THIRTEEN
SILAS
Blood soakedthe white snow below my feet.
I would have laughed if it didn’t hurt so fucking much, but only because I recalled how Ryle had written in his letter to Santa that he wanted a white Christmas. Then he crossed that out, and wrote that he wanted a white and red Christmas.
Hopefully he wasn’t at the door when someone finally registered that we’d pulled up. This was going to be a clusterfuck, but we were out of options, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any more bullshit. Not after the last twenty-four hours.
“Come on, you assshole. Don’t make me carry you.” Lance groaned, shifting his weight, so he was helping me walk. I was bleeding out, and while he should have taken me to a hospital, I knew I was going to die there. If not from bleeding out, then from one of The Destroyers finding me and ending me right there in the hospital.
I wouldn’t leave this earth without seeing Natty’s face first.
Those eyes that knew exactly what I was feeling, her soul would crack and break once I left this earth, but she deserved to at least be with me as it happened.
Coughing, I tried to apply more weight to my step, so Lance didn’t have to carry all of it.
“Sorry. Forgot how weak you are. You stopped lifting since you became president, haven’t you? Told you…It’s important to stay strong, Lance. Especially with that new little?—”
I stumbled, and everything went blurry.
I heard Lance yelling, then I looked up toward the front door of the club and there she was.
She was running. Her wild hair flying behind her as she screamed my name. Lance held out his arms to catch her, but she pushed him off. Her voice was shrill, but it still sounded so perfect in my ears.
“Caelum.” I held up my hand, hating that it was covered in blood. I wanted to touch her hair, but it was soft and so light. Like starlight.
“Silas, what—” Her voice broke as her fingers came to my jaw, then my chest. She was blurry, but I saw tears falling from her lashes. I loved those lashes. I kissed them when we fucked sometimes because she smiled when I did it, and I loved her smile.
“He was shot while we were riding back. He managed to stay on his bike the whole way here, but once we got through the gates, I saw how bad it was. He can’t go to a hospital.”
“Why the fuck not?” Natty’s voice broke.
I hoped my boys weren’t watching. I didn’t want them to see this. I didn’t mind dying on Stone Riders soil because this was Natty’s home, and she was mine.
“Don’t cry, Caelum. I love you.” I stroked her hair; she was lying on my chest now, crying. That was probably not a good sign if they weren’t even trying to help me.
“Not like this, my love. We still have an entire lifetime ahead of us. You promised me years ago, and I’ll never forgive you if you leave me, Silas. We have two sons to raise. They need you. Don’t you dare stop fighting.”
It was hard to speak, my throat hurt, burned and ached as if I’d been yelling. But I managed to whisper, “Numquam.”
Never.
Someone else was running toward us, the snow started falling again and I realized I couldn’t even feel the cold, but Natty was barefoot, and in just a simple t-shirt. “Give her my coat, Lance. She needs—” I swallowed and tried again, “Take my coat, Caelum. Take my?—”
It was hard to talk, and things were getting blurry again as I sawsomeone else running toward us. They were yelling too…it was the rest of the Stone Riders. They were here to carry me to hell. I smiled one last time at the only heaven I’d ever know, and then I closed my eyes.