Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kieran

He ran as if death were chasing him.

Because death was coming for him.

Me.

That's all that flooded my neuro pathways. Tomás ran from me.

What a joke. I watched him disappear into the woods as if he'd survive it. No, knowing him. He didn't care to survive it. He just wanted to get away from me. The why of it didn't even matter anymore.

I pulled all the needless emotions out of my mind.

I was a fool to trust him. With my bow in my left hand and Antonio's gun in my right, I followed Tomás into the trees. I still wasn't sure what I meant to do to him. Shooting him was not an option. But I had to be prepared for any and all scenarios. Rationally, Tomás was a threat. He knew too much. Maddox was his sponsor. He could be working with the Brennans who obviously found out about the takeover and meant to end me. Except it made no sense. Too many unknowns in play left me gearing up for a hunt. Tomás was hiding something that spooked him. That was grounds enough to get him back alive.

These woods were our playground. It'd been where The Ark Boys trained, hunted, and sometimes just messed around. It had been the one place where we had felt safe. I knew the surrounding area like I knew every line of scar my grandfather had left me. Tomás didn't have a chance. Not to mention, the tracks on the snow led me right to him. He hadn't gone far before he opted to hide behind an old birch.

"Tomás," I said. "Stop running. There's nowhere you can go that I can't find you." I made sure my voice sounded darker than usual.

"You're the reason my father and brothers are dead!" he cried out, revealing his location.

I let that information sink in. "You have to be more specific, Tomás. I've killed a lot of fathers and sons." I kept my voice free of emotion.

A terrible sob ripped out of his throat, and I hated myself for it. "Joaquín Moya, you asshole! Joaquín Moya was my father! And I saw you at the club talking shit with Talis Alvarez!"

I paused, took in my surroundings. I wasn't sure if he had a weapon. I wished he didn't. I didn't want to shoot him. When he didn't move, I ran what he said in my head.

Talis Alvarez was one of Tor's aliases. He had been the one to make contact with Joaquín and Trinidad to get them to work with us to disrupt my grandfather's drug lines. We had forced Cillian to borrow from his legitimate businesses to pay the dangerous people he owed money to. And then we used his own assets to buy it all out from under his nose. It had been perfect. Should've gone smoothly. But Trinidad Sr., had panicked. Joaquín killed him and then tried to kill Talis. Everything got fucked and we pulled out. Maddox erased their male bloodlines. All but two teens. Nicolás and Tomás. How had I missed the connection?

I took a small step toward his voice. "Your father was helping me."

"Then why are you alive and he's dead!"

"Because he killed Trinidad."

There was a slight pause as he absorbed this information. He hadn't known. "You lie! Trinidad was his best friend. My father would never!"

"He did!" I yelled back. "Now come out. Don't make me shoot you." For the first time since I learned how to kill, my hands trembled, and I wondered if I could even pull the trigger this time.

I caught movement. A shadow behind me. The fucker had somehow projected his voice in front of me when he'd been somewhere at my back. I had enough time to see the fist to my face before I was knocked down. I underestimated my beautiful dark temptation. He'd come in with everything he had. His anger wedged into that fist. Biologically bigger than me, heavier, stronger, he had the upper hand in brute attack. He slapped my gun, yanked it out of my hand, and then quickly popped back to his feet, the gun aimed at the general vicinity of my chest. His breathing labored, face pale.

The deadly silence between us thickened for several seconds as I let him process his next move.

"Now what?" I asked from the ground. "Are you going to shoot me?"

"Don't make me."

I slowly climbed to my feet and dusted myself of the snow. Tomás took a step back. His hand didn't tremble, his eyes focused on me. I was impressed. I cupped my chin where he'd hit me. "I didn't know you could project your voice like that."

He shook his head. "Tell me why I shouldn't shoot you."

Because you love me.

That thought just rushed through my head before I could pull it back. He didn't love me. He'd never said he loved me. And what did I care if he loved me? Something inside of me felt off. "I'm the only one that could save you, Tomás. There's a dead guy in that SUV that came for you."

"Why!" he shouted. "I'm nobody."

Apparently not. "We have to get back to the school. It's the only safe option we have before more come."

"Why?" he took a step back. "Why would you protect me?"

The fucking love word entered my mind, and I pushed it back. "Because I don't want to see you hurt." I swallowed, narrowed the gap between us as he continued to move away until he finally called it and stopped moving.

"Don't, Kieran. Please."

