Page 63 of Dove

Maddox gripped the back of my neck to draw me closer. His lips pressing firmly as his tongue tasted every corner of me. He kissed me with a sense of urgency. With a ferocity that made my throat tight. He kissed me like it was the last time.

“No.” I gasped when he pulled back. Pulled away. His warmth left my body as I tried to claw at him. Tried to bring him to me.

Maddox gripped my wrist and pushed me. Not roughly, but hard enough that I stumbled, my hip connecting with one of the shelves.

“Stay here until Bash comes for you.” His blue eyes took on that softer tone that I loved so much. Pleading with me to listen.

“Maddox! No!” I whisper-shouted. I didn’t want Tristan or anyone else to hear us. But I couldn’t hide the desperation in my voice.

“I love you.” His words cut off as he slammed the door shut, sealing me in the panic room.

Cutting off my cry and the sounds of my fists as I hit the wall a second after it closed. Horror filled me as I realized there was no door handle. I knew how to open it from the outside, but not from here. I was trapped. Safe.

No!

It was a roar in my head. A panicked plea.

I wasn’t going to let him do this. I frantically felt around the wall looking for a button or a handle, anything that would open the door. My head whipped around to another wall, searching when my eyes landed on the security monitors again. I watched Maddox enter the bedroom and stand facing the door, waiting for it to open.

He’d walked away from the closet, hiding my location. I watched, waiting for him to pull a gun. A knife. Anything to defend himself. Instead, he crossed his arms over his bare chest and waited for his fate. Where were the weapons he was gathering?

My gaze fell to the table, his discarded weapons lying there. He’d abandoned them to push me into the room. He’d given up his only defense. I choked as a sob ripped through my throat.

He sacrificed himself to save me.

32

Maddox

There was no panic. No fear, as I waited for my inevitable death. My little dove was safe. That was all that mattered. That was the calm stilling my blood.

It made it possible for me to stand here knowing I’d die. Knowing one of the people closest to me had betrayed us all. That I hadn’t seen it. That I’d allowed him to stay. Spared his life.

Kincaid had seen it. Had tried to warn me. That alone would’ve earned my sacrifice. But she was more than that. She was everything. She was the light. And I wouldn’t allow my darkness to take her.

I didn’t flinch when Tristan threw the door open, barely registering the sound of it smacking against the wall. Instead, I smiled as I took a small step closer to the patio doors, drawing him away from where Kincaid was hidden. As far as I knew no one was aware of the panic room, but I wouldn’t risk her life making assumptions.

“Tristan.” One brow rose as I acknowledged him. “Still making stupid mistakes, I see.”

He threw back his head and laughed. I used the brief window when he wasn’t looking to inch back again. I wanted Kincaid to have an escape route. In case she found her way out, I wanted her to be able to get to the door and leave.

“There’s nowhere for you to go.” Tristan chuckled again as he advanced on me, forcing me until my back collided with the patio doors. He left his own back exposed, leaving a path from the closet to the bedroom door. Just like I planned.

I refused to raise my hands in surrender to him. “Who said I’m trying to go? You want a fight; I’m here to deliver.”

I cocked my fist back and landed the blow to his face. I felt the crunch of bone and smelt the scent of blood as his head snapped to the side. But he recovered quickly, using the gun as leverage when he buried his fist into my stomach.

The air left my lungs in a grunt as I grabbed for it. My elbow connected with his already bleeding nose. Another blow came down onto my temple as we struggled. My head throbbed as I fought back the black dots that crept into my vision. I couldn’t afford to lose consciousness now. Not when I had someone to protect.

We had the same training. Spent our whole lives practicing for this moment. Only I never imagined him as my opponent.

“Bruttofottitotopobastardo.” Fucking rat bastard.My foot came down on his as I twisted my body, trying to keep my grip on the gun as I pried it from his fingers. “Betraying your family. Everything we believe in.”

“Enough.” Tristan shouted as he pulled the trigger. The gunshot rang out in the room as the bullet lodged into the floor centimeters from my foot as I jumped back. He raised the weapon and pointed directly between my eyes.

We grew up together. Trained together as boys. Practiced. Sparred. There wasn’t a time in my life when Tristan wasn’t there. My cousin. My guard.

Those bonds meant little to me since I’d never felt them. But I knew to most it would mean everything. Apparently, not to Tristan, either. Clearly, I wasn’t the only psychopath in the family. His hand didn’t even tremble as he waited to take my life.