Page 128 of Requiem
But he brushes snow-damp hair back from her face anyway, his blood staining her skin as his thumb catches against her cheek. “You okay?” he asks quietly.
The question destroys her. She sobs, pressing harder against the wound as blood keeps slipping through her fingers. “You took the bullet for me, you fucking idiot—”
“I’m good,” he grits out through clenched teeth, though his face has already gone pale beneath the blood splattered across it.
“You are notfuckinggood!” she screams.
Another round of bullets tears into the SUV beside them.
Rafe lunges forward to cover them, firing twice toward the tree line before his body suddenly jolts sideways. The gunshot cracks through the night loud enough to make me flinch as blood bursts down the side of his neck and shoulder, staining the snow beneath him in dark, terrifying streaks.
“Rafe!” Adela screams.
But he doesn’t fall.
The man barely even reacts to being shot. He pivots with frightening precision, raising his weapon one-handed before firing straight into the trees. A body drops somewhere beyond the snowfall.
“Get them in the fucking cars!” he roars.
Everything disintegrates after that.
Kieran and Nico drag Micah upright between them while Heather openly sobs beside them, both of her shaking hands pressed desperately against the blood pouring from his side. It keeps slipping through her fingers no matter how hard she tries to stop it.
“We have an hour!” she cries frantically. “Maybe less!”
Gunfire erupts again from somewhere near the gate.
The sound ricochets through the property as another SUV tears around the corner toward us, headlights blazing through the snowstorm like something charging straight out of hell.
Jude turns sharply, firing twice toward the vehicle before another man emerges near the side entrance of the mansion.
And he’s aiming directly at Jude.
My body moves before my brain catches up.
There’s a gun on the ground near my feet, abandoned beside one of the guards sprawled motionless in the snow. I snatch it up instinctively, the metal freezing against my palm as I whirl toward the man raising his weapon.
For one horrible second, time slows. I see the stranger lining up the shot. See Jude turning too late, and my entire world ending if that bullet hits home.
You will not fucking take him from me.
I pull the trigger, the recoil slamming painfully through my arms as the gunshot explodes through my ears. The man jerks backward immediately, collapsing hard into the snow before he can fire.
Silence rushes through my head afterward.
My breathing stops.
The gun hangs limp in my hand as I stare at it, eyes wide, my pulse suddenly roaring so loudly I can barely hear anything else.
I shot him. Oh my god.
Ishothim.
Nico puts three more bullets into the man since my aim wasn’t good enough to kill him.
“Emma!” Jude’s voice snaps everything back into focus. He’s already moving toward me, his chest heaving as his gaze darts from me to the body in the snow and back again. Realization dawns upon him. Then his face hardens again as another burst of gunfire erupts nearby.
“Get in the fucking car,” he orders sharply, grabbing my wrist and pulling me backward toward the SUV. His eyes lock onto mine for one intense second. “Right now.”
