Page 55 of Scar

This beautifully amazing woman who had shared so much of herself with him and could be made to smile just because she sensed him in the room with her.

Scar took a deep breath and let it out, his lips and tongue making the motions of speech. But nothing happened. There was no sound, no words. His fists clenched in frustration. Heneededto do this.

Even if just this once.

He had to speak. She deserved answers. All of them, everything. She deserved to know why he was there and what his true intentions had been. She needed to know he was leaving, that he couldn’t stay with her anymore. He’d figure something else out, some other way to keep Alpha at bay, but it wouldn’t be her. It couldn’t be.

Scar could not use her that way.

He wanted to tell her how much he admired her. How incredible she was. How much he longed to be worthy enough just to be able to take her hand in his.

He’d broken into a motel and showered after leaving the warehouse. He had some bruises, cuts, and scrapes, but nothing major on him. Yet the blood was still there. Invisible but just as red.

The window shattered. Before Scar could turn or move, with the intent to take Tally to the ground to protect her, something stuck him in his throat. Scar reached up quickly, pulling it out.

His vision blurred as he stared at the tranq dart in his hand.Tally!

Her face was turned towards the window as if she was still trying to figure out what had just happened.

Scar took a step towards her, but his leg gave out underneath him. He collapsed to the floor as the echo of her door being burst open rang out behind him. Tally screamed. Scar fought it, needing to get to her, but the tranquilizer was too strong.

His world went black.

CHAPTER14

ELEVEN YEARS AGO

He should have known… Why would they keep their word? What honor did these men have that Julian had so naïvely trusted? One might argue that they actuallyhadkept their word. That they hadnotraped the girl as they said they wouldn’t if Julian chose for Cajun to die. They never said they would let her go freeorthat they would let her live.

No, when all was said and done, it was Julian who was at fault. Julian who was too weak to help her, to stop them from beating her to death.

They’d left the cave again. It was just him, Little Tyke, and the bodies… So many bodies.

Patriot, Lamb Chop, St. Nick, Sparkles, and the terrorist Tyke had killed were all piled up in the center of the room. Farmboy and Cajun still dangled from their nooses. And the little girl? She lay next to Julian on the cave floor, her open, unblinking eyes still staring at him. Pleading with him to save her, to make the pain stop.

Julian blinked. He had no idea how much time had passed since the terrorists had left them. The code was on the tip of his tongue. Real or fake, he didn’t care anymore. He was done, broken. They had won. When they came back, Julian would tell them—if only to make it end.

Little Tyke coughed. “Don’t do it.”

Julian didn’t have the energy to turn his head. He wasn’t sure if they’d tightened Little Tyke’s noose before they left, but based on how clearly he was speaking, Julian would guess they had not.

“Don’t do it, Solo. Whoever she was, her death is not on your hands. You did not murder her!”

But Julian hadn’t saved her either. He hadn’t saved any of them. Little Tyke and Julian were just breathing corpses in a mass grave. He was not strong enough, fast enough, smart enough, to have saved them.

“Sine pari,” Tyke called over to him. “Say it, Solo. You told me the day I joined your team that no words would ever mean more. Say it!”

Julian’s jaw would not unclamp. He tried to answer Little Tyke, but it was like his teeth were welded together by nuts and bolts.

“Stay with me, Solo! Tell me what it means. You said that joining this team was the easy part. That every fucking day I’d have to prove myself worthy of being on it. We are the Unit because we need no other classification. We are the creatures that go bump in the night.Sine pari!Tell me what it means, Solo!”

No equals…There was Special Forces and then there was Delta Force. JulianwasDelta Force. He didn’t know where the burst of energy came from. Some reserve he didn’t know he had. It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough.

On his side with his hands tied behind him, Julian rolled onto his back. Pain had no place here; he had to block it out. He had toget up. Flipping his legs over his head, Julian’s stomach roiled as he landed on his knees in a fetal position. Everythingburned, but he pushed past it.

Get up!he told himself.You have to get up!

Little Tyke made quiet encouragements as Julian lowered his bound wrists below his ass and down to his bare toes. It was agonizing, blindly threading each foot through the eye his arms created. Finally, both feet were through. Julian rested his forehead on the cool cave floor, just trying to breathe. His head swam, and for a moment, he feared passing out. He was still in the fetal position, with his bound wrists now under his shins.

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