Chapter 19

The elevators were mobbed with terrified people trying to get down from the restaurant level, so Everly headed for the stairs. She ran down the steps so fast she almost fell. It didn’t help that her eyes were so full of tears she could barely see. She almost stopped half a dozen times, convinced that she really didn’t want to see what she knew she’d find downstairs.

How had everything gone so wrong? The conversation with Jayna had finally made her realize how badly she’d treated Landry, a man who had never done anything but save her life over and over, loving her the whole time. But when she’d tried to fix her mistake, it seemed like fate had decided to conspire against her, teasing her with a glimpse of the man she could have had, then taking him away in the most horrible way. Seeing him go through that window with Jim had taken a part out of her soul she doubted she could ever get back, especially if Landry was gone.

That thought brought even more tears to her eyes, but her feet kept moving of their own accord, bringing her to the ground floor much faster than she would have thought possible. She ignored the door that led outside, reaching out to shove down the bar on the door that led into the lobby instead.

The area that Jim had practically dragged her through fifteen minutes earlier was in chaos now. Glass was still falling from the atrium roof, and thick, hazy smoke filled the space. People ran across the open area screaming and crying.

Everly ignored everything but the broken body lying partially in the reflecting pool in the center of the atrium. She couldn’t tell for sure if it was Landry or Jim from where she was. Knowing there was only one way to find out, she slowly walked toward the body. She didn’t want to know, but she had to. Could a werewolf survive something so awful?

When she finally got close enough to see, she immediately knew two things. One, the body there wasn’t Landry’s. And two, if it had been, not even a werewolf would have survived that kind of damage.

Everly turned away from the mangled body, praying the horrific image wouldn’t be seared into her mind for the rest of her life. Fighting the urge to be ill, she turned her head left and right looking for Landry. But he was nowhere to be found.

Afraid to hope, she scanned the lobby again when she caught sight of something lying on the sidewalk outside the building. It was shrouded in the shadows of the nearby trees, and it wasn’t moving, but Everly knew it was Landry. She had no idea how he’d ended up outside, and she didn’t care.

She headed for the exit and hit the door at a full run, then sprinted around the outside of the building, almost slipping on the sidewalk she was moving so fast. She slowed as she approached Landry’s unmoving figure.

Every instinct in her body screamed to throw herself down beside the man she loved, but suddenly she was having a hard time taking those last few steps. He looked so…hurt. And there was blood all over the pavement.

“Landry,” she whispered softly.

Her heart plummeted as she slowly closed the distance between her and Landry. Dropping to her knees beside him, she placed a hand on his shoulder and gently turned him on to his back so she could see his face. Common sense told her she might be hurting him worse, that he might have a broken back, like he had in Iraq. But something told her that werewolves didn’t work that way.

Her breath hitched at the slashes across his chest and arms. But they weren’t bleeding much at all now. Was that good or bad?

Everly cupped Landry’s face, tenderly wiping away a smudge of blood from his cheek with her thumb. He had a cut on his forehead too.

“Landry?” she said again, a little louder this time.

But he still didn’t move.

She would have tried to feel for a pulse, but she was too afraid of what she’d find if she did. Tears ran freely down her face as her heart tried to tell her it was over.

Then she heard a soft groan.

Pulse skipping a beat she leaned close. “Landry. Can you hear me?”

The groan came again. Then his eyes fluttered, and the edges of his lips curved up. “I must be in heaven,” he whispered. “Because only angels are this beautiful.”

Laughing, Everly kissed him. It wasn’t much of a kiss really, since there was more crying on her part than smooching, but Landry responded, his mouth opening and his tongue slipping out for a quick taste of her lips. Then he closed his mouth, and she could feel him trying to physically pull back.

Everly lifted her head, alarmed. “Oh God! Are you okay?” She groaned, realizing how stupid the question was. “Of course, you’re not okay. You just fell ten stories while getting blown up. You shouldn’t even be alive. I’m going to make sure they have an ambulance on the way.”

She started to stand, but Landry grabbed her hand, stopping her. “I’m fine,” he said, and then winced. “Well, I’m not quite fine. I broke a few bones in that fall, and I think I have a bunch of glass and bomb fragments in me that Alex or Trey are going have to dig out. But all that can wait. There’s something I need to say to you first.”

Everly wasn’t sure whether she was relieved to hear he was okay or terrified there were fragments inside him. But the serious look on his face made her sit back on her heels.

Everly heard sounds coming from the front of the condo, mostly those of people shouting and running away from the building, but also the distant wail of approaching sirens. In another minute, people would be coming around to this side of the building.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, gazing at her with eyes crystal clear, even though he had to be in pain.

“Sorry about what?” She took his hand in hers and held it tightly. “You saved my life again. What do you have to apologize for?”

