by Garren, Jax
The vision in his right eye dimmed until he could only see from one side. The throb in his hand and crushing pain in his body softened into an electric hum that ran through him. His thoughts buzzed in tune with his body, dimming to two ideas: Eliminate the threat. Protect what was his.
Eight of them and one of him? No problem.
* * *
Fire. Effing. Hurt.
Heat blistered down Jolie’s neck and right shoulder, bringing tears to her eyes as she hung on to Hauk like a safety line. He’d survived being engulfed in this pain. She’d barely been touched by it; she could handle a little burn.
“I’ve got this. You’re safe,” his low voice rumbled, calm and steady as ever. She blinked her eyes to clear the moisture and realized he’d shifted.
But something was different. He seemed lucid.
He smiled and set her gently on the ground then reached up and slammed two guards together by their heads.
They dropped beside her.
Behind them, Mercy yelled as her chair toppled and fist crunched against bone. Jolie turned to find her up and fighting.
Jolie needed to get up and fight, too. Legs shaky, she started to stand.
Hauk swiped a magic stick from the ground. Another Hand of Atropos approached, and he crushed the wand against the man’s arm.
Once again, the Hand of Atropos crumbled forward, the hold of the tattoo broken.
Hauk didn’t notice and continued running through soldiers.
The magic-fallen soldier looked up at Jolie with an expression full of confusion. Th {conhis.e doctor yelled for Atropos to attack.
This one clutched his stomach and ran from the room.
“It breaks their magic, too,” Jolie yelled, knowing Mercy would hear and hoping Hauk understood. She doubted the reprieve was permanent, but she scrambled on the ground to pick up a wand of her own anyway.
Seeing the way of things, the doctor ran away.
Hauk picked up the blood-spattered guy who’d torched them and tossed him into a wall. The impact of the body against cement crunched in bone-shattering death.
Hauk turned to her and Mercy and said, “Let’s go.”
The three of them rushed from the room into eerily empty halls.
Hauk plowed ahead with no attempt at stealth. Up the stairs and into the main floor. One corridor over, and they were at the vaulted-ceiling foyer, the wooden double doors to their escape less than ten yards away.
Doors that were blocked by a dozen Atropos and three members of Ananke themselves.
Hauk, Mercy and Jolie stopped to assess the situation.
Pierce MacArthur stood front and center, like a general before his army. Jolie had known him all her life as a mild-mannered acquaintance of her father’s, though something about the iron gray of his stare had always given her the wiggins. She’d recently found out he was also a wizard, or whatever Ananke called their magic-wielding leaders, and could cast some hefty mind-control on the fly. With a few words, he’d nearly turned Hauk against her during their last encounter.
Pierce nodded once in acknowledgment, bobbing his short gray hair without his stare ever leaving them. In his left hand he carried the bronze drop spindle he used as a focus item to work his magic.
Jolie stepped forward with the magic-breaking staff, just as Mercy stepped forward with her gun.
Hauk looked left, and Jolie followed his gaze. Mercy wasn’t the only one with a gun. Down the hall, half a dozen agents had pistols aimed their way.
Pierce stepped forward. “As you can see, we’ve got you well-covered.” He narrowed his eyes at Hauk. “Can you hear me in there, or is it only destruction on your mind?”
Hauk took a step forward. “I’m listening.”
Jolie was surprised by the clarity in his voice.
Pierce appeared to be as well. “Interesting. We have arrived at an impasse. The likelihood of the three of you getting out of here alive is not great. But I imagine you can do quite a bit of damage before that happens. And you, Mr. Haukon, the one we want, might still get out. So I offer you a trade. I’ll let the two of them go if you stay with me.” He smiled smoothly. “If it helps, I’ll even throw that little blonde in the bargain.”
“Keep her,” Jolie growled.
Hauk kept a steady gaze. “Ashley can stay or go as she pleases. We both know that.”
It was a relief to hear he’d figured that out, but Jolie still feared the threat to Mercy and herself was enough to activate Hauk’s abundant hero complex. She hadn’t made it this far to lose him now, so she stepped up. “I’m just going to keep coming back, so I say right now is as good a time as any for a showdown.”