The please made me stop, but I was already on him. The barrel of the gun pressed against my chest. "I know you, though, Tomás. And you won't shoot me."

I saw the moment his expression changed to defeat. I hated the look on him. I wanted him to fight, to defend himself to the death if necessary. Not to give up on life because I needed him to at least outlive me. And in this world, he had to learn to pull the trigger to survive.

I slapped his wrist out of the way and narrowed the remaining gap. Pressing my body against him, I sealed his mouth in a kiss. Rational thought left me the moment I saw him in the car. Running away from me. I couldn't let him go. That mark on him, my mark on him, would always mean he was mine. The thought of him getting away from me ignited something toxic inside my veins. Different than the want to kill those who hurt me or my friends. This feeling touched on something like fear. I clung to anger instead and yanked the back of his hair hard, pulling him away from my mouth. "Get it through your head that you are mine."

"I can't," he said, sucking in air. "I can't do this with you."

I kicked his legs open so I could rub my cock against his leg like a bitch in heat. "You aren't doing this with anyone else." The thought of him with anyone else drew fire into my veins.

I knew he had more to say. More questions he needed answered. But at that moment a car pulled up to the cabin. We both stiffened.

"Keep quiet while I check this out," I whispered and waited until he nodded to pull away from him. I plucked my bow from the ground and started to head to the cabin but stopped when he started to follow. I pressed my index finger to my lips. The universal sign to shut the fuck up. Stay, I mouthed. I could tell he wanted to argue but didn't. He pulled back to the tree.

I left him the gun and walked out of the woods and into the field.

Henry's beloved SUV sat idling behind Antonio's. He still had the stickers on the windows his sister had given him for his birthday last year. Little pink butterflies. We had all ragged him about it, told him to take it off. It made the SUV stick out, but he hadn't cared. Henry wasn't like the rest of us. He was as average as they came.

Movement caught my eye as he circled his SUV and then came up in front of the cabin. And he wasn't alone. On instinct, I lifted my bow, strung my arrow.

Fortuna Bruno stood behind him. A hitman who took personal contracts. Although he'd been a legend in his youth, he'd let himself go over the years. I'd heard Cillian say he had retired.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Bruno said, pressing the barrel of his chrome Colt to Henry's temple. "Toss it."

I tossed the bow and arrow onto the snow.

"Sorry," Henry said sheepishly. That earned him a pistol whip to his temple. He fell on his knees but didn't lose consciousness. Bruno savagely lifted him back up to use as a shield. Blood dripped down Henry's temple, down his cheek like blood tears.

The fucker was going to die. I clenched my fists.

"Fortuna Bruno. Do you even know who I am?" I asked, playing the only card I had. Being a Brennan.

"You're Tristan's bastard son," he hissed out.

That never got old. The dark patch spread out throughout my body. A toxic thing needing release. "There are rules of engagement."

"Your protection ends at the school's property. Out here, anything's game."

Bruno was right. Our protection had ended at its boundaries, the reason the school worked so damn well.

"Killing us is still not productive, Bruno. You should know that."

"I'm not going to kill him so long as I get what I came for."

"And what is that?"

"The kid. Where's the boy?"

I grinded my teeth. "There isn't anyone else here, Bruno."

Bruno looked to the cabin. "Tomás!" he called out. "Come out or I'm going to blow this fucker's head off!"

Henry shut his eyes. Tears made tracks down his cheeks. The shit just got too real. I narrowed the gap between us making sure I was nimble. I couldn't outrun a bullet.

When no one came out, I spread my hands. "I told you. No one—"

"I'm here!" Tomás yelled out, hands in the air. He came out of the trees to my right, about five paces. I could tackle his ass to the ground, punch him in the face and knock his ass out. I didn't. I fisted my hands instead.

My teeth grinded together to keep me from telling him he better survive this shit, or I was going to make him pay.

Tomás gave me a sideways glance but not enough for me to interpret what he planned to do. Please, let him have a plan. Then I remembered how he gave himself up during the scapegoat bullshit. He'd done it to protect the weakling of the group. Charity. Because that's what made him a good person. He had no plan. This was some Kamikaze shit. As if he meant nothing. Panic took over all rational thought. "Bruno, don't do this. I can pay you more."

"Stop it," Tomás hissed beside me.

"You do this," I called out to Bruno, "and I will hunt you down and kill you."

Bruno laughed. "Fuck, kid. I believe you. But your grandfather is a loyal bastard too. And right now, he's holding all the cards."

"He won't be."

