Hunter

HUNTER

The warmth of the evening and night shared with Kai filtered its way into my sleep. My dreams were hazy, which was a relief, but the peace and comfort I felt was a real relief. It didn't hurt that once in a while, I would drift closer to the surface of consciousness and find I was wrapped in a strong body that smelled faintly of the most soap-smelling soap ever.

I had always teased Kai when we had just been friends that he was allowed to smell like something other than soap and occasionally sweat. Now though? Now, I could breathe in without being consciously aware he was there and find my body relaxing immediately. I found myself curling into the warmth and strength he represented and wanting to stay there forever.

I always meant to tell him how much comfort he brought me with his presence, the simplest of touches, but it was always lost somewhere along the way, and I'd get distracted. But in the coziness of my shared bed, I found a peace I hadn't felt in over two years. It probably didn't hurt that I'd started literally fighting the demons that had plagued me for too long, but I doubted it would be quite the same if he weren't around. The thought made me smile and dive back into the murky abyss of sleep, content that our lives were on a good path.

The next time I awoke, it was without the comfort I'd felt falling back asleep, and instead, it was filled with a disquiet I couldn't quite name. It was enough to pull me out of a sleep I'd enjoyed so much as my mind became more aware of my surroundings. The smell of his soap was still there in the comforter on top of me, but the warmth of his body and the dip in the bed from his weight were absent.

With a grunt, I rolled over and frowned when I found the bed empty. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. Even now, weeks after returning from his final deployment, there were nights when Kai woke up and could not fall back asleep. It had always been his attitude that if he wasn't going to sleep, there was no point lying in bed agonizing about it. He usually got up and did something peaceful for an hour or two, confident sleep would eventually find him.

And yet there was a distinct discomfort that refused to leave my chest, a weight bearing down on my lungs enough to make me nervous. There was nothing else in the room to suggest why I felt that way, but the feeling wouldn't go away, no matter how much I told myself it was normal. His side of the bed being cool wasn't a bad sign, the silence in the apartment wasn't bad, and even though it was still a couple of hours before I should have been awake, it was all perfectly normal.

And yet.

With a grimace, I slid out of bed and searched for my clothes, frowning when I saw the outfit from the day before wasn't on the floor where it was supposed to be. Kai must have picked them up, but that didn't fit. Despite his tidy nature, he never did anything more than tease me about being messier than him. He knew full well I would get up in the morning to put on the clothes from the night before to make coffee before eventually showering and changing into fresh clothes.

The unease settled sourly into my stomach, and I gathered clothes from the drawers even as I tried to unsuccessfully tell myself it was perfectly fine to walk around naked in my apartment with Kai around. That didn't work, so I pulled on my underwear, jeans, and a shirt, wishing I had my shoes in my room. Again, there was no reason to think I needed to flee, but there it was all the same.

My mind drifted to the knife hidden in my closet, along with the gun under the bed. Feeling foolish, I unlocked the gun box but didn't remove the gun, telling myself it was stupid to walk out with a gun when I would probably end up waving it at Kai unnecessarily. The knife, though, still gave me some comfort as I tucked it behind me in the waistband of my jeans.

With that done, I forced myself to take a deep breath and walk toward the door, opening it slowly. I could feel a tremor in my hands and ignored it as I stepped into the hallway, looking around and finding the next thing out of place. Despite the numerous cats allowed to roam free as they pleased, there wasn't a single one in sight. They could all have found places to hide, but with all the cats I had in the building, it was odd that not even one of them was lying on the island in the kitchen like they weren't supposed to.

I opened my mouth to call for Kai and then stopped. The warning bells in my head were too loud to placate. Despite the lack of obvious danger, I knew something was deeply wrong and reached behind me, placing my hand on the knife handle before stepping toward the living room. As I approached, I could see shadows moving on the wall...more than one shadow. The smell of iron was thick in the air, raising the hairs on my arm and the back of my neck.