Maybe she shouldn’t speak for anybody else, but Mercy stepped up to the line. She was all in, too.
Jolie twirled the baton through her fingers. “I’ve seen what this does to your guys. All I have to do is touch them with it, and your hold is broken. How many of your mind slaves do you think will stay and fight when they understand what you’ve done to them?”
Hauk stared down at the baton in his hand.
Pierce laughed. “The control break is so brief, by the time they’re standing up, they belong to us again. So how do you expect to take out nearly thirty of my soldiers with one of those two sticks?” Pierce waved a dismissive hand as Hauk ignored him, engrossed in picking at the wooden side of his wand with his thumbnail. “Besides,” Pierce continued. “We can do the same to your soldier. Or the only one who counts, anyway. And when his magic is broken, he has nothing to restart it. How long do you think he can stay standing upright then?”
Hauk turned Jolie to face him. “If I tell you to leave, you’re not going to listen, are you? You’re going to stay and try to save me anyway.”
Jolie arched an eyebrow. “Oh look, he can be taught. Yes, of course I am.”
He lifted his baton to show a line with a triangle sitting on it, like a stick-figure hat, that he’d scratched into the wood. “Remember the magical burst when we broke one in the theater?” he muttered. “This will amplify it.”
She had the sense “we” didn’t refer to her, but to the beast. Were he and his rage-self communicating? And did rage-Hauk have a plan other than “smash”? “Did you draw a rune?”
“You’re going to have to carry me out,” was all he said.
“What?”
Instead of answering, Hauk bull-rushed the corridor with the gunmen. Shots thundered, slamming into him, but he kept moving forward.
Jolie ran after him.
Hauk toppled the first gunman. The soldiers fell on him, dog-piling up like a football team. But he didn’t fight them.
Wood cracked as he snapped the wand into jagged shards. Yellow sparks engulfed the mass of bodies, zinging madly around them. Painful howls resounded as every bit of magic in the vicinity broke down, crippling the men.
Jolie found a tribal-tattooed arm and pulled until she’d extracted Hauk’s head and shoulders. He crawled forward; she shoved bodies off of him as the Hands of Atropos slunk away. As soon as his feet were clear, she stuck an arm under his shoulders and lifted him to standing. “Stupid self-sacrificing dumbass.” But his plan had worked. The entire hallway was clear of enemies.
Mercy picked off any approaching Atropos with her gun.
Jolie scratched the same rune into her staff. “Do I have to say anything?”
“I dunno,” Hauk slurred. She had to get him out of here. That last magic bit had scrambled him something fierce.
“Shoot this!” She tossed the staff at the doors.
Mercy took aim. Missed. The baton landed. One of the soldiers reached for it. Mercy shot again. The baton exploded, sending energy skittering through the air. Pierce dodged to the side as the soldiers around him collapsed.
Jolie reached the door, but they had a long way to go to reach the wall, and Hauk could barely move. Ananke had plenty of time to rally. She shoved Hauk forward anyway as Mercy covered them from the back.
They exited t {Thetimhe building to
the purr of an approaching motor. Travis appeared out of nowhere with her car. Thank God. What was he doing here, though?
He opened the side door. Jolie shoved Hauk into the passenger seat as Mercy climbed over Travis and into the back.
As soon as Jolie’s feet were inside, Travis stomped on the accelerator, thrusting her into Hauk’s bullet-ridden body.
“Is he okay?” Travis asked.
“What are you doing here?”
Travis glanced at her and back at the road. “I heard too late what you were doing. Drove out anyway, found your car, parked mine and tuned in to their radio signal. When I heard the chaos I switched to the GT-R and drove in.” He shrugged. “I would’ve come with you if you’d asked, you know.”
Jolie patted his shoulder. “Thank you for coming anyway.”
She managed to twist into a forward-facing position in the tiny space. Hauk’s arms slid around her like a seatbelt, keeping her from hitting the windshield, but his grip was so weak. He needed medical attention, now.
