Cold Devotion | ✔️

Chapter Forty-Two

"She couldn't have gotten far, hurry up and find the girl," the man shouts and I clamp my hand over my mouth to not draw any attention to us. Can't they just give up already? 

I latch my hand around the gun strapped to my thigh, taking deep breathes to suppress the images. It's okay, it's okay. His hand touches mine and my mind is immediately settled.

I look into those evergreen eyes that hold so much love and life compared to the ones I first saw. His eyes were always the most unpredictable - they would either reside with more emotion than I could bare or not enough. Either way I could never read them.

I still find difficulty in trying to figure out how he is feeling but sometimes he lets me in, sometimes he lets me see the feelings that he fights so hard to hide. 

"You ready?" Colton whispers and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. Ready for what? 

"What..." I trail off. He wants to fight his way out. Why am I even surprised? Colton never lets go of an opportunity to kill our opposers - I don't know if that's a good thing or not. "Yes," I finally whisper and he nods his head.

"Stay alive," he says, kissing my forehead. I laugh, letting the sound fly away into the night.

"Stay alive," I repeat before we both get up, guns at the ready and step out of the dark alleyway.

Colton leads as we retreat from the our hiding space, my legs trembling and breathing shaky as I follow. No matter how many times I do this, it never gets easier.

A bullet skims me and I have to suppress a laugh. God they have terrible aim. Immediately Colton raises his gun and plants a bullet firmly into the side of the mans head. He drops to the floor, blood pooling around him like a halo.

Also something I will never get used to.

Another man comes running at us and it's my turn to lift the gun and shoot. The bang sounds through me, shaking me to the core. The man falls like a domino. 

Another person, another shot.

Where are they all coming from?

Turning quickly as someone runs straight for me, I lift the gun but don't shoot in time. Their knife slices at my hip as they fall. A pain I have felt plenty of times before courses through me. I grit my teeth and carry on.

"You okay?" Colton shouts besides me as more shots sound around us, him dodging one as we speak. 

"I'm fine... we need to go," I shout back and he nods his head.

Before any second thoughts we both set off in a sprint, leaving the dead bodies laying in the road. It's a blessing that we have even gotten this far. I lift my hand to my hip, trying to stop the blood flow - my hand turning a wondrous crimson. 

The throbbing in my temples is just as relentless. None of the pain subsiding. 

Well... this was a sorry excuse of trying to find Maximus. I'm starting to think that he is more trouble than it's worth.

Colton is right, this is too dangerous - I need to stop. 

But I don't think I will be able to overcome the guilt if I find out that he's dead. I would have practically handed him straight over. Like a lamb to the slaughter.

We run down uneven streets and jagged sidewalks, the pale moonlight the only thing helping to illuminate the way. I look over my shoulder, expecting to see a wave of people chasing after us, but see the space void of anyone.

I almost collapse in relief. 

I am surprised my body hasn't completely given up on itself yet after everything that I have put it through today. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was tumbling down that godforsaken hill. If I had just stopped a mere second earlier, I wouldn't have plummeted down it and wouldn't have had to of climbed back up the damn thing.