Mine to Crave (Mine #4)(77)

He tossed aside his helmet and reached for Jasmine’s hand. “Come on!” The wind from the helicopter blew against him. The sooner they got on that bird, the better.

“Wait, my bag!” Jasmine bent to retrieve the small bag that he’d stuffed into the motorcycle’s saddlebag.

The pilot was inside the chopper. The helicopter’s lights were blazing, so Drake couldn’t see inside to the guy, but he knew Quincy Cole would follow orders. He’d made special arrangements to have Quincy come with him to the mountains because the fellow was one of the few Drake trusted completely. The guy was good in a—

Gunfire rang out. The blast hit Drake in the shoulder and he stumbled back.

“Drake!” Jasmine grabbed for him.

Another shot rang out. Only this time, that shot hit her. It slammed into Jasmine even as Drake tried to twist his body and protect her.

But he wasn’t fast enough.

“No!” Drake roared as he pulled her tightly against him. He could feel her blood, pulsing from a wound on her stomach. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t.

“Did you really think you’d be a step ahead of me? There was no way I’d let you beat me to Jasmine,” a familiar voice called out. Not Quincy. Not Quincy… “I was just waiting until I could get you both together. It’s fitting for you to go out this way!”

Drake turned his head. The pilot had come out of the chopper, only it definitely wasn’t Quincy. This man was taller, bigger, and even though the light was behind him and Drake couldn’t see his face, he knew the man.

“Maxwell.”

Laughter. “Thanks for arranging my getaway ride for me. After I kill you two, it will be nice to fly away. Anna Jean was the one to teach me to fly, you see. That woman loved the sky.”

“D-Drake…?” Jasmine’s voice broke on his name.

“It’s all right.” I promised to protect her. “It’s just a graze, princess. You’re okay.”

“No, you’re not, Jasmine,” Maxwell told her, his words gleeful. “You’re bleeding out. That’s a gut shot. One designed to give you maximum pain, because I felt that was what I owed you. If you don’t get medical attention immediately, you’ll die.” That laughter again. “And you won’t be rising from the dead this time.”

Carefully, so carefully, Drake lowered Jasmine to the ground. “I didn’t find you…just to lose you again.” He wouldn’t lose her. “Don’t be afraid…of what I do.” Because he was going to do exactly what had to be done.

Maxwell wasn’t lying. It was a gut shot. And Drake was getting Jasmine that immediate medical attention because she would not be dying on him.

She nodded, her head barely moving against the ground. Her breath was choking out.

I’m so sorry, princess.

He’d failed her, again, and she was about to see just what he truly was.

He slipped the knife from his boot. He always had a weapon on him. Did Jasmine realize that? Probably not. Because she didn’t know all his secrets.

“I want you to stay right there!” Maxwell ordered him. He could hear the man’s footsteps coming closer. “I want you to watch while she dies in front of you. I mean, you watched my Anna Jean die, didn’t you? So it’s only fitting that you watch that treacherous bitch Jazz die, too!”

“I’m…c-cold…” Jasmine whispered.

“I’ll warm you.”

Her gaze flickered to him. “You…already did.”

Drake swallowed and kept the knife concealed. He just needed a few precious seconds to attack his prey.

But Jasmine didn’t have seconds.

The gun shoved into the back of Drake’s head. “Watch her. Stare right at that bitch as she chokes on her blood and you have to—”

Drake lunged up and twisted around in a flash. He knocked the gun out of the bastard’s hand. Then he drove his knife right into Maxwell Case’s heart. “Don’t ever call her a bitch.”

Maxwell’s breath heaved out. His hands clamped around Drake’s arms.

Drake twisted the knife and he smiled. “You should have stayed the hell away from me…and what was mine.”

Then he shoved that bastard to the ground. The knife was still in Maxwell’s heart. Exactly where it belonged.

Drake whirled back to Jasmine. “I’ve got you, princess.” He lifted her. Carried her to the chopper. He strapped her in and used those straps to put as much pressure on the wound as he could. She cried out in pain, and the sound wrenched through him.

Then he jumped forward to grab the controls.

“I don’t…want to die…” Her weak voice.

“You’re not.” He flipped the switches. Called out on his radio. He wanted help. He’d get help. “I’m not losing you.”

He’d already thought she left him once. He couldn’t survive that kind of pain again. He wouldn’t.

The helicopter’s blades whirled and the bird lifted into the dark sky.

***

“You were supposed to have a plan!” Victor stormed into the hospital’s emergency room with his crutch pounding frantically onto the linoleum floor. “You bastard! This is your fault!”

He lunged toward Drake, then stopped short when he saw the blood that covered him. “J-Jasmine’s?”