Mercy patted Travis’s shoulder, as well. “Thanks from me, too. I had no idea how we were going to get Hauk back over the wall. You saved our asses.”
Jolie nodded. “I’ll make sure to call you next…” Ananke’s front gate was broken. “You rammed the gate with my car?”
They streaked toward the ruined metal and the two guards blocking the exit with their bodies. Travis didn’t slow down.
“Don’t hit them with my car.”
“They’ll move.”
“You’re going to run them over with my car. Pull over!”
“They’ll move.” At the last moment, the guards dove away. “Told ya.” But his pale face looked relieved.
“Have you lost your ever-lovin’ mind?”
“I didn’t storm Ananke’s stronghold with two people, half a map and no plan.” He glanced at Hauk. “Good job, by the way. How is he?”
“Beat to hell and not healing.” The hands around her waist gave her a light squeeze as if to say he was fine, but he’d looked awful before he’d taken bullets and been the bottom of a human pile. Now he looked half-dead.
Travis shook his head. “And he’s bleeding all over your car. Awesome. I’m going to be the one to clean that again you know, big guy. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop.” Worry overshadowed the teasing in his tone.
“Yeah, he has a bad habit of doing that.”
They pulled off the road into wooded coverage, where Travis’s car was waiting.
“Split up here?” he asked as he and Mercy got out.
Jolie opened the door and uncrammed herself from the front seat. She buckled Hauk in. He wasn’t moving. Three angry bullet wounds sure weren’t healing like the one had last time they’d exited Ananke’s HQ. “Yeah. I’ll get him
to a hospital.”
Travis raised an eyebrow as he got out of the car. “A hospital? He doesn’t have insurance. Or an ID. Or anything. If they call the police…”
Mercy leaned over Hauk. From her paling {m hd aexpression, Jolie knew a hospital was necessary.
“If I don’t take him to a hospital, he’s going to die. I have to get moving.”
Mercy straightened up. “I know a doctor who’ll keep his mouth shut. You’re going to need to spend some money, though, and it’s not close.”
Jolie slid into the driver’s seat. “Money’s no issue and the car’s fast. Tell me where to go.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jolie leaned back against the door of Hauk’s hospital room, listening to the beep of his heart monitor. He’d lost a lot of blood and was nearly as pale as the bleached white sheets he’d been swathed in, bringing his tattoos out in bright relief. But the rise and fall of his chest was smooth and unhurried as he slept, and she’d been assured that with time he’d be okay.
The doctor had been every bit as discreet and expensive as Mercy had warned. But Jolie would burn every bank account she had to keep Hauk safe.
When they’d arrived at the hospital, his breath had come out in wet gasps. The orderlies transferred him to one of those wheeled beds, and the sheets blossomed bright red with his blood. She’d followed as far as they’d allowed, yelling at him to hang on, then rooted her feet to the ground and balled her fists. A sane woman shouldn’t deck the nurse blocking her path to the emergency room. The best thing she could do for Hauk was stay out of their way.
Half an hour later, in a paneled office of unnatural calm, Jolie wrote a check to pay for silence. She’d broken rules aplenty in the past, but that was the first time she’d used her fortune for a cover-up. She didn’t regret it. It didn’t sit well with her either. Hush money was the sort of unethical bypass rich people with dirty secrets, people like her father, would use.
Jolie looked back at Hauk. Then again, her best friend was a convicted felon.
A convicted felon who’d actually done what he was accused of, even if there were extenuating circumstances a court wouldn’t even begin to understand.
Hauk could never have an even vaguely normal life. He was a fugitive with scars that stopped him from blending in, a dangerous job and a reckless tendency to throw himself in front of danger. Getting involved with him was a life-changing decision.
Her big soldier seemed so fragile lying in a hospital bed. He was good at his job, but nobody was invincible. They’d proved that tonight.
What scared her most, though, was despite every legitimate protest she could think of, all she wanted to do was curl up next to him.
She walked quietly to the bed.
To her surprise, Hauk’s gravelly voice broke the silence. “It’s cold in here. Gonna warm me up, Red Hots?”
