Page 66 of Dove

My mouth was dry, my throat clogging with emotion as I watched the harsh metal press into Maddox’s skull. My heart felt like it was breaking my ribs with how hard it was beating in my chest. But even that didn’t stop the cold, clammy feeling spreading across my skin seeing the man I love half naked on his knees, throwing himself into danger to give me a chance.

“Run, little dove.” There was no fear in his voice for himself. Only worry for me. His blue eyes begging for me to listen.

Tristan smiled at what he saw as a weakness. Maddox’s feelings for me that threatened to end his own life. Because I’d distracted him. Because I told him to spare Tristan. And now I refused to go.

“Too late for that.” Tristan chuckled.

The world felt like it went into slow motion. My eyes transfixed where Tristan’s finger curled around the trigger. The slight pressure as he pulled. The gunshot rang out in the air.

I didn’t hear it. Trained to ignore it. A splash of blood covered the gray walls. Tracks dripping down as it marred the carpet.

The smell of sulfur in the air mixed with the acrid scent of blood and death.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Stuck in the moment that changed my life.

34

Kincaid

My breath heaved in my lungs as I fell to my knees. The gun clattering as it dropped from my hands. I couldn’t pull my gaze away from the body on the floor. From the wide-eyed stare as the life left him. From the gaping hole in his chest where a heart used to be. Blood pooled around him, silently seeping into the carpet as it fled his body.

I didn’t fight when arms came around me, lifting me.

Warm. Familiar. Safe.

“You’re okay,mia amata.”Maddox’s voice soothed the frayed edges of my tattered soul as he carried me down the stairs. Away from the man I’d killed. The life I took.

I registered the cool leather as he placed me on the couch in the library, wrapping a blanket around my shoulders as my body shook from the adrenaline let down. He knelt in front of me; his hands grasped my face. His fingers digging into my flesh as he forced me to look into his dark blue eyes. Blazing with rage.

“Why did you do that?” His voice rose in anger sending vibrations through me. “You should have run!”

I stared at him in confusion as his naked chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. I could feel his own body shaking where he held my face. Feel his fear seeping into my bones.

I wanted to be mad at him for yelling at me, but I couldn’t. I knew what he felt when he saw me standing next to a man with a loaded weapon. I knew the terror that was still clinging to him, just as it was to me.

I softened, leaning my face into his touch as I grasped his wrists. My fingers brushed his pulse as I took long, deep breaths. Maddox followed, his breath mingling with mine. Our gazes collided. Emotions churning between us.

“I chose you. I will never leave you.” I pressed my lips to his. I meant for it to be sweet, reassuring, letting him know I was here. I was alive.

But Maddox gripped the nape of my neck, forcing me forward. My mouth parted on a gasp, and he dove in. Devouring me. His desperation eating me alive. Our tongues warring as our teeth clashed. Whimpers and groans bursting from deep inside both of us.

I clung to him as I took it all. My own body frantic to feel his. To know he was alive. Safe. Mine.

That he hadn’t been taken from me. That he was real. Here. I pushed aside the knowledge of what I had to do to keep him here.

He ripped his mouth from mine, leaving me gasping. “Where did you even learn to shoot a gun?”

“I asked Henry to teach me.” He kissed me again ferociously, capturing my lower lip in a harsh bite. I tasted the metallic tang of blood and desperation.

“Why?” He demanded as his blue eyes pierced me. I felt anger rise inside me. My body shaking with it. I knew it was a defense mechanism to delay dealing with what I’d done. But I couldn’t stop it.

“Why? Seriously?” I shouted. “Because you just had a gun in your face. Because it’s not even the first time one of us has been threatened. I knew what I was agreeing to when I became yours, but I won’t be helpless. I won’t wait for you to save me.”

My breath shuddered in my lungs. Fear and anger making the adrenaline course through my veins again. The memories that were still new and fresh in my mind. Memories that would soon haunt my nightmares. I wouldn’t forget the image of the man I love on his knees with a gun to his head. Bloodied and bruised. Seemingly beaten.

“And I won’t watch you die. I won’t walk away. Don’t ever ask me to do that again! Because I won’t leave the man I love.”

My harsh exhale was met with silence. Maddox’s eyes widened slightly as his fingers flexed on my neck. The rest of his body was completely still, as if suspended in time.

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