Last One Standing: Dark Paranormal Tattoo Taboo Romance (The Chronicles of Kerrigan Book 11)

by W. J. May

  “That’s what I call a warm welcome,” he joked softy, winding his arms beneath hers. Rae couldn’t tell whether the volume was intentional or not, but either way, he was talking.

  “I can’t believe it,” she whispered, breathing in his warm citrus smell, “you’re awake.”

  Beneath her, she felt him chuckle silently. “Well…you did call.”

  Call? What the—? “Wait,” her brow creased into a frown, “how did you…? How is that even possible? I thought—”

  “I heard your voice inside my head.” He yawned and grimaced slightly. “You needed me to wake up.”

  When she pulled back, he was staring off into the distance with a very peculiar expression on his face. His hands tightened around her and he drew in a painful breath.

  “At first, I thought I was dreaming. I think I was dreaming for a long time. And then…I heard you calling. You sounded so upset…” He trailed off again as he tried to piece it together. His sparkling eyes clouded for a moment as they followed the tubes trailing out from his wrists to where they plugged into the wall. A tentative hand came up to his chest, and for the first time, he seemed to register where he was. “Rae…” the voice was sharper now, though still weak, “did I get shot?”

  “Oh Gabriel!” She wrapped her arms around him again as her eyes spilled over with tears. A second later, she felt his hand patting the back of her head.

  “…I’m taking that as a yes.”

  A watery laugh choked out of her, and she sat up on the side of the mattress, gazing down at him with red-rimmed eyes. “Yes, you got shot. In the chest. They had to do surgery.”

  He absorbed this with the impossible resilience of a child raised in a cave by a mad-man, eying the beeping monitors with an almost detached curiosity. “Really.”

  “It missed your heart by four centimeters,” she whispered.

  He flashed her a quick smile. “Well, in the shooter’s defense, it’s a very small target.”

  “Don’t joke,” her face fell into her hands, “it isn’t funny.”

  “Oh come on,” he peeked under his shirt to survey the damage, “it’s a little bit funny.”

  “No it’s not.” She pulled in a shaky breath, staring down at him with a quiet sort of desperation—terrified that at any moment, his eyes might close again. “Do you…do you remember anything that happened?”

  Instead of answering, he leaned his head back against the pillows with an exhausted sigh. She was highly unaccustomed to such displays of vulnerability, and it tore at her heart.

  “Not really. Why don’t you just tell me?”

  Tell you how you jumped in front of a bullet for me? Tell you how the computer got smashed in the skirmish and I ended up getting stabbed by some freakish power that I can’t heal myself? Tell you that there’s a likely chance we’re being hospitably held as prisoners?

  “Um…”

  He cracked a smile. “Just say it, Rae. It can’t be that bad.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Really? After all these years, you really want to tempt fate like that?”

  “Fair point. You’re marked by fate wherever you go, best not tempt it sometimes.” He watched and blinked slowly. “So how bad is it?”

  But much as he deserved an answer, she couldn’t bring herself to give it. Everything he had done had ended up being in vain. Everything he had sacrificed—irrelevant.

  But that’s not the worst part, is it?

  A little voice chided in the back of her head, and she dropped his gaze. No, it wasn’t the worst part. Not by a long shot. The worst part was this: Gabriel had jumped in front of a bullet to save her life…only to wake up and discover that she and Devon were back together.

  Her cheeks flamed red and she tucked her hair nervously behind her ears. “Well, to start, you should know that everyone we went in with is okay—”

  “So…it’s him, huh?”

  Her eyes snapped up in surprise. “What?”

  “You and Devon. Back together.”

  It wasn’t said as a question. And it wasn’t said with the slightest bit of blame. In fact, he had asked her in the same tone he would use if debating where to get take-out or what movie they wanted to see.

  Her lips parted uncertainly, and she suddenly wondered how much mental and emotional strain his heart could technically handle right now.

  “How…did you know that?”

  He gave her a measured stare for a moment, before his face softened into a grin. “You have that annoying, dreamy look about you.”