I heard an unknown voice murmur something, and a moment later, an all too familiar voice filled me with alternating waves of hate and fear. "We know you're out there. Did you have a good night's sleep?"

Clamping my mouth shut, I refused to let him have the immediate gratification of making me speak. It didn't take a lot of thought to figure out why Callum had decided to hunt me down or what he was here for. Kai's absence weighed heavily, and I prayed with all my being that the hauntingly familiar smell of blood in the air wasn't from him, and if it was, then he wasn't injured too badly.

God, please don't let me lose another. I couldn't handle it if I lost Kai as well.

"There's no point in pretending," Callum said softly, his voice radiating the calm and confidence I remember initially drew me to him. "Step around the corner, hands up. Or I'll have to send someone to drag you out, which seems messy and dramatic."

"Where is Kai?" I asked, hating that I found myself responding to him before I was ready but knowing there wasn't much else I could do other than what he wanted. There was no way out of my apartment other than the main door, which would put me in full view of Callum and whoever he had with him. There were no good solutions, but maybe I could get some information before everything went to hell in a handbasket.

"I prefer talking about serious things when I can see people's faces," Callum said in that same buttery voice that, even now, I had to admit was a good voice. It did all the heavy lifting of concealing the vile, slimy, foul person he was underneath. "So, step around. I won't ask again. I'll just have someone come get you."

I grit my teeth, knowing he had me cornered and helpless...exactly how he preferred. The thought of the knife at my back flashed through my head, but I knew there was no point. It was obvious he had someone to help him in this little breaking-and-entering ambush, and I'd bet they were more than capable of overpowering me or killing me before I got to him.

There was no other choice, and trying to school my face, I stepped around the corner and was met with a sight that was a mix of the familiar and the horrifying. Callum had taken one of the chairs and turned it so its back was to the window, with the asshole lounging in my chair with one of my glasses of liquor. I thought the worst horror was the sight of the bloodied, beaten man thrown on the floor, his hands behind his back and legs tied tightly. His eyes were open, his gaze sharp and full of anger, which probably meant he wasn't feeling too bad, but it still hurt to see him.

Nothing could compare to the agony that ripped through me as I finally saw the source of the smell of blood that had filled my nose in the hallway. Either tossed or left dismissively to soak in the puddle of blood too big for someone to survive was Brooke's lifeless body. Her eyes were half-lidded, but they seemed to bore into my skull with the intensity of the living, accusing me or perhaps asking me how I could have let this happen, how I could have brought this into her life.

I knew my soft moan of pain was what Callum had been looking for when he'd brought me in to see everything without warning, but I didn't care. She had been as good a friend to me as Kai and had always stuck by my side. She had probably come into the café early to set things up for the day before I woke up, something she did on occasion when she thought I needed a break.

"You monster," I said in a weak voice as I stared into her dull eyes. "She has kids."

"And I had friends," Callum said smoothly, sipping his drink. "And then you decided to go on this little crusade of yours, and suddenly, I no longer have those friends."

The horror was ripped out of me for a moment. The grief would come later as I turned to stare at him, only then realizing he was flanked by two men in masks and some very impressive and scary-looking guns. "If it weren't for you and your friends , then we wouldn't be here at all!"

"You know, you struck me as someone with a decent amount of brains," he said, watching me as he slowly tilted his head, making a strand of his blond hair fall over his forehead. "Then again, as you proved that night and in the past month, you do not possess much sense. Did you honestly expect to get through this without someone figuring out it was you and what you were doing?"

"It's been a couple of years," I said, glancing down at Kai and realizing his silence came from a gag shoved in his mouth. I had no idea how they'd managed to get in here and get the jump on Kai or how I hadn't heard a thing but the idea was terrifying. "I figured Lucas and I wouldn't be your last targets. Twisted fuckers like you and the dead trio never stop when they should."

His eyes flashed at the dismissive mention of his friends, but the smile never left his face. "As I said, lacking in sense, but not in brains, which is rather a shame. I thought we'd managed to teach you a lesson."

