by Maya Banks
“Ari!”
She flinched at the loud outburst and took an instinctive step back before she realized who it was calling her name. She turned, relief crushing down on her, when she saw Beau inside the doorway, his eyes bright with terror. Zack rushed in to stand beside him and immediately put the man on the ceiling in his gun sights.
“He’s mine,” Ari said, her voice like a whip cracking through the room.
“Ari, honey,” Beau said in a soothing tone. “We need to get you out of here before the entire place goes up in flames or comes down on our heads.”
Tears burned her eyelids and she wasn’t sure if it was blood or tears that now streamed from her eyes. Maybe both.
“He killed them,” she said hoarsely. “He killed my parents! He ordered their executions while I stood here. And oh God, I had a barrier around them, but I let my focus waver and the shield slipped. I saw their blood!”
Beau’s eyes widened. He and Zack exchanged quick glances and Beau cursed softly under his breath.
“Ari, they aren’t dead.”
“I saw!” she shouted. “Don’t try to appease me. Don’t lie to me to get me to come with you. I won’t go until every last one of these assholes is dead.”
“Ari, they are not dead,” Zack said, his voice firm, not as soothing as Beau’s. Utter seriousness was etched in his features as he stared at her. “We got them out of the cell. The blood you saw was from the two guards your father killed. Beau shot the third one when he went after your mother. They’re fine. I swear to you. They’re safe and waiting for you. They’re worried sick about you. Afraid to their bones that something has happened to you. So let it go so we can take you to your parents. So you can see for yourself we aren’t lying to you.”
Ari blinked, her mouth drooping open, some of the horrifying thoughts of anger and violence diminishing as she gauged Zack’s sincerity.
“They’re alive?” she whispered.
Beau stepped closer, his movement tentative as though he were afraid to touch her. Afraid she’d shatter.
“Yes, honey, they’re alive,” Beau said quietly. “You protected them. Your barrier prevented the bullets from hitting them. And when it did fall, your father took out two of the men in quite an impressive manner. They’re safe, and waiting for you, and as Zack said, they’re out of their minds with worry. Because you sacrificed yourself for them. Don’t do something now that will cause them to grieve the rest of their lives and feel guilt over the fact that you sacrificed your life for them. Don’t make me grieve because I lost you.”
He slid his hand up the length of her arm, over her shoulder and then around her nape, gently pulling her toward his body.
“Please, Ari. Come with me,” he softly begged. “The building is destroyed. It won’t stand much longer. What few you men you didn’t take out, Dane, Capshaw and Isaac are taking care of now. It’s over. You kicked their asses, and you made sure that no one will ever use this place for evil again.”
She allowed herself only a brief, sweet moment in Beau’s arm, in his strong, protective embrace, before reluctantly pulling herself away. Then she slanted a glance in the goon’s direction.
“There’s still one more,” she said coldly. “And I have a personal score to settle with him anyway. He’s the asshole who tried to drug me the morning after my parents disappeared.”
Beau’s eyes grew cold as he shifted his stare toward the man pinned helplessly on the ceiling.
Then another quake rolled through the entire complex, rattling chairs, furniture and the very foundation. Distant crashes sounded, drawing closer and closer. Indeed, Beau was right. The building was coming apart at the seams, guided by her overwhelming rage and psychic energy.
“Leave him,” Beau said, slipping his fingers through hers. “Let him die when the building comes down on him. He doesn’t deserve a quick and merciful death.”
Still, Ari hesitated because the taste for revenge was still strong in her mouth.
A deafening crash much closer this time and then a shout carried through the accumulating rubble. Beau’s name.
“Let’s roll,” Zack barked out. “Do you want us all to die so you can have your revenge, Ari?”
Beau snarled at him and Ari could see the rebuke poised to fly. She squeezed Beau’s hand. “He’s right, Beau. I’m not thinking clearly. Forgive me. The last thing I want is for anyone to die because of my hatred and thirst for vengeance.”
Beau wrapped a steadying arm around her and guided her toward the doorway. Or what was left of it. As the rush of adrenaline began to wear off, her knees started shaking. Her entire body shook. Her legs buckled and Beau had to haul her up against his side to keep her from sagging to the floor.
“I’m all right,” she said through gritted teeth. “I can make it. You need both your hands.”
“You are not all right,” Beau bit back. “You don’t see how bad you look, Ari. You scared the ever-loving shit out of me when I saw you back there. God. I thought I was too late. I can’t believe you’re still standing after bleeding so damn much. The very first thing we’re doing when we get the hell out of this godforsaken place is take you to a hospital.”
