Fractured (34 page)

“She’s really strong. You’ll need more than one,” Greg called as he fought to keep me beneath him, mostly by squeezing my broken wrist, grinding the splinters of my bones together, making me fight to keep from passing out. Finally, he hoisted me up and shoved me shoulders-first out the shattered window, cutting up my side and shredding my dress. A body reeking of incense grabbed my arms and began to tug, pulling me out of the SUV. I kicked out at the last second, nailing Greg in the chest with the deadly heel of my shoe. His mouth dropped open in stupid surprise, and he fell backward into the SUV.

The Mazikin dropped me, and I landed on my hands and knees on the asphalt, and then collapsed onto my chest as my broken wrist failed me completely. Rough hands ripped my garters off, stripping me of my knives. I kicked out again and again, and then lunged under the SUV, but one of them grabbed my legs and dragged me back. Once again, I tried to call out, but all that came from my mouth were wordless cries. I didn’t know if I wanted Malachi to hear those.

Two Mazikin, a balding man who looked like he should have been behind a desk and a woman with most of her teeth missing, gripped my arms and yanked me up, while another Mazikin wrapped himself around my legs.

“We’ve got her!” the woman called to someone over her shoulder.

I fought wildly, even as my wrist bent at a horribly unnatural angle and made me see stars. I opened my mouth to scream, but another hand closed over my face. This time, I bucked forward, caught a finger between my teeth, and bit down hard, choking on blood as a roar of pain filled my ears. I spit blood and flesh onto the asphalt. Teeth sank into my neck in the next moment, and I was lurched backward away from the others by the enraged Mazikin whose finger I’d just amputated.

“No!” shouted a voice behind me.

It wasn’t Malachi. Or Jim. Or Ian.

It was my mother. Or, at least, the Mazikin who wore her skin.

She tackled the Mazikin who’d chomped on me, and I fell to the ground, my neck and shoulder throbbing and buzzing. I lifted my head to see the Rita Santos–Mazikin struggling with one of the men from the homeless camp, the burly drywall guy who’d been putting the moves on the skinny waitress. He stumbled away from my mother, scowling. She leaped to her feet and threw her head back, meeting my eyes. Her wild hair flew around her face. She put out her hand. “Come.”

“No fucking way,” I snarled, rolling clumsily to my feet. The sounds of battle were still coming from the back of the SUV. Only twenty feet or so away. Most of the Mazikin were focusing their efforts there, probably to distract Malachi and Jim from what was happening. I drew a sharp breath into my lungs.

“Guards!” I yelled.

“
Est
ú
pido!
” she screeched, and then lunged for me, grunting and growling in the Mazikin language at her pals, who leaped on me like a hungry wolf pack. I kicked out with my heels, jabbing, throwing hard punches with my good hand. Nearby, I could hear Malachi shouting something, but I couldn’t make out his words over the snarls of my attackers.

And then—I had an opening. I hit the Rita-Mazikin’s chin with a blow hard enough to send her head snapping back, jerked my knee up and struck the drywaller in the balls, and head-butted the toothless woman. I staggered away from them, my chest heaving, trying to summon the strength for their next strike.

The sound of squealing tires drew my head up.

The Mazikin van didn’t have time to stop.

It hit me head-on.

THIRTY-TWO

MY WORLD EXPLODED IN
a nuclear blast of pain, and then it all went away. I didn’t remember hitting the asphalt. All I knew was it didn’t hurt. When I opened my eyes, my mother was leaning over me, stroking my face, tears falling from her cheeks, making me think it was raining.

“
Lo siento, mija
,” she whispered. And then she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, like she was trying to jar something loose. She stood up, grunting in that grating, harsh Mazikin language and pointing at something.

Tegan screamed.

A sound must have come from my throat, because my mother looked down at me again. “I take her. Good enough for Sil.”

The van door slammed, cutting off Tegan’s shrill cry. All around me, grunts and snarls receded, followed by more doors slamming. The van’s engine roared, and then wheels crunched nearby. I didn’t know how far, exactly. I couldn’t turn my head.

Malachi’s face appeared over mine a few moments later, cutting through the noise and the chaos all around me. His expression was filled with emotions I couldn’t understand. He leaned down, closed his eyes, and touched his forehead to mine, just for a fraction of a second. And then he sat back on his knees as Ian and Levi arrived. They stood over me, staring in horror. I wished I knew why. Or maybe, I should have been glad I didn’t.

