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by Maya Banks
Zack reared as soon as the shot sounded, gun whipping up and aiming behind Beau. Before Beau could even turn to see the source of the gunshot, Zack fired two rounds in rapid succession and then immediately sprang to his feet.
“Ari’s taken a hit,” Zack said unnecessarily.
Beau knew Ari had taken the bullet meant for him, and he was utterly sick to his soul. It seemed like it took an eternity to turn, catching her in his arms before she collapsed to the floor when in actuality it was a fraction of a second. The entire episode had taken two seconds at the most, but his reflexes were sluggish. Paralyzed with utter terror for what he’d discover when he managed to see the extent of the damage wrought by the bullet.
“Ari!”
His agonized cry shattered the eerie quiet that had descended after Zack took out the assailant.
Her face was stark white, bloodless, her eyes dull and lifeless as she listed to the side, going utterly limp in his arms.
“Oh God,” he said brokenly. “Ari, honey, why? Why would you do this? Why?”
Not waiting for an answer. It wasn’t important. He knew damn well why. Because it was her nature to put herself before others. To protect when she was the one in need of protection. If she died saving his life it would be for nothing because his life wasn’t worth a damn thing without her in it.
He gently laid her down on the floor so he could find the source of all the blood spilling onto the floor. His heart was about to explode out of his chest. Never had he felt such a black wave of despair. Never had he felt so utterly alone as he did right now. He couldn’t lose her. Couldn’t live without her. He couldn’t remember his life before her. Didn’t want to imagine a future without her in it, by his side. Always in his heart, mind, soul, bed. Raising a family—their family—together, surrounded by love as bright as the sun. Love that outshone any star that ever shined. There was no brighter light than Ari. Not to him.
She had to live. For him, she had to survive, or he would be forever lost. He’d forever be bereft of her light. He’d live in total darkness, never to love—truly live—again.
“Jesus,” Zack muttered as he knelt next to Beau. “I hope to hell it didn’t nick her femoral artery. She’ll bleed out long before we get her to a hospital.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Beau said fiercely. “She’s not going to die. I won’t let her!”
He turned his attention back to Ari, who sluggishly blinked, her eyelids fluttering weakly.
“Beau?”
Her voice was quivery, and she sounded so weak that it struck terror to the depths of his soul.
“Yes, honey, I’m here,” he said, trying to keep the sheer panic from his voice.
“Are you hurt?” she said in barely a whisper. “Did he shoot you?”
Tears burned like acid in his eyes. She lay there barely conscious and yet her only thought was whether he was okay or not. A thin rivulet slipped down his cheek. And then another.
He smoothed a shaky hand over her hair and then pressed a kiss to her forehead, letting his lips linger there for a long moment as he tried to collect himself. He inhaled deeply, trying to settle his seething emotions. So he could be strong for her. As strong as she was, as strong as she’d been for him. It shamed him to the depths of his soul that she’d been the one to save him. Not the other way around. Never again. He’d protect her with his dying breath for the rest of his days.
“I’m fine,” he choked out. “Swear to God, Ari, if you ever pull this kind of stunt again I’ll lock you in the goddamn bedroom and never let you out.”
Her smile was crooked. And pained. She closed her eyes, her body seeming to fold inward.
“Ari!” he said in a panicked tone. “Don’t go out on me. Stay with me. Please stay with me. Stay awake. Just a little longer and then you can rest. I promise.”
He was begging, pleading with her and he didn’t care. He had no pride when it came to her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to save her.
Zack was on the radio barking orders to the others, his tone harsh and urgent.
Without taking his anxious gaze from Ari even for a split second he said to Zack, “Blow the damn wall so we can get the fuck out of here. We have to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. I don’t care about anything else. Just get us the hell out.”
“The charges are set. All I have to do is pull the trigger. You got Ari covered?”
Even as Zack asked, he didn’t wait for a response. Instead he moved over so that he and Caleb protectively flanked Ari. Zack took care to cover the parts of Ari Beau couldn’t, and then he set off the explosion, ducking his head to protect his eyes from any debris.
