Page 65 of Toxic Vengeance

“I’ll punch you for this later,” she muttered.

He cracked a half-grin. “Please don’t. I’m in enough pain already.” It felt like someone had punched a hole through him and then filled it with salt. No, aimed a flamethrower at it. It burned like hell, but he was still alive, and that wasn’t the part that hurt the most anyway.

Rod had shot him. Tried to kill him, and would have killed Eden too if Zack hadn’t brought him down first.

Zack couldn’t even look at the body.

How had Rod found them? Zack had known Rod was interested in finding Eden on the night of the Sevastopol op, but he’d never imagined his handler had been this involved in the hunt. Maybe Rod had known about him and Eden from the start, and used Zack to find her and the other Valkyries.

His stomach rolled. “Christ, this is my fault.”

Eden lifted her head, wiped hastily at her face with the back of one bloodstained hand to frown at him. “What?”

“If Rod found us here, then it must have been because of me.” The bottom of his stomach fell out as something worse occurred to him. “Shit, what if he somehow found where headquarters is?”

“He couldn’t have, or they’d have hit us there instead of here. Now stop talking.” She glared at him. “You’re making yourself bleed more.”

He hid a wince. “I’m gonna be okay, sweetness,” he murmured. He’d been damn lucky, though. The bullet had missed his belly only because he’d been moving when Rod fired. An inch or two higher or to the right, and it would have blown his kidney apart.

“Yes, you will,” she told him, “because I’m going to make sure of it.”

The vow touched him. He leaned his forehead to hers. “Are you gonna nurse me back to health?”

She paused, blinking at him. “Sure.”

“Sure? So enthusiastic.” He grimaced as fire swept through his side, bit back a growl and focused on her through the pain. “And what about us?”

“What about us?” Her attention was on her hands, pressed tight to his entry wound.

He could feel the blood leaking down his back, soaking his pants as it dripped down his leg. “Are you gonna give us another chance?”

She pulled back, scowling at him. “That’s dirty. You’re trying to take advantage of my weakened emotional state.”

Yup. “I’ll play dirty if that’s what it takes to get you back.”

“I said I’d nurse you. Now be quiet and stay still. Trinity will be here in a couple more minutes.” She glanced around, but no one had wandered down the alley yet. Wouldn’t be long until the cops came, though.

He shifted, his legs a bit unsteady. “We should move.”

“No. You’re staying put, I don’t want you to bleed any heavier than you already are. There might be other shooters out there, and amazing as I am, I can only carry you so far if you keel over on me.”

“You’d carry me out?”

She met his gaze, her eyes full of outrage. “You really have to ask me that?”

He smiled. Yeah, she cared. More than she wanted to admit, to him or herself. “I won’t give up on us, Eden.”

“So you’ve said. Now shush and no more talking. We’ll get you to a medical facility—”

“No.”

She glared at him. “Yes.”

It was too much of a risk if anyone else was coming for them. “Only if Heath says I need to.”

She huffed out an irritated breath. “Fine. Now be quiet and focus on slowing your heart rate.”

Her phone rang. The sheer relief on her face made his heart squeeze as she answered, looking around. “Where are you guys?” She lowered the phone an instant before someone came around the corner.

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