Cambria Hebert - Text

Just thinking about that made me want him all over again.

Nathan came in the bathroom behind me, his jeans pulled on but still unbuttoned. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and his dog tags dangled between his pecs. I turned from the counter and ran my hands up his sides and looped them around his neck. He gave me a quick kiss, then pulled away.

“Are you trying to seduce me?”

“Is it working?”

“Hell yeah, it is.”

I grinned.

Lucy began barking from on top of the bed.

“Easy there, Killer,” Nathan called, and I smacked him in the stomach and went to gather her up.

In the kitchen, I put out plastic bowls of food and fresh water and called Lucy to come eat.

She was standing at the sliders, staring out into the darkness. All the little hair on her back was raised into a line.

“Lucy?” I called, motioning to her food. “Come on, girl.”

She growled, not pulling her attention away from the darkness. A little tingle of fear traveled down my neck. I peered out where she was watching and, of course, saw nothing but darkness.

Lucy growled again and then started barking her head off. For such a little puppy, her growl was surprisingly aggressive.

This creepy feeling of dread washed over me and images of being attacked and thrown into the hole assaulted me. I did my best to push them away, not wanting to scare myself more. Suddenly, Lucy fell quiet. I breathed a sigh of relief and squatted down beside her food again and called her over.

But she still wasn’t paying attention to me. She was still staring out into the darkness. The house creaked a little with a gust of wind, and I laughed lightly. “It’s just the wind, you silly girl.”

Lucy cocked her head to the side like she was listening, all her attention still on the darkness. I sighed and stood up, stepping toward the puppy. She let out a low growl and then started barking some more.

“Lucy, no,” I admonished, reaching down to pick her up.

I hated to tell her no, but she was creeping me out.

Just as I wrapped my arms around her and straightened, something struck the thick glass of the door and it splintered loudly. I shrieked and spun, watching as a huge crack climbed its way up the window.

I stumbled backward, opening my mouth to yell for Nathan, when the sound of a shot outside reverberated through the night. The bullet slammed into the already fractured glass and it shattered. I felt the heat of it as it whizzed past my cheek and pain bit into my thigh.

Something heavy and hard hit me from behind, tackling me to the ground and smothering me into the tile. Beneath me, Lucy barked and whined as shards of thick glass rained around the room.

The sound of crushing glass and the bullet slamming into a nearby wall echoed through the room, and I cringed.

“Stay down,” Nathan murmured in my ear, using his body like a shield to protect me.

“He’s out there,” I said as my hands began to tremble. Lucy whined and licked my cheek.

“Good,” Nathan growled as his muscles locked and rage simmered beneath his surface. He wrapped his arms around my middle and then half-crawled behind the set of cabinets lining the wall. I sucked in short gasps of breath, my ribs screaming in pain, and my palm where my stitches were throbbed.

Something else hurt too… but my mind was swimming. It was trying to formulate a plan, trying to come up with some sort of way to fight back. It was really hard to think when adrenaline pumped through your limbs at an overwhelming rate.

All I could think was, He’s going to throw you back into the hole.

Nathan rolled off me and crouched low, helping me sit up. Lucy was trying to rush off (likely scared to death), and I was gripping her tiny body, trying to keep her still.

“Shh,” I told her and went to stroke her white fur.

But it wasn’t white anymore.

It was red.

I let out a sharp cry and Nathan looked down, a string of curse words flinging from his mouth. “My puppy,” I cried, running my hands over her, trying to figure out where she was injured. Rage like no other consumed me.

It was one thing to come after me, but it was something else entirely to come after a defenseless baby animal. The anger shoved away the fear, and determination flooded my brain.

“Lucy,” I murmured, my voice breaking.

Nathan had stilled and was looking down.

“What!” I cried. Frantically searching her. “Where is it?” I demanded.

“It’s not her,” he said, his voice flat.

“What?” I said, looking up. His eyes were glassy and far away. His skin had paled as he stared down… I followed his gaze…

The blood was mine.

There was a huge chunk of glass sticking out of the top of my thigh. Blood seeped through the fabric of my sweats and was oozing out around the glass where it punctured deeply into my skin.