Beau did the same and simply shoved Ari’s face into his chest, his palm covering the back of her head and holding her in place so nothing touched her.
The explosion shook the room, the floor, the walls and the rafters.
“Shit!” Zack said in an urgent voice. “We have to get out now. The entire roof is coming down. Get Ari and go!”
Beau needed no such urging. He was already hoisting Ari more securely into his arms and he rose, keeping her face against his chest so she didn’t inhale any of the smoke or dust that blew through the room like a hurricane.
No sooner had they cleared the gaping hole in the wall than the roof caved, in collapsing like a cascade of dominos. Another cloud of dust and smoke kicked up and surrounded them until both men were coughing.
The air was fresher, cleaner, the farther they got from the building and was a welcome change from the stale, oppressive interior of the compound. Beau inhaled deeply in an effort to clear not only his lungs, but his mind as well. His heart was too heavy with worry and grief, but he needed his senses about him because, until he had Ari well away from there and in a hospital getting the care she required, he needed all the mental acuity he could muster.
“They’re landing the helo here,” Zack said. “No way Ari can make that trek to the rendezvous point. There isn’t room for us all, so you, Ari and her parents will take the chopper. The rest of us will commandeer one of the vehicles here and get there as soon as we can.”
“I want you with us,” Beau said firmly.
Zack was, in Beau’s mind, his right-hand man, just as Dane was Caleb’s. He trusted Zack to watch his and Ari’s six when Beau knew he wouldn’t be as sharp as he normally was.
“Then I’ll go,” Zack said quietly.
Just like that. No questions. No hesitation. Just unwavering loyalty and resolve.
“Thanks,” Beau said softly.
“Never have to ask, man.”
“I know. Appreciate that.”
To Beau’s relief, the chopper appeared, only a slight hum to the air to signal its arrival. Beau was moving toward it before it even landed, waiting as it gently touched down.
Dane, Capshaw and Isaac quickly climbed out while Beau surged forward bearing Ari with him, Zack on his heels.
As soon as Beau climbed into the interior, Ari’s mother cried out in alarm and her father let out a blistering round of curses.
“What the fuck happened to her?” Gavin roared.
Before Beau could respond, Ari stirred in his arms, opening eyes cloudy with pain and confusion. Then they cleared and frost entered the multicolored orbs.
“Beau, wait,” she said, her voice stronger than it had been just moments earlier.
“No we will not wait,” Beau said fiercely. “You have to get to a hospital now. In case you forgot, you’ve been shot!”
Ginger gasped. “What?”
Ari struggled to sit up, Beau’s arm a barrier to her objective. When he realized she wouldn’t rest and would only do herself more harm if he didn’t allow her up, he reluctantly eased her upward, careful to keep a steadying hand at her back and around her waist.
Her eyes glowed as she stared at the building just yards away. Pain wrinkled her face and her concentration was fierce. It was then he realized what she was trying to do.
“Goddamn it, Ari, no!” Beau roa
red. “Enough! I refuse to let you kill yourself over this. You’ve bled far too much even before you were shot. You’re going to have a stroke or an aneurism.”
He turned his pleading gaze on her parents, silently asking for their support.
“Ari, whatever it is you think you’re doing, please don’t,” her mother said softly. “Please, just come home with us.”
Ari shook her head, eyes still glowing. Blood began to slowly creep from her nose and her ears as her brow furrowed even more.
The earth shook beneath the helicopter, making it shake too. Ari’s parents glanced uneasily at their daughter and Gavin forcefully interjected himself.
“Ari, stop it,” he demanded. “I won’t let you do this. I won’t let you do further harm to yourself. For your mother’s sake—for my sake, stop.”
“I have to do this,” Ari said softly. “I can’t let them win. I made a vow. To myself. And I have to see it through. I can’t let others endure what’s been done to me and countless others.”
Then she closed her eyes as if shutting them all out. Beau. Her parents. Everything but her objective.
Beau issued a sharp command to the pilot to take off, hoping that would deter Ari.