"You need only go to your friend's graves to see what lesson I learned," I told him, not caring I was goading the man in charge of two armed men capable of taking Kai down without so much as a peep to wake me up. What mattered was the evil bastard with the handsome face of the boy next door sitting in front of me and what he'd done. "And the four of you taught me just a little too well, I guess."

"The wrong lesson," he said after a moment, and I could see the muscle in his jaw twitch before it stilled after he took another drink.

"And which lesson should I have learned?" I asked scathingly.

"Perhaps a little caution would have been smarter than trying to get your hands on people you had no business touching."

"I didn't try ," I shot back at him with an ugly smile that probably looked more like a snarl. "In case it slipped your notice, I did get my hands on them. Though I doubt you're worried too much about the dealer."

The hand not holding the glass gave a little wave of its fingers as if he was gently waving off the mention. "He was a reliable supplier of anything we wanted, ensuring we got the best products at reasonable prices, including some we never had before."

"Never had be…" I stopped, the twisting in my gut becoming a sudden wave of nausea as I remembered Damon's tastes and the fact that it had been the dealer who had ultimately lured me in with a taste of his product. "Jesus, you don't just mean drugs, do you? He was bringing in other guys."

"And girls," Callum said casually as if he wasn't talking about raping people. "Honestly, it was a solid business venture for all parties involved. We had a guaranteed source of good product without any other connection to him, and the business he attained...along with some help on our end, meant he gained a great deal of notoriety and better deals with others."

"You're talking about..." I began and then stopped, shaking my head. "God, you just don't hear yourself, do you? Or you do, and you have no concept of how absolutely and utterly fucked in the head you really are."

He rolled his eyes, setting the glass on the table and steepling his fingers. "You really should learn to pay attention. I told you before we are men of great hunger, and I've never seen any reason to deny myself my dues."

"Your dues ?" I asked in disgust. "What the fuck makes you due the ability to drug, rape, and murder people?"

He shrugged gently. "I possess the money, influence, and desire. What else is there to worry about? Anyone who doesn't use their power to get what they want is wasting their time and doing themselves a disservice."

"Those are people you're talking about," I snapped at him. "Not dolls for you to pick up and play with, throwing them away when you're done with them."

"They are when you're like me," he said with that same icy grin. "And so long as I cover my tracks appropriately, no one else needs to worry about it."

"Except someone did worry about it," I said, raising a brow. My heart was thundering furiously in my chest as I desperately tried to figure out a way to get out of this mess without Kai and I ending up dead. The problem was my greatest and most capable asset was currently bound on the floor and unable to help me, and Callum had two men who so far hadn't moved or spoken which was unnerving. I didn't know if Callum had hired from the same company Damon had, but they certainly gave me the impression that they were professionals and so far out of my league.

"Yes, it seems you did," he said, a shadow finally forming on his brow.

I quickly regretted not taking my phone. I could have called the cops while making up my mind about coming around the corner, put my phone on speaker so they could hear everything, and mute it. Then again, I had the nagging feeling the missing clothes might have been them, and I hadn't even thought to look at my phone on the bedside table. "You were in my room."

At that, the warmth in his smile drained away, leaving only the chilly grin that would have looked right at home on an alligator. "I was. After we dealt with your latest beau, I decided I wanted to see you at your most comfortable. To look at the man who decided to step out of line and forget all reason and common sense."

"Jesus, you really do think your money and family power gives you the right to do as you please with other people," I said, figuring I was probably making the entire situation worse by continuing to goad and sneer at him. Still, the disgust I felt couldn't be contained. "You and your buddies really thought that, didn't you?"

Sure, you heard about how the rich and powerful supposedly felt like the whole world was their plaything, along with everyone in it. They felt immune and above anything your average person would call normal, including morality. It was something else entirely to have someone say that to me and own it as if it were something worth bragging about rather than something that should have been kept to himself.

