I can’t see him!
For a second, no one moved. The scent of gunpowder hung heavily in the room.
Then, slowly, the pile of body parts moved. I sobbed in relief as Elder shoved off dead Chinmoku to stand on wobbly feet.
Being in the centre of the throng had saved his life.
I didn’t know if he was unscathed, but he was alive.
He was alive, and they were not.
My heart turned nasty with hate.
How dare they try to hurt him?
How dare they try to kill him?
I wanted to grab a gun and finish what these two strangers had started.
Elder breathed hard, one hand fisted and another with a finger bent the wrong way. He stood as straight as he could but one leg didn’t bear his weight, and his face was an artwork of violence.
He glowered at the new interlopers, his black gaze menacing and assessing.
He didn’t recognise them.
He wasn’t glad to see them.
Not that the two men with their guns cared. Ignoring him as if he were nothing more than a beetle about to be squashed, they trained their guns instead on the man holding me and the remaining Chinmoku beside us.
The slender man of the two who’d reaped carnage licked his lips as if desperate for more bloodshed but willing to play human…for now. “Let her go.”
My heart coiled and hissed. I fought harder to be released. My eyes shot past the men demanding my freedom and latched onto Elder.
He gave me a pained look, a thousand apologies in one glance.
The man holding me tightened his grip, shaking me to behave. “Who the fuck are you?”
“None of your business,” the bulkier man of the two snarled. “You heard him; let her go.”
Reluctantly, the Chinmoku looked at his boss and loosened his hold. I immediately darted out of reach.
“You’ll pay for this,” Kunio snapped. “You don’t know—”
Two more shots rang out, the bullets flying so close, the slipstream rippled over my skin.
Two more thuds echoed through the floor as the last two Chinmoku toppled into silence. They fell like fallen trees, soundless and dead as old wood.
It was over.
Whoever these sinister angels were, they’d saved Elder’s life and returned me to him.
I couldn’t stand to be apart any longer.
Uncaring that the two men still held smoking guns, uncaring I didn’t have answers to who they were, I bolted to Elder, my gown fluttering in red and blue as I cringed and climbed corpses to reach him.
“Pim…” Elder tripped toward me. “Fuck, Pim.”
My toes slipped on warm blood. My stomach curdled at the stench of death, but as I stepped into Elder’s arms and pressed my forehead to his heart, I didn’t care about anything.
He was alive.
This was my fault. I’d distracted him. I’d turned his mind from survival to seduction.
“Elder…I’m so sor—”
His lips landed on my hair. “Don’t. Please, don’t. This is my fa—”
Hands latched around my arms and waist, pulling me away, yanking me into the embrace of a lemon-sandalwood scent.
“Wait!” My tears fell harder, hating to be torn from the one man I needed.
The slender, dangerous killer who’d just committed countless murders in a fight that wasn’t his held me as if I weighed nothing. He growled at Elder. “Don’t fucking touch her.” Backing away, he trained his gun’s muzzle on him.
“Don’t!” I scratched at my captor’s arm. “Don’t shoot.”
“Stop.” Elder clambered over bodies, baring his teeth as he stalked us. He raised his hands in surrender even as one arm looked suspiciously broken. “Don’t hurt her. She’s mine.”
My new captor chuckled with a blackness I’d only heard in my nightmares. “Not anymore.”
“Wait!” I squirmed in his hold, unable to fully face him with the grip he had on my body. This damn dress gave way too much fabric to be used as a leash. “He’s my friend. He’s—”
Friend was woefully unjust.
Lover was woefully unfair.
He’s my reason for living…purpose of existing…
The man didn’t give me time to sort out my scattered thoughts. Moving backward, he kept his gun high and me tucked tight. “As entertaining as this has been, we’re leaving now.” French accent thickened English vowels, making my ears twitch. Wasn’t French supposed to be the language of love? What the hell were these men doing here and what did they want?
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I fought again only for the man to drag me close and breathe in my ear. “We’re taking you somewhere safe. Don’t fear us.”
His concern shocked me stupid, long enough for him to drag me toward the exit and further from Elder.
“No, wait! I am safe. I’m with him.” I pointed at Elder. “El…please. Tell them.”
Elder stepped forward, his body bleeding and his limp unable to be disguised. “Take your hands off her. I won’t tell you again. We’re together. She’s mine, goddammit.”
“Wrong.” The man holding me raised his gun.
“No!” I threw myself into him, knocking him off balance, sending the splatter of bullets into the cupboard holding Elder’s cello. The bulkier man with his dark suit and even darker soul pointed his gun at Elder. “Don’t fucking move.”