by Cynthia Eden
Jay’s gaze fell on Willow. He blanched.
Willow is his weakness.
“Too late,” Lucas taunted him. “She’s dead.” Then he dropped Willow. Just let her fall.
Jay immediately surged forward, and that was the guy’s mistake. Lucas yanked out the knife he kept strapped to his waist, and he drove it up and toward Jay. It sank deep even as Jay grunted.
“Jay?”
Willow’s voice.
She was back, but staring up at them weakly. She tried to push herself up—
Lucas pulled out the knife. The blade was red with Jay’s blood. “You’re too weak,” Lucas snapped at him. “No match for me. And you’re dead—”
“Behind… you,” Jay managed. “Distract…”
Lucas spun around. And he saw that Jay had just been the bait. The distraction. Sawyer Cage and Flynn Haddox were there. They’d come in the window, and he hadn’t even heard them make a single sound because he’d been so focused on that bastard Jay. Now they were rushing toward him, and there wasn’t time to retreat. They’d caught him. They were going to—
“Stop!”
Willow. Willow’s weak order.
Everyone froze because Willow had risen to her feet. She trembled a bit, as if still struggling to recover, but she’d just put her body in front of Lucas. She’s protecting me from them. He smiled at her because…She was his Willow. She loved him. Always had.
The two of them could win, as long as they were together.
“You belong to me,” he whispered.
She stared into his eyes.
Chapter Eighteen
“You belong to me.” Lucas smiled at her. He held a bloody knife in his hand. A knife he’d just used on Jay.
Willow’s body was heavy. She felt sluggish, but she was absolutely sure of one thing. “I belong to myself.” And she grabbed him. She slammed his head into the doorframe as hard as she could. She heard the smack. The thud. She saw his eyes glaze, and then he was slumping to the floor.
The knife had fallen from his fingers. It was right there. She grabbed it. Held it clutched in her fingers. “You killed me, you bastard. And you think that’s love?”
His breath came faster. He’d blinked, shaken his head, and he seemed about to rise—
She felt Sawyer and Flynn—actually felt them start to advance. “Stay back!” Willow yelled. Or tried to yell. Her voice was funny. Was that from dying? From the tranq he’d given her? She didn’t know. Didn’t care. Her hand tightened on the knife.
“Willow…”
Her head whipped up at that voice. His voice. Jay. He was standing near the door, still outside the motel room. His hand was at his side, and blood was flowing down his shirtfront. He stared at her with wide eyes, and he looked at her—
No one has ever looked at me like that.
Like she was everything. The only thing that mattered to him.
And she was about to kill. He was going to see her at her worst. Her darkest.
Lucas laughed. “He won’t love you. You just figured that out, didn’t you? You thought you had it all. But you don’t get the good guy, Willow. You weren’t made for him. You’re dark and twisted, just like me. You love death and violence. Just like me. You were meant to be with me. You were meant—” He surged up toward her, rising in a too-fast heave, and she realized he’d snatched a gun from his boot.
She drove the knife into his chest. Straight into his heart. It sank deep. And then she twisted it. “We’re done,” Willow told him softly as she leaned toward him. “Because I say we’re done.”
His mouth was open. A gasp, a gurgle, spilled from him.
She yanked the knife back. And she watched as his body slid down the doorframe. He hit the floor as his hands flew to his chest, trying to stop the blood.
It wasn’t going to stop.
“Damn,” Sawyer whispered from behind her. “She’s fierce.”
She still held the knife. Willow made herself glance up at Jay. “H-he said—”
“Give me…the gun,” Jay growled.
Willow shook her head. “What?”
“The gun he dropped—give—oh, hell…” He lunged for it, wincing as he leaned down. More blood soaked his shirt.
“Jay!”
