Independence

  So I pushed harder, forgetting about the pain and aches my body complained about. Forgetting about the searing burn of the arm I suspected was broken. None of it mattered now. Caleb ran behind me, but we both knew he wouldn’t catch me. I was faster. And I hated the agonizing pleas as he begged me not to, he couldn’t live without me, please stop, please stop, stop.

  I couldn't.

  It all happened so fast, but the world seemed to slow to a crawl at the same time. I saw as he raised his arm, Bish and Jen so absorbed in each other that they still hadn't even seen him. I yelled, but the wind was so loud, they didn’t hear. He raised his arm, gun in hand, and pointed it at my brother and his significant. Though I knew I'd never get to see the children that I'd seen in the vision, never get to see Caleb graduate college and keep his dream of opening his centers, never get to intimately mutualize with him like we'd talked about, about how it was so mind-blowing, I'd never get to see Caleb's face again when he looked at me like I was his everything…

  I leapt.

  And as the bang entered my ear, the bullet seared through my ribs. I closed my eyes, relief filling me. I stopped it. I stopped the vision. Bish and Jen were safe. I saw Caleb tackle the man and toss the gun into the waves before Bish ran and took the man's collar in his grip. One swing of Bish's fist, even when he was weakened, and he was down.

  Caleb sprinted to me, skidding in the sand as he reached me. "God, no. No, no, no, no." He picked my head up as he looked into my eyes.

  "I stopped it," I said proudly.

  "I can't heal you, baby." His eyes glazed over. "The bullet…" He looked at it and then back to my face. "My touch won't heal you, remember?"

  "I know. I'm sorry," I said sincerely, my voice cracking.

  "But you still did it," he growled. "Knowing that I couldn’t heal you, you still did it."

  "I had to." I sniffed. "I had to."

  His face contorted and he pulled me up to kiss my forehead. I felt a tear fall to my skin. "I know."

  He tried anyway, he poured every ounce of his healing touch and calm into me, but it just wasn't enough. He leaned back, his face wild and hysterical. He looked where we had just run from and I saw in his mind that Marcus was just getting up.

  "Bish, take her to the truck. Hospital. I'll be there in just a second."

  "What are you-"

  "Just do it!" he roared. "There's something I have to do. It won't take long. If I'm not there in two minutes, leave without me."

  He kissed my lips sweetly. "I'm no good to you anyway, so there's something I have to do. I just…have to," he told me in a low voice.

  Marcus. That was what he had to do.

  "I love you," I said, because I knew I wouldn't make it to the hospital. I knew.

  "I love you with all that I am," he promised in a growl before kissing my forehead and jumping up. He took off and yelled over his shoulder. "Take her now!"

  I was lifted into Bish's warm arms and the last thing I saw before darkness sweeping in and claiming me was Caleb's running form and him silently promising me that this ended here. This ended tonight. He would avenge me and no one else would ever suffer at the hands of Marcus Watson.

  I thanked him and closed my eyes for the last time.

  Chapter 20

  Caleb

  I shook with a rage that I'd never felt before. I'd always heard rumors and stories about a man that was avenging his mate was something not to be trifled with. That it consumed you, and gave you this strength in your bones that you didn't have before. There was something in me telling me that I couldn't function, couldn't eat, breath or sleep again until Marcus was six feet under.

  I'd never been one for retaliation. My family and most clans practiced a more peaceful way, but this was almost supernatural. This was…ingrained in my very core that I wasn't allowed to do anything but kill that bastard.

  I started to run. He was getting up, rubbing his head, and looking around. He saw me coming and the coward in him took over as he scrambled up, slipping in the sand, and then making a break for it through the bushes. I jumped and landed on his back with my knee, my hands wrapped in his shirt. I drove his face down in to the dirt and immediately turned him to see his face, to look at him as I choked the life out of him.