  “Annoying, dreamy—”

  “Or maybe it’s just all the blood loss.”

  A burst of laughter escaped her lips. “Yeah, that must be it. But yeah,” her expression grew suddenly serious as she tried to measure his, “I believe we’re back together.”

  A rather wistful look passed over his handsome face, before he nodded with a little shrug. “That…fits.”

  That fits? Rae shot him an incredulous look. “Are you serious?” Maybe this was the meds talking.

  “Hey,” he grinned, “every relationship needs at least one good affair. And I fully intend to be that person for you. In a way, it actually kind of frees me up—for the plotting.”

  She burst out laughing, clutching her sides in pain as she rocked back and forth. “You are the most—ow—the most incorrigible—ow—the most—”

  “Hey!” He glanced over in alarm and looked down at the tight bandage wrapped around her stomach for the first time. “What the hell is that? Stop laughing,” he commanded, gesturing her closer. As she leaned in, he yanked up the bottom of her shirt without a second thought. A tiny red stain had leaked through the bandages, and his face darkened in rage. “Who did that to you?”

  As utterly bizarre as it sounded, for a split second, Rae almost felt a wave of sympathy for Mallins. She would have felt it for anyone who found themselves on the other end of that look.

  “It turns out, Mallins is a hybrid,” she explained softly. Gabriel refused to take his eyes off the wound. “His ability—other than telekinesis—is an immunity to tatùs. It meant that when he stabbed me—”

  “He stabbed you.”

  Again, it wasn’t a question.

  Despite the fact that he had recently been shot himself, Gabriel forced his body into an upright position and began glancing about for his clothes.

  “Where is he? Is he still back at Guilder?”

  Rae stared at him in amazement. “Hang on a second—are you crazy? Gabriel, you just had open heart surgery! You shouldn’t even be sitting, let alone—”

  “Find me some pants.” He made a concerted effort to swing his legs to the ground, clenching his jaw against the excruciating pain that must have followed.

  “Gabriel, would you stop—”

  “You’re right. I can do it without pants.” He ignored her attempts to push him back, yanking the IVs from his arms instead. The monitors started going crazy, but he ignored them too. “Just tell where he is. Is he still at Guilder?” His eyes flickered momentarily around the strange room. “For that matter…where are the hell are we, exactly?”

  The questioned distracted him long enough that Rae was able to shove him unceremoniously back down on the bed—clutching at her own stitches all the while.

  “You’re not going anywhere, do you hear me?!” She was vaguely aware that she had to look absurdly non-threatening, waving a finger in a bathrobe, but she kept on anyway, “You just got shot, Alden. That may not mean anything to you, but it means something to me. Especially given the fact that…”

  Her voice trailed off and he stared up at her—barely breathing.

  When it became clear that she wasn’t going to finish, he finally asked, “Especially given the fact that…what?”

  Their eyes met in the darkness.

  “Especially given the fact that your bullet was meant for me.” A strange numbness was spreading out from the base of her skull and she felt like she was floating—watching herself have the conversation with Gabr
iel instead of actually participating. He was as riveted as her, eyes drifting in and out of focus as he struggled to remember. “You jumped in between me and the gun.”

  They were quiet for a long time.

  A very long time.

  So long, in fact, that Rae pulled the power cords out of the monitors before their frantic ‘no-longer-attached-to-the-patient’ beeping could drive them both mad.

  “I remember that,” Gabriel said at last, staring at the curtain, lost in thought. “I saw the guy take aim from the other side of the lawn. Saw you running to the Oratory.”

  He flinched as he recalled the moment of impact. They both flinched. Again, she took his hand. His eyes drifted down once more to the thin red line trailing down his chest, and this time, the significance of the event seemed to hit home.

  “Did you make it?” he asked suddenly, his eyes snapping up to hers. “To the Oratory? And the rest of them…” he looked suddenly around, wondering if they were in beds next to his, “they made it out okay? Angel? Molly?”

