Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(2)

When his lips found hers, it was like everything clicked into place and Sasha’s world made sense again—in the way it only did when they were together like this. But this was never their problem. This was the one thing they were good at.

His hands slid down to her waist, his touch so familiar and, as it so often was with him, a little bit dangerous. Something powerful and angry fueled his power … and his passion. With the vine-covered brick wall at her back, and the wall of Quinn’s chest pressing against her, Sasha rushed headlong into all those old feelings. The concerns, the hesitations, all the reasons they shouldn’t be doing this—she’d think about all those things tomorrow. But for this one night, she just wanted to focus on the boy she’d loved all her life. Consequences be damned.

“Sasha,” Quinn whispered, his lips trailing down her throat. “I love you. That has never changed and it’s the one thing you can always count on from me.”

“I know. And I love you too. That’s always been the easy part for us,” she said, letting her hands wander over his shoulders.

“Sasha! Quinn?” Aidan burst into the garden. “We’ve got company.” He whirled around, searching for them. “Where are you?”

“Here.” Quinn gave Sasha one last kiss and stepped away, letting the illusion of their invisibility fall away.

“What kind of company?” Sasha asked, smoothing her hands over her dress, glancing around for mortal ears.

“Coalition.” Aidan took off toward the edge of the gardens and through the gate leading into the alley. Quinn fell in right beside him as Sasha followed.

“I swear to God, you hurt my sister again and we’re done,” Aidan said.

Quinn nodded. He would take the threat seriously. It was just the kind of guy he was.

“How about you let me handle my own love life?” Sasha said. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about right now. What are we up against?”

“Allie and two Coalition. Front of the building.” Aidan stopped short at the sound of gunfire as a bullet hit the brick wall behind him, just missing his head. Quinn pulled them behind the cover of the dumpsters.

“Aidan? What’s going on?” Vince called in the darkness. “Where’s Allie?” He ran to catch up with them. “Was that gunfire?” He joined them behind the dumpsters.

At the same moment, two Coalition men stepped into the alley from the rear of the conference center next door.

Sasha was on the verge of panic, but she looked to her brother for direction. Aidan was always quick to step into the leadership role. He would know what to do.

“Quinn, go after Allie, now,” Aidan said. “Sasha, get past these thugs and circle the building. Get them to follow you. I’ll handle Vince and meet you in the front in two minutes. Let’s box these guys in.”

“I don’t need to be handled,” Vince said. “But someone needs to tell me what’s going on. Where is Allie?”

“Be careful, Sasha.” Quinn turned and darted around the dumpsters, disappearing under the cloak of his gift.

Sasha ran straight for the men at the back of the alley, ducking under an arm and turning with a swift kick to disarm him. She fled down the back path along the rocky lakeshore, just beneath the gardens, hoping the men would follow her. Sasha was fast. She could easily outrun them and get back to Quinn before this turned ugly.

Just as she rounded the corner of the building, she heard another gunshot and chanced a glance over her shoulder to see the two men were trailing far behind. Sasha slowed, giving them the illusion that they might be able to catch her.

She circled to the front of the building and flung herself against the brick. The men following came flying around the corner a moment later. With them ahead of her now, she could finish boxing them in.

But the Coalition agents didn’t seem to be looking for her.

“No,” Sasha whispered as the men piled into a van.

“Nice!” Quinn’s voice echoed across the empty parking lot. “Your aim sucks, Allie. How’d you manage that?”

“Progress under pressure, I suppose.” Allie stepped up beside Quinn, facing the Coalition man in front of them. But they didn’t see the van heading straight for their backs.

“Quinn!” Sasha shrieked at the same moment she heard Allie’s anguished cry.

“Aidan! No!” Allie fell to her knees. “Aidan, please!”

“Allie! What’s wrong?” Quinn shouted, not hearing Sasha’s warning cry.

He didn’t even see it coming. Leaning from the open door of the van, the Coalition man struck him with the butt of his knife and Quinn went down hard.

“No!” Sasha cried an instant later when the collar snapped around Quinn’s throat.

She started running, heedless of her own safety.

“Sasha, no!” Graham crashed through the front door of the banquet hall and pulled her back into the shadows just as one of the Coalition cracked a bat across Allie’s back. She looked like a broken doll, sprawled on the pavement as another man slipped a collar around her throat.

“Let me go, Graham!” Sasha struggled against him. “We have to help.”

“The best thing we can do for them is escape the same fate so we can go after them later.”

She knew he was right, but as she watched them heft Quinn’s lifeless body into the van, she couldn’t sit back and let it happen.