All I could think was thank God it wasn’t Lucy or Nathan.

As blood continued to pump out of the wound, sliding toward the floor, Nathan stared at it, paralyzed.

“Nathan,” I said, but he didn’t seem to hear me.

“I’m gonna get the medic, Prior,” he said, his voice far away. “I’m not going to let you die.”

Oh God. He was having some sort of flashback from the night his unit was attacked.

“Nathan!” I cried, taking his face between my hands and forcing his gaze away from my blood loss. “Nathan! It’s Honor. I’m fine. It’s just a cut. I’m going to be okay.”

Nathan’s eyes remained glassy and then he blinked. “Honor,” he whispered.

I nodded. “It’s me. I’m okay.”

He swallowed and glanced back down at my leg.

“Don’t look,” I urged, pulling his face back up to mine.

“I… I’m sorry,” he murmured.

My heart cracked. “Don’t be sorry,” I said, squeezing his face. “Everything’s fine.”

“Don’t die,” he said, his whispered words breaking.

“Look at me,” I demanded, swallowing past the enormous lump that lodged in my throat. “I am not going to die. No one is dying tonight.”

Something in him seemed to hear me because a change came over him. He gave a brisk nod and clarity resurfaced in his eyes. He pulled out his cell from the pocket of his jeans and handed it to me. “Get the cops here. Now.”

While I dialed, he reached up into a nearby drawer and pulled out a bunch of kitchen towels. Leaving the glass lodged in my leg, he used one of the towels and tied it just above the wound as tight as he could.

I gritted my teeth while I hurriedly gave the operator the information and my address.

Another bullet slammed into what was left of the glass, and I screamed. Nathan gave a shout and dove on top of me again, hunching himself around me as even more glass blasted into the room.

I felt his body jerk, and I yelled his name.

The operator on the line was saying, “Miss! Miss!” but I couldn’t reply, not yet. When no other shots were fired, Nathan pulled back and I saw the dozens of little cuts from his shoulders all the way to his wrists, and I wanted to scream.

“C’mon,” he said, not even acknowledging the injuries as he pulled me up and once again shielded me as we ran from the room. In the living room, I assured the operator that we were alive and asked her to hurry.

“The police are on their way, ma’am,” she said. “Stay on the line.”

Like I had time to talk. I set the phone down on the coffee table, leaving the line open, and then placed Lucy on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. I grabbed my purse and dumped everything out, reaching for the gun and flipping off the safety.

The sound of more glass shattering had my muscles stiffening. This time it wasn’t coming from the kitchen; it was coming from downstairs, in my office. The sliding glass doors.

He was coming inside.

Nathan rushed over to where his jacket hung on the railing and pulled a pistol out of his pocket and a knife out of his boot.

Then he tossed me the keys to his Jeep. “Take Lucy and get outside. Get into the Jeep and start it up.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you,” he said, a determined look on his face.

He was going to face Lex. He wanted me to go outside while he went and risked his life.

Not gonna happen.

“Nathan,” I said, trying to reason with him. The sound of crunching glass broke off my words, and I knew Lex was in the house. I could hear him knocking things over downstairs in my office as he ripped apart my home.

“Now,” Nathan ordered and grabbed me.

Lucy pawed at my ankle, and I picked her up, cradling her close. I rushed toward the stairs with Nathan leading the way and hobbled down the steps, feeling the sticky ooze of blood all the way down to my ankle.

Just as we reached the landing, a shadow appeared on the wall at the bottom of the lower level of the stairs and Nathan reacted instantly, catapulting over the railing and launching himself down the stairwell at our attacker.

“Go!” he roared as I heard the men grunt as their bodies tangled and slid down the stairs.

I wrapped my hand around the handle of the front door. The sound of fists hitting flesh had me spinning around to watch Nathan go at it with Lex, who was dressed in dark clothing with a black cap on his head.

They were so close together, banging into walls, rolling over the ground, that I could barely make out who was who.

And then a gun went off.

I felt the bullet plow into my skin. I felt the first fiery pain cut into my flesh. And then I shut it down.