Page 141 of His Enforcer

I turn a corner and run into something, a long table that’s not on fire yet. There are large glass containers, plastic bins, and burners. Something used to make the drugs. When the fire hits that, everything will explode again.

Fuck, I need to find him before that happens. I spin in a circle and rush into the next room, not finding him there either, just the peeling wallpaper of the olden days being devoured by the flames.

My heart rate ratchets up, and I wheeze behind the shirt over my nose and mouth, trying to quell the panic. I can lose it later.

Right now, I need to locate Viktor.

What if Henry took him? What if Viktor isn’t even here?

His face appears in my mind, his lips turned up in a smile, and I feel a flutter in my chest as I trip over something on the ground. I look down at the object and that’s when I see him.

His body is prone below me, flames moving toward him from the side, trying to consume him.

Fuck!

I kneel with a sob, scooping him up into my arms and holding him to my chest.I could die like this, I think as I stare at his handsome face. He’s bleeding from a gash in his forehead, his eyes closed, not moving. But he’s alive. I can feel the thrum of his pulse under my finger. So with a strength I didn’t know I possessed, I pull him up off the floor, situate him over my shoulder, and stumble through the back door.

Just as we exit, the entire building begins to collapse, flames shooting out and hitting my back. The second explosion rocks me forward. But I don’t feel any of it. I feel nothing but relief that I found him.

I have him.

Oh god, I found him.

Hands are on me immediately, putting out the flames moving across my clothes, but I don’t care.

I just need Viktor to wake up.

Wake up. Wake up.

I lay him on the ground and hover over him, cradling his cheeks as he slumps in my arms. He’s breathing, but fuck, he’s not conscious.

I peer up at Jax, Quincy, and Rafe, all of them standing guard, all of them looking wrecked.

“Where is he? Henry,” I rasp, and they shake their heads.

“I don’t know. I thought he was in there. But he wasn’t. Fuck!” Jax curses and then coughs loudly, his lungs trying to take in air. We all probably have some kind of smoke inhalation. “But this is where he was making Pink…shit.”

“I saw that. Goddammit,” I growl and then push up onto my feet. “We need to leave. We need to get him to the hospital.”

I move to pick Viktor up again, but my body screams at me. The adrenaline is still pulsing through me, the panic numbing the pain, but still, I feel some of it. A buried throb, an internal ache.

“You’re burned. Let me,” Rafe interjects, but I stop him with a blunt command.

“No one touches him but me.”

Rafe nods, taking a step back, and I grunt, my arms trembling as I pull Viktor into them. His head lolls back, and I jostle him slightly, my arms under his back and knees as I take a step forward. And then another. Everything is burning, everything filtering in and out between reality and a dream.

My mom. My brothers.

My dad.

Flames. Fire.

When we finally make it to the car and Rafe drives us down that dirt road, we’re jostled by every bump and everything starts to hurt—searing, blinding pain. I grit my teeth, my jaw popping as I fistmy blistered hands. My vision blurs, flickers of light making me blink wildly.

I know I’m injured. My legs, my lower back, my forearms—all attacked by the flames. But deep down, I don’t care because Viktor is breathing beside me, still passed out from the apparent knock he took to the head, but alive.

My swollen fingers trail across his bruised cheek, and I swallow the pain.

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