes around the gauze, replacing mine.

Gently, I pull Ava onto her non-burned side, and Jayk moves with me. My hands hover over her skin, and I pick up one of the canteens.

Clean. I need to clean the burns.

“Eden? Darlin’? What do we have? Can you tell me?” Beau calls, his voice soothing despite the violence fogging the air.

“Is Jasper okay?” I yell back as I sluice water over the awful red-raw skin on her arm.

“I have Jasper. I need you to tell me about Ava.” His voice is firmer now—in control, but not harsh—and it gives me enough room to breathe.

“She... she’s lost her ring and pinky finger on her left hand above the first joint. They look like they were blown off , Beau.”

What the fuck happened?

But I swallow. “There’s blood, but Jayk is h-holding pressure.

She’s unconscious but breathing. Shallow but.

. . but I don’t think her airway is blocked?

Some cuts. I— She’s burned, Beau, all along her arm.

It’s blistering already. I th-think that’s the only place.

I’m trying to rinse it, but I— I need more water , please! ”

Beau is still crouched over Jasper, but he’s clear and calm as he calls back to me.

“Okay. Okay, it’s okay, darlin’. I’m going to talk you through it.

Dom, we need to get them somewhere sterile.

Lucky? Lucky! That’s it. I have him, I promise.

I need you to listen to me now, okay? Get my bag. I need you to bring Eden...”

The next thirty minutes are a blur of instructions and medical supplies and terror pounding in my veins. I can’t see Jasper even when I glance over. All I see is Beau’s back, flashes of the blood coating his gloves... and Jasper’s still, limp legs.

We finally get a truck around, and they race Jasper and Ava back to the main compound, heavily guarded by Lucky and Jayk, and watched over by Beau.

I’m shuddering from head to toe as I watch them drive away.

Terror and hot, streaking rage have me in thrall.

I turn to Dom, and his gentle expression turns to sharp worry as he sees my face.

“What happened?” I snap.

“Jasper took a Sinner bullet over his cheekbone. Ava . . . Bane is dead. Frag or explosion, I didn’t see it.

There were a few of them that came out of nowhere.

But I saw his body. What’s left of it.” Dom’s face is grimly satisfied, but then it fades into something sombre.

“Ava was too close to him. She got caught in the blast.”

No.

No .

This is unacceptable. There’s an order to these things. There’s meant to be an order .

My stomach churns with fear and wretched anger for Ava.

For Jasper .

“This shouldn’t have happened,” I snap, and he tenses.

“This isn’t the time. We can go over it when we’re not?—”

“No!” I snarl, and as I push past him, my fury is in full storm. “Now is exactly the time.”