They hurried down the hall amid shouts from Dane to Beau to hurry his ass up. Ari knew she was slowing them down, but Beau refused to let go of her.
They were within sight of Dane and the two men flanking them when the walls on either side of them exploded outward, pelting them with debris and Sheetrock. An ominous cracking sound erupted and then Ari found herself flying backward, Beau cradling her to absorb her fall.
The entire ceiling and second floor had caved in, blocking their pathway to where the others waited.
“Zack?” Beau yelled, worry in his voice.
“I’m here. I’m okay.”
Then Beau reached up to frame Ari’s face in his hands. She was atop him, Beau having broken her fall. His worried gaze raked over her. “Are you all right? Do you hurt anywhere?”
She grimaced. “I hurt everywhere but it has nothing to do with this particular incident. I’m fine, Beau.”
“We’re going to have to get out another way,” Zack said grimly.
“What?” Ari asked incredulously. “I can get through that. I’ve certainly done a lot more difficult things.”
“No,” both men said in unison.
She shook her head, sure she was misunderstanding something.
“You can’t take much more, Ari. Any fool can see that. You’re done. Finished. If you incur another bleed I can’t even imagine what will happen and if it’s all the same to you I’d rather not have you a vegetable for the rest of you life.”
“Oh for God’s sake,” she muttered. “And how do you propose we get out this ‘other’ way if you won’t let me use my powers.”
“Because we’ll blow a hole in one of the outer walls so it doesn’t bring the interior structure down on our heads,” Beau said patiently.
She sighed. “Whatever. Let’s get on with it. I want to see my parents.”
They picked themselves up from the floor and Zack led the way, Ari positioned between the two men. She should be in front. It made no sense for men who were vulnerable to bullets to be on the front line instead of a woman who wasn’t vulnerable to attack to lead. But she didn’t even waste her breath arguing because one, they’d never agree and she’d waste precious time beating her head against a brick wall. And two, she just wanted it over and done with so she could see for herself that her parents were okay.
At least Beau was letting her walk under her own steam this time, and she was determined not to hinder their progress in any way, so she powered past the agonizing pain and extreme exhaustion and stayed right on Zack’s heels the entire way.
They veered left into the very last room before the one where the goon was playing Spider-Man and Zack immediately went to the far wall and began adhering plastic explosives at various spots.
“Won’t this just blow a hole into the corridor of prison cells?”
Beau asked with a frown.
Zack shook his head, never looking up from his task. “The last three rooms in this hallway extend farther than the outbuilding that houses the cells. When we bust a hole in this wall, we’ll be on the outside.”
“Works for me. Hurry,” Beau urged.
“Get down and take cover,” Zack directed.
Beau ducked behind an island cabinet that looked like solid steel construction, dragging Ari with him. Beau got down on his haunches, but Ari was much shorter, so she simply half squatted, just to the left side of Beau so her hand held his shoulder to steady herself.
An eerie prickling sensation caused every hair on her body to bristle and stand on end. A chill chased down her spine and around to her gut, tightening her stomach until it was a clenched ball.
Just as earlier, when she’d sensed an immediate threat to her and had dropped and lashed out, instinctively defending herself from an unseen attacker, she knew that danger was imminent.
She turned her head over her shoulder, because it was the only place there could be danger. The only place not readily in her sight line. She froze, the entire world moving in slow motion. Like she was in some bizarre dream where she watched but was helpless to do anything else.
The goon she’d left trapped on the ceiling to die when the building fell was standing in the doorway, gun in hand, pointing it directly at . . . Beau.
There was no spontaneous, instinctual self-preservation barrier that immediately formed without her having to build it in her mind because she wasn’t the target. And she knew she didn’t have time to erect one around Beau because she was simply too weak, too unfocused to form it in time.
A shot sounded, and she did the only thing she could do. The only thing she had time to do. She stepped in front of Beau, her back turned to the gunman. She grabbed Beau’s head, yanking it protectively to the top of her thighs, covering him as best she could, and she closed her eyes.
THIRTY-SEVEN
BEAU’S head was suddenly yanked back and he let out a startled exclamation just as a gunshot sounded. It was all simultaneous and happened so quickly that he couldn’t make sense of what had just occurred.
Ari had his head and neck in a death grip and held him rigidly against her legs. But then he felt her stiffen, and a harsh cry of pain pierced his heart, freezing him in abject fear.