"And why shouldn't we? It certainly seems to have worked," he said with a chuckle that held no warmth or real humor. "You clearly don't understand, but it's also hard for me to blame you for that. Your world and mine are galaxies away from one another."

"Thank God for that," I said, glancing at Kai but keeping my eyes away from Brooke. It was hard enough to keep focus, knowing our conversation was starting to reach its apex, and I still had no idea how I was going to get Kai and me out of this mess in one piece...or him, at the very least. The last thing I needed to do was look at Brooke's body and feel the crushing weight of the moment as my life was once more crashing around me.

Or the realization that she was there because of me, not solely, of course, but my hands still bore the marks of her blood because of my decision. Callum and his buddies might have started the chain of events that ended in her death, but it was inevitably me who decided to keep adding links to the chain. And now it was ending here, tonight, with her death and...God, probably mine.

He had caught Kai and me off guard, and I kicked myself for not realizing that was even a possibility. We'd considered he might have been the one who coaxed the cops to interview us, but it had never entered my mind that he might decide to take matters into his own hands. It should have occurred to me that a man in his position was used to having his own way and being thwarted had probably stung.

"You were a little too greedy and eager," he said. "If you'd stopped at the first, none of us would have been the wiser. But then you had to go for Damon."

"If you make yourself an easy target, you're going to be brought down," I said, narrowing my eyes. "Didn't the four of you say something similar to me? See? I learned more than one lesson."

"He was always...voracious," Callum said a little stiffly. "And he never was all that good at knowing when to quit. Had things continued, I might have had to step in and force him to take a break from all the whores. Especially after the last few."

"Yeah," I said with a snort. "I remember seeing they left out of the news reports that he had a whole sex dungeon that would have put the Marquis De Sade to shame."

He blinked at that. "You heard that, did you?"

"C'mon, Callum. We're about the same age. You should know that if something exists, it will eventually end up on the Internet. The trick is to know where to look."

"I see. I was wondering how you managed to find Damon. It's quite the maze he created for his fun houses."

‘Fun houses' made me want to throw up, but I kept it to a disgusted sneer. "Sorry, but just because you decided to grace me with your presence along with the thugs you probably paid a ridiculous amount of money for, beat up and tied my boyfriend, and then murdered one of my closest friends, doesn't mean I'm going to tell you how I did it. I will say figuring out where to find him was harder than getting to him. That part was insanely easy. His appetite was so voracious he'd forgotten all about me after a couple of years, inviting me right in."

"Probably because he wasn't expecting you," Callum said, a new tightness to his voice. "He was always the most impulsive of us. Never learned much caution."

"Oops," I said with a shrug.

"You certainly didn't learn any yourself," Callum said coolly. "You might have covered your tracks as far as the police are concerned, considering I couldn't get the idiots to do their job, even with pressure."

"Really?" I asked, not surprised that Kai and I had been right but by the rest of it. "You managed to keep them hounding me two years ago to leave you alone, threatening everything I had, and you couldn't manage to get me falsely arrested?"

"Falsely," he repeated with a scoff. "You and I both know that isn't true."

"Just like we both know my accusations back then were true," I said, momentarily forgetting my fear to take pleasure in his discomfort and frustration. "What, Daddy's money and name didn't go far enough?"

"It goes farther than you think," he said with a surprising snap.

"Clearly not far enough for you," I said and then blinked as a thought occurred to me. "Or...maybe you didn't want to draw attention to yourself. It's all well and good to turn to Daddy to save you when the mean ol' victim starts siccing the police on you, but when you need a bit more corruption to get the police to do your bidding? Can't have Daddy finding out and asking uncomfortable questions about why you're so worried about someone you dismissed two years ago."

"Brains, but no sense," he said with a harsh sneer, pushing to his feet. "I would have figured you out eventually, even without Mitchell's worry. You probably should have gone for him first. He was always more paranoid than Damon. He made the connection, and I'm following the line he traced."

I watched him for a moment before snorting. "You didn't believe him, did you?"

