A hand landed on his shoulder. “Let’s move.”
Hudson.
He pointed behind him at Benedict and Eden. “Take those two, Hudson. I’ll take care of her.”
As Hudson hauled them to their feet, he kept firing behind him. “Go!” he yelled, and Benedict and Eden took off, the hail of bullets their cover.
Roman waited a few seconds to see that they were on their way to safety, then turned to Olivia. “Let’s go.”
He scrambled to his feet, pulling her to hers. They ran bent at the waist and Hudson followed, his finger constantly on the trigger, spraying bullets at the soldiers.
Vehicle lights appeared in the distance, and then he saw Blake standing a few feet in front of him, his legs spread, a machine gun in hand. A small smile played on his lips as he aimed at their attackers.
“Good to see you, Roman,” he yelled as they ran past.
Suddenly, Olivia’s hand slipped from his, and she was no longer by his side. Instead, she lay on the ground writhing in pain, her screams tearing through the night.
He dropped to his knees, the dirt embedding itself under his skin. “Olivia!”
“Roman! My back. I think I’ve been shot!”
He tried to pick her up, but then felt the piercing sting of a bullet entering his leg and he crumpled to the ground on a curse.
Blake came up beside him. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Roman got to his feet and pointed to Olivia. “Help her. I can make it on my own.”
Olivia shook her head. “No, Roman. Go. I don’t belong in your world.”
Blake glared at him, then turned and pressed his finger to the trigger, spraying bullets behind them.
Olivia groaned. “Go, Roman!”
He tried to run, but he couldn’t. She had to come with him. She’d risked her life to get them out, and he simply would not let her die out in the desert alone like this.
“Get her, Blake.”
He nodded and handed Roman the gun. Strapping it around his neck, it felt good to be in control of something for a change. As he wrapped his finger around the trigger and pulled, Blake bent down and picked up Olivia as if she weighed nothing more than a pillow, then took off after Hudson toward the car.
Roman limped along behind everyone, firing at random. He noticed there seemed to be fewer in pursuit than there had been, and he felt a bit bad about the loss of life, but the feeling passed quickly.
Everyone at that facility had been guilty, as far as he was concerned. The only one who’d redeemed herself had been Olivia.
As he climbed into the back of the SUV where Blake had laid out Olivia, he heard Hudson gasp.
Turning, he realized the male had finally taken stock of Benedict and Eden, and now realized the similarities between them and the reflection in the mirror he saw every day.
“What the fuck is going on?” Blake asked as he climbed into the front passenger seat and glanced behind him.
Cohen turned around from the driver’s seat. “Holy shit.”
Hudson, Benedict, and Eden all stared at each other, and the interior of the car went silent.
Finally, Hudson looked to Cohen. “Let’s go, my friend.”
As Roman gazed down at Olivia, his heart beat in his chest and sweat trickled down the sides of his face. Worry had his breath caught in his throat. She had passed out. He pushed her away from him and saw the blood from her wound. “Give me your shirt, Hudson.”
Seconds later, he packed it into the bullet hole, hoping it would stop the bleeding until they could get her help.
He gripped her hand, then studied his own injury. It looked as if the bullet had gone straight through as he had a hole in the back as well as the front of his thigh. “I need yours, too, Blake.”
A moment later, he wrapped it around his thigh and leaned his head back, keeping two fingers on Olivia’s pulse.
Relief washed through him, but it didn’t get rid of the concern. What would they do with her? They couldn’t take her to the silo—he certainly didn’t feel comfortable enough to do that. They should just drop her off at an emergency room and go on their way, but as he gazed down at her, he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that, either. He needed to stay with her until he felt certain she would be okay, but he wouldn’t take the chance of her meeting the others. Besides, she’d just helped three aliens escape their captors. Once the hospital staff put her in the system, he had no doubt they’d find her very quickly. What her fate would be then, he didn’t even want to consider.
Then, he had an idea.
“Cohen, take Olivia and me to the safe house.”
Hudson turned around. “We should take her to a hospital.”
“No. We take her to the safe house. Cohen, you heal both of us, then you all go on your way.”
“I can’t just heal a human, Roman.”
The word ‘no’ didn’t reside in his vocabulary tonight, especially where Olivia was concerned. He’d get her help if it became the last thing he did. “Then have Beverly meet us.”
Hudson opened his mouth to argue, then shut it and turned back around and pulled out his phone.
As they hit the freeway, he felt good about his plan and his decision.
Olivia had saved him, and he would do the same for her, one way or the other.
Chapter 39
They arrived at the safe house where Beverly and Axel waited for them. Axel carried a suitcase, which Roman assumed was full of clothes for everyone, and Beverly had her doctor’s bag. She quickly hid the look of utter shock on her face when Benedict and Eden emerged from the car, but Roman saw the glare she gave Hudson, and he knew things were not going to be easy for the male over the next few days, which was a shame because Christmas was right around the corner. It may be the happiest time of the year for most, but he doubted it would be for Hudson.
The twins stuck together as Hudson and Blake led them inside. Cohen came around the back of the car with Axel and Beverly in tow.