“Is anyone else hurt? Bitten or scratched?” Malachi asked.

Levi shook his head. “They grabbed Tegan and went running as soon as Lela got hit. The girls are kind of shaken up. Alexis might have a broken ankle. But everyone else seems fine … except for Greg.” He put a trembling hand to a bleeding gash at his temple. “He hit me. And then he grabbed Lela. He was
helping
those guys.”

“Laney said she called the police, and I just called an ambulance,” Ian said, his voice shaking as he moved closer. “They’ll be here soon.”

“Lela’s not going to the hospital,” said Malachi calmly.

“What? She’s still alive!” Ian shouted, his face turning red. “They might be able to save her!”

“She needs more than a doctor. Please go take care of the others. Tell Laney I’m sorry,” Malachi said. “I’m taking Lela.”

He started to lean over me again, but Ian shoved him away, his palm hitting Malachi’s chest with a solid thump. Malachi was on his feet with terrifying speed. His hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of Ian’s shirt, and he wrenched him close, so the two of them were nose to nose above me.

Malachi spoke through clenched teeth, his accent emphasized by the cold rage in his voice. “You are very,
very
fortunate that Lela said you treated her well. If it weren’t for that, I would gladly hurt you. Now. You’ll have her back soon, and I will not stand in your way. But tonight, I am taking care of her, and you will not stand in
my
way.”

Ian’s jaw ridged with tension, and to his credit, he looked more pissed than scared. “You are a clueless
idiot
, Malachi. If I didn’t know it would upset her, I’d have caught you upside the head with a bat ages ago.” He bunched his fists in Malachi’s shirt. “And if she dies, you can count on it. I don’t care how long it takes me to catch you off guard. It’s going to happen, asshole.”

Malachi pushed him away, and Ian stumbled back, only to be caught by Levi. Malachi’s breaths were sawing in and out, and he looked like Ian
had
caught him upside the head with a bat. A choked sound bubbled from my mouth, and Malachi was on his knees again instantly, blocking out everything else.

“Henry is picking us up,” he said in my ear. “He’ll be here any minute. You’re going to be fine.” His voice was soft. And laced with fear.

“Tegan,” I whispered.

His eyes searched my face. “Jim is going after her. He’s called Henry to find out where the nest is, and he’ll do reconnaissance, but he promised not to go in alone. I’ll join him as soon as I know you’re going to be all right.”

Jim must have been going crazy, knowing what might happen to her. “Go … now.”

Malachi’s expression twisted with pain. “Lela, please. Don’t make me leave you.”

I couldn’t argue. In that moment, I was relatively sure his presence was the only thing that kept me from letting go, from drifting away. I tried to thank him, but all that came out was a wheezing breath.

“
Shhh
,” he soothed, lightly caressing my cheeks with his warm fingers. Over his head, I watched the red and blue lights flashing, signaling the arrival of the police. Malachi ignored them. He touched his nose to mine, and I was amazed to see tears glittering in his eyes. “Don’t leave. I know it hurts. Just don’t leave.”

Actually, it didn’t hurt at all. I felt like I was encased in a block of ice, immobile and frozen, nothing working except my brain, which couldn’t quite make it past the pain on Malachi’s face, past the lump in my throat as he whispered to me, telling me to stay with him.

I love you
, I wanted to say.
I would never leave you
.

Darkness licked at the edges of my consciousness, tugging my thoughts away and drowning them. Raphael’s face appeared in front of mine. “I’ll get her to the car,” he said quietly as his gaze shifted to Malachi’s. “No one will notice us leaving. And I’ll start working on her immediately.”

I fought very hard to bring one word to my lips, to push it off my tongue. “Awake.”

I didn’t want him to make me sleep, to plunge me into darkness. I didn’t want to leave Malachi. I didn’t want to leave Jim without Tegan. I would be healed, and then I would get up fighting.

Raphael leaned forward. “It will hurt, Lela. More than you think.”

“Faster?” I whispered.

He nodded. “You’ll be on your feet faster. Is it worth it?”

“Yes.”

He lifted me in his arms, and set me in the backseat of the Guard car as we were serenaded by the peal of ambulance sirens. “Most of your friends are all right. The police will assume this is gang-related violence. No one will think to ask where you are.”