"Not until it was too late," Callum admitted, and I could see something shift behind his eyes, fighting with the calm and in-control mask he wore. It made me think of when I'd been surprised to hear Mitchell had been so upset by Damon's death. Under Callum's warm, schoolboy charm was a twisted monster, and apparently, under that, there might be someone who really cared about his friends. "Once he was dead, I quickly realized my mistake, and now I intend to remedy that."

I snorted. "All you had to do was shore up your defenses and keep an eye out for either of us. Then we would have been stuck on the outside, unable to get to you without getting ourselves killed, and I would have been going crazy at the thought that I couldn't get my hands on you. That would have been torture."

"Ah, but you see," he said with a smile. "I'm going to get that with you anyway. And by the time I'm done with the both of you tonight, you're going to wish I'd done that. Sadly for you, I don't have a lot of patience left."

"We're going to call it patience now?" I asked with a sneer as he advanced on me. "Maybe it's just a lack of stamina. I don't remember any of you lasting very long."

Callum reached me, shoving me against the wall, and I could see all my comments and digs were finally starting to get to him. Well, either that or they'd been getting to him the whole time, and I was finally starting to see it come to the surface now he'd officially had enough. His eyes blazed with fury and hate, but I knew damn well it was nothing compared to what seethed in my chest.

"Trying to piss me off isn't going to make me kill you any faster," he told me, his fingers tight around my neck and his hand coming around to my back. "I'm more patient than Damon and less jumpy than Mitchell. I have all the time in the world to show you how much you should have stayed in your shitty little apartment, surrounded by all these flea-ridden animals where you belonged. And…what's this?"

I hissed as he pulled the weapon from the waistband of my pants and held it up. For a moment, he looked amused until he pulled it free from the sheathe and got his first real look at the blade. His jaw tightened when he held it up to the light. All I could do was smirk at him. "Look familiar?"

"Yes, I remember. I used it to gut you and your last boyfriend. Where did you get this?"

"Pulled it out of your dealer friend's hand, then used it to gut him like the animal he was. And then I used it to open Damon's throat and cut open Mitchell. I hadn't decided what to do with you yet, but I was willing to be flexible."

"Is that so?" he asked with a smirk as he held it aloft. "Have you decided?"

"After tonight?" I told him, fear and hate swirling in my gut like a tempest. "I'm thinking slow and painful."

"I have to admit," he said in a low voice that, from anyone else, might have been a sexy purr. As it was, I could feel the churning in my stomach grow fiercer. "I'm a little impressed. You kill a few people, and suddenly, you've decided you're a killer."

I glanced at Kai, whose eyes were locked onto the blade as Callum held it aloft. If the ties around his legs were any indication, those ties also held his hands, and a blade would probably come in handy. That was if I could get the blade away from Callum and get it to Kai without anyone taking it away. The problem with that, though, was I was unarmed, outgunned, and outnumbered. My chances of surviving were?—

No...wait. Callum had already made the point that he didn't want me to die a quick death. And unless his mercenaries were trigger-happy or he was fast enough to stop them, I doubted he was going to let me get killed by something as simple as a bullet. He would make sure I stayed alive and paid for what I'd done to his friends, no matter what happened.

"Better than being a tiny-dicked monster," I growled in his face.

"I don't remember you finding it all that small before," he said with that predator's grin. "But I suppose we have plenty of time for you to be reminded."

"No, we don't," I said, knowing if I were going to make a move, it would have to be now. I locked eyes with Kai, who widened his and gave a minute shake of his head, clearly not wanting me to do anything stupid. It was the only hope either of us had of getting out of the situation. We either succeeded, or we didn't. If we didn't, I'd be dead from a jumpy goon, or I was going to suffer whether I resisted or not. And if we did succeed?—

I reached up, gripped the wrist holding the knife, and slammed my forehead directly into Callum's face. I had no idea if he was used to experiencing real pain, but with a snarl, he yanked his hand back and took a step away. It was all I needed to yank the knife free from his grip and bring my foot up to kick him in the gut, pressing my back into the wall for more leverage and sending him flying over the back of the couch and onto the floor.

