Author: Jane Blythe

She should be happy.

The case was over, they’d gotten the guilty verdict they wanted, but Elle had never felt more empty in her life. For her this wasn’t over, never would be, she still had a target on her back which meant she was going to have to leave.

She couldn’t do that until …

The doorbell rang and she jumped nearly a foot in the air. For some reason this was more terrifying than facing down the MC club.

Because she knew answering the door was out of the question, she was still in protective custody before she joined the witness protection program, so she sat where she was a fiddled with the hem of her dress.

The door to her room opened.

Jacob stood there.

She stared at him, unsure what to do or what to say. These last fourteen months without him had been Hell. She had missed him every day, raged at him in her head for getting her mixed up in this mess, and dreamed about what she would say when she finally saw him.

Now the moment had arrived she appeared to have been rendered speechless.

Neither of them moved for what seemed like an eternity but then she finally found her voice. “We should talk.”

Jacob just nodded and followed her over to the two armchairs by the window and took the one she didn’t sit down in.

This one moment would decide her entire future.

Looking into Jacob’s eyes she knew there was only thing she could do.

Standing she straddled his thighs, planted her hands on his chest, and kissed him. “I love you, Jacob, these last months away from you made me realise that despite everything thats happened I love you and thats all that matters. I know its a lot to ask of you and I understand if you say no, but will you come with me? Will you start a new life with me someplace where no one will ever find us?”

Beneath her Jacob’s whole body shuddered and then his arms were coiled around her, bring her flush against him as his mouth crashed against hers, kissing her with all the desperation of a drowning man.

Finally.

After fourteen long months they finally had a guilty verdict against several members of the MC club.

Although Jacob was glad it was bittersweet, because eighteen months was exactly how long it had been since he had last seen Elle.

Not by choice, at least not by his choice, since he hadn’t seen Elle he couldn’t speak for what she wanted.

After he’d shot their would be abductors, Jacob had carried Elle in his arms back to the cabin and called in the cavalry. She had woken up to Jacob putting her in bed but had promptly passed out again and then his colleagues had arrived, they’d both been taken to the hospital, and while he was in surgery having the bullet removed Elle had been whisked away and placed in protective custody.

He had pleaded until he was blue in the face to be taken to her but been denied over and over again. Elle was the only one who could testify against the MC club they weren’t willing to risk her safety by telling him where she was.

But now the case was over and Jacob had no idea if that would change anything. She was still in danger, the entire club couldn’t be prosecuted for the crimes which meant that her only option might be witness protection.

Where did that leave him?

They hadn’t had a chance to discuss his lies and the danger it had placed her in. They hadn’t had a chance to see if they could move past it. He hadn’t had a chance to tell her again how much he loved her and beg her for forgiveness and a second chance.

“Detective Keaton?”

He turned when someone called this name. “Yes.”

“She asked me to give this to you,” the young man said holding out an envelope.

“Who did?”

“Elle.”

Jacob took the envelope with shaking hands almost dreading opening it. What did she want to tell him? That she loved him and wanted him to come to her, or that she couldn’t forgive him and it was over?

Very carefully without alerting their captors Jacob moved behind her. His hands lifted the hem of her t-shirt and he took the gun.

“Move behind the tree, I don’t want you getting hit by a stray bullet,” Jacob whispered.

Elle bit back a sigh, she wasn’t sure she had enough energy left to move. It had all gone on trying to keep herself and Jacob alive and get the information he needed to prove the MC club had killed those judges.

“Elle?” he prompted.

“Can’t move, too tired,” she murmured, letting her eyes drift close, her chest hurt and her shoulder hurt and her arm hurt and she was cold and sleepy.

“Alright, baby, hold on. Its my turn to take care of you”

It happened so quickly.

One second the night was quiet and the next gunshots erupted.

Elle screamed and curled herself into a ball, trying to make herself as small a target as possible.

Then as suddenly as it had started it was over.

Just like that.

But who else was still alive?

