by Cynthia Eden
“That’s because she’s one of us,” Sawyer replied, voice wary. “And I’m guessing so the hell is he.”
One of us.
No, oh, no.
They were in front of her. The burning car was behind her. “Get…away…” Oh, damn, but it hurt trying to say those words. And they barely came out. Mostly a gurgle just emerged from her.
“We’re here to help you,” Sawyer said again. “Just trust—”
Behind her, the sedan exploded. The force of the blast sent her hurtling forward. Just like before. But the little boy lived. He got to stay with his mom. Maddox will be okay. We’ll both make it. We’ll—
She lost her grip on Maddox. And when her head slammed into the ground, everything went dark.
Chapter Fifteen
Maddox jerked upright, sucking in a deep gulp of air. The scent of fire and ash immediately filled his nostrils, and for a moment, Maddox thought he was somehow trapped once more at the Lazarus lab. Burning in the flames…
“Ah, well, he’s back.”
His head whipped to the right. He saw a man he didn’t recognize. Tall, muscled, with a hard stare that said the fellow had seen shit and lived to tell the tale. The fellow’s dark hair was tousled, and a faint stubble covered his jaw.
“Welcome back to the land of the living.” He gave Maddox a faint smile. “I’m Flynn, and I—”
Maddox lunged at the bastard. He slammed the fellow to the ground, and then Maddox’s hand went for the knife that he kept in his boot—
“Not…there,” Flynn gasped. “Took it…in case you…came back…like this…”
Came back. The sonofabitch knew what Maddox was. He put his elbow on the guy’s neck. “Where is Luna? If you’ve hurt her, I will destroy you.”
The guy shoved Maddox—hard. Hard enough that if Maddox hadn’t been enhanced, he would have gone hurtling back. Instead, Maddox just shoved down harder.
“Shit,” the man gasped. “You’re…stronger…”
“Luna,” Maddox snarled right back. “Where is she?”
“Over here!”
At that call, Maddox’s head whipped up. He looked to the left and about fifty yards away, he saw a black Jeep parked near the edge of the road. Jett was there, crouching beside—
“Luna!” Maddox roared her name. Then he was surging toward Jett, running to Luna, and falling to his knees beside her.
Some stranger had his hands on Luna’s neck, and the man’s fingers were covered in her blood.
“She’s going to die,” the guy muttered. “We just need to let her go. It’s not like she won’t wake up again.”
Oh, hell, no. “She can’t die.” Maddox’s frantic gaze flew up to Jett. “She can’t die.”
And the guy trying to stop the wild flow of blood gave a low whistle. “Wait. She’s not Lazarus? Jett, dammit, you said she was—”
Maddox stiffened. Had Jett betrayed him again? In a flash, he was up—and he’d snatched the gun that Jett had holstered on his hip. Maddox pointed the weapon at Jett and the bastard with him. “Get the fuck away from her.”
Jett didn’t attack. He just held up his hands. “It’s not what you think, Maddox. I swear, it’s not.”
Maddox kept his gaze on the man kneeling so close to Luna. The man who had her blood on his hands. “Get away from Luna, or I’ll put a bullet in your brain.”
He heard footsteps coming up behind him. The dick who’d called himself Flynn. Maddox didn’t look at him, not yet. If necessary, though, he’d put bullets into the heads of all the bastards trying to hurt Luna.
“If I move my hands, if I let up on the pressure, she’ll just bleed out faster.” The stranger’s bright blue gaze didn’t waver from Maddox’s face. “Look, calm down a minute, okay? My name’s Sawyer Cage, and the guy behind you is Flynn—”
Maddox growled. He didn’t want more introductions. “You hurt her.” He could see the twisted big rig. And flames were crackling nearby…from the sedan?
“I didn’t,” Sawyer denied quickly. “That was another guy. A redhead with a death wish because your lady here is a definite fighter. He wanted to leave you to burn in that car, but Luna didn’t let him. She fought him. She got you out.”
A redhead?
“We put a bullet in his brain,” Flynn said. “Then the bastard went flying when the sedan exploded. His body’s a bit down the road.”
