Page 17 of Tag (The Golden Team #9)

Aponi

T he flashing lights from the unmarked vans and medical transport vehicles cast long shadows against the alley walls.

Kaylie sat on the back bumper of an ambulance, wrapped in a silver blanket, sipping apple juice like it was the only thing tethering her to earth. Her hands trembled. Her lips were split. But she was alive.

She hadn’t let go of my hand since we got out of the building.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” she whispered. “I just… remembered your face.”

I blinked fast, holding it together with sheer will.

“You did everything right,” I told her. “You were brave.”

She gave a tiny nod, eyes already glassing over from the shock setting in.

One of the medics approached. “We’ll take her to the trauma unit, then place her in a secure location. Your number’s already on her record as her point of contact.”

I nodded, but I couldn’t speak. Not yet.

Kaylie squeezed my hand one last time before the doors closed and the ambulance rolled away.

And just like that—silence.

The kind that rings in your ears.

I stood frozen, the adrenaline crash hitting like a freight train. My body started to shake.

Then I felt Tag behind me.

I didn’t need to look to know it was him.

He didn’t say anything. Just slid his arms around me from behind and pulled me into his chest.

I didn’t resist.

Didn’t hold back.

I turned and buried my face in his shirt—and finally let the tears come.

He held me like the world had stopped spinning. Like I wasn’t broken. Like he knew exactly how much strength it took to fall apart in someone else’s arms.

“I’m so tired,” I whispered.

“I know,” he said into my hair. “You don’t have to be strong right now. Just breathe.”

So I did.

For the first time in what felt like months, I just let myself breathe.

I don’t know how long we stood there—wrapped in silence, pain, and something dangerously close to hope—but when I finally stepped back, he didn’t let me go far.

His hands stayed on my waist. His eyes stayed on mine.

“You saved her, you saved all of them,” he said.

“We saved them.”

His thumb brushed a tear from my cheek. “You’re not alone anymore, Aponi.”

My chest squeezed. “I don’t know how to be anything else.”

He leaned in, close enough for his breath to warm my lips. “Then we figure it out together.”

I almost kissed him.

Almost.

But Gideon walked up, clearing his throat like a human bucket of cold water. “I hate to interrupt, but we’ve got cleanup and debrief in twenty. You two good?”

Tag sighed, resting his forehead against mine for half a second longer.

“Yeah,” he said. “We’re good.”

But we weren’t done.

Not even close.