  I gripped his throat tightly and ignored the scratches and marks he made as he tried to fight me off. I couldn't even take pleasure in it. It was just something I had to do. Maggie was all I could think about as I sat there on autopilot and drained the life out of him. I prayed they made it to the hospital on time. That was the only thing that could save her now since this spineless worm had made sure that I couldn't heal her.

  I squeezed harder.

  And then a bang resounded behind me and I jerked to the side. Just in time, it seemed, as Marcus' cousin took a shot at me. Marcus wheezed and coughed as his cousin took aim on me again. I rolled to miss the next shot and it shot sand up in a blast beside me. I stood, hands raised.

  Marcus stood, too, and bent in his disorientation, holding his throat. I grabbed him just as his cousin shot again and placed him to my chest. Marcus' eyes were wide with shock and betrayal. It made me a terrible person, I knew that, but I watched as his eyes fluttered to a close and he fought to catch his breath. And then he wheezed one last time before going limp in my arms. I peeked over his shoulder before letting him fall to the ground and saw Haddock with the bat in his hand and Marcus' cousin on the ground.

  With the amount of blood coating the dirt under him, I didn't imagine he'd be getting back up. Haddock tossed the bat aside and looked to the house as we heard the sirens. He tossed me his keys. "Go. I'll take care of this."

  I ran as fast as I could manage. My truck was just leaving the parking lot and I pushed myself faster to run in front of it. Bish slammed on the breaks and I threw the back door open and was surprised to see Maggie's eyes open. "She just gasped and woke up a minute ago," Jen explained.

  Maggie reached for me and I obliged wholeheartedly. I pulled her gently into my lap and was slammed with a hit of her calm. Jen looked stunned, and she and Bish both reached for each other at the same time. They clasped hands and both groaned as they were filled with each other's touch.

  That meant…

  I lifted Maggie's shirt and watched as the bullet pushed itself out from between her ribs. She winced and breathed raggedly. It hurt me to watch it. I pulled her closer and kissed her forehead, leaving my lips there to give her as much of me as I could. "Wow, that hurts," she breathed.

  "I know," I said wryly.

  "I knew it," she said in awe. "It hit me after you left…something Marcus said about my blood and his blood." She gulped. "He's dead, isn't he?"

  I knew what he'd done to Maggie over and over again, how he'd tortured us all, but having just watched him die in my hands made me feel kind of raw. "Yeah," I whispered.

  She wrapped her arm around my neck and pulled me closer. She spoke against my lips. "I love you and I understand why you had to do that. I understand. He would have never stopped." I nodded. "Look at me," she said harder.

  I opened my eyes and met her gaze, so close. "Don't you dare take blame for sticking up for me. Marcus did this to himself. And now it's finally over, because of you." She broke down. "Thank you. I'm sorry you had to do that, but thank you for putting my mind at ease. We can finally live without looking over our shoulders." Her voice broke with her tears and I just held on to her. I pulled her to my chest and squeezed, probably too hard, but it was just what I needed to do.

  I heard someone walking in the gravel behind us and whipped around. Haddock was there with a policeman. "Caleb, they need a statement."

  I looked at Maggie's face and gritted my teeth. I did not want to move away from her for a second. "I'll be right back," I told her.

  She nodded and I walked over to the cop and told him as much as I could tell him. And I didn't lie. I told him how his friend had tried to shoot me and I used Marcus as a shield out of self defense from both of them. "I'm sorry.
I know you've been through a lot tonight, but with the staff dead, too, self defense or not, we have to take you both in for questioning," he told Haddock and me. I groaned and ran my fingers through my hair with the sounds of sirens and doors opening and closing behind us

  "Fine," I said, because there was nothing else I could say.

  When Maggie realized that they were about to take me, she jumped from the back of the truck. "No," she begged him. She hugged me around my middle and I felt like I was leaving her once again when she needed me most.

  She looked up at me. "You don't understand at all, do you?"

  I scowled in question.

  If Marcus was still alive, we would still be in withdrawal. Don’t you see? He poisoned us with my and his blood. One of us had to die for the blood bond that he put on us all to break. It was either him...or me.

