“Let you? Oh God, Michio.” I hugged him tightly, pushing my hand through his hair.
We had a long way to go to repair the damage, but as our bodies molded together, we eased into a synchronized, rhythmic sway of breaths. I had faith we’d eventually come out the other side whole.
I had at least eight months to heal him.
Eight months until she drew her first breath.
Eight months with my guardians.
“Evie!”
I leaned back, my gaze flicking in the direction of the familiar accent, my chest hitching with excitement.
Beyond the carnage of hundreds of aphids and backlit by the sun, a dozen silhouettes jogged up the road, headed toward us. Among the group, I could make out Roark’s broad shoulders and the arch of Jesse’s bow on his back.
Michio pressed his lips to my temple. “Go, Nannakola. I’ll be right here.”
I turned back to him and kissed his blood-stained mouth. “Come with me.”
“I took you away from them, remember? If I were in their position—”
“You didn’t—”
“They don’t know what happened.” He stroked his thumb over my jaw. “Let them have a minute with you before we dig into the last four weeks.”
Four weeks. Fuck, it had been that long? In some ways, it felt longer.
“You’re a better man than me, Michio Nealy.”
That earned me barely a twitch of a smile, but it was something. With his hands on my hips, he lifted me up to my feet, rising with me.
He kissed the top of my head. “I love you.” He nudged me toward the approaching men.
“Love you, too.” I squeezed his hand and took off.
Thirty feet away, Jesse and Roark picked up their speed, leaving the group of men behind as they sprinted toward me. Neither of my guardians smiled, their faces creased with worry, but their happiness was evident in the gleam of their eyes and the way they glanced at each other as they closed the distance to me.
I slowed my jog so I could look at them for a moment. I just needed to look, because fuck, I thought I’d never be able to rest my eyes on them again.
Jesse still had his stubble, the reddish hues glowing in the sunlight. Roark’s blond curls were shiny and twisting at the ends as though they were dreading again. His strong jaw was covered in a month’s worth of whiskers. Jesse’s leather pants and jacket and Roark’s trench coat were ragged and blood-splattered, but my guys looked healthy, uninjured, and as arresting as ever.
Jesse ran quicker and reached me first. I thought my heart might leap from my chest when his arms enfolded me and swung me around in a circle. As he hauled my body up his chest, the noises rumbling from his throat conveyed a bevy of emotions, part-laughter, part-groaning, and there was definitely a deep growl in there.
When he stopped moving, I looked up at his face and found his eyes glaring daggers at the overhang and the man I’d left there.
“Hey.” I wrestled an arm free from his tight hold and gripped his scruffy jaw, pulling him back to me. “You should be kissing him, not glaring at him. He saved my life.”
“I know. I was there.” He nodded his chin at the canyon wall on the far side of the dam then lowered his brow, touching it to mine. “You took my heart with you when you fell from that cliff. I didn’t think it would beat again.”
I pulled in a deep breath, inhaling his woodsy scent, our lips an inch apart. “If you hadn’t distracted the Drone with the arrow—”
Huge hands wrapped around my chest and yanked me back. Jesse’s arms fell away as Roark spun me and cupped my face. I got a glimpse of his jade eyes right before his lips landed on mine.
I turned my head, cringing at the condition of my hygiene. “I haven’t brushed my teeth in over a month, Roark, and I need—”
“Shut up.” His hands on my face forced my mouth back to his. What little argument I’d put into stopping him was driven away by the dive of his tongue. He didn’t wait for me to open my mouth, and instead barged right in with forceful, hungry licks. The stretch of his jaw coaxed mine, and in the next heartbeat, we were sucking and tasting and eating each other up.
“You left us,” he rasped between kisses.
I slid my tongue along his bottom lip and grinned. “You found me.”
Jesse crowded behind me, his hands on my back, sliding over the tattered rags and curving around my hips. He followed the lines of my body, perhaps checking for wounds or maybe reacquainting himself. Whatever the reason, I didn’t want him to stop.
As Roark covered my mouth with his, plunging his tongue and heating my core, Jesse moved his lips to my ear. “We missed you, Evie.”