Descent (Kissed by Death) - Tara Fuller Page 0,66

so willing to sacrifice herself. So willing to leave me, just so this kid could live.

I stood over Tyler, watching him heave and relearn how to work his legs, which had probably been broken before Gwen worked her magic on him. I strained to hear what was happening outside the room. Scout had been outside guarding the door, giving us time. I walked over to a wall and knocked three times with the handle of my blade, then waited for him to give me the signal that all was clear.

He didn’t answer.

Damn it, Scout.

I stalked back over to the kid on the floor and grabbed him by the arm, hauling him to his feet. While he found his balance, he cried out in pain before I allowed him to use me as support.

“Don’t hurt me, please,” he whispered. “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t…”

He dissolved into hysterical sobs. Gwen’s eyes grew wide and she placed her hand over her mouth, no doubt feeling the horror he felt. I knew this kid. I’d been this kid. If I could get over it, he could, too.

“Hey,” I said sternly. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to help you. Do you hear me? You still in there, kid?”

He flinched when I leaned down to look him in the eye. He nodded, weakly, and swallowed back another round of sobs.

“I’m still here,” he said brokenly. “I’m still here. I’m still—”

“You’re still Tyler,” Gwen spoke up as she rose on unsteady feet and made her way over to us. She touched his cheek, and he opened his eyes, blinking away the haze.

“We need to get out of here,” I said to Gwen. I hated seeing her touch someone else. I decided to get the hell over it. She may be touching him, but she didn’t look at him the way she looked at me. She looked at him the way my mother used to look at me when I was a boy. With unconditional, self-sacrificing love. She reached around me to my pack and dug for the canteen.

“He needs to drink first,” she said.

“I’m serious, Gwen,” I said, quietly, trying not to rattle the kid. “Scout’s not answering. Something’s not right out there.”

She placed the canteen to Tyler’s lips. He gulped and choked down a few sips before she pulled away and shoved it back into my pack. Her eyes met mine, flooded with fear.

“We aren’t going to just walk out of here, are we?” she asked.

“No.”

I hadn’t expected to. I’d just hoped against all hope that we could catch a small break. Gwen took a deep breath and slid under Tyler’s other arm and nodded, signaling she was ready. Just like that. She was terrified, and yet she didn’t hesitate. She was ready to take on the unknown and whatever danger that came with it. She was brave. She was tough as nails. And it was a freaking shame her father didn’t see how different the world could be if he allowed someone like Gwen to simply exist outside the walls he kept her in. To reach out to the darker parts of the world like other angels were allowed to do. I’d never admired someone as much as I admired Gwen. She was so good, so kind, and pure, and beautiful. And she loved me. In what kind of world did someone like her love someone like me?

“What is it?” she asked, confused and weary under the weight of everything I wasn’t saying.

“I love you, Gwen,” I said. “That’s it. I just…I love you.”

Something inside me shifted as I said the words. Pieces fell into place. My chest was full and achy like there wasn’t enough room for everything I was feeling.

Gwen loved so many people. They didn’t even have to do anything to earn it. They just had to exist. Give her a smile and she’d love them, live for them, die for them. It’s who she was. But the look on her face told me she didn’t hear the words thrown back at her very often. And she definitely hadn’t expected them from me.

I started forward, not giving her chance to say anything back. Not giving myself a chance to ruin what I’d just given her. She stayed silent in her thoughts as she hobbled along next to Tyler.

“Why are you helping me?” Tyler’s gravelly voice asked.

“Because you don’t belong here,” I said. “You don’t deserve this.”

“Tyler?” Gwen interrupted as we crossed through the dark warehouse full