Page 121 of Renascence

“Emily!”

I drop to my knees, carefully turning her onto her back. Her face is bruised and only God knows where else. My brothers surround me, Einstein kneeling next to me.

“Emily… darlin’, can you hear me?”

The lids on her swollen eyes flutter, her chest wheezing with every breath. “Liam….”

“It’s me, darlin’. Let’s get you inside.”

I lift her into my arms, praying for the first time in years as I stand.God, please let her be okay. Crow, Motor, and Charger are in place on the perches, rifles poised over the top of the gates. Gage and Razor are scanning the street, Einstein giving me instructions I don’t even hear.

“Liam,” Emily whispers. “Run.”

“Shit. Move!” Gage shouts. The men hustle at the sound of a vehicle speeding toward us. Bullets hitting metal and glass ring out, the return fire from the van echoing throughout the otherwise silent night. So much for keeping things quiet. I get through the gates before the van reaches us, but not before they close. I take a hit. My left calf burns from the shot and I fall to a knee, desperately clinging to Emily. There’s a loud crash right before someone tries to take her from my arms, but I grit my teeth and start moving. Gage is shouting orders once more, men running around frantically.

“Get her in a bed,” Einstein orders. “I’ll get my bag.”

I take her to my room, laying her down and sitting next to her on the bed.

“Darlin’… I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

“No. I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have left.”

“Did they…?” I take her hand, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. “Did theytouchyou?”

“Not like that.”

I should be relieved but I’m not.They’re dead. Every last one of them. Starting with the one who put his hands on her. I’m going to throw him in a pit with all my snakes.

Einstein bustles into the room, Booker in tow.

“Get his boot off and cut away the leg of his jeans. Put some pressure on his wound. We need to stop the bleeding.”

“Take care of Emily first,” I insist.

“I will. I’ll take a look at her while Booker deals with your leg.”

Booker gets to work and I watch the doc elevate her head before examining her face and asking about her injuries. She tells him where it hurts, and I swear I feel the pain in every one of those locations on my own body. I flinch when Booker presses a towel to my calf. I lie back, finally feeling the effects of the fucking bullet in my leg.

“I haven’t found anything too serious,” Einstein says. “Just cuts and bruises. I gave her something for the pain. Let’s get this bullet out of you, and then I’ll do a more thorough examination.”

He grabs a syringe and a bottle, explaining before injecting me, “This is a local. Looks like I need to go digging.”

He flips me over and I listen to him and Booker as they work. Just cuts and bruises, he said.Just. I don’t care if they’d only breathed on her; they’ll suffer so much they’ll beg for me to send them to Hell to be tormented by the Devil for all eternity. It’s the thoughts of all the shit I’m going to do to them that passes the time quickly. I don’t know how long Einstein took to patch me up, only coming back to reality when they move me next to Emily. Seconds later, Marisol comes in to clean up my blood.

“Is she okay?” she asks, brows creased with worry.

“She’ll be fine,” Einstein answers. He leaves the room, returning with a cold compress for Emily’s face. She’s fallen asleep, groaning when Einstein applies it.

“Rico and Tyler?” I ask, feeling shitty for only thinking of them now.

“They were in the van, too. We got ’em. Banged up but okay.”

“Good.”

I lie back, closing my eyes, fighting a battle with sleep and losing.

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