“I’m sorry that I brought all those horrible memories of your mother’s death back to the surface. I’m sorry that I pulled you into the middle of this mess and almost got you killed. And more than anything, I’m sorry that I’m a werewolf instead of the normal human you could have been happy with.”

Everly recoiled as if he’d slapped her. Except the sting she felt wasn’t to her face. It was to her heart—her very core. Landry had just apologized because she’d made him feel as if his werewolf half wasn’t worthy. Suddenly, she felt about two inches tall. Landry might be the one with claws and fangs, but she was the one behaving like the monster.

Choking back a sob, she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in his neck. Considering how injured he was, she knew it probably wasn’t comfortable for him, but she had to be close to him. He must have felt it too, because he wrapped one arm around her.

“Don’t you apologize for being what you are ever again,” she rebuked him as she squeezed for all she was worth. “I’m glad you’re a werewolf, do you hear me?”

“I hear you,” he said in her ear. “I’m just not too sure I understand you.”

“If you weren’t a werewolf, you’d be dead right now.” The thought brought fresh tears to her eyes, and she pressed her face tightly against his neck. “I’m glad you’re a werewolf because I never want you to leave me.”

He cupped her shoulders and pushed her up. “What are you trying to say?”

She smiled at him, tears streaming down her face. “That I love you, you big idiot. I know it took me a while to figure it out, and I’m sorry about everything I put you through as I was wrapping my head around this whole werewolf thing. But now that I have everything straight and know what I’ve found, I don’t want to lose it.”

He regarded her for a long time. “What about what happened to your mother? What about your father and brothers?”

She brushed his hair back from his forehead. “I’m never going to forget about what happened to my mom, but with you there to support me and give me strength, I can face the memories and move forward.”

“You don’t even have to ask,” he said. “I’ll be here for you as long as you want me to be.”

“Good.” She smiled. “Because my mom would want me to be happy, and you make me happy. As for my dad and brothers, well, they’ll just have to deal with it. Though I don’t think they’ll have too hard of a time, considering you threw yourself out a ten-story window to save me this time. But if they do have a problem with us being together for the rest of our lives, they’re going to have to deal with me, and I don’t think they want to do that.”

Cooper took her hand and tugged, pulling her back down and wrapping his arms around her. “For the rest of our lives,” he whispered, giving her a kiss. “I think I could get used to the sound of that.”

* * *

Everly had sat in the ambulance with him for a while as Trey painstakingly pulled out pieces of metal and glass from various parts of his body, but Cooper could tell she was having a hard time with it. So when she’d mentioned something about needing to talk to someone, he hadn’t asked too many questions.

That had left him alone with Trey, the clink of debris falling onto the surgery tray, and his own dark thoughts.

“You had to do it, you know,” Trey said suddenly, breaking the silence filling the back of the ambulance.

“Do what?” Cooper asked, even though he had a good idea exactly what his teammate was talking about.

“Kill your friend.” Trey grasped the corner of a piece of glass sticking out of his arm and pulled it out. “He didn’t leave you a choice. If you hadn’t done what you did, Everly would be dead and so would a lot of other people.”

Cooper nodded. On some level, he knew Trey was right. But it didn’t change the fact that the man who had saved his life all those years ago was dead at his hands. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get past that.

The back door opened, and Xander stuck his head in the ambulance. “With what North and the other witnesses in the restaurant are saying, plus your friend from the bureau, I think I might be able to keep the FBI from taking you in for resisting arrest and obstructing a federal investigation,” he said to Cooper. “But I doubt Gage is ever leaving town after this.”

“Well, that’s one less thing to worry about,” Trey said when Xander closed the door. He shoved a pair of forceps between two of Cooper’s ribs and pulled out a shard of green-tinted glass almost two inches long. “Now we just have to hope he can get Alex, Brooks, and Everly’s brothers out of jail.”

Cooper couldn’t stop a hiss of pain from slipping out as Trey took another piece of glass from his side. Shit. They hurt a lot more coming out than they had going in. Then again, he didn’t actually remember them going in, so maybe he was wrong about that. He was just glad Trey could sense where the fragments of metal and glass were without the aid of an X-ray. It was already going to be hard enough explaining how he’d survived the bomb blast and the fall from the tenth floor. It would be worse if he had to go for major surgery to get bomb debris out of him.

Cooper ignored the stunned looks from the two paramedics standing beside the ambulance when he stepped out fifteen minutes later. His T-shirt still had blood on it and rips in a dozen places, but at least he didn’t look like a human pincushion anymore. That was certainly going to start a few new rumors about the Dallas SWAT team.

He immediately scanned the parking lot looking for Everly. He found her by Dennis, talking in a soft voice as she signed a piece of paper. He and Dennis had spoken for about five minutes when the FBI agent had first arrived at the scene. The conversation had been cool to put it mildly. Cooper had burned a bridge there, and something told him he might never be able to rebuild it.

