Savage (The End 1)

No, nothing could be wrong.

It was Malachi. He was the strongest man she’d ever known. There’s no way something bad could happen to him.

Pushing her hair out of her face, she tied it up into a messy bun.

With each passing second, she felt her stomach tightening. Lucy began to snore softly, and she just knew she had to go and see if Malachi needed her help, to make sure everything was okay.

“Lucy, sweetie,” she whispered. “I’m just going to see what is taking Malachi so long, okay?”

Her sister stirred softly and nodded, but kept her eyes closed. Sasha covered her up with her jacket and slipped out of the car.

With her heart pounding, she locked the door before closing it.

Going into the back of the car, she pulled out one of Malachi’s guns. The one thing they always made sure of was that they had weapons and ammo.

With the gun locked and loaded, she started to walk across the street, feeling the nerves eat away at her with each step she took.

You can do this.

She had to remind herself that Malachi hadn’t been with them in the beginning. She had killed people without him in order to take care of her sister. One more dead body meant nothing to her.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to keep on moving, being careful with the steps she took.

Normally, the calm and silence was a deadly thing and harbored an entire army of bad things.

Even if she didn’t want to trust or rely on Malachi, he’d helped to keep her and her sister alive. She owed him a huge debt—her life—one she wasn’t going to shy away from.

She finally rounded the gas station and heard the grunts and groans of a fight. Sasha looked around the edge and saw three men fighting with Malachi.

Her heart pounded.

He was giving as good as he got but each man had a weapon.

It already looked like Malachi had a cut on his arm, and seeing it made her feel sick. He needed her. She was a good shot but from here, she would risk shooting him.

Lifting the gun, she looked down the barrel at the man who wasn’t close to Malachi.

Taking a deep breath, she forgot everything else. No matter what, she had to protect Lucy and Malachi. They were the only two people left in her world, and she would protect them with her life.

Firing the gun, she saw one of the men go down instantly.

All the men froze. She aimed at the other man, firing at his leg.

The last man started running toward her, and she didn’t think, just acted, firing. He let out a roar and charged forward. She fell backward from the impact.

It wasn’t long before Malachi was there, pulling the man off her body and twisting his head.

She heard the unmistakable sound of his neck snapping, and with wide eyes, she looked up to see Malachi glaring down at her.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” he growled out.

“What?”

“What did I tell you?” He grabbed her arm, hauling her up from the ground. “I told you to fucking stay in the car.”

“How dare you!” She tried to slap him, only he caught her wrist. “You have no right to speak to me like that.”

“I’ve got every single right. You could have gotten yourself or your sister killed. I can’t believe how stupid you were.”

“You were getting beat up. They had crowbars. I saved you.” She was so angry. “I know what those men would do to me and to Lucy. She’s my baby sister and I made a vow to protect her and if you can’t understand that, then back the fuck off. I’ll do everything I can to protect her, even if that means I’ve got to put up with you and kill men intent on hurting us.” She pushed at him hard.

Tears filled her eyes. She hated being this weak, this pathetic. Her hands were shaking. She’d killed one man and injured another. One glance over Malachi’s shoulder told her that the other man was dead, gone.

“When you take a man down, make sure he’s dead,” Malachi said.

She turned away to head back to the car, but he grabbed her around the waist and pressed her against the brick wall of the building. The hard rock dug into her back and she gritted her teeth.

“Get off me.”

“Next time, you go back to the car and leave.”

“And just watch you get your ass kicked, or worse, killed?”

“Yes,” he said matter-of-factly. “I had it handled.”

“Take a long look in the mirror. You don’t look like you had it handled. You look like one last hit and you’d be out cold. What is it with men? Do you have this natural aversion to women being able to not only protect themselves but also to save you?”