spilled through my chest like a vat of poison tipping over.
“Saint!” I screamed. “Nash! Kyan – Blake!” Desperation built in my soul, in every fibre of my flesh.
“What are we waiting for, go!” Jonas snapped, wheeling around to glare at the pilot.
“There’s a team coming with the vaccines,” the doctor explained sharply. “We can’t leave without them.”
I twisted my head to try and see back across the roof and the door flew open a beat later, making my heart stutter with my final hope.
But it wasn’t my men. Three nurses ran toward us in hazmat suits carrying a large metal box between them.
They started climbing into the helicopter, securing the box of vaccines beside me and I was engulfed by panic. The Night Keepers hadn’t made it to me in time. It was too late. My enemies were taking me. And I knew the moment the helicopter took off from this building, I’d never see my boys again. Troy Memphis would put me somewhere I’d never be found in a million years. Even after his work was done, I knew he’d never let me go. If the Hades Virus didn’t kill me, my usefulness would expire eventually and he’d have to tie off all the loose ends. My truth could never get out, so he’d ensure it died with me.
I raced up the last stairs with Saint right on my heels as we headed for the roof exit, the sound of the helicopter making my heart seize in my chest as I threw the door open with a heavy bang.
The wind tore around us as the helicopter began to take off and I spotted Tatum onboard it, strapped to a hospital gurney, her lips moving like she was screaming something though the roar of the engine stole her words from me.
“Tatum!” I bellowed in reply, answering her call and promising her I wouldn’t let them take her with that one word alone.
I sprinted forward, running as fast as my years of training allowed, my muscles burning and pumping as I roared her name.
The guards onboard the helicopter began firing at us and I wasn't sure if it was through some miracle or divine intervention that I didn't feel the rip of metal tearing through my flesh.
A flash of motion shot past the corner of my eye and a plume of pink smoke spiralled through the air from the smoke grenade Saint had just thrown at them.
His aim was true and the grenade landed in the midst of the guards on the aircraft, rolling beneath their seats as they all yelled out in alarm.
They stopped firing at us as they fought to get their hands on the grenade that had quickly filled the entire helicopter with pink smoke, and it stopped rising as the pilot was momentarily blinded.
I exchanged a look with Saint and for once there wasn't an ounce of animosity between us. I could only see the burning, desperate desire in him to return our girl to safety and we agreed on that sentiment so wholeheartedly that we were bound as one in that moment. No words needed to pass between us, no bullshit, no communication of any kind. Because we both knew that if that helicopter left here with our girl onboard, we would forever be cast into damnation for it.
This was our one shot and we wouldn’t fuck it up.
We didn't slow a beat as we raced towards the helicopter which was now hovering about eight foot above the rooftop and starting to rise again.
The smoke grenade was tossed out over my head and I could see our opportunity sliding through our fingers as we both leapt up beneath the belly of the mechanical beast at the same moment.
My hands gripped the landing skid and I grunted with the effort of heaving myself higher as the helicopter lurched to one side thanks to our weight hanging from it.
I cursed as the thing shot skywards, the rooftop disappearing beneath us as we sped higher. Saint and I hung from the skid with nothing more than the strength of our arms and the power of our bond to the girl they held captive to keep us there.
I managed to swing my leg up and over the landing skid, hanging like a sloth from a tree as I tried to figure out how the fuck I was going to make my way up into the aircraft without getting my brains blown out.
Saint made it into a similar position to mine