Page 89 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

“I can see that you’re safe, but unfortunately, Trace isn’t equipped to look after himself, let alone a young girl.”

Jolie turns to me, her eyes watering. “Please don’t let them take me. I’ll be good, I promise.”

I close the distance between us and pull her into my arms, her head leaning on my chest. “Please go with them, Star. I need you to be safe, and I promise I will be back for you when it is.”

She pulls back and looks up at me. “It’s them, isn’t it? The ones that are after you.”

I nod because what else can I do? “I will always be watching over you.”

“I don’t want to go. It’s us against the world, remember? You saved me. I need you. I don’t have anyone else.”

I hold her at arm’s length. “You’ll be able to make friends and have a life. Be a regular teenager. I’ll get my life sorted out and then I will be back for you.”

“Jolie,” Becca interrupts. “We really need to get on the road.”

Jolie turns and cuts her with an icy glare. “No, I don’t care what you want.”

Damn, I wish Creed was here to calm her down. She is generally reasonable, and very few things make her lose it, butbeing touched when she doesn’t want to be or being forced to do something she doesn’t want are her biggest triggers. I find myself watching and waiting for her reaction to them in this painful situation.

I nod at the officers, or fake officers, as Brennan would have prepared them for this. One steps forward, and I can see the glint of the syringe in his hand, his partner moving forward as a distraction.

It all happens in slow motion.

His hand reaches out to grab her, but she turns and swiftly knees him in the balls. I grit my teeth as he falls to the floor. She looks down at him like he’s the scum on the bottom of her shoes. That split second is the opening they need, and the other guy jams the needle into Jolie’s neck. I run forward and catch her as she falls.

“Make sure she is well looked after or so help me god,” I exclaim sternly. “I’m not the type of enemy that you want.”

She nods, not saying anything, obviously regretting her decision to help Brennan out.

Cradling Jolie to my body, I hold her tighter than I should. I can now understand what the rest of my team went through saying goodbye. And our brothers... the pain they must have endured thinking she’s dead. Surely there must be a way to take down Mr Z and put everyone out of their misery.

“Grab her bag,” I demand as I bury my nose in Jolie’s hair and take a deep breath, memorising her scent of cherry blossoms and toffee apples. I slip my arm under her knees to carry her out bridal style as Becca does my bidding, then we walk out to her car. She will have a few hours until Jolie wakes up, so I hope she gets to where she needs to be before that happens.

Carefully lowering Jolie onto the back seat, her body sliding in easily to lie across it, I buckle her up the best I can and place a final kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back for you even if I have toscour the earth to find you.” My whisper shakes with conviction. Taking a step back, I close the door and Becca gets in the driver’s seat.

“I’ll take care of her.”

“You better because there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Brennan trusts you so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but so help me, I will be your worst nightmare if you don’t.”

She quickly starts her car and slams the door, taking off like a bat out of hell, gravel flying on the road, getting away from me as fast as she can. I stand and watch until I can no longer see them, sniffling as tears roll down my face.

Not bothering to wipe away the wetness—Zircon deserves way more than tears—I stalk towards the cop car, as that’s the plan of how I’m leaving this place. I’m surprised Brennan could pull this off.

Once I’m seated, they drive, not asking any questions. I’m presuming they were given orders and know where to take me. We continue driving in silence until we pull into an underground parking garage.

We pull up beside an SUV with dark, tinted windows, identical to the ones we use at Olympia. If Mr Z has found me, I will happily take his punishment, but he’ll have to kill me before I give up Jolie’s location, not that I know it. All that information is safe with Brennan. He has a photographic memory, so that helps us to not leave a paper trail.

A twinge of uncertainty hits me as I step out of the car and wait. I glance around, pinpointing the exits in case I need to make a run for it. The driver’s side door opens, and I exhale a sigh of relief when I see Brennan.

“How did it go?”

“As good as we expected. At least this way she has a chance at a normal life. We can always go back for her when it’s safe.”

Brennan nods—he seems as convinced as I am. Mr Z is intelligent, but whoever takes over in the event of his death could be a hell of a lot worse. So we need to play it careful; we need to outsmart him.

“Come on, we need to move. There is only so long this car can be off the grid.”

Brennan gets back into the SUV, and I walk around to the passenger side. As we drive down the road, he fills me in on our team and he tells me how they have changed; they no longer live each day for her. Creed has been removed from duties and now works in the morgue, Chester has thrown himself into work, and Kai has lost his special vision. Her absence has impacted everyone and not for the better, but we have to remember why we removed her in the first place. We couldn’t protect her against her own damn father.

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