  I did see then. That was why the thing, the need, the ache in my chest made me go after him. Killing him saved us all.

  Yes, she agreed.

  I gulped and nodded. "OK."

  "All right," the officer said. "Come on. Let's go."

  They turned me, pulled my arms behind my back and handcuffed me. Bish hugged Maggie to his side and I gave him a grateful look. Kyle and Lynne were running across the lot, but it was too late. He ducked my head and slid me in the back seat, along with Haddock.

  I watched Maggie, my eyes never leaving hers, as they drove us away.

  "So, no offense, man, but what are you doing here?" I asked. We'd been in there for hours now. They questioned us for what seemed like forever. They separated us hoping to catch us in a lie. I explained everything to them. That Marcus held a grudge, had followed us here while I was on my honeymoon, and had murdered the guard and the concierge in an effort to ambush us. Eventually they told us to wait in the cell, and they'd come later and let us know something. That had been over five hours ago.

  "Jim called me," he said. He rubbed his head and sighed. "He called and said he knew I was in town and that the Jacobsons were on lockdown. He said that Maggie sounded weird on the phone and was there any way that I could go down there and make sure everyone was OK. So I jumped right in the truck and here I am. Just in time, too, it seemed."

  "Yeah," I agreed with a humorless chuckle, "the timing couldn't have been better. Thanks, man. I…" I didn't know what to say. The guy had killed someone for me.

  "It was for Maggie," he corrected as if he could hear my thoughts. "I wasn't about to watch her live without you. That kind of agony…I just couldn't do it."

  "Thank you, regardless of why you did it."

  "I'm so sorry about Marcus. I distanced myself from the family." He leaned back harshly. "If I hadn't done that I might have known what he was up to."

  "Don’t apologize for trying to make things right. That bastard made his own decisions."

  He nodded. "Yeah, he did. So tomorrow is Maggie's birthday." I didn't say anything. He knew that I knew that. "She'll be eighteen. Eighteen years that I missed."

  "Can I ask you something?"

  "Shoot."

  I spoke slowly. "What did you see in Maggie's mom? You and Jim both…I've met her and I just don't see the appeal. I mean Jim practically went catatonic when she left. I don't see what was so hard to stay away from."

  He seemed surprised. "Well, she used to come into the shop and order flowers once a week. Every week she talked more than the week before. She was so sweet and then when she started telling me about how mean and horrible her husband was…honestly, it was as if I was trying to stick it to the guy. I took her word for it, but she was a great actress. I thought I was in love with her, and with the imprints gone, I thought maybe I could still be happy even without it. So I planned to take Sarah away from him, run away with her one day and never look back. But the one time I brought it up she told me she had no intentions of leaving him. That she was just looking for some fun on the side. By then, I was in too deep and honestly thought that she'd eventually come around to love me the way I loved her. But she didn’t. And then she just dumped me one day out of the blue and told me she never wanted to see me again. I know now that it was because she was pregnant."

  I thought on that. "I guess I can see that. She puts on a good show."

  "I hated Jim. But I see now that everything she told me was a lie. He was…a great father to Maggie. That girl is just…amazing."

  Before I could reply, the big, heavy white door opened with a creak and the police officer unlocked the door. "You're free to go now."

  "What took so long?" I asked. "We didn't do anything wrong."

  "Well, some things didn’t add up in your story, like why you never called nine one one, and the fact that your girlfriend was covered in blood."

  "Wife," I corrected and glared at him.

  He shrugged. "Anyway. Everything checked out. Let's go."

  They opened several doors that were blocked off in sections before finally reaching the last door. Bish and Jen were asleep in the chair and my Maggie was worrying like a professional. She stopped as soon as she saw me and then sprinted to me. I caught her as she crashed into me.

  "She's been here all night," the man said and lifted a disapproving brow, "even after she was told to go home."

  "He is my home," she said.

  The officer rolled his eyes and left.