Dennis took out his cell and put it to his ear on the opposite side of the big bruise already forming along his jawline thanks to Armand’s punch. He nodded at whatever the person on the other end of the phone was saying, while reading the piece of paper Everly had just given him.

Cooper had no idea what that was about, but before he could walk over and ask, he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw North walking toward him.

“Damn, I always heard you were one tough son of a bitch, but tackling a bomber out a ten-story window and walking away with a couple scratches? That’s something else.” North grinned and stuck out his hand. “I just wanted to thank you. That crazy fuck Wainwright would have killed me and everyone in that restaurant if you hadn’t stopped him.”

Cooper didn’t stop to think. He simply stepped forward and punched North so hard the bastard flew backward through the air and landed on his ass.

“Don’t even say his name, you piece of shit,” Cooper growled. “You know exactly why he tried to kill you, and if there hadn’t been other people around, I probably would have let him.”

North cradled his jaw and looked around, his gaze going first to Cooper’s SWAT teammates, then to the uniformed cops, and finally to Dennis and the other FBI agents on the scene.

“Did you see what he just did?” North shouted. Or tried to anyway. His jaw wasn’t working too well.

Dennis walked over and reached down to help North to his feet. “Nope. Didn’t see a thing.” He turned North around and jerked his hands behind his back, then snapped on a pair of cuffs. “Ryan North, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to defraud the federal government, contractor fraud, illegal shipment of weapons-grade technology, tax evasion, and federal racketeering.”

Cooper probably looked pretty silly standing there with his mouth hanging open in shock as his FBI friend led an equally stunned North away. What the hell had just happened?

Everly laughed softly as she placed a fingertip under his jaw to close his mouth.

“Did you have something to do with that?” he asked.

She nodded. “Jim talked a lot while he was building that suicide vest. He told me that North was involved with corrupt contractors in Iraq and paid off an EOD tech named Christian to hide the truth about what happened during that accident over there. Christian had a change of heart and collected a whole box of evidence against North, which he gave to Jim. While you were with Trey, your FBI friend sent some people over to the storage unit where Jim took me to check it out. Apparently, there was a lot of dirt on North.”

“Dennis decided to arrest North without even looking at the evidence first?” Cooper asked.

That wasn’t the way the FBI normally worked. They preferred to have all their ducks in a row before they moved on anyone.

“I think he would have rather waited until he’d gone through all the evidence first,” Everly said. “But when I mentioned what you said about North planning to fly out of the country tonight, he realized he couldn’t wait.”

Cooper watched as Dennis put North in the backseat of a car, then got in and drove away. It wasn’t the crime Jim had wanted the man punished for, but it might help Jim’s soul find some kind of peace, knowing North would be in jail for a very long time. Maybe it would even help Cooper’s.

“You okay?” Everly asked, putting a hand over his heart and resting it there.

Even through the bloody clothes he had on, her touch felt good. Comforting. Right.

“I’m good. Now that you’re here.” He placed his hand on top of hers. “It’s possible I didn’t remember to tell you this before, what with me having just jumped out of a window and all, but I love you like crazy, and I know how lucky I am to have you in my life. It’s more than I could ever ask for.”

She blinked her eyes to keep the tears that filled them from falling, then went up on her toes to kiss him. “I think we’re both lucky. Jayna came to see me, and if everything she told me is true, it’s not every day two people who were meant to be together forever find each other.”

He smiled. “She told you about The One, huh?”

Everly nodded. “She was trying to explain why being apart from you was so hard on me. After she told me about it, everything made sense, and I knew I couldn’t be without you anymore.”

He leaned down and kissed her, not caring that there were dozens of people watching. He was so engaged in the kiss that he didn’t sense Xander standing there until his squad leader tapped him on the shoulder.

“You going to get cleaned up before heading to the police station?” Xander asked, gesturing at his blood-stained and torn clothing.

Everly looked at him in alarm. “Police station? I thought everything had been taken care of, and they weren’t going to arrest you?”

Xander laughed. “They’re not. Cooper always comes out of crap like this smelling like a rose. No, we need to go to the police station and see if we can get Alex, Brooks, and your brothers out of jail. I can probably talk Alex and Brooks out of there, but I don’t know what to do with your brothers. If they need to post bail, it’s on Cooper.”

Everly turned to Cooper, her eyes wide. “You got my brothers arrested?”

Xander chuckled again then walked away. “I’ll meet you down there in an hour or so, but you better bring that money I mentioned, Cooper,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m serious. I’m not paying their bail.”

Cooper gave Everly a chagrined look. “Did I mention the part where I jumped out a ten-story window?”