One of the guards raised their gun, but the other shoved it down and advanced on me as Callum struggled to get up. I swung at the first guard, not surprised when he weaved around it as the second moved in to help his buddy. I could not fight them both as Callum finally got up, and the two mercs advanced on me quickly. As they grabbed me to pin me against the wall, I let the knife drop between our legs.

Even I couldn't tell if the fight I was putting up was genuine or to keep them distracted. Either way, it was a good enough show that all their eyes were on me and what I was doing with everything but my feet. Knowing I couldn't aim and hoping I had the right angle, I lashed my foot out, barely noticing the pain as I kicked the blade in what I prayed was Kai's direction before they managed to keep me still.

"You fought back then," Callum said, adjusting his clothes. "I shouldn't be surprised you fought now. Let's see how long before that fight dies like your last boyfriend."

Blood was strong in my mouth, and I hocked and spat in his face, glad to see there was phlegm along with blood and spit. "Fuck you, Callum."

"One of you, take him to the bedroom. I'd like to be comfortable while I enjoy myself," he said with a sadistic grin. Of course he wanted me taken to my bedroom, which, like my apartment, should have been considered a safe place. It was precisely the kind of twisted logic he would enjoy and the kind that had me wanting to scream as I was dragged by a man far larger and stronger than me from the dining room.

I had no choice as I was shoved down onto the bed. Callum held out a hand toward the man who had dragged me in, that creepy smile still in place. Worse, I could see the front of his pants were tented, clearly anticipating what he was going to do to me while I was once again helpless. Panic clawed at my chest, a desperate animal to be freed from the cage it was in, and I could feel my lungs growing smaller as the world narrowed.

"I believe I'll need some of those ties," Callum said. "Unless, of course, you're the sort to watch."

If the merc cared in the slightest about what was said, nothing showed behind his mask as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a bunch of zip ties, handing them to Callum with barely a glance. Callum advanced on me, and I scooted back, thinking wildly of the small gun safe unlocked under the bed. However, while I was outnumbered, there was nothing I could do before I was dragged back to the bed and the last hope taken from me.

We all paused when we heard a harsh thud from the other room and what I thought was a low grunt. It was followed by a gunshot that spun Callum and the other merc toward the doorway.

"I said not to kill him!" Callum snarled, motioning for the other merc to leave. "Neither of them!"

Callum might not know what was happening, but I had seen Kai in action. Either my plan had worked, or Kai had just taken one last Hail Mary maneuver to distract the three men long enough to give me a chance. I didn't have time to hope it hadn't cost his life, knowing if it had, I was going to make sure Callum went down alongside Kai...and probably myself.

With Callum's back turned, I rolled off the bed and hit the ground with a thump I knew would get Callum's attention. I twisted under the bed, knocking the small gun safe onto its side and grabbing the gun. I could see his feet rounding the bed, and I twisted, bringing the gun out and pointing it at him, stopping him in his tracks.

"I see I should have made them search the room," Callum hissed, his eyes widening.

"Looks like you should have," I said, squeezing the trigger like I'd been taught.

Callum flinched, and we stared at one another in shock. "Seems you forgot to load it."

"Uh," I stared at the gun and grunted, flipping the switch on the side with my finger. "Sorry, safety was on."

His eyes widened as the gun let out one, then two reports, staining his soft blue shirt with two black holes that suddenly grew crimson. His hand flew to his chest, and he stumbled backward, letting out a gurgling gasp before he hit the wall and slid down. As much as I wanted to stay to finish the job, what was more important was what was going on in the rest of the apartment.

Growling at my Jello-like legs to get me up off the floor, I stumbled into the hall, terrified of what I was going to see. I brought the gun up at the first person I saw, finger twitching before I realized the dark I could see were bruises. Blood was smeared all over Kai's hands and his upper body, the knife in his hand dripping as he came to a stop in the hallway, staring at me as if he too, was processing what he was seeing.

