Page 86

MARA

One, two, three shots fired, but not before the last man standing got a shot off of his own.

BANG!

He dropped to the floor just as my left shoulder jerked back hard, and I stumbled backwards, hitting the wall behind me with a harsh gasp. Clawed fingers of pain dug into my shoulder, spreading like blood in water, billowing out as another ragged breath escaped me.

“Mara!”

My name. My name in the timbre of a voice that reminded me of heat and luscious words and soft caresses. I looked left and almost dropped to my knees in relief as I saw him.

“Wes,” I uttered, a tear escaping the captivity of my eyes.

He rushed toward me, and then I was in his arms, being held against his firm chest and burying my face into the space just under his chin.

“What are you doing here? You can’t be here,” I rattled on, pulling back just enough to look into his hazel eyes .

“Why would you leave me?” he asked, ignoring my questions. “Why would you put yourself at risk like this?”

I shook my head. “I had too…you wouldn’t listen,” I tried explaining. “These people deserve a chance, but you wouldn’t listen.” The pained expression that crossed his face would have dropped me to my knees if he hadn’t been holding me.

“Mara, if I knew that this was the alternative…” He shook his head, tipping his chin to his chest. And then he was kissing me, lips crashing into mine with such desperation, I thought I could taste its bitter burn on my tongue.

Smoke began to clog the hall, and the smell of it curled in my nostrils. “I have to find my dad.”

Wes shook his head. “No, Mara. You’re hurt, and we’ve gotta get out of here before Sasha sends the airstrike.”

“No!” I pulled away from him. “I have to find my dad, Wes. I have to try. The Telvians are fighting back.” Wes froze, jaw slackening in surprise.

I pressed the advantage. “They’re fighting back, Wes.

NIT-V2 is still down. We can save them. We can save the city.

If I can convince my father to surrender, then Sasha will call off the attack. Please, Wes…help me.”

His jaw tightened, eyes burning like a solar flare, and then he nodded.

A breath escaped me as I closed my eyes in relief. My mother moaned on the ground, snagging my attention.

“Mom,” I said, dropping to the floor. “Crap, she’s unconscious.”

Wes kneeled on the other side of her, examining her current state. “She’s going into shock.” He looked up and down the hall. “And that fire’s only going to grow. We’ve gotta get her outta here. I’ll call an emergency evac—”

“It won’t work. All communication in and out of Telvia is down. The tabs don’t work.”

“ What? ” He stared at me in disbelief, eyes glowing like the sun. “Fuck,” he muttered .

I grabbed his wrist. “Our only chance is if I can get to the Presidential Office and use the computer terminal there. Get my mom out. I’ll find you after—”

“ No . We stick together.”

“ Yes , Wes. Or we’re all dead and you know it. There isn’t enough time.”

His eyes flickered like flames, and then he jerked his head away, cursing under his breath. Facing me once more, he said, “Then I’ll go.”

I shook my head. “I’m not strong enough to carry my mom. You’ve got to get her out of the house before it all burns to the ground.”

“I’m not leaving you, Mara,” he said with a rumble of a growl. “You stay, then I stay, remember? That’s how it’s always been.”

I gasped, my entire body tightening. And I wanted him to stay with me.

I wanted him to help me face the demons of my past. But I refused to lose him too.

It was why I left my ring, hoping that he would think I was rejecting his proposal and not follow me into Telvia.

Because I loved Wes Calvernon. I loved him more than my own life, and I refused to watch him die.

I reached out to him, cupping his cheek.

“Not this time.” His lips parted, eyes widening.

“Sometimes you have to leave behind the ones you love in order to save them,” I said, remembering my mother’s words.

“And I love you, but I have to do this. I’m the only one who can, and I can’t do it if my mother is at risk.

Please, I’m begging you…get her out of here. ”

His brows drew forward, his face collapsing in anguish, and Wes shattered before my eyes. “Mara—”

“Let me go, Wes. Let me fly.” I wasn’t sure if he would understand my meaning, but the way that he froze before my eyes told me he understood more than I could have ever hoped for.

Every muscle, every little tendon stilled, and Wes looked like a marvelous, gothic sculpture made of the most exquisite stone.

He froze …

But his eyes shone brighter than I’d ever seen them. An inferno so massive, so all consuming, I swore that Wes was the living embodiment of the sun.

I grabbed his hand, brought it to my lips, and kissed it. “I can do this. I need to do this. Let me go.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. His entire face hardened, and I saw it when he resigned—a subtle shift in his brow and soft hook of a frown at the corners of his lips. He nodded then, pulling his hand away before looking into my eyes once more. “I’ll get your mother out.”

“Thank you,” I sighed out in relief. Leaning over Nora’s still form, I found his lips and kissed him deeply.

“And then I’m coming back for you.”

“Wes,” I started to protest, but he cut me off.

“No, Mara. That’s not how this relationship’s going to work. I’ll get Nora out, but I’m coming back for you. I told you I wouldn’t stand in your way, remember? But I also said I wouldn’t let you do it alone.”

In that moment, my heart swelled, exploded, mended, and then swelled once again. “I love you.”

“I loved you first.” He kissed me harder then—only for a moment—and then he was pulling back. “Go, Mara. Fly .”

***

WES

Watching her walk away from me was the hardest thing I ever had to do. Resisting the urge to take her, swing her over my shoulder, and leave the rest of the world to burn was the greatest test of my strength, and the strongest proof of my love .

Months ago, I saw Jacob de la Puente give his sister wings. Witnessed how he lifted her up and gave her the courage to find her own voice, to stand up for what she believed in. And that day, I recognized that was all I ever wanted to be for her.

Of course I wanted more.

I wanted to be her confidant, her lover, her betrothed.

I wanted to be the man that she sought when she feared, the man she turned to in joy, the man whose name she screamed out in lust.

I wanted to be her past, her present, and her future.

But above all else, I wanted to be the man that encouraged Mara to fly. To spread her wings and become the woman she was always meant to be, but denied the opportunity to become.

But never in a million years did I think that she would outright ask me to do so—that she would say let me fly .

I watched her run from me into the fire and ash that was threatening to consume this entire world. Beads of stone-cold fear suffocated me from the inside out.

Because Mara didn’t want me to save her, not this time. She wanted me to let her go. But I wasn’t ready to do that. I would always encourage her to fly, but there was no fucking way in hell I would allow her to face the demons of this world alone.

Nora moaned, snapping my attention to the woman. The faster I got her to safety, the faster I could return to Mara. I scooped up her body in my arms, pushed up, feeling the strain in my calves and thighs, and I ran.