Page 80 of The Thorn's Kiss

She sobs and shakes her head as I block her path from re-entering the house. Her sweet, big eyes tempt me to go with her. Her trembling small red lips beg me for a kiss, and I grip her head, smashing mine against hers. It’s frantic and painful. I must pull her off my body when we’re done and push her out the door, slamming it shut.

“Go, Gloria!” I groan, slamming my fist against the closed door. “Live. Please. Because I need to see your face again.” Glancing through the barred window to make sure she’s not still standing there, our eyes meet. “Please,” I mouth. “Go.”

Screams echo from behind me, and my heart is in my mouth. Gloria hiccups and wipes her eyes. Her whole body shakes as she mouths, ‘I love you.’ Her words give me the motivation to live and as I watch her hurry away, I pull out my two pistols and charge toward the action. Dipping behind columns, I can see some of our men being slain.

The people of Colderidge are ruthless. It’s as if they’ve been given a reason to unleash all their pent-up anger. One of the male intruders carves out a heart senselessly before one of our men beheads. A woman releases a shrill cry, yelling, “My husband! My husband!” She turns to retaliate, pointing her gun at the guard responsible, but before she knows what’s coming, I shoot her in the chest. I spot another intruder about to swing his sword at the same guard, and I shoot his wrist. His weapon clamours to the ground, and everyone turns in my direction. Blast!

There are only three shots available per pistol. I’ve already fired two, and I spot at least a dozen intruders and only five more of our men. I don’t know how many of their own shots have been fired, and my chest aches. Taking a deep breath and counting, I bolt toward another column. A bullet ricochets off the one I just left. Another crashes into the concrete pole shielding me.

I stand next to the staircase, guarding the path toward the blasted beast, the man they’ve come for and the man who won’t get his dratted arse up and at least fight with some damn honour. But damn it, I’m loyal. And despite his selfish coldness directed toward me throughout the years, he’s still my friend. Huffing, I push my head out and ready my gun to aim when a sword comes swinging toward my neck. My eyes widen as my life flashes before me. By a stroke of luck, metal piercing his back and boring through his chest stops the perpetrator. However, since it’ll take too long for my rescuer to pull the weapon from his victim and defend himself, he doesn’t see the gun pointed at his head.

“Duck!” I yell. His eyes widen, the shot fires and misses his head by a hair. I empty my pistol on the man behind him. “Cover me!” I order my rescuer. He braces his foot on the body on the ground and pulls his sword out in a hurry before spinning around and swinging.

From behind him, I raise my other pistol. I only have three shots left, and I must make it count. He ends up in a sword fight with one surprisingly skilled intruder who knocks his sword out of his hand. I fire, blasting our enemy in the face. However, another one of them, wielding swords, takes him out before me. There are only four of our men left, in addition to me and about six more trespassers. Better odds, I must admit, but still, we’re outnumbered.

Scurrying as close as I can get, I whisper over the smashing of swords and explosions of pistols. “How many shots do you guys have left?” Three men say one, the other says none. Damn it. It would’ve been perfect if they all had one each, and I had two. There’d be a clean sweep of all six of them but with one unable to be relied upon, it could still give these cocksuckers an advantage.

After grouping together and shielding the one man without any bullets left, I yell, “Fire!” We all take aim and release our bullets, knocking a few of their men down. But before I can celebrate, there’s a dull ache in my stomach. The room shifts. The bodies on the floor double, blurring before me. My knees buckle, and my body slams into the floor.

Blinking in confusion, I shake off the dizziness and look down. Blood soaks my shirt. All I can see is Gloria’s face, and guilt tears at me, causing the most pain.I told her I wanted to see her again, and now I’ve gone and died, I think to myself. The room goes black for some time before I’m awakened.

In small, fleeting moments of consciousness, I hear voices calling for surrender. I don’t know where the voices are coming from. New attackers must have entered from outside, and more of our guards might have come through the back, I’m not sure. But the gunshots stop firing, though my ears still ring. And swords stop clamouring together. In fact, the only sound before complete silence is departing footsteps, fleeing the mansion.

The wound in my stomach burns through me like acid, rising through my chest so that I taste blood. Trying not to cough, I apply pressure to the wound with my hand before pulling off my shirt and breathlessly trying to tie the area. As my heavy head falls backward, and I pant, looking toward the ceiling wondering what my fate might be, a shadow looms over the room. Fire crackles and pops at the doorway. Smoke swarms the room, and heavy booted footsteps stomp toward the direction of the staircase. As I turn my head, hoping it might be the beast, finally, I see someone equally as large but not Adam at all. He has dark hair and bulging muscles in his thighs and even his back. They burst through his ripped shirt and ripple when he takes the stairs two at a time, heading toward Adam. Extending my arm in a useless fashion, I clutch at air. He’s too far away from me to grab. And when I attempt to speak, my words fail me as I pass out once more.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Olivia | Flashback

“Papa,Ihaveaplan to get us out of here but I’m going to need your help,” I whisper.

“What? No. You’ll get us killed.” My father shushes me.

Shaking my head, I hold his shoulders. “I promise I won’t. Trust me.”

“Olivia, just wait until tomorrow. They only hold ‘whores’...” He grimaces. “I’m sorry honey,” he whispers. “They only hold them in prison for one night.”

“And what about you? They’ve been locked up for lying and trying to run a money scheme. You won’t be out by morning,” I say.

“Yes, well, they only have Heath’s word, claiming that. With any luck, by the time he gets to the beast, he’ll be dead,” he responds. “And all his words will leave everyone’s damn ears, finally.”

“And what if he doesn’t die? What if he kills… Papa? I can’t wait until tomorrow morning. I must stop him.” I shake my head. My fingers tremble.

My father creases his brows. “What do you mean, stop him?”

“Papa… Adam,” I gulp. “I know this is going to sound absurd, and I hope you don’t despise me after I tell you this. I know what he did to you. I know what he did to me. But I–I’ve fallen in love with him, Papa. Over the last couple of weeks, he’s exposed his heart to me and despite myself, I love him. I don’t want to lose him. He can’t die. He just can’t. Not now.” My lips wobble, and tears gather in my eyes.

My father’s eyes widen in horror, at first. He stares at me in complete silence for a moment before dropping his gaze and shaking his head. “You’re right. I don’t understand it.”

“Papa, please. He saved my life from ruthless thugs who tried to take advantage of me…” I start.

“He took advantage of you!” He gestures to my neck.

I swallow. “I… gave myself to him. Papa, please. You don’t have to understand. Please just help me bust us out of here. We’ll hide you, and I’ll go after Adam. I’ll come back for you. I promise.”

“And what the hell are you going to do when you go after Adam? Fight Heath?” he asks.

“I don’t know!” I whisper aloud. “Look, this is crazy, all right? And if it is, there’s a chance I’ll wake up one day and realize I’ve been insane this whole time. Maybe I’ll leave then, but I won’t leave now. I must know what this is between us. I can’t live my life with these questions leaving a gaping hole inside me. I need closure. I need to reconcile these feelings within me. I need to go back to him and see if there’s a chance at a happy future for us.”

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