Elle was attempting to sit up and find out what had happened to Jacob when arms suddenly wrapped around her. She would have freaked out but she smelled Jacob’s scent.

“They’re dead?” she asked.

“They’re dead,” he echoed.

Relief flooded through her but there was fear too. She was the only one who could testify that the MC club had killed those judges which meant she was going to be living the rest of her life with a target on her back. What did they mean for her future? What did it mean for her and Jacob? Was there even a her and Jacob?

Exhausted, Elle closed her eyes again and let herself drift off to sleep.

Jacob stirred just in time to hear shots fired but where from he had no idea.

He tried to turn his head.

Tried to get his body to obey his commands.

Tried to cling to consciousness.

But he failed.

Failed himself and Elle.

The darkness closed in on him again and the world faded away.

“Jacob. Jacob.” The voice hissing his name was getting progressively urgent and he forced himself to grab hold of it and let it guide him out of the emptiness where he had been trapped.

Elle.

It was her voice.

“Jacob,” she whispered again. “Hurry up and wake up, you weren’t the only one who got shot you know.”

Those words were enough to haves eyes snapping open. They were still in the woods, he and Elle were side by side, propped up against a tree trunk. Voice were nearby so the men who had been hunting them were obviously still around.

His side throbbed badly, and his t-shirt was wet and sticky with his blood, and when he blinked to clear his vision he saw blood streaking Elle’s pale face.

“About time you woke up,” she snapped. “I said we should face this as a team not for me to do it alone while you napped.”

Her words shocked a huffed chuckle out of him but then his eyes narrowed. “You said you’d been shot.”

“I tried to grab you when you fell out of the tree, I fell too, broke my arm when we landed, then when I tried to hit one of them they shot me in the shoulder then knocked me out. Between my head, my arm and shoulder, and my chest from earlier I can honestly say I haven’t been in this much pain in my life, but I got what you needed.”

His head was still a little fuzzy from blood loss so he asked, “What I needed?”

“Proof they killed the judges and their families. They bragged about it to me, how they gang raped the judges wives then made them clean themselves before slitting their necks, how they tied the judges to chairs and made them watch, they weren’t expecting the granddaughters, smothered them with their own pillows. Monsters,” she growled. “Thats what happened right?”

She was right, which meant she could testify against the MC club. Which would put Elle in even more danger the she was already in. They could lie, say he was the one who heard their confessions, but he had a feeling Elle wouldn’t go for that.

“I’ve still got the gun you gave me, Jacob,” Elle whispered urgently. “They didn’t think to check if I was armed, but they tied my hands behind my back so I can’t use it. They didn’t tie you up because you were unconscious, you can get it, its in my waistband. Shoot them, Jacob, while their guard is down because they think you’re still out.”

Bullets started pinging into the branches where she and Jacob were hiding.

The men knew they were here.

They were firing at them.

How were she and Jacob going to get out of this?

Although she was angry with him for all his lies that didn’t mean she didn’t love him, and Elle wanted a chance to at least see if they could work things out.

“Jacob,” she whimpered turning terrified eyes in his direction. He’d moved closer, cocooned her body inside a protective shell, his own body, he was putting her life before his own.

“Its okay, sweetheart, I won’t let them get you,” he whispered, then brushed his lips across hers.

“Jacob, don’t …”

Her protest that he not do anything stupidly heroic was cut off when he grunted and then he was falling.

He’d been hit.

Elle didn’t even think, she just grabbed for him, then she slipped and they were both falling.

She hit the ground with a painful thud, pain slicing through her arm as she landed awkwardly on it.

Three men stood above them.

Jacob wasn’t moving.

One of the men reached for her and she didn’t even think she just swung a fist at him, determined to do anything she could to protect herself and Jacob no matter that the odds were against them.

A bullet fired.

Pain burned in her shoulder.

“Nice try, sweetheart,” a voice said as someone leaned in close, his hot, smoky breath against her skin turned her stomach. “She’s hotter up close,” he said to his friends. “The boss is going to love her.” Then he slammed the butt into the side of her head and she was tossed into oblivion.