Forty-Six
Camille
I was aching,I was sore, but I was alive.
Alive and kicking.
My body was weak from being manhandled, but inside, I felt energized.
I felt like a warrior.
I’d attacked Abramovicz the only way I could, and he’d paid for it.
Dearly.
For what felt like the first time in my life, I hadn’t sat around, waiting for someone else to save me.
I’d saved myself.
And Victoria too.
If that meant I had an adrenaline high the likes of which I’d never experienced before, then so be it. I’d deal with it.
Later.
After ducking and diving, Brennan managed to free us from the compound without any more of our blood being shed.
Knowing Eoghan was The Whistler, I assumed he was the one who kept blowing off people’s heads if they approached us.
I spotted Maxim on the way out, and knew the way he’d looked, drenched in blood, riding an adrenaline high of his own, would stay with me for a long time. Even worse than any of that was how he’d stared at Victoria, his gaze glued to her as he watched us leave, covering our exit with his weapon, waiting for anyone to attack us. Well,her.
When we made it to an SUV with no plates, its doors wide open, we leaped in and he got us out of the neighborhood before Brennan pulled into a back alley after a short ride. There, he gave me a bottle of water which I used to rinse out my mouth, while he pulled out a change of shirt for himself and for me from the back seat.
Relieved he’d come prepared, I shrugged the tee over my sweater to cover the stains, watching as he bared his chest by dragging his overhead. Blood covered his skin, but it was drying in patches, so when he replaced it, it didn’t seep through.
Aware and thankful for his lack of injuries, I grabbed his shirt, doused water onto the back which was clean, and scrubbed my face, aware I must look like the bride of Dracula, and he did the same once I was done, before asking, “Do I look respectable?”
Brennan was born to be the exact opposite of that, but I hid my smile, and told him, “You’ll do.” He wouldn’t raise eyebrows as he drove through the city, at any rate. “What about me?”
He reached over, and I noticed his fingers were shaking as he cupped my chin, tilting my head this way and that as he looked at me as if he hadn’t expected to ever be able to do so again.
After what we’d just gone through, it might very well have ended up that way.
That didn’t stop my heart from leaping into my throat from the unexpectedly tender caress, but he didn’t say anything other than, “You’ll do too.”
Now our appearances had reverted to some semblance of normalcy, he set off again. The ride took thirty minutes, and as we drove, bubbles of emotion escaped me. Each time, it made them jump, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Cammie? What did he mean? How did Papa deal with Mama?”
Those damn emotions bubbled up in my throat again, but this time, it was a mixture of laughter and rage. “He was just spewing vitriol,malyshka. Take no notice.”
“But—”
Before she could pepper me with more questions, Brennan cleared his throat and said, “We’re nearly there.”
Grateful that he’d spared me that conversation, I turned my head to the road to watch the traffic pass.
The car didn’t stop until we were at, I assumed, Eoghan and Inessa’s building.