Maddox shook his head, trying to follow everything even as a terrible, numbing fear swept through him. So much blood.
“He sliced her throat. She’s strong, though,” Sawyer added quickly. “Hasn’t given up.” He looked down at Luna. “Why haven’t you given up? Why are you still fighting?” His expression showed his confusion. “Just let go. You can wake up in a few minutes, and you’ll be strong again.”
“No!” Maddox yelled.
Jett stepped toward him. “Luna’s different.” He spoke quickly as his gaze jerked around the small group. “Sawyer, Flynn—you don’t understand her. If Luna dies, then she’ll lose her memories. That’s why she’s fighting. Because when she wakes up, she’ll be in a world she doesn’t know. With people she doesn’t know. Maddox doesn’t want that happening. He doesn’t want Luna to lose herself again.”
Sawyer’s calculating stare had slid back to Maddox. “He doesn’t want to lose her.”
Maddox stalked toward Luna. Maddox put the gun to Sawyer’s temple as he crouched next to Luna.
“What the fuck, man?” Flynn burst out. “Get that gun away from him! We are helping you!”
“Maddox isn’t the trusting sort.” Jett was sweating. “And, um, he has reason.”
Maddox glared at Sawyer. “You make one wrong move, and I’ll end you.”
Sawyer’s eyes narrowed.
Maddox held his stare a moment, then glanced down at Luna. Her body was trembling, tears leaked from her closed eyes, and the blood…
“Baby…” Anguish ripped through him. “Baby, I need you to heal yourself.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Flynn’s growling voice demanded. A hint of Texas slid through his words.
Maddox ignored him. He leaned toward Luna, but kept the gun on Sawyer. “Luna, baby, use that heat of yours. If I were the one on the ground, you’d be healing me, I know you would. You can heal yourself. Use your power, baby. Turn it on yourself. You can do it, I know you can.”
Her eyes flew open. She stared up at him. Mad…dox? Her lips formed his name, but she didn’t speak.
He caught her left hand in his. “I’m here. They just told me that you saved my ass.” His last memory was of the big rig plowing into them. “Now save yourself. You hear me? Save yourself. Turn that heat on, use it to heal your wounds. Stop the bleeding. Keep fighting.”
Her lashes slid closed.
His heart was about to jump right out of his chest. Maddox brought her hand to his mouth. Kissed her knuckles. He could feel her skin starting to warm. Or at least, he hoped he did.
“I’ve got a chopper en route,” Sawyer said, his voice low. “A doctor will be on it. If you can keep your girl with us a while longer…”
“I’m going to always keep her with me.” No, he’d always stay with her. No matter what. Memories or no memories. He slid her hand up to her throat, putting her fingers on top of Sawyer’s. He didn’t know if this shit would work, if she could heal herself with such a terrible injury, but he had nothing to lose.
Luna. Luna is what I have to lose.
And Luna wasn’t nothing. She was everything.
So he started talking to her. He wanted her to hear his voice. Wanted her to know he was there. That he would always be there.
“The first memory I have is of my mother.”
He felt Sawyer tense.
“Christmas morning. She came into my bedroom to tell me that Santa had been at our house.”
Luna shuddered.
“I remember meeting you.”
“What in the hell?” Flynn had closed in on him. “How do you remember all that
?”
Luna’s eyes opened again, just a faint slit. Her breath heaved in and out.
Maddox didn’t respond to Flynn. Instead, he kept talking to Luna. “You were walking on a beach. The wind was blowing your hair. You had on white shorts. A sexy little top, and I took one look at you and knew my whole world had changed.”
A tear leaked from her eye. “I don’t…I don’t want to forget you…” Her voice whispered through his mind.
“You aren’t dying.” He swallowed. “Baby, you’re going to keep focusing that heat of yours inward, got me? I can hear the chopper coming.” He couldn’t. Not yet. “You just have to hold on a few more minutes. Then a doctor will be here. Your body heals faster than any other super soldier I’ve seen. You get past the rough part, and it’s smooth sailing.”
Her breath came faster.