Oh God. Gunfire. Ari stepping behind him. Ari cradling his head protectively in her arms. Ari crying out in pain. No. Oh God, no! It all added up to one thing and one thing only. She’d put herself between him and whoever fired the shot.
Zack reared as soon as the shot sounded, gun whipping up and aiming behind Beau. Before Beau could even turn to see the source of the gunshot, Zack fired two rounds in rapid succession and then immediately sprang to his feet.
“Ari’s taken a hit,” Zack said unnecessarily.
Beau knew Ari had taken the bullet meant for him, and he was utterly sick to his soul. It seemed like it took an eternity to turn, catching her in his arms before she collapsed to the floor when in actuality it was a fraction of a second. The entire episode had taken two seconds at the most, but his reflexes were sluggish. Paralyzed with utter terror for what he’d discover when he managed to see the extent of the damage wrought by the bullet.
“Ari!”
His agonized cry shattered the eerie quiet that had descended after Zack took out the assailant.
Her face was stark white, bloodless, her eyes dull and lifeless as she listed to the side, going utterly limp in his arms.
“Oh God,” he said brokenly. “Ari, honey, why? Why would you do this? Why?”
Not waiting for an answer. It wasn’t important. He knew damn well why. Because it was her nature to put herself before others. To protect when she was the one in need of protection. If she died saving his life it would be for nothing because his life wasn’t worth a damn thing without her in it.
He gently laid her down on the floor so he could find the source of all the blood spilling onto the floor. His heart was about to explode out of his chest. Never had he felt such a black wave of despair. Never had he felt so utterly alone as he did right now. He couldn’t lose her. Couldn’t live without her. He couldn’t remember his life before her. Didn’t want to imagine a future without her in it, by his side. Always in his heart, mind, soul, bed. Raising a family—their family—together, surrounded by love as bright as the sun. Love that outshone any star that ever shined. There was no brighter light than Ari. Not to him.
She had to live. For him, she had to survive, or he would be forever lost. He’d forever be bereft of her light. He’d live in total darkness, never to love—truly live—again.
“Jesus,” Zack muttered as he knelt next to Beau. “I hope to hell it didn’t nick her femoral artery. She’ll bleed out long before we get her to a hospital.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Beau said fiercely. “She’s not going to die. I won’t let her!”
He turned his attention back to Ari, who sluggishly blinked, her eyelids fluttering weakly.
“Beau?”
Her voice was quivery, and she sounded so weak that it struck terror to the depths of his soul.
“Yes, honey, I’m here,” he said, trying to keep the sheer panic from his voice.
“Are you hurt?” she said in barely a whisper. “Did he shoot you?”
Tears burned like acid in his eyes. She lay there barely conscious and yet her only thought was whether he was okay or not. A thin rivulet slipped down his cheek. And then another.
He smoothed a shaky hand over her hair and then pressed a kiss to her forehead, letting his lips linger there for a long moment as he tried to collect himself. He inhaled deeply, trying to settle his seething emotions. So he could be strong for her. As strong as she was, as strong as she’d been for him. It shamed him to the depths of his soul that she’d been the one to save him. Not the other way around. Never again. He’d protect her with his dying breath for the rest of his days.
“I’m fine,” he choked out. “Swear to God, Ari, if you ever pull this kind of stunt again I’ll lock you in the goddamn bedroom and never let you out.”
Her smile was crooked. And pained. She closed her eyes, her body seeming to fold inward.
“Ari!” he said in a panicked tone. “Don’t go out on me. Stay with me. Please stay with me. Stay awake. Just a little longer and then you can rest. I promise.”
He was begging, pleading with her and he didn’t care. He had no pride when it came to her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to save her.
Zack was on the radio barking orders to the others, his tone harsh and urgent.
Without taking his anxious gaze from Ari even for a split second he said to Zack, “Blow the damn wall so we can get the fuck out of here. We have to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. I don’t care about anything else. Just get us the hell out.”
“The charges are set. All I have to do is pull the trigger. You got Ari covered?”
Even as Zack asked, he didn’t wait for a response. Instead he moved over so that he and Caleb protectively flanked Ari. Zack took care to cover the parts of Ari Beau couldn’t, and then he set off the explosion, ducking his head to protect his eyes from any debris.
Beau did the same and simply shoved Ari’s face into his chest, his palm covering the back of her head and holding her in place so nothing touched her.
The explosion shook the room, the floor, the walls and the rafters.
“Shit!” Zack said in an urgent voice. “We have to get out now. The entire roof is coming down. Get Ari and go!”
