Page 32 of Lethal

“Why the fuck didn’t you do that in the first place?” Vander growls.

“Because I didn’t think of it until now.” Cole’s tone is bland, like his focus is entirely devoted to Grayson’s wound and he can’t be bothered with adding any emotions into it. I get that reaction. “As perfect as I am, there are lapses in my coding from time to time.” Well, that’s a hacker phrase if I’ve ever heard one.

It seems the rest of my men also let that one bounce right off them, choosing not to acknowledge it. “Finish wrapping the wound, we still have the building to clear,” Jasper growls out instead, resuming his role as “commander” of our team.

Grayson seems to be drastically better with the morphine pumping through his system. Color returns to his skin and his eyes aren’t as pinched. “You didn’t answer me,” Grayson hisses as he winces from the pain. Apparently, I was too quick to judge.

“I think we’d all like to know the answer, Little Bird.” A softness takes over Jasper’s tone, his concern more than evident in the way he watches me.

Vander wraps an arm around my waist, losing his battle of trying to act unaffected. He turns my body so I’m facing him, and he cups my cheek, thumb drawing a comforting touch over the area. “You hit your head,” he comments, a rough gravel taking over his normally smooth tone. “Are you dizzy? Seeing double?”

Knowing what he’s truly asking, I answer him, “I have a concussion. My ears are ringing pretty bad, but my hearing is coming back.”

He nods his head, acknowledging what I told him, but holds me out at arm’s distance to check me over once more. “Anywhere else hurt?”

“Does my pride count?” I know they’ll say I shouldn’t blame myself for Grayson being injured with the rocket launcher, but I can’t help but wonder if I wasn’t paying enough attention. Could I have seen the man any sooner? Was I taking too long to line up my shots? Did I fuck up somewhere? I never would have forgiven myself if he wasn’t okay.

Vander softly runs his hand over my head, checking for where I hit it. He hits a particularly tender area and I suck in a sharp breath with the shooting pain it sends through my head, white sparks flashing behind my eyes. Anger passes through his gaze like a dark storm cloud, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s blaming himself for me getting hurt.

I run my touch along his arm until I’m holding his wrist where his hold is cupping my head. With a soft squeeze, his attention locks on my gaze. “I’m fine, Vander. Nothing that won’t heal with time.” He doesn’t seem reassured, so I continue, “We can’t always come out of a battle unscathed. No matter how badass we think we are, there’s always room for growth.”

“You should listen to your own words,” Grayson pipes up from behind me. As much as I don’t want to believe him, I know he’s right. There’s really no point in blaming yourself for what ifs or could have beens. The past is the past. We have to move forward from here.

“We still have a building to clear,” I tell them, changing the subject so we can move on.

Vander’s eyes narrow, probably not liking the sound of us diving back into danger, but we can’t let exploding stairs get in our way. Either Brent is inside, or there’s someone who knows where we can find him. At least I hope so. There’s still a chance we’re wrong and have been working off false assumptions.

Vander doesn’t show any signs of letting go anytime soon, so I turn in his hold to face the others, making sure they’re still on board. I can’t help the wince pulling at my features when my gaze lands on a bandaged Grayson. He’s leaning against Jasper, keeping pressure off his injured leg. Blood darkens his black pants where his wound is, the ripped fabric exposing the white gauze wrapped around his thigh. There’s a little pink showing through, but it looks like the bleeding has stopped.

“Don’t worry about me, Remi,” he reassures, probably reading the thoughts crossing over my face. I’ve truly learned to drop my guard around my men, forgetting to keep my mask in place around them. Something I know they prefer, but sometimes I don’t like them knowing what I’m thinking. It’s disarming.

With a sigh, I shake off Vander’s hold and move to where the staircase used to be. Bits of wood dangle from the edge of the decking, and it’s sagging where it’s lost support. I’m not even sure it can hold our weight anymore, or if it will come crashing down the moment it’s faced with any amount of weight.

Only one way to find out.

Chapter 14

Cole

Raven faces the decking, her head barely meeting where the supporting wood beams are exposed. There’s a determined set to her features and I can’t stand the thought of her getting hurt further by being the first one up there.

With a few quick strides, I shove Vander out of the way where he’s crowding into her space, and lay my palm on her arm, stopping her from trying to drag herself onto the decking. “Let me go first.”

Her eyes flash with objection, the steely blue growing hard and cold. But after a moment, she sighs and backs off. Good choice, Raven. I’m not one to be messed with today. Not after I watched her body get thrown across the lawn. I never would have run from our spot if I didn’t think she would get clear as well. There isn’t a scenario in existence where I’d save myself over her.

Pushing in front of her, I use my arms to pull myself onto the decking. The jagged wood scrapes against my clothing as I drag myself up, threatening to rip holes as it latches on. The precarious flooring sways, a groaning sound coming from where it scrapes against itself. I don’t have any faith in it being able to hold much more weight. Thankfully, our girl is a wispy thing, always taking pride in her body, working out most days when she was at home. Can’t say she’s done much of that since we’ve been on the run, though.

I hold out my hand for her to take, and Vander grasps her hips, helping to lift her. The wood creaks even more, making it sound like it might give away any second now. As soon as she has her footing, I move us to the side of the building, not wanting to be seen from the windows.

My focus returns to the task at hand. Finding my sister.

From the looks of this building, it doesn’t seem like a place the asshole keeping her captive would take her. I’m not holding my breath that she’s here, although I hope to find some kind of information leading to her whereabouts.

Gripping Raven’s hand even tighter, I lead her along the side of the building. She gazes out to the marshlands surrounding us, trying to spy if any more combatants are sneaking up on us. The humanity Grayson sparks inside her is on full blast with his injury. Her self-blame is working overtime, an emotion the two of us normally wouldn’t experience. The only exception being a threat to someone we’ve claimed as ours.

A squeeze of her hand has her attention flying to me, a question in her eyes as they find mine. “You ready to torture any motherfuckers we find in here?” I ask her, distracting her from the worry gnawing at her. It’s more than evident she fears something happening to one of us after the explosion almost took Grayson out. I’ve seen that endearing look on her face only once before when Vander was shot. As much as I enjoy it, I vow she won’t wear it when it comes to me.

Although… as I think it over, perhaps she already has. And it happened when I was too distracted searching for my sister, lost in myself. There’s too much going on right now to search through all the footage automatically accumulating of her on my servers to find out, though.

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