“We used to go sailing,” he told her, struggling to keep his voice easy. Reassuring. “We’d go out into the Intracoastal Waterway, and the sailboat would cut right through the water. I taught you to sail, but you were soon better than me. We’d stay on the water for hours. God, you had this little red bikini…I thought you’d give me a heart attack every single time you wore it…”
He kept talking.
She kept breathing.
And soon, he did hear the sound of the helicopter coming to them. The chopper landed right there on the highway. They loaded Luna on a stretcher, got her onboard, and a woman with a long braid of dark hair went to work on Luna.
They all piled in the chopper.
“Cops will find the wreckage eventually,” Flynn said to Sawyer. “Do we need to worry about the body?”
Sawyer shook his head. “I shot him between the eyes. He’s gone.”
The chopper rose. Jett was beside Maddox, and Maddox—
“Gonna give back that gun anytime soon?” Sawyer asked him.
Maddox had kept that gun pointed at the fellow’s head until the chopper arrived. Now the gun was still in Maddox’s right hand. Surrender it?
Nah. He just tucked it into his jeans.
“I’m going to help her.” Sawyer exhaled as the chopper began to rise. “I’m going to help you both.”
Maddox wasn’t ready to be besties with the bastard. He wasn’t ready for anything…but for Luna to get better. For her to heal.
“I’ve been looking for you a long time,” Sawyer continued.
Jett cleared his throat. “Maddox, you need to hear this guy’s story.”
Yeah, he did. But after. “After Luna’s better.” Because until her pain stopped, his world was fucking wrecked. He leaned close to her. The chopper was loud now, vibrating. But he kept talking.
“When I was a senior, you were my prom date. I bought you the ugliest corsage that you’ve ever seen…The thing looked like a pile of weeds, but you told me it was beautiful…”
***
Luna opened her eyes and found herself staring up at a white ceiling. Everything seemed so bright around her. White and bright. She was on a bed, a soft mattress, angled a bit so that her upper body was reclining and she—
Green hospital gown.
She was wearing a green hospital gown.
And a white, hospital ID bracelet circled her wrist. She lifted her hand, staring at her wrist as tremors began to roll through her. The antiseptic scent of the place flooded her nostrils. She was in a hospital.
The door opened. A dark-haired woman bustled inside. She saw Luna and came to a quick stop. “You’re awake!” Surprise flashed on her face. “I thought you’d be out longer.”
Luna realized she had been taken again. She’d been taken, experimented on, and put in a hospital. Only this hospital wasn’t some closed down wreck. They’d found a new place for her.
Luna jumped from the bed. She put her back to the wall. Her hands tightened into fists as an animalistic growl built in her throat.
“Oh, no,” the woman whispered. She wore a white lab coat.
Just like Henry used to wear…
The lady lifted her hands, holding them—palms out—toward Luna. “It’s not what you think.”
Luna glanced toward the window. She could jump out. Run. How high up were they?
“I need help in here!” The woman’s shout seemed to echo around Luna. “She’s awake. Now, now, I need—”
Luna lunged at her, mostly to stop the woman’s shouts because they were hurting Luna’s ears. But before Luna could knock the lady out, strong, warm hands grabbed her and whirled her around. Familiar hands.
And she was pulled against a familiar body.
His smell was masculine and rich. Reassuring. She tilted her head back and stared into Maddox’s green eyes. Such gorgeous eyes in a face that was so hard and handsome.
“I’ve got you,” he told her.
She smiled at him. He did have her. And if he had her, then everything was going to be okay. “Maddox.”
“Yes, baby, it’s Maddox.” His head lowered. His mouth brushed over hers. The kiss was soft, gentle. Soothing.
Her hands were fisted in his shirtfront. Her body pressed hard to his. She was holding tight to him, and Luna never wanted to let go.
She’d woken up, and she’d known him. Woken up to a life she remembered.
She and Maddox were lovers. They’d escaped the Lazarus facility together. They’d been on the run. Made love in a cheap Vegas motel. They’d raced down the highway. They’d been hit by a big rig—
“I’ll, um, give you a few moments alone.” The woman cleared her throat. “I’m Elizabeth, by the way. And I swear, I don’t mean any harm to either of you.”