"You're alive," he said in a harsh voice.

"That's what I was going to say to you," I said, leaning against the wall and realizing that my gasps sounded a lot more like sobs. "Fuck, I thought you were?—"

"Same," he said in that same rough voice.

I looked at the two bodies, one half hanging out of the living room and the other sprawled before it. Blood was smeared everywhere, and it was obvious the fight, brief as it had been, had been hard and messy. "I see you got the knife."

"And I see you remembered the gun," he said. "Callum?"

"Shot."

"Dead?"

"Probably not."

"Let's go."

I didn't need to be told twice, and despite wanting to go to him, I was suddenly aware I'd turned my back on Callum when he could still be a threat. I might have shot him twice in the chest, but one thing I'd been taught in my self-defense classes was that handguns were not always strong enough to stop someone determined enough. I had taken his friends from him, and now I had taken his chance for revenge, along with potentially his life. If there was ever motivation to ignore two gunshot wounds, now was the time.

Yet when I cautiously stepped into the room, I quickly realized there was no point in worrying. Callum hadn't moved, giving ragged gasps as he held onto the wounds in his chest. The front of his shirt was completely soaked, and absurdly, I was glad I didn't have carpeting.

"Hello, Callum," I said as I turned the bedroom light on and entered the room.

His eyes tracked me as he opened his mouth, only for a bubble to form and then pop, leaving a faint smear of blood on his cheeks and nose. Kai walked in after me, still on guard, but he peered down at Callum. He walked over, no longer caring about forensic evidence, and yanked Callum's hand from his chest. When the man tried to fight, Kai dropped the knife and grabbed him by the throat before pulling his arm away for real.

"Nice shots," Kai said softly, letting him go before grabbing the knife and getting to his feet.

"How slow and painful are we talking?" I asked because while the idea had been appealing before, I wasn't sure if I had it in me to watch the man die for hours. That didn't even cover how the hell we were going to explain this to everyone, particularly the cops. I might have wiggled out of trouble before, but I wasn't confident I would do it again.

"One lung's gone and definitely bloody," Kai said. He's got maybe half an hour to think about his life's choices—probably ten minutes, though."

"Ten is good," I said, glancing at Kai. "You're going to need to get looked at."

"No," he grunted. "I'll get the first aid kit, and we can patch me up."

I didn't see the point, but I figured he'd tell me if any of his injuries needed immediate treatment. Which meant I could wait for the last death of the night before I tried pushing for the ER. "Are you okay to get it?"

He glanced at me and nodded. "Yeah. Don't be afraid to shoot him again if he tries anything."

"I won't," I said, waiting until Kai left to approach Callum and kneel beside him. "How're you feeling?"

"Should..." he began with a wet wheeze, his hand pressing harder against his wounds, "have killed you...two years...ago."

"Yeah," I agreed, reaching into his pants and finding his phone to toss across the room out of his reach. It looked like he hadn't even thought about using it, either too stunned or he didn't believe he would get help before it was too late. "Think of that as another lesson you guys taught me by accident. I made sure every single one of your friends was dead before I left, and I'm going to make sure you die before I do anything other than treat Kai's wounds."

"Good luck...po...lice..."

"That's a problem for later. I promised you slow and painful, and I try to be a man of my word."

His eyes burned with hatred as he reached for me. "Bitch."

For the first time since I met him, I finally understood the sheer ugliness of the power I had over him and his friends. He was still trying to be spiteful and vicious as if he was capable of anything. He was completely and utterly helpless. There wasn't a damn thing he could do to save himself, let alone hurt me. I didn't like that I understood the pleasure that went beyond savage and found its way into inhuman territory, but it was there.

