Though the moonlight was bright enough to light the way, I hardly needed it. I’d walked this path so many times, I could do it with my eyes closed. Ankh was buried near the edge of the cemetery, close to tall old red river gum tree, so it felt private. He would’ve liked the view.
And there, leaning against his headstone just as I’d hoped, was Mal.
“Hey,” I said.
Mal looked up, shocked. “Priest?”
“Thought I might find you here,” I admitted. I half expected him to blow me off and say he needed some time alone, but he only sighed and rubbed his hand over his forehead.
“Needed some advice,” Mal said.
“Yeah,” I said. “I come here for that same reason.”
He laughed a little and shook his head. “Am I that transparent?”
“I could tell something was wrong back at my place,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
And I wanted to know what was going on—wanted to know how I could help him with this. I wanted him to know he didn’t need to push me away.
Mal sighed and stood up. He looked exhausted. Even in the cool moonlight, I could see the slight bags under his eyes and the furrow in his brow—I wanted to kiss that expression of worry off his face.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” I said immediately. “I—I’m glad you came here. Glad I was right when I thought this might be where you were.” I reached out and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “What did you need advice on?”
Mal met my gaze. His dark eyes were warm, nervous but determined. “Us.”
My heart leaped into my throat. “Is there an us?” I asked gently. “A real us? Because—”
A gunshot cracked through the still night air.
Before I could process what was happening, Mal gasped and collapsed forward into my arms. I staggered back, holding his weight up as ice-cold shock and terror ripped through me. Beneath my hand, pressed to Mal’s back, sticky-wet warmth bloomed across his jacket.
Shouts behind me, steps as Siren and Coop ran toward me.
“He’s mine!” Xavier shouted, wild-eyed, gun still drawn and shakily pointed at us. “We’re supposed to be together! And he just threw me away? For some asshole like you? It’s not fair! If I don’t get to have him—”
He was still brandishing the gun, arm quivering, like he was preparing to take another shot. In my arms, Mal groaned as I pressed harder on the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding as best I could while still holding him up. Moving on autopilot, my other hand flew to my hip and grabbed my gun. Before Xavier could finish his sentence, I’d lifted my pistol, flipped the safety, and pulled the trigger.
And I had a lot of experience.
The shot hit Xavier in the center of the chest, and he staggered backward.
“Mal!” Coop shouted as he charged toward our side. Siren ran past us, gun drawn, toward Xavier’s body crumpled in the grass.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, as the reality of what had just happened began to hit. Mal shook in my arms as I slowly lowered us to the ground, so I was sitting up against Ankh’s headstone with Mal cradled against my chest so I could keep applying pressure to the wound, even as my hand slipped on the wet leather. “It’s not doing anything. Coop—”
“They’re on the way,” Coop said, already on the phone.
“Don’t fucking die on me,” I growled in Mal’s ear. “You can’t. You hear me? You hear what I’m saying?”
Mal exhaled hard. He was getting paler and paler, and his lashes fluttered against my neck as his breaths came hot, wet and labored. I could hardly breathe myself, could hardly see around the tears burning in my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t lose him. I wouldn’t survive this kind of loss again.
Desperately, I tugged him closer. Coop pushed a balled-up piece of fabric into my hand—his shirt, I noted dully—and I pressed that against the wound with as much strength as I had. I knew it hurt, from the way Mal groaned, but that meant he was still alive. Still feeling it.
“Come on,” I said. “Hang on. Stay with me.”
After these painful years without Ankh, I’d finally opened my heart to someone else—I’d finally thought I could be happy again. And now the person I loved was going to be taken away from me again. Thoughtlessly. Meaninglessly. What was the point? I never should’ve brought Mal