He should have known better.
Even as the helicopter rose, hovering a split second before zooming over the building and away, the entire complex went up in an explosion of flames, a mushroom cloud resembling an atomic blast hurling upward into the air.
Everyone in the helicopter stared down in awe as the building simply disintegrated before their very eyes.
But Beau was only looking at Ari. At the blood running like a river from her nose, ears and mouth. He tightened his hold around her even as he was careful not to move the leg that had taken the bullet meant for him.
Ari’s eyes were dull and lifeless, the spark that powered the surge of mental energy necessary to bring down the entire compound was now nothing more than a dim light source in danger of being extinguished.
She stirred in Beau’s arms, pushing weakly as if she wanted to sit up. But she couldn’t even support her own weight. Beau carefully lifted so she could see her parents, but her gaze was empty. Blank. She stared beyond the occupants of the helicopter to the orange fireball erupting into the sky and the thick wall of smoke that blanketed the entire area.
Her unfocused gaze found Beau, her eyelids fluttering weakly, as though it were a struggle to merely remain conscious.
“Is it gone?” she asked hoarsely. “Is it destroyed?”
Beau’s throat closed in, swelling with emotion until it was impossible for him to swallow.
“Yes, honey. It’s gone. You destroyed it just like you swore you would.”
“And my parents?” she whispered.
Beau exchanged quick worried glances with her mom and dad because they were sitting right next to her. They’d held her, talked to her. And she wasn’t aware of their presence?
Beau pressed his lips to her forehead. “Your parents are okay. More than okay. You saved them. They’re here now with you. Do you want to see them?”
Ari’s eyes closed and she sagged limply against Beau.
“It’s finished,” she whispered.
Beau gathered her more tightly in his arms, fear knotting his insides. He held her fiercely as if by holding her tighter he could somehow hold her spirit with him in the here and now. Because he could see her fading away. As though she’d mustered just enough strength to achieve her objective and now was sliding away from him with each passing second.
“No, it’s not finished,” Beau choked out. “Not you and me, Ari. We’re just beginning. You hang on. Don’t you dare give up. Do you hear me? This isn’t finished!”
He pressed his lips to the top of her head, hot tears sliding down his cheeks.
“Don’t go, Ari. Don’t leave me. I love you,” he said brokenly.
He bowed his head, pulling her closer into his body even as his fingers stroked her neck, searching for a pulse. There’d been so much blood. So much mental strain. How could anyone survive something like this?
Her breath, so light and erratic puffed and then stuttered against his skin. And then she went utterly still. No rise and fall of her chest. No air exchange. No pulse. Nothing.
“No!” Beau roared in fury, denial raging in his mind, heart and soul. “Goddamn you. Come back to me, Ari! You can’t leave me. You can never leave me!”
Zack and Gavin managed to pull Ari from Beau’s grasp and they laid her on the floor of the helicopter so they could begin CPR. But it was all distant. Like it wasn’t really happening. As though Beau was watching it happen to a complete stranger with mild curiosity.
Only this was no stranger. Ari was his entire world. Without her to share it with him, it simply wasn’t worth getting up in the mornings.
She wasn’t responding to Zack and her father’s urgent attempts to bring her back. It was simply too much for Beau to handle any longer.
He dropped to the floor and gathered Ari’s limp body in his arms and rocked back and forth, his face buried in her hair.
“Don’t leave me,” he whispered. “Please don’t leave me, Ari. Stay. Fight this. Fight for us. Just please don’t leave me when it took so long for me to find the other half of my soul.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
BEAU paced the interior of the waiting room like a caged lion, edgy, raw, his nerves so jagged that any sound whatsoever set his teeth on edge. Every time one of the medical staff opened the door to the waiting room, he surged to attention, hoping it was someone bearing news about Ari.
He hadn’t wanted to be separated from her, not even for a minute. But the nurses hadn’t been swayed by his harsh demands, pleas or frustrated raging. Not even her parents had been allowed back while the doctor and other nurses worked rapidly to stabilize her. He’d drawn no comfort from that fact, because while he wanted to be with her, absolutely, he just didn’t want her to regain consciousness alone and frightened.
