Chapter 794
“Liam!” Alistair shouted.
Logic dictated self-preservation. Caleb was vulnerable. Alistair could end the fight right now, kill the assassin, and survive. But Liam was Skye’s past. He was part of the messy, complicated family they were stitching together.
Alistair didn’t think. He abandoned his advantage and launched himself toward the pit, diving through the air.
He caught the trailing end of the chain just as Liam swung over the abyss. Alistair’s momentum slammed them both against the edge of the platform. Liam dangled precariously, inches from the spikes.
Alistair gripped the chain with one hand, his boots scrabbling for purchase on the lip of the pit. He hauled Liam up with a roar of exertion.
“Got you,” Alistair gasped, veins bulging in his neck.
He didn’t see Caleb rise behind him.
𝗣𝗈р𝘂𝘭𝖺𝘳 𝘴𝗍𝘰rieѕ 𝗈𝗇 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝗻о𝘷𝘦ls.𝖼о𝗺
“Noble,” Caleb whispered.
He drove the karambit deep into Alistair’s left shoulder, near the neck.
Alistair cried out, a sound of pure agony, but he didn’t let go of the chain. He used the pain as fuel. With a final, massive heave, he swung Liam onto the solid concrete.
Then, with the blade still buried in his shoulder, Alistair spun. His backhand strike caught Caleb squarely in the jaw. The force was tremendous. Caleb crumpled, unconscious before he hit the ground.
Alistair dropped to his knees. His vision blurred. The world tilted sideways.
The blast door hissed and groaned, finally sliding open. Lucian and Alpha Team poured in.
“Boss!” Lucian was at his side instantly.
Alistair reached for the knife in his shoulder. His hand trembled uncontrollably.
“Don’t touch it,” Lucian ordered, pressing a compress around the wound. “Medical! Now!”
“Liam…” Alistair slurred, his head lolling forward. “Check… Liam.”
“I’m okay.” Liam crawled over, his face pale with horror. He stared at the black blood oozing from Alistair’s wound. “God, Alistair… it’s black. The blood is black.”
“Neurotoxin,” Lucian cursed. “Caleb’s signature.”
I skidded the car into the warehouse loading dock just as the team was bringing them out. The rain was torrential now, mixing with the grime on the ground.
I saw the stretcher. I saw the stillness of the body on it.
“Alistair!” I screamed, sprinting through the mud.
Lucian held me back as the medics loaded him into the ambulance. “He’s alive, Skye. But barely. The blade was coated.”
Alistair’s eyes opened to a slit. He saw me. He tried to lift his hand, but it fell limp.
“Sorry,” he mouthed. “Messy.”
Then his eyes rolled back.
“Go!” Lucian slammed the ambulance doors.
I stood there, the rain soaking me to the bone, watching the lights fade into the night. Liam sat on the bumper of another ambulance, a blanket around his shoulders, staring at his hands.
“He saved me,” Liam whispered, looking up at me. “He took the knife for me, Skye.”
I walked over to the second stretcher, where Caleb lay bound and unconscious. I looked down at him. The fear in my chest crystallized into something cold and sharp.
“Wake him up,” I said to the guard.
“Ma’am, he’s out cold.”
“I said wake him up,” I commanded, my voice devoid of emotion. “And bring him to the hospital. I have questions.”