He lifted the gun. For a minute, it seemed as if he were pointing the gun at her. But then she realized he was pointing at Lucas. At a Lucas who wasn’t moving any longer. “He’s dead,” Willow said, voice stark. She’d killed him. Jay had seen her for exactly what she truly—
“He’ll come back, baby. Or rather, he’s not gone. Not yet. He’s not Lazarus…” Each word seemed like a struggle from Jay. “But he’s something else. And I’m making sure he won’t come back—”
Right then, Lucas’s eyes opened. He stared up at her with rage. Glared at Jay with fury.
“Didn’t you hear the lady?” Jay gritted out. “You’re done.”
Then he fired. The bullet blasted into Lucas’s head.
Willow didn’t move. Her heart was racing too fast. She could hear shouts from outside. The other people in the motel seemed to be freaking the hell out. Not that she blamed them.
Her knees were shaking again.
“Super soldiers…my ass.” Jay dropped the gun and frowned over at Sawyer and Flynn. “Didn’t see you…saving the day…”
“You two had it covered,” Sawyer said, but there was something about his voice…about the worried gaze that was on Jay…
“Jay?” Willow whispered.
He smiled at her. “Love you.”
She started to smile, too. Because what she’d done hadn’t mattered to him. And he’d shot Lucas, to make sure the bastard wouldn’t come after her again. He’d fought for her, he’d—
Jay fell.
And Willow grabbed for him. Her hands flew over his body, and she heard herself yelling his name.
Just like that—in that one terrible flash—her worst fear came true.
Jay’s blood. My hands in Jay’s blood. A knife near us.
Her worst fear. Turned into reality.
“Don’t leave me!” Willow begged him. “Please, Jay!”
But Jay wasn’t answering her.
***
“The EMTs said they lost him twice on the way to the hospital.”
Willow’s shoulders hunched. Sawyer’s voice was low, but she could hear him easily even though he stood ten feet away, talking with Elizabeth.
“They believed it was a miracle he made it here, but they weren’t thinking he was going to last much longer.”
Her body rocked forward, then back, and her gaze never left the operating room doors.
“He shouldn’t have left the hospital.” Elizabeth’s angry response. “He’d been shot three times! Jay is smarter than this. He’s—”
“He loves you.”
Willow jerked. West had just stepped in front of her. She’d been so intent on listening to Elizabeth and Sawyer that she hadn’t even noticed him, and West’s words had stabbed right through her.
“Jay loves you, Willow. You know that, don’t you?”
She could feel the tears on her cheeks.
“That’s why he left the hospital when he should have been in bed. Why the fool let himself get stabbed, just so he could distract Lucas. Why he was willing to take any risk.”
His words weren’t helping her. They were just making her hurt worse.
“It’s not about atoning. Not about any BS that someone else might tell you.” He exhaled. His face appeared grim. “My brother loves you, and I want to know, just how do you feel about him?”
“He can’t die.” A hoarse whisper. “I can’t lose him.”
“And what would you do to keep him? Turn him into a Lazarus test subject? Take all his memories away, give him a life where he doesn’t know anyone?” He paused a beat. “Where he doesn’t remember you?”
She didn’t care if Jay didn’t remember her. As long as he lived. As long as he was there. As long as—
“Ri
ght,” West drawled out the word. “That’s what I thought. It’s easy to blame others for the choices they made, when you’re not walking in their shoes.”
She didn’t know what he was talking about. Jay—
“Your father didn’t make the easy call. But that man—bastard that he is—he loves you. So maybe before he leaves this earth, you can take some time to tell him that you forgive him. And that you understand.” His lips twisted. “But first, why don’t you go back to the recovery room and see my brother? Because I know he wants to see you.”
It took a few moments for his words to register. A few moments too long. Then she was surging forward. Grabbing his shirt in her hands. Fisting it. “Jay’s awake? Jay’s alive?”
“Yes to both.” His smile softened his face. “And even though you didn’t say the words, I could see the truth. Good to know you love my brother as much as he loves you.”
She shoved him out of the way. Threw an apology over her shoulder.
Just heard his laughter in response.
