Liz ignored the pain in her side. It seeped, she knew it, but she would get it checked out later. Right now, her anger was keeping the pain at bay. Sure, it was making her blood pump faster but she had a mission. Then, a man to kill.
She watched the two men with her, dressed in black, weapons up and ready to fire. She’d refused to let the men who’d come to rescue her take her somewhere safe. She had demanded they trace Cullen’s phone and get her there. She was so angry she could spit.
Once the address had popped, she’d taken over the driving. It’s what she did every day, she knew the roads and shortcuts. A tight corner and she used the snow to drift it then gunned it, correcting the fishtailing as they raced along. And she had to be there for him. It didn’t matter how pissed she was at him for his actions; she had to make sure he didn’t die before she could kill him.
Or kiss him.
Perhaps both.
They were in a run-down industrial area and she recognized the Subaru they’d been in before. She let one of them take point. While she wanted to make sure Cullen wasn’t killed, she didn’t dare assume she was better than these guys at this. They were military, she was a cop. Big difference in the training they’d received.
Liz tried to slow her breathing and not increase her bleeding, however it wasn’t working. Didn’t much matter now, this would either be a success or a failure. She wiped the sweat from her eyes and continued on, determined not to slow them up.
Gunfire reached them and they picked up the pace. Heart pounding, she ran up another flight of steps.
This was the level. She ducked as slugs slammed into the wall beside her. Taking aim, she returned fire.
They were outnumbered and out gunned. Or so she thought until the skylights shattered beneath their feet above as bullets fired from all around her. She ducked and covered her head as glass rained around her.
“Fuck,” she swore as her stitches tore on her side.
Across the room, she saw him. Cullen, he stood over a man, one she presumed was the fucker behind all of it. So, in tune to the man before him, he didn’t see the one sighting down on him.
Liz never hesitated, lifted her weapon, and fired.
The man flew back and collapsed unmoving.
Cullen looked over at her and her heart hardened. She had what she’d asked for, one night. There wasn’t any reason to think there was more than that between them. She turned away from him.
The moment it was over, she walked to the men who she’d driven. “Thanks for everything.”
One stared at her and gave a sharp nod. “You leaving?”
“Yes. I’ve got to get somewhere.” She adjusted her vest and offered her hand. “Thanks.”
“Anytime, Liz of the State Patrol.”
Liz gave a weary smile and walked out the door without looking back. Knowing full well if she did she’d run to him.
He’d made his choice. And now, she’d made hers.
αβ
Cullen scanned the room taking in the law enforcement he saw as well as the members from The Omega Team. One person he no longer saw was Liz. His heart had dropped to his feet when he’d spied her but now that it was all over, he wanted to see her, hold her. Kiss her.
Locating the first two he’d seen with her, he jogged over to them. “Where is she?” he demanded as he gave them both nods.
“Gone.”
His eyes widened.
One of them shook his head. “Gone, as in she left.” He held up his hand showing smeared red. “My guess is she’s going to a hospital.”
Cullen kicked the wall in anger and ran. He slipped in the snow and landed hard on his wrist. Spiraling pain radiated from it up his arm and down to his fingers. He rolled and got up running. Skidding to a halt by the car, he yanked the door open and jumped in. “Nearest hospital,” he said to the navigation system when the car was running.
As soon as the directions popped up, he was moving. It didn’t take him long, logically he knew that, but to him, it was the slowest drive ever. Seconds after he parked, he was running inside the hospital. Flak jacket still on, dirty and bleeding, he stopped at the desk.
The woman there looked at him with one eyebrow arched.
“Liz Pryze, State Patrol, was she admitted here?”
She narrowed her gaze at him.
Cullen responded in kind. “Lady, don’t ask me for ID, I just left a firefight and I need to know if she was brought in and admitted here or if she’s at a different hospital.”
“She’s here.”
“Take me to her now.”
“Can’t, she’s in surgery. You can have a seat and I’ll have someone come get you when she’s out.”
Surgery. His mood sank like an anchor in the water.
“Are you injured?” she asked.
“Nothing major.”
“Let me have someone look at that for you.”
Not much later, he was sitting on a bed while his broken wrist was being set and cast. The nurse he’d encountered when he walked in stuck her head in the curtained area and he met her gaze.
“She’s in recovery now and she’ll be fine, when you’re done here, I will take you to her room.”
“Much appreciated, ma’am.”
She backed out leaving him to finish there.
Within the hour, he was seated beside her hospital bed. The magazine ignored as he watched her face. She was out and he couldn’t begin to explain the relief at knowing she would make a full recovery. He closed his eyes and decided to rest until she woke.
She was awake when he opened his eyes again. The frown furrowed her brow but to him, those beautiful eyes were all that mattered.
“Hey,” he said leaning forward,
Liz blinked then turned her head away from him.
He wasn’t going to have that. Pushing to his feet, he reached for her chin and brought her head back around, so he could see her.
“I don’t want to hear you say anything,” she slurred.
“I did it to protect you, Liz. I couldn’t stand for you to get hurt.”
“Says the man with a cast on his arm to the woman in the hospital bed.” She tried to get him to release her.
He refused.
Hooking the chair with his foot, he dragged it closer. “Listen to me, Liz. I know you don’t believe me and I am pretty damn sure you don’t want to hear this. But I wanted to keep you safe. You’d already been hurt and I…god damn it, I wouldn’t be able to handle it if something happened to you.”
“Whatever, you lied to me and you took the decision out of my hands. Go find a woman who wants to be protected, who needs to be protected. It’s not me. I’m not that girl.”
Cullen sat, released her chin, and took hold of her hand, slipping his fingers through hers. “I know you aren’t. However, I’m the kind of guy who will protect what’s his all the time.”
“Good for you. That’s not me.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No.” She closed her eyes and turned her head away.
“I’m not going away, Liz. I’m staying right here. I’m going to be here until you’re released and I’m going to find some way to make this up to you. To prove that I didn’t do it because I didn’t trust you at my back but because you mean so much to me, I had to have you safe.”
“Hold your breath, will you?”
“Nope.”
“I’m a fucking officer of the law, I can handle myself.”
Cullen kissed the back of her hand and watched as she fell back asleep.
It wouldn’t be easy, that was for sure. Liz was pissed and had the right to be but he’d do it again if it meant she would be out of danger. But the fact remained, she noticed he’d been injured and was allowing him to touch her, to stay. It would work out somehow, someday.
He had his prize to claim and he would patiently wait for that opportunity.