Page 57 of Deadly North
Somewhere far away, Mack calls my name. Dylan stumbles forward. A scarlet rose blooms right above his heart. He lurches toward me, his hands grasping, but I scramble away from him, my eyes and mouth wide with horror. He collapses to the ground and I can only watch as he wheezes and gasps for air, coughing up blood.
The ground rushes up to meet me, and then everything goes black.
“Is she gonna be okay?”My brother’s voice comes to me as if I’m in a dream.
“She’s in and out of consciousness,” Mack’s voice replies. He sounds exhausted, worried. “She’s not injured, but she might be in shock. Wishbone told me to just sit with her and let her sleep until she comes around.”
“Okay.” Connor clears his throat. “Take care of her, man. I’m goin’ with Reed and Black to clean up the scene. Magnus and Norse are in the chapel, talking about negotiating a truce with the Scorpions.”
The door to the apartment closes. Moments later, the mattress shifts with the weight of Mack’s body. I keep my eyes closed, not quite ready to face the aftermath of everything that’s happened today.
Light fingers brush against my forehead, followed by a gentle touch of lips. “I know you’re not sleeping,” he murmurs against my temple. “But we can just stay like this if you want.”
“Mack,” I breathe.
“There’s my girl.”
I open my eyes to find his handsome face smiling down at me. “Is he dead?”
“Yes, baby. Blaze is dead. You did good, baby. It’s all over, thanks to you.”
My stomach clenches, even as my lungs fill with relief.
“You feel okay?” he asks.
I try to sit up, but let out a groan and fall back. “My head hurts.”
“Yeah, that’s not a surprise. Wishbone said you got clocked in the head pretty good again. You’re gonna have to stay quiet for a while. He wants to watch you for a few days until you get better.”
The room is dark except for the light of a bedside table, but even that’s too much for me. I close my eyes again. “You said it’s all over. Does that mean… everything?”
Mack notices the lamp’s bothering me. He turns it off, then lies down beside me. “Yep,” he says. “The war with the Scorpions has been avoided for another day. Blaze is out of the picture. For good, this time, thanks to you. He’s being disposed of. It’s all over, Gigi.”
“It’s over,” I repeat in a daze.
But for me, it’s not completely over. I killed a man. I killed Dylan. Shivering slightly, I snuggle into Mack, breathing in deeply. His unmistakable scent comforts me: leather, smoke, and man.
“You did the right thing, G. Theonlything.” He grazes his lips across my forehead again. “But listen. I’ve been thinking. If it’s gonna be too hard for you to come back from that — if being here in Minneapolis, around the club, is gonna be too much of a reminder — we can leave. We can blow this town. Leave it all behind. Move out west, or wherever you want. Long as we’re together, I don’t give a shit.”
“Mack…” I open my eyes and stare up at him, astonished. “You’d still do that? Even after the danger is all past?”
He exhales, frowning. “There’s always gonna be some danger, as long as we’re around the club. I don’t want you to feel like you have to live with that. I don’t want it to traumatize you any further, ya know? I just want to keep you safe. Physically, yeah. But mentally, too. So, wherever you feel safest, that’s where we’re gonna go.”
Tears spring to my eyes, leaking down my cheeks as I sit up to face him. “I can’t believe you’re saying this.”
“I’m sayin’ it,” he says firmly. “I’ll never abandon you, Gigi. Matter of fact, I wanna make it official, just as soon as you’re ready. I wanna marry you, Gigi Mattson. I wanna live my days out with you, anywhere, any time. If you’ll have me, that is.”
And just like that, all the emotions I’m feeling come bursting out of me at once, and I’m sobbing into his chest. Mack just holds me and waits, and it’s right then that I realize he means it.
He loves me. He wants me. He’s not going away.
This is real.
This is my life. My life with him, starting now.
If I want it.
And oh, how I want it.