Page 39 of Requiem
I tighten my hold on him, one hand coming up to cradle the back of his head again. “I’m not going anywhere,” I tell him. “You should feel it soon.”
His grip is shaky. “Don’t let the pain come back,” he whispers.
That one almost fucking breaks me.
“I won’t,” I murmur, even though I know I can’t promise that. But I’ll fight like hell anyway.
When I return to the basement living room, Heather is standing a few feet away, watching me.
“Hey,” she says gently, stepping closer. “Rafe requested Emma upstairs. She’ll be back.”
I let out a breath that feels like it’s been trapped in my lungs for fucking days. “He took it.”
Her expression shifts into relief. “We saw.”
I sigh. “Yeah. Fought me the whole way, but…yeah.”
“That’s amazing. It’sprogress.” She whispers.
I shake my head, scrubbing a hand through my hair. “Don’t get too excited. He’s still—” I gesture vaguely toward the door. “He’s still…fucked up.”
“I know,” she murmurs, taking a step closer. Her hands slide up my arms, steadying me in a way nothing else has been able to. I don’t know how I’d be able to do this without her. “You did good.”
I huff out a quiet, humorless breath. “Yeah? Feels like I’m barely holding it together.”
“That’s because you are,” she says, not unkindly. “But you’re still showing up. You’re doing everything you can for him. He loves you, and he knows that you love him, too.”
My jaw tightens, and before I can stop myself, I lean forward, pressing my forehead lightly against hers. Just…needing her. For a second, neither of usmoves. Then her nose brushes against my cheek. It’s the smallest gesture, but it brings me a kind of comfort I’ve never felt before.
My breath stutters a little, utterly destroyed by this woman. And I don’t think. I just turn my head and kiss her. It’s relief and exhaustion and too many emotions with nowhere else to go. My hands come up to her waist, tugging her closer.
She kisses me back just as hard. Her fingers slide into my hair, and for a second, everything else fades. The monitors. The chains. All of it is gone, and replaced with her warm, soft lips on mine. I cling to them like they’re oxygen, and I’m running out of it.
“Micah...” she moans, her breath quickening. I know I should stop. But I just want her peace.
“Good. You’re both here.”
The voice cuts through us, and we break apart instantly.
I turn, still breathing hard, and see Rafe stepping into the basement living room, Emma just behind him. She looks stronger than I’ve seen her. And, she’s grinning at us.
Rafe’s gaze flicks between us for half a second. “Everything’s locked down,” he says, already shifting into business. “Adela and Nico went through every device in the house. Sinclair’s protocols are active. No signals in or out unless we allow it.”
I nod once, forcing myself back into focus. “So we’re good? Well, safe?”
“For now,” he says. “Alexei won’t find this place through tech. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try something else, of course. He’s pissed the fuck off right now. I challenged him when he called last night. He didn’t like that.”
He looks at me then. That was the first thing we were all told when we awoke this morning. That the fucker called in the middle of the night.
“It seems that we don’t have much time to waste, then,” I sigh, sliding my hands into my pockets.
“Seems like it,” Emma confirms. “We’re just hoping he hesitates long enough for us to actually get somewhere.”
I glance back toward the door at the end of the hall, where Jude is still fighting something none of us can see. “…Yeah,” I mutter. “Let’s get to work.”
Chapter eleven
EMMA EASTON