Willow ran down the hallway, rushing past nurses and doctors. Everyone passed her in a blur, or maybe she was the blur who sped past them. Soon she was in recovery—she could see the thin curtain that separated her from Jay. She could feel him.
Her fingers curled around the curtain. Someone grabbed her shoulder, telling her that she shouldn’t be there.
She ignored that someone.
She yanked aside the curtain.
Jay.
Jay was in that bed. Jay’s eyes were closed. His head was turned toward her. The machines around him beeped steadily.
“Miss, you shouldn’t be here,” a woman told her sharply. The woman who’d grabbed her. “Only family can visit back here!”
Jay’s eyes opened. They locked on her. And he smiled. “She is my family.” His right hand extended toward Willow. “She’s my home.”
It was hard for her not to pounce on him right then and there.
The nurse backed away. Willow lurched forward. Her steps were uncertain and scared.
He kept his hand stretched out to her. Her shaking fingers reached for his. Their hands linked. Joined.
She couldn’t even speak. A lump was in her throat, nearly choking her. He’d survived. He was alive. He was safe.
And he…
“Am I a super soldier?” Jay’s lips lifted at the corners. “Tell me the truth. How awesome am I now?”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Willow?” His smile left. “I was…teasing. I know I’m—”
She threw her arms around him. Buried her face in his neck. “Don’t ever die.” The EMTs said he died twice on the way to the hospital.
“Willow—”
“Lucas told me lies. Tried to make me believe that you’d tricked me, but I knew he was lying the whole time. I could tell.”
“Because of those super senses of yours.”
“No.” She forced her head to lift. She could taste the salt of her tears. “Because I love you. Because I trust you.”
“Baby…” Emotion burned in his eyes. An emotion she wasn’t afraid to recognize. Jay loved her, and she loved him, and everything was going to be okay.
“I should have said it sooner, but I was afraid. I don’t want to hurt you. I never want to hurt you.” Her words wouldn’t stop tumbling out. “But I want to be with you. I want to have a life. You and me.”
“And kids.”
Her chest ached.
“I want kids with you, Willow. A boy with your eyes. A girl with your strength.” His left hand lifted and stroked her cheek. “I want forever with you.”
And he was looking at her with love. Love. Not possession. Not ownership. He was staring at her like she was some kind of gift, and Jay didn’t get it. He was her gift. Her second chance.
The lover she wanted. The life she wanted. Jay was her everything. “Forever.” Willow swallowed. “That sure sounds like a nice start.”
He laughed. She loved the sound of his laugh. She loved the warmth of his skin. She loved the way he made her feel. Beautiful. Special.
Safe.
Most of all, though, Willow just loved him.
Her lips pressed to his.
Epilogue
Jay wheeled himself past the guards and into the quiet hospital room. The machines were humming, the curtains were open, letting sunlight pour into the room, and his nemesis was glaring at him.
“You’re going to marry my daughter?” Wyman fired the opening shot.
Jay stopped at the edge of the bed. He couldn’t quite get around without falling on his face, so he’d borrowed the chair for this little visit. “Hell, yes, I am. As soon as possible.”
Wyman’s head jerked. “Good. And you make sure, absolutely sure, that no one else ever finds out who she really is.”
Jay held his stare. “Everyone wants you dead.”
Wyman laughed. “Including you, right?”
“You’re her father.”
“Not blood…”
“Yeah, well, like you said, blood doesn’t make family.”
Wyman glanced toward the window. “Her dad was my best friend. The only one who could put up with my bullshit. He died, saving my sorry hide. Was I supposed to just turn his daughter away? Willow’s mom passed in childbirth. I wasn’t going to let strangers take her. I had to make sure she was always—”
“Protected,” Jay finished. “She will be.”
Wyman focused on him once more. “I was going to say loved.”
“She will be.” His gaze never faltered. “She is.”
Wyman’s shoulders relaxed. “And what happens to me? You gonna let the super soldiers tear me apart?”