“Is that what I think it is?” Beverly asked, hitching her thumb over her shoulder at the doorway.
Roman sighed. He could see the hurt in her gaze, and he felt terrible for her. Beverly had always been very kind to him, and he hated to see her obvious anguish. “Yes. That’s Eden and Benedict, and it certainly looks like they’re Hudson’s offspring.”
Cohen scoffed. “Looks like? I’d bet Blake’s left nut that they are. Axel, help me get her into the house.”
The idea of leaving Olivia in Axel’s care didn’t sit well with him, but he knew he wouldn’t be capable of getting her in the house with his injury. “Please be careful with her.”
Axel glanced at him. “Precious cargo?”
“Something like that.”
“You’ve been hurt, as well,” Beverly said, placing her arm around his waist.
He leaned on her as he followed Axel, Cohen, and Olivia inside. “Yeah, but not as bad as her. I think she took one to the back.”
Beverly gasped. “The back? Roman, is she human?”
He nodded, trying to hurry them up. They weren’t moving fast enough in this dire situation.
“She should be at a hospital.”
He shook his head. “We can’t. She’s in big trouble after she helped us escape. They’d kill her if they find her. Hurry up, Axel.”
Axel glared at him. “Do you want me to hurry up, or do you want me to drop her?”
“Just move faster, and be really careful at the same time. Certainly, your nasty ass is capable of both?”
They moved through the doorway, and Roman ignored the opulent decorations and fixtures. He couldn’t take his gaze off Olivia.
Beverly helped him downstairs, and they went into the nearest bedroom as his panic increased. His damn heart just may pound out the front of his chest. “I don’t have the tools or equipment to remove a bullet from someone’s back, Roman.”
“Cohen can heal her.”
They laid Olivia out on the bed facedown, and it seemed her skin looked a bit a
shen. Beverly sat him down in a chair, then unwrapped Blake’s shirt from his leg.
“We don’t know if Cohen can heal a human, Roman.”
“We have to try. Don’t worry about me. Just help her.”
Cohen sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I could kill her.”
He couldn’t take his gaze from Olivia. It had become so important for her to make it through this, he felt as if he were willing her injuries to heal. “If you don’t try, she’s going to be dead, anyway. We can’t take her to a hospital, and if we do nothing, she’ll die. We have to try, Cohen.”
Cohen glared at him a moment, then nodded.
Beverly handed him some gauze and tape, instructing him to wrap up his own wound. Next, she went to the bed and pulled some scissors from her bag, then began cutting open Olivia’s top, tossing Hudson’s bloody shirt to the side.
The thought of another male seeing her bare skin made him rage, but the sane part of him knew that Cohen would need to do so in order to heal her. Axel, on the other hand …
“Get the fuck out, Axel.”
He could see the male had been ready to argue, but then turned and left the room without another word. Roman didn’t meet the questioning gazes of Beverly and Cohen. “Heal her. Please.”
Cohen got to his knees beside the bed, laid his hands on her back, and closed his eyes. This had to work. He had to help Olivia, just as she’d helped him. Although there had been a lack of trust in the facility, their escape had helped erase that. He required her to live, not for only her sake, but for his. He didn’t understand it, but the need became more important to him than his next breath.
A few moments later, Cohen gazed up at him. “She’s not fully human, Roman. She’s got SR44ian markers. They’re faint, but they’re present.”
He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as relief washed through him. “So, you can heal her.”
Cohen nodded. “Yes. There shouldn’t be any trouble.”
As he turned back to Olivia to continue his work, Roman stared at her. He always knew she had been different than other women, and now he understood why. She was similar to him. How he’d sensed that, he didn’t know, but it explained the connection felt with her.
He wondered about her past and how she’d gotten the SR44ian DNA within her. Could she have been a Colonist offspring, or a distant relative to one of the Saviors? They really knew so little about each other.
Once she came around, it would be time for a lot of open and honest talks between them, and he grinned at the possibilities of his future.
Chapter 40
Blake stood in the kitchen waiting for Cohen and Beverly to finish up downstairs. Axel came in and opened the refrigerator, only to find it empty.
“There’s some booze in the bar, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
Axel opened one cabinet, found a glass, and then moved over to the bar. He poured himself a whiskey, downed it, then another. He leaned against the counter, his stare giving Blake the willies.
Standing at almost six-foot-five and built wide and hard, the guy looked deadly and scary with his thick, dark beard, chiseled features, and tattoo sleeve. However, the most fearsome thing about him was his eyes—dark, flat, and void of any emotion. Every now and then, Blake caught a flash of feelings in them, but most of the time, the guy just pissed him off and sort of gave him the creeps.
“That’s some freaky shit going on tonight, huh?”
Blake nodded. “Yup. I have a feeling things aren’t going to be easy for Hudson.”
“I know. I wonder if he knew he had more kids.”
“I doubt it. He’s a damn good father—he wouldn’t abandon his own children.”
“Do you think Beverly’s upset?”
Blake shrugged. This may have been the longest conversation he’d ever had with Axel, and definitely the most civil. “I think she’s going to have a lot of questions.”