And judging by the restless, worried expressions on her parents’ faces, they weren’t faring any better than he was.
He closed his eyes, remembering the warning from so long ago. Tori’s dream. In reality, not that much time had passed, but so much had happened since then that it seemed a lifetime ago. Him, covered in blood, on the floor. He’d been right about one thing. It wasn’t his blood in his sister’s dream. It had been Ari’s. But Tori hadn’t seen something that had already occurred. She had seen the future. Ari’s fate.
Dane, Eliza, Capshaw and Isaac had arrived an hour and a half after the helicopter had touched down on the roof of the hospital. If the personnel had been taken aback by the strange aircraft, they hadn’t let on. They’d set about briskly and efficiently doing their jobs. Saving Ari’s life.
But Beau was worried about the amount of blood loss she’d incurred. It seemed she’d lost over half her volume. Just what she’d lost with the multiple and continuous psychic bleeds would be enough to fell anyone. Add a gunshot wound on top of that?
She had lost and regained a pulse numerous times on the helicopter flight to the hospital. Upon arrival they’d intubated her and began CPR again.
That was hours ago. What the fuck could be taking so long? Didn’t they know there were people out here dying a slow, agonizing death waiting to know if Ari lived or died? Would it kill them to give some kind of update?
But then if she’d died, they would have already reported that, so he took comfort from the fact that not a single person had been out to give Ari’s status.
Beau had been on the phone with Caleb and Ramie every hour since Ari’s arrival at the hospital. Ramie had wanted to fly out in Caleb’s plane immediately, but Beau had convinced her not to. There was little she could do and Beau would prefer they not leave Tori alone with only Quinn for protection. His little sister was still in a very fragile, vulnerable state, and subject to anxiety attacks if left alone for more than a few hours.
Quinn, too, had called, though his younger broth
er hadn’t even met Ari. Apparently Caleb and Ramie had filled him in, though, because he was anxious over the condition of his “future sister-in-law.”
Beau blew out his breath. If he was lucky, Ari would give him the time of day after he’d let her down so many times.
“Man, sit down for a while,” Zack said in a low voice.
Beau looked up to see Zack standing beside him. He hadn’t even noticed the other man’s approach. Zack held a cup of coffee out to Beau and he took it gratefully. He was weary to his bones and needed any surge the caffeine would provide because he refused to even contemplate sleep until he’d seen for himself that Ari was out of the woods.
“You’re wasted,” Zack said bluntly. “You aren’t doing anyone any good, especially not Ari, by stalking around here making the other people in the waiting room nervous as hell and you’re certainly not helping to diminish Ari’s mother’s worry. You saw Ari. You were with her. Her parents weren’t. So to see you so eaten alive like this only makes them think the worst.”
Guilt surged over Beau and he glanced momentarily over to where Ari’s parents sat. Ginger had her head laid on her husband’s shoulder, his arm firmly wrapped around her. Her eyes were red and swollen from the tears she’d shed and worry was bright in both her and her husband’s eyes.
Conceding that he wasn’t helping matters any, Beau took a seat and leaned back, fatigue washing through his veins, nearly overwhelming him in the process. He sipped at the strong coffee and grimaced his distaste.
“I didn’t say it was good coffee,” Zack said in amusement. “But it should definitely give you a zap of caffeine. I think it qualifies as sludge more than actual coffee.”
Beau peered down into the cup and frowned his agreement. Then he sighed and forced another sip down his throat.
The minutes ticked by with excruciating slowness, each one seemingly an hour. Beau watched the hand tick around the wall clock, counting each second. Silence had fallen over the small room, and no one seemed to want to change that.
There were half a dozen other people occupying the waiting room, but they’d all relocated to the far wall when Beau and the others had burst in. He couldn’t say he blamed them. Beau was covered in Ari’s blood, Gavin had dried blood in more than one place from his altercation with the two men he’d killed and the rest just looked pissed off.