And I kiss him.
I kiss him like the fucking world is ending, because it is, and words are failing me but I make a pleading sound against his mouth.
I'm here. I'm here. Come back to me.
His mouth doesn’t move against mine. He’s stone. He’s gone. Every muscle locked in that frozen dissociative void and then?—
Every light dies.
The blackout is total. Instant. And for one disorienting second the only thing that exists is Rex’s mouth frozen against mine and the heat of the pyro columns and the vibration of three thousand people losing their minds.
Then the pyrotechnics go wrong.
A flame column detonates sideways, launching across the stage in a horizontal geyser of fire. The wall of heat hits my left side and lights up the darkness in churning orange.
I smell my own hair burning before I feel it.
Rex's body slams into mine.
He drives me down, covering me with everything he has, his arms wrapping around my head and torso, his back to the fire. He twists somehow and we land on our sides, skidding across the burning stage floor with Rex shielding me with his own fucking body.
More explosions. Columns erupting at random. Loss of sequencing, loss of control, the whole goddamn rig going haywire. Fire catches the backdrop and suddenly orange light paints the darkness in lurching, strobing horror.
He's coming for me.
The alpha who marked me.
I fuckingknowhe is. I know it in my bones.
"Rex!" I yell, struggling against him. "Rex, we have to?—"
"Stay down!" he snarls into my hair.
He’s back from wherever he went, and right now that’s the only thing keeping me from completely fucking losing it.
Screaming.
Everywhere,screaming. The crowd surging for exits. Seats slamming. Bodies colliding. The thunderous stampede of thousands of people fleeing in darkness and flames.
Rex starts to get up, then stumbles and falls over me. He catches himself on his elbows, caging me in with his arms against the burning hot stage. He's panting, bleeding from where the mask tore his damaged skin, warm droplets falling on my lips, and even in the darkness lit only by flames, his gaze burns with feral blue light.
I've never seen anything so terrifyingly beautiful.
I love him.
I love him, and Raf, and Phoenix, and now we're going to die.
I always did haveshitfucking timing.
A crash from stage left. Phoenix’s drum kit going over. Then his voice, loud and commanding even over the chaos.
"BELLS! REX!"
"HERE!" I scream back. "STAGE RIGHT, WE’RE?—"
Another column blows.
The heat pushes Rex’s body harder against mine and I hear him hiss through his teeth, a sharp, involuntary sound that turns my blood to ice because I know what fire does to this man. I know what it costs him to put his back to it.