Axel drank the rest of his whiskey. “I’m going to meet Hudson’s kids. What are their names again?”
“Benedict and Eden.”
“Isn’t there a story about a Garden of Eden in human religion?”
Shock rolled through him. Axel had been studying human religion? “I thought you just walked around being a prick all day. I had no idea you had been actually doing something other.”
Axel shrugged. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. But, if I recall, Eden gave Adam an apple from the tree of knowledge and God became very upset because he had told them not to eat the fruit from that particular tree.”
“Yup. Then he made their lives difficult, and here we are today.”
Axel stared at him a moment. “Yes, here we are.”
As he left, Blake almost wished the miserable son of a bitch would stay and keep talking to him. With no one else to focus on, he had to think about his own shitty situation at home, how he’d left things before heading out on the mission.
Fury raged through him. “How the fuck did this happen, Sophia?”
Tears streamed down her face as she cowered in the bathroom. “I don’t know, Blake. I took the pills as Beverly directed me to.”
He slammed his fist down on the bathroom counter. “You need to get an abortion!”
She shook her head, not meeting his gaze. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“You have no fucking choice!”
Finally, she looked at him, her anger apparent through the tears. “Yes, I do! There is always a choice!”
He hovered over her as pure rage railed through him. He pointed at her, spittle gathering at the corners of his mouth. “This time, there isn’t.”
Sophia got to her feet and wiped her nose with her sleeve, her voice quiet, but furious. “This is a decision that we need to discuss rationally, Blake. Right now, you aren’t being rational.”
After punching the wall, he screamed at her. “No! You’ll get an abortion, and that’s the end of this fucking conversation!”
She’d been sobbing as he left, and at that point, he hadn’t cared. God, he’d been such a bastard. He had a feeling he’d be sleeping on a couch in the Great Room tonight.
He rubbed his face, trying to figure out where to even start to repair the damage he’d done—if he even could.
Cohen and Beverly came up the stairs. Good—someone else to take his mind off his problems.
“Everything look okay down there?”
Cohen nodded. “Yes. I think they’re both going to be fine.”
Hudson, Benedict, Eden, and Axel came in. The twins seemed to be uncomfortable, but he didn’t blame them. It was a strange situation.
Beverly stared at them, her face unreadable. Finally, she stepped forward.
“Hello. My name’s Beverly. I’m Hudson’s mate.”
Benedict glanced at Eden, and she nodded. “My name’s Benedict. This is my sister, Eden. It appears that Hudson is our father.”
“Yes, it certainly does look that way.”
Beverly and Hudson stared at each other a moment. “I’m going to stay here tonight, so please leave me one of the cars,” she said.
Hudson shook his head. “Bev, you should come home with me. We have a lot to discuss.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, we do, but I have two patients downstairs. They’ll need someone to shop for groceries in the morning, and I have to watch them for the next twenty-four hours. And frankly, Hudson, I don’t feel like discussing anything with you at this point.”
Without another word, she turned and headed downstairs. Hudson watched her go, pain radiating from his gaze as he pursed his lips.
A beat of very uncomfortable silence ensued while Blake studied the floor, then Cohen cleared his throat. “We should head back to the silo.”
Hudson nodded, and Blake trailed after the crew to the front door. He wanted to find an excuse to stay here, as well, but none came to mind. Instead, he’d have to go home and face the hornet’s nest he had created.
Cha
pter 41
The next morning, Roman sat in the chair next to Olivia’s bed, willing her to wake. He stared at her dark skin, the slope of her shoulders, and her full mouth. She really was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen.
She’d barely moved all night, and he had become worried. Beverly said he should relax and allow her body to heal, and she’d come to consciousness when she was ready.
Beverly had risen early, gone grocery shopping, and made him breakfast. Hobbling up and down the stairs didn’t hurt as bad as last night, but thankfully, the house had an elevator, and he’d put it to good use.
When Olivia woke and could move without much discomfort, he wanted to relocate her up to the master bedroom on the main floor. He’d sleep on the couch if necessary, but it seemed to be a better fit for them to be close to the kitchen. Then, there was the Solarium. The room had floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. He’d always found the space very comfortable, and wanted to relax in there with her.
A small groan emanated from her lips, and she opened her eyes. He leaned forward and smiled, the beauty of her hazel eyes causing warmth to bloom throughout his chest and relief to flood through him.
He placed a hand on her cheek. “Hey.”
“Roman?”
“How do you feel?”
Her eyes fluttered closed again. “I’m a little sore. What happened?”
“Do you want to turn over? You’ve been sleeping with your head to the side like that for quite a few hours. Your neck is probably kinked.”
She nodded and met his gaze, confusion in her eyes. “What about the wound in my back?”
“It’s healed up. You’ll be fine lying face up.”
He helped her turn to her back, keeping the sheet at her chest to protect her modesty. It seemed silly since he’d had her breasts in his hands and mouth, but it felt as if they would be starting over. No more lies.
She glanced around the room. “How is my back healed? Why am I here, and not in a hospital? Where am I?”
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