“You’re awake!” Relief rushed through so sweetly, and in her joy she clambered onto the bed next to him. A pained groan reminded her he was still in a bad way. “Oh! I’m sorry!” She turned around to slide back off. “I didn’t mean to hurt—”
A muscular arm with a hand cast trapped her on the bed.
“Don’t leave,” he said. “I’m better with you here than I’ll ever be without you.”
A warming joy took the edge off the fear she’d been carrying around for hou ~ Haukh="1rs. Carefully as she could, she turned around to face him.
His blue eyes were wide and full of emotion. “What were you thinking, going in after me like that?”
Hopefully deflecting his ire with a joke would work, so she grinned tauntingly at him. “I was thinking I’d save your ass.”
“I don’t like you in danger.”
Fail. But she had to make him understand that her involvement was not negotiable. “We’re on the same team, you and me, and we’re fighting together. I am not the kind of girl who’s going to sit at home and wait for you. I’m the kind who’s going to go with you to the front lines. I don’t love seeing you in danger, either, but I put up with it because I know that’s how you choose to live. I choose the same. Not because of you, but because it’s what I want, too. I’ll listen to your superior experience because you’re good at what you do and I’d be foolish not to. But not if you’re going to use your influence to shut me away from the action. We fight together or we fight separately. But we both will fight.”
He looked like he understood, but there was still something haunted in his eyes..
“What is it? Talk to me.”
The expression turned hollow. “You got burned.”
Jolie fingered the bandage running down the back of her neck to the edge of her right shoulder. The bubbling mass underneath it hurt like hell. As the doctors had patched her up, she’d had another moment of awe at what Hauk must have endured. But she shrugged, trying to be strong for him. “Yeah.”
“Is it going to…” He studied her neck, his worry bordering on frantic. “Will you have a scar?”
Surprised, she opened her mouth then shut it again. “I didn’t think to ask.”
Eyes fierce, he pressed his fingers against her cheek. “Every year they learn more. And you’ve got access to the best. They’ll make
sure nobody can tell.”
“Oh, Hauk, honey.” She put her hand on his and pressed it against her. “I don’t care if it leaves a scar.”
“You don’t have to lie to me.”
“I’m not. I’m proud of my actions. If it scars, it’ll be a mark that reminds me of something good.” She brought his hand down to rest on the tattoo at her hip. “Like my roses.” After a moment of debate she stated the obvious. “It’s not like the scar’s in that noticeable of a location anyway. My hair will cover it.” She gave him a small smile that she hoped was teasing. “You’ll still think I’m pretty, right?”
“Of course I will. You’d still be sexy as hell no matter what.” He examined her face carefully. “You really don’t care? If it’s there for the rest of your life, marking you?”
“No. Not in the least.” Releasing his hand, she waved at her hair, which she hadn’t had time to examine yet but knew was missing a few crispy chunks. “Honestly, I’m more worried what my hairdresser will say when I bring her this singed mess tomorrow.” She widened her eyes in mock-seriousness. “I don’t want to bob it.”
The ridiculous, but sadly true statement had its intended effect. All the worry left Hauk’s face as he shook his head. “You’re worried about your hair? It’ll grow. And you’d look cute with a bob. You’d look cute no matter what you did with it.” Huffing a quiet laugh, he ran the fingers of his good hand through the red strands at her tempds d yle. “Burns running down the back of her neck, and she’s worried about her hair.”
Jolie smiled at his return to calm and lay quietly to enjoy the soft stroke of his hand against her scalp. She could fall asleep like this. After a minute she tapped his chest. “I’m sorry about Ashley.” She’d never forgive that girl, not just for the physical pain Hauk was in, but for betraying him. “How did you find out?”
“I figured it out. Eventually. Not until after I was strapped to a table, but…”
“God, she’s so stupid. She actually thinks they’re the good guys.” A stupid, sickeningly goody-goody, naïve little idiot. “I can’t believe you were engaged to her.” She cringed. “Oh, that didn’t sound petulant.”
