Emerald Eyes

Chapter 13 - The Wrath

Liam.

A surge of solace washes over me, momentarily eclipsing the lingering pain of Zerina's betrayal.

Liam approaches me cautiously, his eyes scanning the basement as if he's expecting someone to leap out and pounce on us. Then he kneels by my side and cups my face with tenderness. His touch sends a jolt of warmth through me as my cheeks heat and I recall our kiss.

"Alexandra," he whispers. And then, adds three simple, soothing syllables. "I'm here."

My eyes well up with tears. Liam's here. But how? He's somehow always here, whenever I need him. I grab his hand, feeling a multitude of emotions at the same time: gratitude, relief and a deep-seated longing.

"We gotta leave. Kieran's men can't find us nowhere near here, now that your ma escaped," he says with a sense of urgency.

Then he lifts me up in his arms, as if my body were light as a feather to him, and carries me out of the basement, into the dimly lit corridor and out of the club altogether.

The early evening air is crisp and refreshing, a stark contrast to the suffocating darkness of the basement.

I inhale deeply, savoring the taste of freedom even if each breath hurts as if it were the last.

"Let's go home," Liam sighs, his nose buried in my hair.

I relax in his arms, his swift walk lulling me into nothingness: I know he's carrying me to safety.

The questions can wait.

***

As I regain consciousness, the first thing I notice is the familiar warmth of my bed. The comforting-as-ever, soft glow of the bedside lamp casts a suave, tender light on the room.

I blink, taking in my surroundings, my head split with an unbearable ache. My heart skips when I see Liam standing right beside me like a silent statue of a sculpted Greek god. We haven't been this close in weeks. Not since... Since he bathed and dried me.

"Yer okay, sweetheart. Yer home." He swallows but manages a weak smile. "We really need to stop making this me-rescuing-you thing a habit, wouldn't cha agree?"

I try to say something, but only weak meowls abandon my throat. "Wha... Wha happened?"

Before he can even answer, a myriad of thoughts race through my mind, piecing the pieces of the memory puzzle into a strain of images.

Siobhan giving me the key. The flickering light of the basement. That horrid, damp smell. My mother's cold stare. It all comes back at once and it's all too sudden, too much.

"Oh, no," I gurgle. "I should not have... Zerina..."

"Shh. Alex. Let it go, lass. Ye need to rest." He kneels by my side, burying his head in my stomach and my fingers intertwine with his unruly hair.

"But Kieran..." Dread chills the blood in my veins.

"Let me worry about him." Liam lifts his head and those intense, emerald eyes pierce through my very soul, calming me down in an instant. It's strange and I don't know how I know it, but I know Liam will take care of everything.

I whimper, as he plants adoring, open-mouth kisses on my bruised fingers, my flimsy arm and my cold cheek, but I pull him into an embrace nonetheless.

When his lips wander towards my neck I more than welcome that thrilling, pleasuring sensation that annihilates and combats the pain of my body and my soul.