Page 20 of Gage

The truck tore through the damaged gate and headed south. Shade watched until its taillights cleared the service road, his pistol trained on it the whole time.

Smoke came around the building with soot across one cheek. “Fire's contained. Tow-truck driver dropped his weapon and ran east. Havoc's on the fence in case he circles.” His attention moved past me into the hall. “Elena?”

“Still standing and we need a new fire extinguisher.”

Preacher looked at the white extinguisher powder everywhere and the ruined service entrance. His expression didn't alter. “I guess we have some repair work. Deacon, secure the gate and get that truck out of it. Shade, Smoke, help him, will you?”

The brothers moved before he finished speaking.

I went back inside and found Elena on the edge of the table with one hand against her ribs. Extinguisher dust coated her damp hair, and a shallow cut crossed the heel of her palm. She looked at the blood on my shirt and stood too quickly.

“Oh my God, is that yours?”

I hadn’t even noticed. A piece of the doorframe had cut my shoulder, nothing more. “Most of it isn't.”

Her eyes closed briefly. “That's a terrible answer.”

“Accurate one, though.”

I holstered my pistol and stopped. Elena crossed the space between us, put her arms around my waist and held on. I drew her carefully against my chest.

“He had a gun on you,” I said into her hair.

“And you waited until I moved.”

“Had to get the angle.”

“I saw what you needed; I took a chance.”

I was proud of her and still too close to the fear to enjoy it. I pressed my mouth to the top of her head and felt her breathing begin to settle.

“I was terrified, by the way,” she said with her face still half buried in my chest.

“You still did it. I’m proud of you, you were smart.”

She touched the cut at my shoulder with two fingers. “Sit down before we both start pretending this doesn't hurt.”

That sounded reasonable, which was irritating. I sat while she found the first-aid box in the cabinet. A prospect she called for brought water and disappeared again. Elena cleaned my shoulder. I then taped gauze over the cut; then I checked her ribs. Nothing felt broken, but a doctor needed to confirm it once the road was controlled.

“I should've stayed in the hall. I shouldn’t have left you, I’m sorry,” I said.

Elena closed the first-aid box. “You put Shade inside and sent me to the church room. They used a truck. You couldn’t have guessed they’d do that.”

“They still reached you, though.”

“You came back.” She put the box down. “They didn't take me.”

I hated the answer. She was right. “Fine.”

“You say that like it caused physical pain to agree with you.”

“Close.” I smiled.

Elena stayed beside me while the compound worked itself back under control. Nobody tried to make the night feel smaller than it had been. Smoke brought over two coffees strong enough to strip paint and Havoc passed through once with blood on his sleeve that wasn't his.

I kept one hand on Elena when I could, her knee against mine at the table or my palm on her thigh while she drank. When the adrenaline started leaving her hard enough to make her fingers shake, I hooked mine through them and held on. I wasn't trying to calm her down so much as prove to myself that the gun I'd seen pressed into her side was gone.

She caught me staring again and murmured, “You’re doing it again.” I told her to get used to it, which earned me a tired accusation of being bossy. “Still here, though,” I said, and her mouth curved before she leaned into my shoulder while the first gray light started showing through the high windows.