"We have to head down the mountain," she snapped into the link. "This is no place to make a stand. There's more cover in town and less chance of being trapped."
"Get out of here," Lance snapped in reply. "I'll be behind you." She heard it in his voice then, smelled it in the air. He was lying to her. He wasn't just being evasive, which was harder to detect. He wasn't going to follow her.
"What have you done?" she cried into the link, terror racing through her blood. "You go, I'll cover your six. Don't f**k with me here, Lance."
She heard his curse then.
"Harmony. Go." Hard demand filled his voice. As did resignation. He wasn't going to come out of that forest alive.
Harmony felt terror race over her flesh, weakening her, nearly collapsing her lungs with her need to scream. They were surrounded, firing was automatic, and she knew the chances of escape were growing slimmer.
Eyes narrowed, she surveyed the flashes of gunfire through the goggles she wore, firing back, hitting what didn't move fast enough, only to have another replace what she hit. She should have known it was a trap. Dammit, she should have never disregarded her own instincts.
"I'm not going without you, Lance. Get a move on it. We head out now."
"I said go." His voice was firm, demanding at her ear. She could almost feel his strength, his warmth. She couldn't live without feeling it again.
"We don't have much time." She heard the tears in her voice, the ragged plea she would have never voiced before. "Get your ass out of here. I'll cover—"
"I love you, Harmony."
"No! You f**king bastard, don't you do this to me!"
Harmony felt as though she were moving in slow motion. There were too many around them; they were closing in, gaining ground despite the shots she fired and the marks she hit. If they didn't go, if they didn't go now, then they were going to die. Lance was picking off his own targets, but he was stationary, keeping their only line of escape open.
"Lance, we can both get out of this," she screamed into the link. "I won't go alone."
"Go. Now." His voice was a fierce, commanding lash. "Get your ass back to Estes Park. Dane will find you…"
"No." She was forced to retreat, searching for a break as she rapidly reloaded and began firing again.
He was too far away from her. She would have to get to him. God, he couldn't do this. He couldn't leave her alone, not now. She couldn't be alone now.
Chills raced over her flesh as she gauged the distance between them. There were fewer assailants now. There was a slim chance that, together, they could shoot their way out of this.
It was a long shot. The path between them was less than twenty-five feet. There was little cover, but enough. Maybe just enough.
"Go on, baby. Get the hell out of here." Lance's voice was steady, patient. "I'll keep them off your ass."
"Get ready, I'm coming to you…"
"No!"
"Damn you. We live together or we die together. Take your choice." ___________
Lance inhaled roughly. He had known it would happen this way. He had known what would happen. He had heard his own death in the wind, heard its price for surrender, its demand for payment. He would miss Harmony. Even in death, he would miss her. He lifted his head, his eyes narrowing behind the night-vision goggles as he timed what he knew was coming. He hadn't questioned the knowledge when it came to him during the long drive to Colorado. He hadn't debated it or attempted to find a way to change it. Nothing came without a price. The life and happiness of his woman and child was worth more to him than his own life ever would be.
Covering Harmony, he slid from the protection of the boulders he had placed himself behind, giving the shooters the target they were looking for. The price of her freedom was his blood. She would be safe. The winds had made their promise, and his blood would seal it.
Her precious Dane would hide her and the child Lance had created with her. They would be protected, and that was all that mattered. He might not understand the price the winds claimed for her freedom, for her life, but he wouldn't deny it. He could hear the wind howling through the mountainside, its demand for his blood a banshee cry he couldn't ignore. And in that moment he saw why. As she moved to save him, a tall blond-haired soldier stepped from the shadows, a maniacal smile twisting his lips. The bastard stepped from cover, his gun aiming for her, his expression twisted into a snarl of fury as he fired at her.
Lance threw himself in front of Harmony, knowing the moment the bullet left the barrel that it would strike flesh. Better his chest than hers. Better his heart than the one who had never known freedom, never known love. The winds had whispered its promise for his sacrifice. His child's laughter, his woman's freedom. They would survive. ______________
Harmony felt the impact of Lance's body against hers as they went down. She knew. Her eyes went to his chest as her howl rent the air. An enraged feline scream that echoed with a cougar's cry.
"Motherfucker!" Her gun came up, her finger depressing the trigger as the rounds slammed into the figure. "You diseased f**king bastard!"
She saw his eyes widen in shock, as though he believed he couldn't die. As though he had the right to live, to destroy what belonged to her.
She knew him, one of the fanatical bastards who had joined Alonzo. Alonzo would pay as well. So help her God, if Lance died on her, then they would all pay. She threw her gun as she came to her knees, before tossing the satchel that contained the information she had thought was so important to preserve. She had no idea where it fell; she didn't give a damn.
Her hands hovered over Lance's chest; she didn't care who fired at her now. It didn't matter. Death was preferable to the horrible, aching agony twisting through her mind now.
No pain could come close to this. No horror could ever compare to staring into Lance's dark eyes as she pushed the goggles from his face, and seeing the knowledge in his eyes.
"No…" Her moan joined the distant cry of the wind, the sound of explosions around her, a loud hum throbbing in the air.
None of it mattered.
"Shhh." Lance's expression twisted with pain as she tried to stop the blood flowing from his chest. It fell over her fingers, a silky, heated fall of life that blistered her hands.