Chapter Seventeen
The needle shoved into Willow’s neck. A hard jab, and then she felt ice snaking through her veins.
“Just have to keep you under control.” Lucas leaned forward and brushed a kiss over her cheek. “But after you get the Lazarus formula, everything will be okay again. No more tranqs, no more road blocks. No more bastards in our way.” Another kiss. “Just you and me. The way it always should have been.”
Her legs gave way. But he caught her. Carried her to the bed. He put her down on the sagging mattress. Sat beside her. His hands caged her body, resting on either side of her as he leaned forward.
The ice had spread through her body. She wanted to punch him. Wanted to rage and attack, but she couldn’t.
“That tranq could take down five elephants.” He brushed her hair away from Willow’s forehead. “It can take you down, too.”
Her eyelids were trying to sag shut. She forced them open. Her cuffed hands were lodged behind her back.
He gazed at her tenderly. “I have missed you.” His head cocked. “And you missed me. You love me, Willow. Always have.”
No.
“Wyman introduced us, did you know that? He wanted someone strong for you. Someone who could protect you from all of the enemies that he had in the world.” His eyes crinkled at the corners, as if he were remembering. Enjoying the memory. “The first time I saw you, I knew you were going to be mine.”
Jay. She focused on him. Focused wildly and completely. Jay. Other Lazarus subjects could communicate telepathically, so maybe she could reach him. Maybe she could do more than just show fears to people. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could get into Jay’s head.
“You wanted me, too. God, I loved fucking you.”
Jay. Jay, I need you.
“You don’t remember what it was like, but you will, you’ll remember—”
“Jay,” she gasped out his name, forcing it past a thick tongue and lips that felt numb.
Lucas’s smile slipped. The crinkles vanished near his eyes. “You fucked him.”
Jay!
He grabbed her jaw, clamping down with fingers that bruised. “You’ll forget him. Forget every second with him.”
She didn’t want to forget. She always wanted to remember him. He’d made her feel whole. Good. Special.
He’d made her…love.
I love you, Jay. I should have said something, but I was afraid. So afraid. She was tired of the fear, tired of—
“You bitch,” Lucas snarled. “You loved him?”
Had she spoken out loud? Had she—
He yanked her head to the side, and the last thing she heard was the snap of bones.
***
“You really think he’s going to come after Elizabeth?” Flynn demanded. They were in the hospital corridor. Sawyer had stormed away, probably to go and make sure that Elizabeth was safe.
Jay shook his head. “I think that’s a strong freaking option, but I’m not going to wait around for him to show up.” Because every second that passed, that was a second that Willow lost. “Where’s Reva?” After he’d woken up from surgery, he’d learned that Reva had survived, too.
“Two rooms down. She’s—”
He was already rushing away. Guards were in front of her room, but Jay hurried past them. He threw open the door and found Reva lying in bed. Her face was devoid of makeup. She looked younger and more fragile than he’d ever seen her.
And West was at her side.
What? The actual fuck? This is where his brother had gone?
West glanced up at him. “Tell him, Reva.”
“I-I called him.” Her breath stuttered out. She winced, as if in pain, and her hand flew to her side. “To let Lucas know that you were going to be at Wander, I called him. His number is on my phone—”
West threw the phone at him.
Hell, yes. Jay’s fingers locked around the device.
“I’m figuring you can work your magic with that. You can find him.” West nodded toward Jay. “You can get Willow back.”
“Damn straight I can.”
***
“Willow? Willow?” Lucas yanked back his hand. She wasn’t moving. Wasn’t breathing.
Her head lay limply, and he knew he’d killed her.
His breath sawed in and out of his lungs. His fingers shook.
She’ll come back. She’ll come back. It will be different this time.
He just had to wait. If he waited long enough, she’d come back.
His phone rang. He ignored the peals and vibration. Stared at Willow. “I was just so fucking mad,” he whispered. “You don’t love him. It’s me. Always me.” And to hear those words come from her beautiful lips…
She’d ripped him wide open.
The phone stopped ringing.
He had to get Elizabeth Parker. He’d snatch her. Kill the fools in his way. Then she’d help him administer the formula. When he was done with Elizabeth, he’d end her, too.
Then it would just be him and Willow. A fresh start. She’d never talk of loving anyone else. She’d belong to him, always.
His phone started ringing again. He grabbed the phone, ready to toss it against the wall. He’d given the number to Benjamin Larson, when he’d been trying to get close to that bastard, but no one else should—
Reva.
Her number was on the screen. Only Reva was dead. He’d killed her. Hadn’t he? His finger swiped over the screen. “Who the hell—”
“Deal’s…off,” Reva gasped out.
“What are you talking about?” His gaze was on Willow. She still wasn’t moving. How long would it take her to come back? She would come back.
“Not working w-with you…”
“Sweetheart, didn’t you get a clue when I put a bullet in you? I’m not paying you a dime.” How had she survived? She’d been a limp rag doll the last time he’d seen her. When she’d been in Jay Maverick’s arms—
Jay. “Tell me he’s dead,” Lucas barked.
Silence.
“Tell me he’s dead!” Now he was yelling and Lucas didn’t care.
“He’s not…” Her voice was lower. “He’s…coming for you.”
He threw the phone against the wall. It hit with a clatter. Impossible. He’d been careful when he left with Willow. No one had followed him. Jay couldn’t track him down that fast.
He went to the bed, scooped up Willow. Just in case, he was getting them the hell out of there. Jay might triangulate the cell signal from the call Lucas had just taken and find them—eventually—but they would be long gone before then.
He slipped the cuffs off Willow’s wrists. If anyone was in the parking lot, he’d just say that Willow had drank too much. That she was sleeping it off. The cuffs would attract attention. He didn’t want attention.
He wanted to get away. To plan.
“We’re going, Willow.” He kissed her cheek even as he opened the door. She was in his arms. Cradled carefully. He edged outside, his gaze still on her. “He won’t find you—”
“Guess again,” Jay Maverick drawled. And the bastard was right there. Standing just a few feet away. “Your dumb ass was hiding less than ten minutes from the hospital. Of course, I found you. I had you long before Reva made the call. She was just the distraction while I got close. I hear getting close to you is the trick, you see.”
No, no—
“I can do anything with tech. Things the government doesn’t even know.” Jay smiled. “I had you, and—”
Jay’s gaze fell on Willow. He blanched.
Willow is his weakness.
“Too late,” Lucas taunted him. “She’s dead.” Then he dropped Willow. Just let her fall.
Jay immediately surged forward, and that was the guy’s mistake. Lucas yanked out the knife he kept strapped to his waist, and he drove it up and toward Jay. It sank deep even as Jay grunted.
“Jay?”
Willow’s voice.
She was back, but staring up at them weakly. She tried to push herself up—
Lucas pulled out the knife. The blade was red with Jay’s blood. “You’re too weak,” Lucas snapped at him. “No match for me. And you’re dead—”
“Behind… you,” Jay managed. “Distract…”
Lucas spun around. And he saw that Jay had just been the bait. The distraction. Sawyer Cage and Flynn Haddox were there. They’d come in the window, and he hadn’t even heard them make a single sound because he’d been so focused on that bastard Jay. Now they were rushing toward him, and there wasn’t time to retreat. They’d caught him. They were going to—
“Stop!”
Willow. Willow’s weak order.
Everyone froze because Willow had risen to her feet. She trembled a bit, as if still struggling to recover, but she’d just put her body in front of Lucas. She’s protecting me from them. He smiled at her because…She was his Willow. She loved him. Always had.
The two of them could win, as long as they were together.
“You belong to me,” he whispered.
She stared into his eyes.