She was supposed to just buy the stranger’s words?
Elizabeth slipped away, and the door clicked closed behind her.
As soon as that door closed, the kiss changed. Maddox stopped being soft and soothing. He became absolutely wild. He kissed her with a sudden desperation. A raw hunger. A savage need. And she responded the same way. Her hands flew over his shoulders as she pulled him even closer. Her heart thundered in her chest as she kissed him desperately.
I remember.
“Baby…” He pulled his mouth from hers and growled the endearment. “You scared the hell out of me.”
She tried to smile for him, but her lips barely curved. Fear was still too heavy within her. “I was afraid I wouldn’t get you out of the car in time. I kept thinking about that boy and his mom, how close he’d come to dying, and I knew if you were in the sedan when it blew—I’d lose you.”
“You got me out.” A muscle flexed in his jaw. “But next time, leave my ass, okay? Because they told me what happened. They told me how close you were to burning right with me.”
A shiver slid over her. She didn’t let him go. She wanted the warmth he offered far too much. “They?”
A grim nod. “Sawyer and Flynn. They’re the ones who got us off that godforsaken road and to this hospital.”
Sawyer and Flynn’s images drifted into her mind. “You…trust them?”
“Hell, no, but I didn’t have a choice. You were going to die, and Sawyer had a freaking helicopter. He could get you medical help.”
“I would have come back,” she whispered. “If I’d died.” Her gaze searched his.
Maddox’s stare heated. “You wanted your memories.”
Yes. She would have done anything to keep them.
“So I wasn’t going to let them go, wasn’t going to let you go, not without one hell of a fight.” He pulled her tightly against him once more, wrapping her in a hug and holding her against his heart. “Jesus, but you scared the hell out of me.”
It felt good to be in his arms. She could feel his heart racing against her. He was big and strong and solid. She hadn’t woken alone, to a world she didn’t know. Maddox was there with her. Maddox was holding her tight.
Maddox loves me.
Warmth spread within her. “I hated when you left me.” Her arms had curled around him. “You were so still and silent in the car. I kept asking you to come back.”
He eased away a few inches so that he could stare down at her. Her chin tipped up as she met his gaze.
“I will always come back for you.” His voice was clear. Strong. “There is nothing on this earth—nothing in heaven or hell—that could keep me from you.”
And her smile wasn’t weak this time. Wasn’t forced. It was absolutely huge because she was surrounded by her big, bad Maddox.
She believed him.
His gaze fell to her mouth. “I fucking love your smile.”
She was starting to think that she might fucking love him.
But Maddox cleared his throat. Stepped back. She immediately missed the warmth of his body.
“They’re like us.” His expression hardened.
“I-I remember.” They’d moved so fast.
“Sawyer Cage seems to be the leader. He told me that he escaped from a lab in Arizona a while back.”
Her heart jerked in her chest.
One dark brow rose. “Sound familiar?”
He knew it did. “Adam was in an Arizona lab.” She’d already told Maddox that before. “You think it was the same lab?”
“Yeah, I do. Sawyer said when he and Flynn escaped, the place was turned to ash.”
That sure fit with what Adam had told her. Goosebumps covered her arms. She really missed Maddox’s warmth. “Did you ask him about Adam?”
“Not yet. I was waiting for you.”
She nodded. Her gaze slid to the door. “If they’re like us, are they listening to what we’re saying right now?”
“Maybe.”
So she needed to be careful what she said.
“Jett brought them to us. They found him near our Lazarus facility—or, what was left of it.”
Now she didn’t understand. “Why was Jett there?” Why go back to the scene of hell?
“Jett said that he was trying to create a new trail for the lab coats and their guards to follow. A way to lead them away from us. Only he stumbled onto Sawyer and Flynn instead.”
Okay, now she was getting very, very nervous. “I haven’t exactly had the best track record with other Lazarus subjects. Adam was a nightmare, and the guy who was driving the big rig? He was a test subject, too.” She tried to keep her breathing under control. “Adam—he told me that he could find other Lazarus subjects. Like he was some kind of homing device. He could lock onto them.”