Page 119 of Lavender and Lightning

“Lydia, on my count, let go and get on the plane. I need you to find as many towels as you can and get them laid out over the couch. Can you do that?” Caleb instructs.

My heart settles under his calm, careful guidance and I nod, shifting my feet out from under me in preparation. Caleb counts down from three, and in the same moment I lift my hands, Caleb yanks Rhett toward him and Lucas, catching his nearly limp body. I don’t stick around to see much more, sprinting across the short distance between the backseat and the plane’s staircase. The flight attendants are already there, handing me towels and sheets. There’s a commotion from behind me, but I focus on covering as much of the white leather couch with towels as possible.

I turn as footsteps sound behind me, Caleb and Lucas supporting Rhett between them. The strength goes out from my knees as I see Rhett in full light for the first time since this all started. His face is pale, almost grayish. The fabric of his left pant leg clings to his thigh, and I can see droplets falling from his shoe as they drag across the pristine floor. I stumble backwards, landing in an armchair as Caleb and Lucas get Rhett onto the couch.

“First aid kit, here,” one of the flight attendants says, coming up with a large white box and a red duffle bag.

“We need to clean this. Water, hot water,” Caleb says, voice clipped in a way I’ve never heard before.

Lucas steps back as Caleb starts ripping at Rhett’s pant leg, exposing the wound more fully. I look up at the beta, and he’s pale, almost a little green. I whimper and reach out to him, realizing with a bolt of horror that my hands are covered in blood, Rhett’s blood.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you changed and cleaned up,” he says, moving to my side.

I look back to Rhett, limp on the couch, and Caleb kneeling at his side, taking a bucket of hot water and a rag from the flight attendant.

“I can’t leave him,” I whisper, lower lip trembling.

Lucas looks back to our alpha, and he nods, sinking down to sit on the floor in front of my knees, facing Rhett. The next few minutes are silent and tense, both of us too scared to breathe too loudly as Caleb works. He washes a river of blood away from Rhett’s leg, revealing a thin cut, maybe an inch long. But it’s deep, and Caleb mutters under his breath in his native tongue the whole time he stitches. After what feels like hours, he eventually sits back, exhaling heavily.

“It’s not pretty, but it’ll last the few hours between here and Everton. He’s lost a decent amount of blood, so we just need–”

Suddenly, the still air of the hangar splits wide with the sound of sirens, a dozen or more of them. My head whips around to see a small army of police squad cars screeching to a halt around the entrance to the plane, and even more outside of the hangar door. I look at Lucas, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“Rhett Cooper! This is the Jefferson Parish Police Department! You are under arrest. Come out with your hands up!”

fifty-three

Lydia

Thewordsechointhe cavernous space, amplified by a bullhorn. But they seem to linger in my bones even after the sound dies away. My eyes burn, tears clogging my throat and making it hard to breathe. I thought we’d made it; thought we’d moved fast enough to get away before the last few hours could come back to haunt us. But we were wrong.

“What do we do?” Lucas asks, voice a hoarse whisper.

I look up from my seat across from Rhett, finding Lucas’s beautiful face pale and drawn as he looks out of the window behind me. His stormy blue-gray eyes are wide, and I watch his throat bob as he swallows hard.

“I’m going to talk to them,” Caleb says solemnly, shifting to get to his feet.

Sucking in a sharp breath, I reach out and grab his wrist with both of my hands. He looks down at me, square jaw set, but his eyes are soft and understanding. As a private security officer, he has experience with law enforcement, but my mind is screaming for him to stay in my line of sight. I need his strength, his unshaking calm right now. He seems to read the desperation in my face, and his thin lips pull up at the corners in a tiny smile.

“I will be right back. I need you to get Rhett out of his vest while I’m gone. Can you do that,voyin?”

His words rumble with a soft alpha purr, his scent of cedar and sage and snickerdoodles pushing past the metallic tang of blood in the air to calm my roiling gut for a moment. Even though I don’t understand why, I nod and release his wrist. Caleb looks at Lucas, then claps a hand on his shoulder, whispering something in his ear as he passes. Lucas swallows again and nods, finally turning his stare away from the window. Caleb moves off and I shift from my seat to kneel down next to Rhett’s head. His golden hair, so perfectly styled only hours ago, falls over his forehead and brow. I reach up with trembling fingers and brush some strands away, flinching at the blood that’s still staining my hands. Lucas gets down next to me, and stops, inspecting Rhett’s face.

I jump and stifle a yelp as Rhett groans, his eyes squeezing shut before cracking open slightly. The crystal blue of his irises is clouded with pain, and it takes him a moment to focus on our faces.

“What’s going on?” he rasps, looking between us.

“The police… they’re outside,” Lucas starts, breaking off as his voice cracks.

“They say you’re under arrest. But I don’t know how they could have gotten here so fast,” I continue, trying to keep my voice down.

Rhett’s face hardens as he listens, his jaw tightening under his well-groomed beard. His eyes dart to look behind us, and I turn for the first time and look out of the window. My view is limited, but there seems to be over a dozen squad cars, all with their lights flashing. I can’t see or hear Caleb, but the hangar distorts even the low conversation between the officers, making it impossible to discern any specific thread of conversation.

“Caleb’s out talking with them. What are we going to do?” I ask, turning back to Rhett.

He sits for a moment, eyes distant in thought. I can feel panic at the edges of my mind, buzzing like a swarm of angry hornets. Finally, with some effort, Rhett pushes himself up into a sitting position and reaches behind him for something.

“What–”

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