"No," I said, taking his hand in mine and squeezing it tightly, knowing the pain was nothing compared to his sucking lung wounds but enjoying myself all the same. "You don't get to be the big bad scary man anymore. You're no longer going to haunt my dreams or life. And even if I end up going to prison, I'm going to go knowing I took three rich prick assholes down with me, and you will never hurt another person. And I'll go knowing I got to watch you take your last breaths, fighting every step of the way to live, and knowing you failed where I survived."

It wasn't fear in his eyes, but the desperate fury was close enough when I finally let him go and got to my feet. Then, Kai came in, and all the cold hate and satisfaction drained away when I looked at him. He was covered in bruises and cuts, one eye swollen shut, his lip gashed top and bottom, with a streak of red across his forehead, and yet when he looked at me, I saw the tension in his face disappear.

"C'mere," I said, grabbing the wooden chair from the corner and dropping it in front of the bed. "Sit."

"You get the bed, huh?" he asked, holding out the bag and taking his seat as instructed.

"There's enough blood all over the place without you adding it to my comforter and mattress," I told him, taking the warm, wet rag he handed me and trying to clean him off as best as I could. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Pulling you into all this. For getting you hurt."

"I signed up for it. I knew it could go badly. And as far as things going bad, this is actually a fairly decent ending."

"It's not over yet."

"I know."

I grew quiet as I steadily tried to clean his face and arms. He had washed the worst of it off, but his wounds were still adding to the mess. I was able to get some of them bandaged, but the mark on his face and the black eye were going to take time to heal. He'd probably have to look at whatever I did to make sure the job was done, but it was enough for me to find my center again.

Here was a man who'd had my back the entire time we'd known one another, and he'd done it again. I didn't know how or when, but he'd taken a beating before I'd woken up, and despite that, he'd leaped into action the moment he had the chance. He'd taken down two armed men with only a knife and had been rushing to my defense despite probably being in great pain and worn down.

I had always known I was blessed to have Kai in my life, and for all the horrors that happened tonight and still awaited us, I had him. This wonderful man who sometimes looked so fierce and angry but would leap to my defense and let me use him as a teddy bear at night. As good as finally ending the killing was nothing compared to loving him and knowing I was loved in return.

"He's gone," Kai said, interrupting my thoughts. "I need to make a call."

"What?" I asked, staring at Callum and realizing Kai hadn't been lying. For several minutes, I had been so distracted with taking care of Kai I had forgotten to watch Callum. His head lolled on his shoulder, hands in his lap, and sightless eyes locked onto the floor. Disappointment and frustration shot through me as I tried to understand. "What call?"

"Just...don't do anything, okay? I need to make a call," Kai said, leaning forward to kiss my forehead. "Sit tight and trust me."

"I've always trusted you," I said with a smile as he left the room.

I stared at Callum's body, and for a moment, I was furious. I had been so distracted I'd missed his last moments, missed seeing whether he had been the coward his friends had been or if he had been a ball of spite and hatred until the end. That moment had been taken from me, and he had passed without a word and without me getting to have my one last goodbye.

And then...I remembered seeing the gentle way Kai had tried not to wince when I cleaned his wounds a little rougher than I intended, the way his hand had rested on my knee, probably thinking I wasn't doing my first aid correctly but letting me do it anyway. I remembered the gentle kiss he'd given my hand when I tried to clean his bruised neck and the way I'd chuckled softly at the gentle smile his broken lips wanted to give me.

The last thing in this world Callum had seen hadn't been my smirking face but something I would have previously said he wasn't good enough to see. Yes, he had witnessed an intimate, vulnerable moment between Kai and me, and vulnerability was something I swore I would never let Callum see from me again. The very idea had been horrific, and I'd wanted him to see me in complete control and with power over him.

Instead, he saw something he would never have in his life, a loving, compassionate relationship. And he had seen me, not lording over him, but having a gentle moment with the man I love, able to be close to someone again and proving my life had not ended the day he and his friends had stolen so much from me. I had gotten back so much of what they had taken, and that couldn't have been more obvious to him as he slipped from this life and into the pits of hell.

It seemed better that way.