Page 57 of Gravel and Grit

It might’ve been if he hadn’t just told her he was there to kill her.

“Well. That’s unfortunate.”

“Ha! Yeah. Yeah, it is. You’re awfully calm,” he commented, his smile disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, his expression cold and empty once more.

“No, I meant that’s unfortunate foryou. I don’t think Zaek is super pleased with the idea of you killing me,” she clarified with a pointed look over his shoulder at where her mate was now standing behind him with a murderous scowl on his face.

Luke whipped around at Zaek’s low, terrifying growl, but he was too slow. Zaek’s fist struck Luke in the side of the face. He was out before he hit the floor.

She was scooped off her feet and into Zaek’s arms before she could gasp his name.

“I thought you were dead!” she cried against him.

He snorted and held her tighter. Mira didn’t care that it made her ribs ache. The feeling of his arms around her, holding her safely against him, was worth it.

“Not even death could keep me from you, my mate,” he swore.

Pulling back, he set her on her feet and examined her from head to toe.

“I’m okay,” she assured, stilling his hands and smiling shakily up at him.

He exhaled deeply then bent and pressed his lips to her forehead.

“We must hurry, my heart. More are coming.”

3 7

MIRA

As they flew away, Mira felt Zaek tense right before she heard thethwump-thwumpof a helicopter. Scanning the sky around them, she saw it. It was still in the distance, but it would be on top of them in minutes. They had to get out of sight, now.

Craning her head around, she searched the ground below them, looking for somewhere to hide, and spotted two black SUVs parked on the side of an unused dirt road just outside the forest surrounding Zaek’s cabin. Shaking his shoulder, she got his attention and pointed down at them.

“Go down! I can drive us out of here faster than you can fly.”

He nodded and dropped quickly, landing with a thud then running a few feet to burn off momentum. At the sound of a car door opening, Zaek stopped and spun around in almost one movement, then turned to stone before she could process what that sound meant. She heard the gunshot and saw Zaek sweep his wing out to knock the soldier off his feet, but it took a second to feel the impact of the bullet tearing through the flesh of her left thigh.

When it filtered through, she gritted her teeth and screamed, bowing in half. It felt like her leg was on fire. Zaek stomped on the soldier’s head with an enraged bellow, and then he was there, his arms around her, cradling her to him.

She could tell he was about to take off again, but she stopped him.

“I can drive! I’m okay!”

“You arenotokay! I must get you out of here!”

“I think… I think it just grazed me. Put me down, I can drive,” she insisted.

The pain had already dropped to bearable levels though she could still feel the warmth of blood trickling down her leg, wetting her pants. Her ribs hurt less, too, and her hand, but that pain wasn’t fading as quickly as her leg.

Bone took longer to heal, so that made sense.

“Stubborn female!” he growled out angrily, but he didn't take off.

Stomping forward, he slid her into the driver’s seat, tore off her sleeve to wrap around the wound on her leg, then leapt over the roof with a hard flap of his wings, and folded himself in the passenger side.

“Put your seatbelt on,” she ordered.

He grumbled and gave her a exasperated look but did as she said, unwilling to argue when the sound of the helicopter was getting louder.

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