There were so many of them and only one of him. No matter how magical Elder looked fighting for his life—eventually, he would tire. Eventually, he would lose. Eventually, he would be dead and then...oh, God.
I couldn’t think about what would happen.
My heart was already broken.
My mind already fractured.
I didn’t breathe as Elder threw a man across his quarters, ducking as another fighter leapt onto his back. A sob plaited with a curse as Elder stumbled beneath his weight, twisting and clawing, tearing the Chinmoku away then round-house kicking him in the chest.
As the man soared to the floor, something caught my eye.
It took everything in me to tear my attention from Elder, but my heart restarted in sick, disgusting hope as the doors to the deck slowly slid open, cracking apart silently, hardly noticeable thanks to the opaque blackness of the glass matching the darkness of night beyond.
Oh, my God.
Selix.
Please, let it be Selix.
At least two would be better than one—no matter the never-ceasing tidal wave of agony Elder endured. At least he might have a weapon to combat the glint of knives flying around the room.
Only, Selix didn’t appear...two other men slipped into the room.
Two men I’d never seen before.
Both dark-haired and wearing black suits, they moved like shadows themselves. For a second, a scream percolated in my throat.
Were they more Chinmoku? Yet more assholes who wanted to murder the man I loved?
Elder had to know.
He must be prepared to somehow become immortal because he couldn’t die—not like this. I couldn’t watch him be murdered.
I can’t!
My mouth parted; my breathing manic as the two men stuck to the perimeter of the room, cloaked in obscurity. My teeth clacked together as they pulled out matching guns and pointed them at the Chinmoku. Not pistols or anything small, their weapons were big and automatic and carnage inducing.
They pointed them at the enemy and not my lover.
The minuscule faith that they were here to help rather than hinder kept me quiet.
I glanced at Elder.
He stood in the throng, hitting wildly, his face cold and concentrating even as blood rivered over his temple and cheek. Bruises decorated his skin. His hair wild and torn.
Even if these men were friends, he still needed to be warned.
They pointed their guns at the Chinmoku, but Elder was in the centre of their target.
He was in their line of fire—
They’ll kill him, too.
I opened my mouth to scream. “El—”
Too late.
A spray of bullets cut through the fight, ending it as suddenly as it had begun.
My scream turned into a cower as the man holding me automatically ducked for cover. The man named Kunio skittered out of the path of death as his warriors all tumbled like plucked weeds.
“Fucking vermin,” a French accent spat as another ricochet of bullets broke apart the group, sending men sprawling with multiple wounds.
“No!” I wriggled and fought, my eyes strained on the blood bath in front of me.
I can’t see him.
I can’t see him!
For a second, no one moved. The scent of gunpowder hung heavily in the room.
Then, slowly, the pile of body parts moved. I sobbed in relief as Elder shoved off dead Chinmoku to stand on wobbly feet.
Being in the centre of the throng had saved his life.
I didn’t know if he was unscathed, but he was alive.
He was alive, and they were not.
My heart turned nasty with hate.
How dare they try to hurt him?
How dare they try to kill him?
I wanted to grab a gun and finish what these two strangers had started.
Elder breathed hard, one hand fisted and another with a finger bent the wrong way. He stood as straight as he could but one leg didn’t bear his weight, and his face was an artwork of violence.
He glowered at the new interlopers, his black gaze menacing and assessing.
He didn’t recognise them.
He wasn’t glad to see them.
Not that the two men with their guns cared. Ignoring him as if he were nothing more than a beetle about to be squashed, they trained their guns instead on the man holding me and the remaining Chinmoku beside us.
The slender man of the two who’d reaped carnage licked his lips as if desperate for more bloodshed but willing to play human...for now. “Let her go.”
My heart coiled and hissed. I fought harder to be released. My eyes shot past the men demanding my freedom and latched onto Elder.
He gave me a pained look, a thousand apologies in one glance.
The man holding me tightened his grip, shaking me to behave. “Who the fuck are you?”
“None of your business,” the bulkier man of the two snarled. “You heard him; let her go.”
Reluctantly, the Chinmoku looked at his boss and loosened his hold. I immediately darted out of reach.
“You’ll pay for this,” Kunio snapped. “You don’t know—”
Two more shots rang out, the bullets flying so close, the slipstream rippled over my skin.
Two more thuds echoed through the floor as the last two Chinmoku toppled into silence. They fell like fallen trees, soundless and dead as old wood.
It was over.
Whoever these sinister angels were, they’d saved Elder’s life and returned me to him.
I couldn’t stand to be apart any longer.
Uncaring that the two men still held smoking guns, uncaring I didn’t have answers to who they were, I bolted to Elder, my gown fluttering in red and blue as I cringed and climbed corpses to reach him.
“Pim...” Elder tripped toward me. “Fuck, Pim.”
My toes slipped on warm blood. My stomach curdled at the stench of death, but as I stepped into Elder’s arms and pressed my forehead to his heart, I didn’t care about anything.
He was alive.
This was my fault. I’d distracted him. I’d turned his mind from survival to seduction.
“Elder...I’m so sor—”
His lips landed on my hair. “Don’t. Please, don’t. This is my fa—”
Hands latched around my arms and waist, pulling me away, yanking me into the embrace of a lemon-sandalwood scent.
“Wait!” My tears fell harder, hating to be torn from the one man I needed.
The slender, dangerous killer who’d just committed countless murders in a fight that wasn’t his held me as if I weighed nothing. He growled at Elder. “Don’t fucking touch her.” Backing away, he trained his gun’s muzzle on him.
“Don’t!” I scratched at my captor’s arm. “Don’t shoot.”
“Stop.” Elder clambered over bodies, baring his teeth as he stalked us. He raised his hands in surrender even as one arm looked suspiciously broken. “Don’t hurt her. She’s mine.”
My new captor chuckled with a blackness I’d only heard in my nightmares. “Not anymore.”
“Wait!” I squirmed in his hold, unable to fully face him with the grip he had on my body. This damn dress gave way too much fabric to be used as a leash. “He’s my friend. He’s—”
Friend was woefully unjust.
Lover was woefully unfair.