Page 100 of Crave Me

I caught sight of it just as it landed in front of Jeremy.

A grenade.

“Burn, motherfucker!” Damien’s voice rang out.

Wheeler dove for the trees just moments before the grenade exploded, tearing through the immediate area and rocking the ground beneath our feet, the reverberation even blowing out the windows of Elijah’s vehicle.

In the next moment, Damien was there along with Asher, helping me and Caleb behind some cover around the rear of the house.

We’d only just made it when a sharp whistle rang out.

I peered around to see Jeremy pushing to his feet, then gesturing through the trees.

And then two dozen soldiers came into view, pushing out of the forest.

“Fuck,” Damien grunted.

Automatic fire rang out and we slammed back against the wall.

I was only just able to peer around to see several of them breaking from the trees and going to Elijah’s aid to extract him.

He was bloodied and choking as they pulled him out of the car.

Fuck, I couldn’t. I couldn’t allow this.

I fired off a shot.

It plunged into the skull of one of the soldiers right beside Elijah, killing him instead.

Son of a bitch.

I went to fire again, only to take a bullet myself, this one tearing through my right arm and right through my tactical gear.

I grunted and fell back.

“Armor-piercing bullets!” Wheeler’s self-satisfied voice rang out. “That’s gotta hurt, King!”

“We can take them,” I told Asher as he rushed to me and compressed my wound.

“Possibly, but not without sustaining casualties,” he warned.

“I can’t let them go free,” I hissed as he exerted more pressure.

“Cal needs you,” Damien called to me, and I looked to see him holding Caleb against him.

Shit. He was barely conscious.

And with him now this close and a second to take him in properly, I saw why. They’d drugged him with something. His eyes were so glazed, unfocused. He was barely even here.

“We’re leaving! Now!” Dante called, just as he, Bastian and Skylar rounded the corner. “Break from here and we’ll use the explosives to blow this place and provide a distraction to give us cover to retreat.”

As Bastian and Skylar ran to Caleb, fawning over him, cutting at my heart, they all looked to me, waiting on my decision.

I gritted my teeth. “Retreat.”

We had Caleb.

That was what mattered.

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