Page 37 of Kidnapping of a Myth

Bel grabbed Eamon’s face and kissed him, her tears staining his lips as she claimed his mouth with desperation, and for a moment, Eamon froze unnaturally still. He didn’t move. He didn’t breathe. His entire body turned to stone, and then, as if her kiss had woken him from a centuries-long slumber, he growled against her mouth.

With a ferocity Bel had never experienced from a man, he grabbed her waist and hoisted her further against his chest. His powerful arm cemented her against his raging heart, and his free hand slid up her spine into her hair. He wound her brunette curls around his fist and pulled, tilting her head back to grant him better access as he deepened the kiss. He devoured her likeshe was air and he was suffocating, like she was the very breath flooding his empty lungs. His dominance forced her to submit to his love, to his burning desire, and Bel let the flames consume her.

“Open for me.” Eamon tugged her hair harder as his tongue licked the seam of her mouth, and she parted for him, letting him take and take and take until she truly and utterly belonged to him.

“I’m done fighting,” she moaned against his kiss, and he captured her bottom lip between his teeth, his sharp canines almost painful, but she pushed her body further against his, needing more, needing everything. “I’m done pretending I can’t be with you. I’m done lying to myself because I can’t die without knowing what it’s like to be yours.”

Eamon cursed, his voice rough and desperate, and he let go of her hair to capture her legs. His movements were demanding as he shifted until her thighs wrapped around his hips, and then he hugged her chest to his so tightly she could barely breathe.

“I love you, Isobel Emerson,” he groaned as he claimed her lips again. “And you will not die on me. I forbid it.”

Bel smiled against his mouth, her tears changing from fear to something deeper, and she slid her fingers into his hair, pulling until she could look into his eyes. The world was dark. No one could see this stolen moment, and she sat in his lap, thighs wrapped around his powerful waist as she studied the man she couldn’t live without.

“I…” she trailed off, and he reached up and cupped her jaw.

“Don’t say it if you’re not ready.” He kissed her softly, and she could tell that while he wanted nothing more than to make her his, he respected her pain. Hell was raining down on them, and his love was helpless to stop it. “This is enough for now. It’s more than I ever dreamed of.” He tasted her lips again, this kiss slow and explorative and filled with reverence. “I love you with suchintensity that it’s agony. I feel like I can’t breathe, and watching that boulder fall for you…” His entire body shuddered beneath her. “I had a feeling that Ewan and I needed to be close by, and I’m glad. How you test me, Detective. Oh, how you test me because I want to be a monster and lock you up in a golden cage to keep you safe, but you would pin my hide to the wall if I tried.”

“Thank you for coming for me.” She kissed his lips, his cheeks, his throat.

“Always, Isobel. Until the day the earth ends in fire or ice, I will come for you.” He gently untangled her legs from around his waist and pulled her into his lap. With careful fingers, he rolled up her pants to reveal her bruised and bloody flesh. “I’m going to test if it’s broken, okay?”

She nodded, and his thumbs pressed against her bones. She grimaced, burying her face in his chest at the pain, but after a few minutes, Eamon kissed her head.

“It’s not broken,” he confirmed. “No stitches needed either.”

Bel looked up at him, thankful that she’d escaped with so little damage yet guilt-ridden that at least two deputies had lost their lives.

“Is she okay?” Ewan skidded to a halt behind them, jerking them back to the horrors at hand.

“Bruised but alive,” Eamon answered.

“Thank God,” Ewan exhaled in relief. “Two officers were killed, but I got the rest to safety.”

“Thank you,” Bel said, and he nodded.

“I’ve done what I can, but Olivia and Sheriff Griffin are close by. I can smell them,” Ewan said. “I don’t want to explain my presence, so I’ll head back to the house to guard the family. Call me if you need me.” He pounded Eamon’s shoulder and disappeared into the darkness before either of them could say goodbye.

“Would you like me to stay?” Eamon asked as he stood, taking her with him. “I’ve seen the way the sheriff looks at me, and I don’t want to cause problems for you.”

“Since when?” Bel deadpanned, earning a glare from him. “I suspect Griffin has come to the same conclusion I have.”

“Evil, but not the evil you seek,” he said as sirens disrupted the night, and she gave him a small nod as she leaned against his shoulder for support.

Within seconds, ambulances and squad cars swarmed their location, and Eamon emerged from the trees to join the surviving deputies. The officers stared at him as he set Bel down, but they didn’t say a word. Two strangers had just saved them from certain death, and they had no intentions of condemning their saviors.

“Bel?” Gold leaped from a squad car as their location swarmed with police and collided with her so forcefully that they both fell back against Eamon’s broad chest. “Screw being professional.” Gold wrapped Bel in an almost painful hug, and the comforting affection caused the women to burst into tears. “You’re probably my best friend, and I thought you were dead. I heard the explosion over the radio and then you went silent mid-sentence. I was so scared.”

“Two officers died, and a few were injured, but I’m okay,” Bel said.

Olivia pulled back, doing a double take at Eamon before choosing to ignore him. “What happened?” she asked as the sheriff settled beside them, and for a second, he regarded Eamon with an unreadable gaze. Bel held her breath, expecting him to yell at Stone for his constant intrusions, but instead, he gave the man an almost imperceptible nod before returning his attention to her.

“A deputy located the transmitter The Tinker used to bounce the footage signal, but he tripped,” she explained. “It must’vebeen a trigger because the second he fell on it, this entire area exploded.”

Griffin stared at the destruction, and then his eyes found Eamon’s again, a new and almost appreciative softness flooding his features as he realized Eamon was the only reason his detectives were still standing.

“I think it’s time we called the Feds,” Griffin said. “I doubt Pann has taken John over state lines, and the boy isn’t technically of tender years, but this…” he gestured to the devastation. “Combined with the Darlings and the police casualties… we don’t have the manpower or the resources.”

“We don’t,” Bel agreed. Two deputies had died, and while their deaths were devastating, her entire team, herself included, would've been annihilated if Eamon and Ewan hadn’t arrived.

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