Killer Instinct

Chapter IX

IX

Wave after sensationless wave passed over me as I floated.

I was in a place I'd never been before, void of color, sound, smell and texture. A place that was empty yet full at the same time. A place of peace.

After the four days of torture, I welcomed this peace. I dove head first into it, wanting it, craving it.

But something wrapped hard around my waist, something hard and warm, something that didn't belong.

"Isley!" A voice was shouting. "Isley, stay with us!"

And then a thunderous noise, so loud I couldn't hear, the peace shattered. And then pounding, a pain in the center of my chest, pounding over and over again.

And then-

My eyes snapped open, water shooting up my throat, out my mouth and nose painfully as I threw it up, coughing, the water of the Hudson burning cold inside of me.

I coughed for what seemed like forever, slowly realizing that I wasn't dead, and that I was in fact in a helicopter surrounded by my father's elite soldiers.

When the coughs finally subsided, I took a deep raspy breath, and looked up at the man sitting in front of me, dressed in an all-black stealth suit, water dripping from his hair but otherwise dry. His aquamarine eyes cut through me, and then I was throwing myself into his arms crying.

"Misha," I whispered, sobbing. Normally I wouldn't cry in front of anyone, but I knew that I could unburden my emotions in Misha's arms. I didn't have to be so strong. He was strong enough for the both of us.

He held me tightly, hands fisted in my hair. It's okay. I've got you, Isley. You're safe. We're on our way to DC right now. He murmured through our telepathic link.

I pulled my face away from the strong column of his shoulder to look into his eyes. His were full of relief and love. God, I'd missed him.

And then we were kissing madly, passionately, the familiarity of it burning through me like a dry heat, until my shivers subsided and instead I grew warm and breathless under his touch.

Everything, from the way he gently held me as if I'd break but kissed me with the full force of his longing, the unforgiving scrape of his five o'clock shadow, and his fingers running through the length of my tangled hair all triggered countless memories and moments. Moments that had never made me feel more alive than I did right now.

It wasn't until his hand brushed my shoulder did I wince painfully, and all the aches and pains were brought to the forefront of my attention.

"Shit," I hissed in pain, swaying to the left.

You're hurt? Misha somehow managed to sound concerned for me, and dangerously angry at the same time.

"Shot." I managed to grit out. "We have to get the bullet out."

Take off your jacket. Misha ordered, and I obliged him as best as I could, gritting my way through the pain, feeling the rivulets of blood steadily pouring out of my arm. At the sight of my dark red blood, my stomach lurched. Seeing my own personal blood outside of my body always made me nauseous.

It's gonna hurt, He warned. And then ripped it out of my arm using his telepathic powers.

I screamed, the world instantly going black around me.

When I awoke, I was I knew I was back in DC. The constant powerful throb of so many Mentals in the same area me felt unlike anything in this world.