  “Everyone’s fine,” Rae assured him quickly, squeezing his fingers. “A couple broken bones, and Angel got hit over the head pretty bad—but she came out of it a few hours ago. The doctor says that she’s going to make a full recovery. She’s on the other side of the curtain.” How she’d slept through the monitors and the noise they’d made was beyond Rae’s comprehension. Or why none of the medical staff had come rushing in.

  Gabriel’s twinkling blue eyes were fixed on her now, except they weren’t twinkling at all. In fact, his gaze was so intense and riveted, that for a minute, she remembered that she was talking to one of the most successful covert double-agents of all time.

  “What doctor?” His voice was sharp as a knife. “Where are we?”

  There was no backing out of it now…she’d just have to tell him. She only hoped that his newly repaired heart was up for the challenge. “Believe it or not, it all starts with Luke’s dad…”

  * * *

  Rae and Gabriel talked together through the rest of the night. The initial story had taken long enough, and then there was a seemingly-endless aftermath to consider. Although his body may have been literally aching for rest, Gabriel’s mind remained quick and alert, and every time she insisted they pick it up in the morning, he had staunchly refused, tugging her back down and forcing her to continue.

  While he didn’t know what to make of the Privy Council or Carter getting disavowed as president, he seemed just as mistrusting of the Knights as Devon was. And for that matter, just as intent upon putting Mallins in a shallow grave.

  She tried to temper him as best he could, eyeing the heart monitor—the only one to have escaped his purge—nervously as his pulse both raced and slowed. But truth be told, the two of them were on exactly the same page. Laid raw by both the trauma of the attack and having the fundamental roots of everything they’d been counting on pulled out from under them. An endless series of raw nerves, fresh stitches, and short-tempered emotions all flying around. Not knowing where to settle or who to trust. Certainly, having no earthly idea what came next.

  They were still going strong as the sun tinged the sky a morning shade of pink. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Angel awoke with a shriek of joy upon seeing her brother when the curtain burst open, they would both most likely still be there lost in discussion.

  As it stood, Rae had gone back to her bed to try and sleep for a few hours, and after having been cleared by Dr. Roscoe to venture forth into the world, she and her mother were taking an unexpectedly painful stroll through a small garden in the outer courtyard of the Knight’s compound.

  “How’s it feeling?” Beth asked with concern, eying her daughter’s tiny, unbalanced steps with a look of protection fit to rival Gabriel’s.

  Rae snapped out of her sleep-deprived trance and tried to give her mom a brave smile. “It’s not so bad. Better than yesterday, for sure.”

  “Well, it would be even better than that if you hadn’t snuck out both nights you were here for a midnight roundtable in the ICU.” Beth shook her head disparagingly, but gave Rae’s hand a little squeeze. “I’m so glad that he woke up, honey. I don’t even know what I would’ve done.”

  “I know,” Rae bit her lip and refused to let herself go there, “me too.”

  “How’s he feeling? I went to check in on him before I came to get you, but he was asleep.”

  “He’s…” how did one phrase it, “…vengeful?”

  Beth chuckled. “I would imagine. Looks like both he and Angel weren’t made to take a defeat like this in stride.”

  “A defeat?” Rae looked up at her in mild surprise. “Is that what you’d call this?”

  Her mother’s eyes turned thoughtful. “I don’t know what to call this. All of you kids got out of there with your lives—for which I’m eternally grateful. But the evidence you went in to get…”

  “…was basically destroyed.”

  Beth nodded. “And we’re here, recovering at this wonderful facility, except…”

  “…except this might be the very worst place in the world for us to be.”

  Beth’s lips thinned into a hard line. “I never liked the Knights. They were a bit too moderate for my tastes. And I don’t know what to think about Fodder. The man can be dangerous, that much has been proven in the past. He’s also capable and intelligent—of that I’m certain. I’m just not sure if he can be smart.”

  “Smart?” Rae tripped forward a step and gripped onto her mother’s arm. “What do you mean?”

