Page 26 of Lose Me In The Shadows

Except she wasn’t. She tried to hold her ground, keep her chin up and her hands steady, but she was trembling all over. Especially when Tweedle Dumber grabbed her and Tweedle Dumb ripped her clothes off her. They shoved her to the ground, and her knees smacked the cement, sending ringing pain through her body.

“Watch your fucking teeth, bitch, or I’ll knock them out,” Tweedle Dumbest threatened. “And then I’ll fuck your throat with a broken bottle. How’s that for kinky?”

Fuck that. If they were going to break her, she was going to bite his dick off. She glared at him as he unzipped his pants.

This couldn’t be happening. She didn’t want this. Not even in adon’t want this but really do, deep down,way. She truly, honestly, deeply wanted nothing to do with this. She would do anything to be on her knees in front of Conor right now. She didn’t want this.

She wantedhermen.

I’m not strong enough for this, she begged them in her mind, knowing she was really talking to herself.Please. Help.

They were silent.

A tear escaped her eye.

If only she’d realized what she’d really wanted sooner.

8

The sound came first.

A loud, deafening boom, making Kara’s ears ring. Tweedle Dumbest froze with his pants unzipped.

The feeling came second.

A reverberation through the floor and walls. No one touched her. In fact, it was as if she’d ceased to exist. The Tweedles shouted at each other over the sound and vibrations, grabbing their guns and leaving her cell to investigate. Leaving her naked on the ground, but untouched.

The dust came third. Smoke filled the cell, making it hard to see and even harder to breathe. Through the ringing in her ears, Kara heard thuds, gunshots, screams.

Were those pounding footsteps? Two hulking figures standing in her cell as she cowered in shock?

Kara,Imaginary Conor ordered.

What do you want me to do?She thought.

“Kara!”

That didn’t sound like something in her head.

She wiped at her stinging eyes. And blinked.

Unless she’d totally lost her mind or was dreaming, Conor and Micah stood in front of her, guns in hand, covered in blood and dirt. It dripped from their faces—and their fists.

“Kara, baby,” Micah said.

Conor didn’t speak. He gently pulled her to her feet, and, reeking of blood and sweat andhim, he brushed her hair back from her face and stared at her.

And then he kissed her.

There was another boom, this one inside her chest. She’d only felt like this once before—the first time their hands had touched in that Coronado bar, so long ago. The floor shook, then, too. Her whole world had gone topsy turvy that night, she just hadn’t known it yet. She’d been walking around upside down ever since.

But this kiss?This kiss. His lips on hers, gentle but insistent, his tongue sweeping between her lips until with a gasp she opened them and he surged inside. Had he kissed her like this at all when she’d been trapped at the cabin? Was this what had been missing? He kissed her like he owned her, like he’d never let anyone hurt her, like he was sorry he’d hurt her, like he’d never let her go. He kissed her like she belonged to him. And she kissed him back like she did.

She swooned in his arms, but he caught her and held her for inspection for Micah.

“Baby,” Micah said gently, “Why are you naked? And why are you all bruised up?”

And Kara, who never let herself cry, sobbed.

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