Page 147 of Delicate Escape

Raina’s gaze jumped to me. “No. No. No. You don’t. She lies. She tricks. She ruins. You’re better off without her. We all are.”

“Please,” I begged, my eyes burning.

My gaze collided with Thea’s pale green depths. They glistened in the fading light, full of tears. Her mouth formed silent words.I love you.

“Raina.” Trace took a step forward. “Put the gun down. We’ll make sure you’re safe. That no one can hurt you again.”

“She hurts me! It’s because of her that everything hurts!” Raina charged forward then, shoving Thea with all her might.

Thea’s slight frame went flying, stumbling backward. Her name tore from my throat as I ran forward.

But it was too late.

Thea tripped. For one horrifying second, she was suspended in air, over the edge.

And then, she was simply…gone.

57

SHEP

The moments came in snapshots.Images captured with each beat of my heart against the walls of my chest.

The horror of everyone around me.

The shouts.

The flurry of movement.

My legs were moving, pushing me toward the cliff before I could even tell them to do so. My body knew that it had to get to Thea. That it was the only thing that mattered.

Trace was three steps ahead of me, tackling Raina to the ground as she screamed and wailed. But I didn’t have time to even look. All I could think about was Thea.

I skidded to a stop at the edge, dirt and rocks flying as I almost went over myself. I braced, a million cruel possibilities for what I might see dancing in my head. My gaze went first to the rocks below, jagged and angry. But there was no broken body there.

I trailed my focus up the mountainside until I saw her. Thea. Everything in me froze as those pale green eyes locked with mine.She was several feet down, gripping onto a sharp, pointed rock as her feet scrambled for purchase.

Relief and terror swept through me, each one tripping over the other in a battle for dominance. “Thea.” Her name was barely audible, but I knew she heard it when those green eyes flashed.

Bits of rock crumbled away as Thea tried to find a foothold for her shoes in the side of the mountain.

“Fuck.” I instantly lowered myself to the ground, trying to reach her as Raina wailed in the background.

Anson crouched next to me, letting out a curse of his own. Thea wasn’t that far down. The sharp outcropping had stopped her fall, likely injuring her in the process, but she was still battling to save herself. Just like the fighter she was.

“Hold on, Thorn,” I called. “We’re going to get you. Just hold on.”

Anson looked at me. “If you grab her, you’re going over, too.”

“If I don’t, she’ll fall.” I’d risk losing my life to save Thea because, without her, I knew I wouldn’t truly be living anyway.

Thea let out a cry as another piece of rock slipped away.

“Hold my legs,” I ordered Anson.

He didn’t wait, just dropped to the ground and put all his body weight across my lower half. He called out to Trace for help, but I could hear my brother trying to cuff Raina with Fletcher’s help. We might be on our own.

“Shep.”

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