panted. He was rushing to me before the words were even out of my mouth.
Josh’s ability lifted me so gently that not a joint was bent, not an injury jostled. He lowered me next to Ethan just as Alec and Tyler dropped to their knees on my other side.
I reached for Ethan, knowing they’d follow my lead. As I grabbed Ethan’s cold hand—his hands were never cold—Josh wrapped a hand around my ankle, Alec took my other hand, and Tyler cupped my cheek.
I hoped to the vastness of the universe, to whatever divine power was behind the Light and all that was made possible because of it, that this would work.
I let my hold on the Light go.
My skin lit up, glowing brightly for a few intense seconds before fading once again. My Bondmates grunted and steadied themselves as the force of the Light slammed into them.
I sighed in relief—finally, I could breathe.
Ethan groaned, stirred, then sat up, looking disoriented. It should’ve taken him at least a day or two to recover from being depleted of Light to the point of unconsciousness. He looked down at our joined hands, and his eyes widened.
“Eve.” My name on his lips was a combination of question, plea, and sigh of relief.
I sat up, and Ethan pulled me into his arms. “You scared me, big guy.”
“You scared me too, baby.”
Ethan would’ve held on to me for days if he could have, but within moments, I was pulled out of his embrace and into another set of strong arms. Then another and another. We held on, making sure we were all there, all still breathing.
We weren’t unscathed by any means. Ethan had nearly died overusing his ability, Josh was limping, the gash on Tyler’s head was still oozing blood, and Alec was so covered in gore I wasn’t sure what his injuries were. My own body ached all over. Muscles I didn’t even know I had were burning, my elbow still throbbed, and I could feel the bruises and scrapes from Davis’s bashing.
But we were all still there. We were alive and he was dead.
Once I was sure of the most crucial things to my existence—the functionality of my own vital organs and the survival of the loves of my life—other things started to come into focus.
The airport was trashed. Debris and damage covered everything. Holes in the walls, charred furniture, lights hanging half off the ceiling, bodies everywhere.
I’d never seen so many dead people.
Most of the survivors were either sitting on the ground or leaning on things, catching their breath and evaluating their own injuries. They were all watching us. I looked around at their faces as I rose to my feet. I didn’t recognize most of them, but no one was looking at me with hostility or hatred or fear. Mostly it was curiosity and awe, even a few uncertain smiles.
Dot stood nearby, leaning on Kyo.
As soon as our eyes connected, we moved toward each other, wading through the debris and gore to finally wrap each other in a big hug.
“I’m so glad you’re OK,” she whispered into my neck as I said at the same time, “I’m so sorry about Jamie.”
We took shaky, uneven breaths, fighting tears. As we pulled apart, we looked into each other’s faces. I wondered if she saw as much strength and determination in my eyes as I saw in hers.
She would survive this. I had no doubt.
When she stepped back, her knees gave out. I lunged for her, but Marcus caught her, sweeping her up into his arms and planting a gentle kiss on her cheek.
“Let’s get you some water.” Kyo led the way to the heavy timber table that was somehow still standing. He found a few chairs, righted them, and the three of them settled in.
A sob drew my attention back to where Kyo and Marcus had been standing a moment earlier.
Charlie held Ed in a tight hug, his eyes red from crying as his boyfriend fell apart in his arms. Josh took my hand, and I followed his gaze to one of countless bodies near the couple’s feet. Ed’s brother lay on the ground, a knife sticking out of his chest, his eyes wide but unseeing.
Once again, I fought tears, my lip trembling. I didn’t even get to meet him.
I felt frozen. Simultaneously I wanted to turn my face into Ethan’s broad chest and forget it all, and I wanted to rush around and look into every single dead face to know exactly who