The cancer was already doing that. The man was living on borrowed time. And the guy—yeah, he’d done terrible things. But he’d also done good things. Or at least, one good thing. Willow. “There’s a special word I want you to focus on, dad.”
Wyman glowered.
“Atonement,” Jay announced. “Know what that means?”
The glower grew worse.
“You’re going to be joining my team. You’re going to tell me about all of the test subjects out there. Lazarus. Norsemen. Whatever the hell else you’ve created. And in the time you’ve got left, you’re going to show your daughter that you aren’t just a monster. That there’s something more inside of you. You’re going to show her that. You’re going to help give her memories back to her. You’re going to give Willow everything she needs and more.”
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“Why?” Jay repeated.
The hospital room door opened behind him with a soft squeak. The light scent of lavender reached him. Willow.
Wyman’s gaze had slid over Jay’s shoulders. It had gone to rest on Willow.
“That’s why,” Jay murmured. She’s my reason. And she’s yours, too.
Wyman gave a grim nod.
“Good.” Jay turned his head and glanced back at Willow. The woman he loved. His damn life. He smiled at her. When she smiled back, he swore she lit up the whole room.
Willow came to his side. Her fingers twined with his. Fit his. Because she fit him. Willow was his perfect match in every way, and he’d prove himself to her, every single day. Jay squared his shoulders. Focused on the man who’d one day be his father-in-law. “Let’s get started, Wyman. Just how many test subjects are out there?”
“You’re not gonna like the answer,” Wyman muttered.
“Never thought I would.” Jay waited.
Then Wyman started talking…
Jay didn’t let his expression alter, but, shit. They sure had one hell of a lot of work to do. It was a good thing he enjoyed a challenge.
He brought Willow’s hand to his lips. Kissed her knuckles.
And he got ready to work.
The End
Want more Lazarus? Then get ready for LIE CLOSE TO ME, available 3/20/2018! He’s Lazarus, and so is she. What happens when their worlds collide?
&n
bsp; Lie Close To Me
He’s hunting her. Maddox King has one goal—track Luna Ashton. He’s the best hunter on his team, finely honed and designed by Uncle Sam to be an unstoppable killing machine. He’s a super solider—faster, stronger, and deadlier than anyone else. Maddox keeps his emotions under careful lock and key because he can’t afford to feel. Feeling is too dangerous, and the attraction Maddox feels for Luna is positively lethal.
Luna has no memory of being in the labs with Maddox. She doesn’t remember the connection they shared when they were trapped in hell. She doesn’t remember escaping the facility. She doesn’t remember him. So when Maddox hunts her down, she’s terrified of him…and of the strange psychic and sensual connection they seem to share. Surely she shouldn’t want him so much?
Luna is different from the other Lazarus subjects, and Maddox isn’t the only one hunting her. She’s a dangerous threat to Project Lazarus, and Luna isn’t going to be allowed to just slip away from the U.S. government…or from the other super soldiers who are also desperate to find her. Every Lazarus subject has incredible psychic gifts. Some Lazarus subjects can make people see their worst fears, some can control minds…but Luna’s gift—she can show people their memories. Luna has the ability to restore memories to all of the other Lazarus subjects, yet she can’t see her own past.
And if you can’t see your past…then you never know what danger is coming, what killer is standing right next to you, touching you, lying to you…not until it is too late.
Pre-order LIE CLOSE TO ME now.
A Note From the Author
I was very excited to write a female Lazarus heroine. I wanted to explore Willow’s life, and I really tried to show her strength in this story. She’s fought so hard for a second chance, and Willow deserved a good future.
The Lazarus stories have been so much fun to write. Would you like to see more? Do you have a favorite character who should get a story? Then tell me! I love to hear from readers. You can contact me at [email protected]
Thank you for reading RUN TO ME.
If you’d like to stay updated on my releases and sales, please join my newsletter list. I share exclusive content with my newsletter subscribers, and I run monthly newsletter giveaways for readers.