Bruno waved Tomás over. "Come on, kid."

Tomás kept walking. "Just trust me," he whispered as he passed me.

I didn't trust him, but I stayed rooted in place anyway. Tomás stopped twenty feet in front of Bruno and that's when I got a look at the gun tucked into his pants. I bit back every curse word that wanted to spew out. He wore joggers, the gun hanging precariously off the loose band. He was going to get himself killed. My eyes lowered to the bow and arrows I'd tossed too far like an idiot. I wouldn't be able to offer any type of protection. Not to save Tomás, but possibly to save Henry, the weakest link. It's what Tomás would do, what he was doing. Sacrificing himself to save Henry.

"Let him go. I'm here," Tomás said.

Everything else happened in jolted moments. Bruno shoved Henry forward. Henry fell on all fours sobbing but didn't move out of the way. At that same moment, Tomás slipped on the snow, his arms pinwheeling. I broke eye contact and dove for the bow and arrow. A shot rang out and my heart burst inside my chest. I came up on a roll, arrow already strung. Bruno on the ground but Tomás on the ground too.

I ran, trying to keep my sights on Bruno—the threat—while my heart slammed against my ribcage in terror. I'd never felt so afraid before. I'd never lost someone I truly cared for. I never had a reason to breathe, to live, to hope. In that one moment, I knew I loved Tomás.

When I was sure Bruno wasn't going to be moving, I turned to Tomás, on his feet, gun trained on Bruno. His hands shook, his face had gone pale and the haunted look in his eyes almost shattered me. "You can tell a lot about a man watching him kill," my grandfather had told me. And he was right. I knew Tomás Moya wasn't like us, wasn't like me. He was good, brave, and everything I couldn't have.

"Hey," I said softly. "It's over." I cupped his wrist and lowered his arm. He shoved the gun in my hand and sprinted inside the cabin. I was pretty sure he was going to vomit.

Henry remained sitting on the snow, his back against the truck.

I crouched in front of him. "Hey, look at me," I said kindly. His brown eyes met mine. They weren't the usual focused ones I'd come to rely on. His eyes were glazed, almost spinning. A defense mechanism he learned when he was a kid to shield himself of the horrors around him. He'd once said it felt as if his brain spills out and there's nothing there. I shook him gently. "Hey, come on, brother. You're safe. We're safe." My words seemed to take some of the blankness away.

"It was my fault. I fucked up. Wren … Wren got hurt."

I bit down the growl. Henry didn't need to hear it. And I needed to listen.

"Wren was flirting with some girls at the food mart. You know how I get, I left him there. Went to wait for him in the SUV. But when he finally followed, Bruno, he was there waiting with a bat. He hit Wren. I tried … I tried to help, but …" He gasped.

"Henry," I said. "It's not your fault." I kicked the dead fucker beside me. "It's his fault. No one else."

Henry slid his eyes to the dead guy, blinking several times, then he nodded. I helped him to his feet and leaned him against the truck. Just then, another car burst beside the SUV, almost sideswiping it in its haste. I pressed my body between Henry and the new threat, my gun already trained at the person inside.

Fox.

I let out a shuddering breath. "Henry," I said, using the calmest voice I could muster. "Do you mind checking on Tomás? Make sure he's okay."

Henry nodded and slipped inside the house as I put the gun away.

"Wren?" I asked Fox who gave Wren's wrecked car a brow lift. Wren was going to murder me in my sleep.

Fox shook his head. "Wren. Never takes shit seriously. Tor gave us the heads up on Bruno being in the area. With the cell phone service here being out, we decided to send spotters. River came along too, in his car. He's with Wren now and you know he's not leaving his side."

"We have to put him on pussy lock down."

"Yeah, I don't think that's the only thing he's on."

I blanched, giving Fox a look.

"Don't give me that look. While you're doing whatever you're doing with him, I'm taking care of them."

For some reason that hurt because I'd been so obsessed with this one thing, I didn't care about anything else. I kept my mouth shut and let him have this.

Fox's eyes slipped to Bruno's body. "What happened? Is Henry okay?"

"He's alive," I said. "Tomás saved him."

Fox's eyes turned to two slits on his face. I wanted to punch my best friend in the face. "Tomás risked his life to save Henry, Fox. He's one of us now."

Fox took that in slowly. Then he raked his hand through his hair and turned to the car wrapped in a tree, and smirked. "What the flying fuck happened to Wren's car?"

Without answering, I turned around to head inside just as Fox started to laugh.