Beau needed no such urging. He was already hoisting Ari more securely into his arms and he rose, keeping her face against his chest so she didn’t inhale any of the smoke or dust that blew through the room like a hurricane.
No sooner had they cleared the gaping hole in the wall than the roof caved, in collapsing like a cascade of dominos. Another cloud of dust and smoke kicked up and surrounded them until both men were coughing.
The air was fresher, cleaner, the farther they got from the building and was a welcome change from the stale, oppressive interior of the compound. Beau inhaled deeply in an effort to clear not only his lungs, but his mind as well. His heart was too heavy with worry and grief, but he needed his senses about him because, until he had Ari well away from there and in a hospital getting the care she required, he needed all the mental acuity he could muster.
“They’re landing the helo here,” Zack said. “No way Ari can make that trek to the rendezvous point. There isn’t room for us all, so you, Ari and her parents will take the chopper. The rest of us will commandeer one of the vehicles here and get there as soon as we can.”
“I want you with us,” Beau said firmly.
Zack was, in Beau’s mind, his right-hand man, just as Dane was Caleb’s. He trusted Zack to watch his and Ari’s six when Beau knew he wouldn’t be as sharp as he normally was.
“Then I’ll go,” Zack said quietly.
Just like that. No questions. No hesitation. Just unwavering loyalty and resolve.
“Thanks,” Beau said softly.
“Never have to ask, man.”
“I know. Appreciate that.”
To Beau’s relief, the chopper appeared, only a slight hum to the air to signal its arrival. Beau was moving toward it before it even landed, waiting as it gently touched down.
Dane, Capshaw and Isaac quickly climbed out while Beau surged forward bearing Ari with him, Zack on his heels.
As soon as Beau climbed into the interior, Ari’s mother cried out in alarm and her father let out a blistering round of curses.
“What the fuck happened to her?” Gavin roared.
Before Beau could respond, Ari stirred in his arms, opening eyes cloudy with pain and confusion. Then they cleared and frost entered the multicolored orbs.
“Beau, wait,” she said, her voice stronger than it had been just moments earlier.
“No we will not wait,” Beau said fiercely. “You have to get to a hospital now. In case you forgot, you’ve been shot!”
Ginger gasped. “What?”
Ari struggled to sit up, Beau’s arm a barrier to her objective. When he realized she wouldn’t rest and would only do herself more harm if he didn’t allow her up, he reluctantly eased her upward, careful to keep a steadying hand at her back and around her waist.
Her eyes glowed as she stared at the building just yards away. Pain wrinkled her face and her concentration was fierce. It was then he realized what she was trying to do.
“Goddamn it, Ari, no!” Beau roared. “Enough! I refuse to let you kill yourself over this. You’ve bled far too much even before you were shot. You’re going to have a stroke or an aneurism.”
He turned his pleading gaze on her parents, silently asking for their support.
“Ari, whatever it is you think you’re doing, please don’t,” her mother said softly. “Please, just come home with us.”
Ari shook her head, eyes still glowing. Blood began to slowly creep from her nose and her ears as her brow furrowed even more.
The earth shook beneath the helicopter, making it shake too. Ari’s parents glanced uneasily at their daughter and Gavin forcefully interjected himself.
“Ari, stop it,” he demanded. “I won’t let you do this. I won’t let you do further harm to yourself. For your mother’s sake—for my sake, stop.”
“I have to do this,” Ari said softly. “I can’t let them win. I made a vow. To myself. And I have to see it through. I can’t let others endure what’s been done to me and countless others.”
Then she closed her eyes as if shutting them all out. Beau. Her parents. Everything but her objective.
Beau issued a sharp command to the pilot to take off, hoping that would deter Ari.
He should have known better.
Even as the helicopter rose, hovering a split second before zooming over the building and away, the entire complex went up in an explosion of flames, a mushroom cloud resembling an atomic blast hurling upward into the air.
Everyone in the helicopter stared down in awe as the building simply disintegrated before their very eyes.
But Beau was only looking at Ari. At the blood running like a river from her nose, ears and mouth. He tightened his hold around her even as he was careful not to move the leg that had taken the bullet meant for him.
Ari’s eyes were dull and lifeless, the spark that powered the surge of mental energy necessary to bring down the entire compound was now nothing more than a dim light source in danger of being extinguished.
She stirred in Beau’s arms, pushing weakly as if she wanted to sit up. But she couldn’t even support her own weight. Beau carefully lifted so she could see her parents, but her gaze was empty. Blank. She stared beyond the occupants of the helicopter to the orange fireball erupting into the sky and the thick wall of