  “Right now, Andrew is in with both him and Angel. They’re going over every piece of evidence there is in the world that Cromfield not only exists, but has been behind the bulk of criminal activity in the tatù world for the last several hundred years. They were able to get enough from the smashed hard-drive to corroborate with Angel’s accounts, and together, I’d have to say the proof is pretty compelling. That’s not the problem.”

  “The what is the problem?” Rae asked, navigating her way carefully across the stepping stones. There always seemed to be another issue or dilemma they would have to face. Would it ever stop?

  Beth sighed. “The problem is that it’s not something people want to believe. How do you fight against an enemy that’s more myth than man? How do you defeat an immortal? I mean, as if his powers weren’t bad enough, it’s not like there’s even a way to kill the guy—”

  She stopped suddenly short as Rae froze beside her.

  Immortality was a bit of a touchy subject these days. That combined with the fact that the only man destined to join her in the eternities was the one they were discussing…?

  It was better not to touch on it at all.

  “Honey,” Beth backtracked quickly, “honey, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking—”

  “It’s okay,” Rae said just as fast, clearing her face of all emotion. “It’s a fact, isn’t it? I’ll have to deal with it sooner or later.”

  Beth gave her a long look, then squeezed her hand and forced a smile. “Well let’s make it later, okay? Right now, I just want you to focus on making it around one more lap…”

  Despite all the trouble she was having, Rae managed to scoff. “Please. Mom, I once scaled the outside of a fifty-foot granite building armed with nothing but a spandex jumpsuit and a piece of peppermint gum. I’m pretty sure I can handle one more lap—”

  But just then, the ground slipped out from under her with a shrill, yeep!

  Beth’s arm flashed out to catch her, and she made a commendable effort not to roll her eyes. “That’s right, sweetie. You’re a regular hero. Not let’s just try to keep you up on your own two feet…”

  But Rae wasn’t trying to stand on her feet. She wasn’t trying to speak, or even looking about to see who might have seen her embarrassing spill. She had eyes for only one thing.

  …and it was sparkling around her mother’s finger.

  “Mom,” she said slowly, straightening herself up, “why are you wearing a ring?”


  Beth flushed about a million shades of red in under a second. Her first instinct seemed to be to rip the thing off and hide it in her pocket, but one look at her daughter’s face, and the jig was up. “Sweetheart,” she looked just as out of sorts as Rae, “I wanted to wait for a better time to tell you. With everything that’s been happening—”

  “Are you engaged?!”

  A group of passing Knights startled in alarm, and Beth flashed them a sweet smile before turning back to Rae. “Honey, this really isn’t the time. You’re still in the hospital, just out of bed, and to be honest, I kind of forgot I was wearing it, and—”

  Rae looked up with tears in her eyes. “Carter asked you to marry him?”

  Beth froze like a deer in the headlights, trying to interpret the tears. “About a week ago,” she whispered. “Right after you left Scotland, actually.”

  Rae’s jaw fell to the floor as she gawked at her mother’s hand, pulling it closer for a better examination. “And you said…yes?”

  It was a beautiful ring. There was absolutely no denying it. A stunning solitaire offset on all sides with tiny rubies—her mother’s birthstone. The way the sun glinted off the crimson made the diamond itself look like it was almost on fire.

  Rather fitting.

  “Honey, let’s just…let’s just sit.” Beth lowered her gently onto a nearby bench and turned so they were both facing each other. “I gave him a probationary yes.”

  There was a beat of silence.

  “A probationary yes?” Rae exclaimed, torn between shock and laughter. “Is that even a real thing? What does that mean?” In an undertone, she added, “I don’t think you can do that, Mom.”

  Beth’s face remained gravely serious. “I would never make this kind of decision without talking with you first. We’re a family, Rae. You and me. This needs to be a family decision.”

  Rae pulled back in surprise, genuinely touched. She had known for quite some time that Carter was in love with her mother. And lately, it had become hard to ignore the fact that her mother felt the same way. Their disgusting kisses were evidence enough of that. But she hadn’t considered that marriage was ever on the table. And even if she had, she wouldn’t have thought for a second that a decision like that would involve her. “Well…” she stalled, thinking fast, “if he makes you happy…”