Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“We’ve got to get her to the car,” Ethan said. “You carry her and I’ll cover you.”
“No!” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “Please, I can’t . . . just leave me.”
The gunfire on the other side of the house came in a burst then stopped, but the air was tense. We all expected it to resume at any moment. Both the men crouching over me glanced toward the house, then back to me. Shawn wore a look that said leaving me wasn’t an option.
“Knock me out,” I gasped.
Ethan didn’t hesitate, like maybe he’d already considered this. “You might wake up right away.”
I had passed out before and immediately come to, but I was willing to try again. “I don’t care. Do it,” I begged.
The conversation moved too fast for Shawn. “Wait a minute.”
But Ethan didn’t. He jammed his hands under my arms and hauled me to sit up, which rewarded me with sharp, stabbing pain. With all my terrible ideas, this was the absolute worst. Then he was behind me, his arm snaking around my throat in an instant so his large bicep was on one side of my neck and his forearm tight on the other. In a chokehold.
“What are you doing?” Shawn asked, horrified.
“I’m trying to help her.”
The muscles around my neck flexed, and I couldn’t breathe. I needed air. Oh, fuck, the pain. My gaze locked onto Shawn’s. I tried to focus on the rich, dark eyes that looked tormented, but everything went fuzzy and black.
34
SHAWN
I crouched beside Kara, watching Ethan tighten his arm around her neck like a noose, and it was horrifying. The longest fifteen seconds of my life. How bad was the pain that she would choose this? He had a cold and detached look on his face as he watched her, carefully gauging her reaction.
The hardwired protector in me balled my hands into fists. A split second before I reared back to strike, she went limp and her eyes fell shut.
“What the fuck did you just do to her?” I demanded.
“I temporarily interrupted the flow of oxygen to her brain.” He laid her down, put his ear near her face, and listened. Then he straightened, like he was satisfied he hadn’t just killed her. “She’s breathing. We’ve got to move.”
For once, I’d allow someone else to tell me what to do. I lifted her in my arms, hoping she wouldn’t wake in excruciating pain with my touch as the cause.
We moved quickly through the trees. I focused on being quiet and deliberate with my movements. There’d be time to worry about her once I had her safe. We reached the car quickly and without incident, and he opened the back seat door for me, but his attention abruptly turned back toward the house.
His posture said something was wrong.
“What is it?”
“It’s quiet.”
I hadn’t noticed that, and it made my pulse speed even faster.
With his help, we set her in the Audi, and for a single breath, I allowed myself to feel relief. She was resting on the premium leather of my back seat. We were so close to having her away from this nightmare, I could taste it.
Ethan stepped away from the car and pressed the comm link at his neck. “We’ve got her secure. Where are you?”
In response, the earth beneath our feet shook and the concussion of a massive explosion made us both flinch. A black-red plume of smoke shot out of the hole blown through the roof of the house. The force knocked down the smaller trees nearby, spewing debris among the trunks of the trees that remained.
In an instant, the house was leveled.
“No!” I took off toward the dark, thick cloud that billowed out like a moving wall, drawing my gun again. Scheiße. If Jason had been anywhere near the house, he was dead.
But a hand closed around the strap of my bulletproof vest, jerking me to a stop, and Ethan grunted like the action had caused him pain. He sucked in a breath and put a hand to his comm link again. “Jason. Come in.”
I watched him with breath held, waiting for some sort of reaction. To know if he was receiving any sort of response from my brother—
Abruptly, his hand abandoned the comm. His face hardened to stone, and he braced himself as he raised his gun and fired repeatedly. I ducked out of the way as bullets shattered the back window of my Audi.
Why the fuck was he firing on the car when he knew Kara was inside? Tires squealed on the asphalt as my Audi abruptly peeled out. The head of blonde hair on the driver left little doubt about his identity.
In a heartbeat, I’d gone from nearly having it all . . . to nothing. There was no oxygen left to breathe. I stood there, too stunned to do anything but watch my car disappear down the road, carrying her away.