  I held her tight, loving the feel of her calm and warmth seeping into my skin. So, everything really was back to normal.

  "Yes," she whispered in my ear and kissed my neck under my ear. "Yes."

  I pulled back and took her lips. Those lips that I thought I'd never kiss again. She growled - growled - causing me to laugh into our kiss. She smiled in embarrassment. "Sorry."

  "Don’t ever be sorry for that." I licked my lips. They tasted like her. "What are those knuckleheads doing here?"I nodded my head toward Bish and Jen.

  "They drove me here, but wouldn't leave me. Bish said you'd kill him if he left me here alone."

  "He was right." I'd forgotten all about Haddock. I looked back at him. He smiled wryly.

  Maggie walked quickly to him and he enveloped her in his arms. "What are you doing here?" she asked and then laughed. "Not that I'm complaining."

  "Jim called me," he said and explained the same thing to her as he had to me. "So here I am."

  "I should have known he'd know something was wrong," she mused.

  "I'm just thankful that I made it in time," Haddock said, emotion evident in his voice and on his face.

  She gazed at him in a new way. In her mind she was finally starting to see why he'd wanted to get to know her. Why he was so interested and invested in her. He cared for her, that was easy to see, but it was more than that.

  "Me, too," she said softly. She reached up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."

  He looked stunned in the best way. "Of course."

  So we signed our release papers and Bish took us back to our cottage to pack our things. Haddock stuck around, still not comfortable with us being so far away from everyone after what just happened. That was OK. I understood.

  Kyle and Lynne had slept through the whole Marcus ordeal. They had just run up the beach when they woke to the last gun shots. I was thankful. That had been two less people to worry about when everything went down.

  We got home to Dad's and everyone was in an uproar about why we hadn't called them sooner on the way home, why hadn't we come home even though it would have put everyone else in danger. Why, why, why? I explained that I was the Champion. That I handled things the way that I saw fit best to protect my family in the best way for the situation. Mom cried, Gran smirked, Dad patted my back and told me he was proud of me.

  I couldn't believe it.

  So we called everyone. Maggie called Beck and told her the coast was clear. She still wouldn't speak to her and hung up right after. So Maggie called her dad and told him everything that had happened. He was pretty pissed and said he was hopping the first flight home.

  That night, we all watched th
e news as Beck and her parents were reunited on national television. Beck said they had gotten lost and were just now able to get back home. There was some speculation that they ran away to elope and chickened out, but nonetheless, it was all over the news since they'd had such a large search party for them.

  The council called a meeting, saying Maggie and I were exposing ourselves to humans too often and easily, and we needed to understand the ramifications of our actions. They threatened to revoke my status as Champion, too. They had heard of Beck through the Ace gossip vines and weren't too happy that we had now only shown our abilities to a human, but then hid that human from Marcus. They set a date of two months away and said, Visionary or no Visionary, we all had to be held accountable for our actions. And they were even thinking of reinstating the rule about the council members living at the palace again. They said it gave everyone a sense of order that couldn't be achieved when there was no uniform government.

  So…things hadn't changed as much as we had previously thought. The vision Maggie had of us fighting when we were older, the one where we stood together against the masses; it looked like that was something we still had to look forward to. But that was OK. As long as we were together, we'd fight for the changes that our race needed.

  The next morning, Jen and Maggie said they needed to go shopping for a few personal things, so I bit my tongue as they left, along with Mom, and I stayed and packed up the rest of my room. I was married and this room wasn't mine anymore, though Mom had something to say about that. She wasn't thrilled that I was taking all my stuff, but said she'd fix it up as a guest room and we were welcome to it anytime.

  Later that afternoon, Bish finally got to take Jen to their new home. We didn’t go with them. I wanted them to experience that all by themselves, even though he invited us to come. It was Maggie's birthday and all I wanted to do was take her home. She wasn't interested in some party, so my parents and family gave her little things before we left, and then we left with our things packed, and Bella in the passenger seat next to Maggie, for my apartment.