My head was cradled in Malachi’s lap. “Drive away slowly, but go now,” he said to the person in the front seat, who I could only assume was Henry.

Raphael locked eyes with Malachi. “She requested to remain awake while I heal her.”

Malachi’s eyes grew wide. “No. It’s too much, too painful. She’s been through enough.”

“It’s her choice, not yours, Lieutenant. The only choice you have is whether you’ll stay with her.”

Malachi’s jaw started to tick. “That’s not a choice.”

Raphael chuckled. “There’s always a choice.” He bowed his head over me. “Your neck is broken, Lela. That’s why you can’t feel anything. Once I fix that, you’re going to feel everything. And you have a lot of injuries that I need to heal very quickly. We’re not going to do this slow and easy. Are you ready?”

He took the blink of my eyes as a yes. “Very well.”

And then … nothing happened. I stared up at Malachi’s face, feeling warm and drifty, and he stared down at me, looking like he was feeling all the pain. In seemingly no time, we were back at the Guard house.

“You can carry her to your room,” Raphael said. “I’ll finish there.”

Malachi’s arms closed around me, and I was conscious enough to be horrified as my wounds smeared blood over his black tuxedo shirt. He didn’t seem to care, though. With an almost painful tenderness, he scooped me up and ascended the stairs, nodding as Raphael announced he was going to check in with Henry before joining us.

I watched Malachi’s face as he clutched me against his chest. I wanted to tell him I needed him to keep touching me, to keep looking at me with dark eyes filled with emotions that had burned all the cool indifference away. He laid me down on his bed, and I inhaled deeply because all of it smelled like him, more than his pressed and cologned tux, his pillowcase and sheets, his room … they smelled like the real Malachi, earth and sun.

He knelt beside the bed, looking like he was at war with himself, torn between two agonizing extremes. Finally, he closed his eyes and sighed, and when he opened them, it was clear he had made his decision.

“You looked so beautiful tonight,” he said with a sad smile. “It was devastating, you know.” His fingers smoothed over my cheek. “Once again, I have been such a fool.”

I tried to turn my head, but still couldn’t. I think he picked up my efforts, because he leaned over so that I could see him better. “I’m going to tell you something,” he said, “because I can’t go on like this. And I’m going to do it now because you don’t have the strength to argue or fight me or walk away. It seems like that’s all we do lately, and it’s killing me.”

I stared at him, and deep in my numb chest, I felt the tremors of my unsteady heart.

“From the moment I met you, nothing has been the same. You were a burst of color and fire after decades of gray. All my wishes and wants, wrapped up in the most frustratingly lovely package.” His eyes stroked over my face. “But when I said I could let you go, when I said I could stop loving you, I meant every word. And since that moment, I’ve tried very hard to do just that. To turn it off, cut it out …” He bowed his head. “To try to feel something for someone else, hoping it would make what I feel for
you
fade away.”

Something warm streaked down my face, and Malachi followed it with his gaze, his expression turning pained as he caught the tear with his finger.

“I believed I would be a better Guard if I felt nothing for you. I was good before I met you, and I wanted that back. It didn’t matter how much it hurt me. I believed I had earned every moment of unhappiness with all my mistakes.” He lifted his fingertip, gazing at the crystal drop in the light. “I’m so sorry for causing you pain, Lela. I’ve missed you every second … the things we had, that we could have had. All the times I could have comforted you. Encouraged you. Touched you.” His lips curled up at one corner, all bitterness. “As it turns out, after pushing you away, I’m
not
a better Guard. Quite the opposite. And despite my best efforts, I don’t feel any less for you than I did before. In fact, as I’ve watched you shoulder your responsibilities, as I’ve felt you grow stronger with every fight, as I’ve seen how all these things hurt you and yet somehow cannot defeat you, I’ve only fallen deeper.”

His eyes met mine. “I cannot undo my mistakes, all the lives lost because of me. I have to find some way to atone for that, and I have no idea how long it will take. I know I will have to be stronger and smarter than I have been if I want to succeed. But perhaps I will think more clearly if I am honest with myself—and with you—about one thing.” His lips, warm and soft, touched my temple, and then my forehead. “And so,” he whispered, “you can slap me when you regain the use of your arms.”