Page 124 of No Going Back

Chapter 20

Mira stirred, opening her eyes, squinting at the sun coming through the window. Another restless night, images of the bombing, Tyler, all getting mixed up in her head. It had been four days, four very long days. She kept telling herself no news was good news, but it was getting harder to stay optimistic.

Voices carried from downstairs. Mira glanced at the bedside clock. Six in the morning, jeez, that was early for visitors. Maybe it was Sam. He kept popping by to see how she was doing. Reassuring her the team were following leads and getting closer.

Goddammit, Tyler, where the hell are you? Her imagination had been going overtime. Knowing what Reborn were capable of, it didn’t take much to visualize all sorts of ways they could torture Tyler if he got caught. If he’d been with the rest of Raven, she wouldn’t be so concerned, but he went there alone. He was good, but he was only one man.

A gentle knock at the door brought her out of her gloomy thoughts.

“Kelly you don’t have to knock, it’s your house.”

The door opened and Mira gasped.

Before she could get out of bed and run to him, Tyler was there. He pulled her into his arms as she crumpled, tears streaming down her face.

“Oh, my God. It’s you. It’s really you.”

“Yeah. It’s me.”

“I... When did you... Kelly didn’t say....”

“Ssshhh. I asked her not to.”

Mira pulled away from him, studying his face through watery eyes. “Are you hurt? Are you alright?”

“I’m not hurt. Thanks to my team.”

She stepped back, raised her hand, and slapped him hard across his face. His eyes widened in surprise.

“You scared the shit out of me, Tyler. How could you do that? How could you leave?”

“Babe... I...”

“Don’t ‘babe’ me. I was in a coma. A coma! Do you know one of the last things I remember hearing? Do you?” Her voice had risen but she didn't care.

“No,” he said quietly.

“You saying you’d be there waiting for me. Do you remember that?”

"I do.” He looked ashamed. Good. He should.

“Do you have any idea what it was like to wake up alone? Then learn you had left to go and be the all-conquering hero. By yourself! Who does that?”

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