“Don’t worry about it. Stay quiet and follow me,” I told him in a hushed voice. “I’ll keep you safe.”

I needed my guns. While we rushed down the stairs, I grabbed my phone again and called back to Francis.

“Boss?”

“There’s someone in my yard. You better fucking hurry,” I told him as we burst through the door.

“How many?”

“Couldn’t see. Expect a lot,” I told him as I led Rene to the corner closet.

“Fuck! We’re fifteen minutes away!”

“Just get here!” I hissed and hung up, searching for the keys to the closet. I glanced at Rene. He was so scared… At the verge of panic. “It’s all right, baby. I’ll protect you.”

“What’s going on…?” he whispered, his voice choked.

“I don’t know, but I’ll deal with it, don’t worry,” I said, yanked the door open, and hurried to get my guns. “You know how to shoot?”

He froze at my question, tears in his eyes. He was shutting down in fear.

“It’s all right,” I said, loading two of the guns and shoved my pockets full of clips. “I can deal with this, and Francis is here soon. We’ll be fine.”

If only I knew what we were up against… Who was our enemy? Terrorists? Rival gangs? The army? And how many were there? But one thing was certain. The way both of our alphas had reacted told me we were in real danger.

With Rene with me, I couldn’t take any chances. I needed to take him out of here, then come back to deal with whoever it was that had invaded my yard.

“Let’s go. Nice and quiet, okay?” I told Rene, leading him back to the stairs. He didn’t reply to me. One look at him told me his alpha was in full control of the body. “It’s all right, baby boy. I’ll get us out of here.”

I turned off the lights on our way up, then hurried to the kitchen. It was thankfully dark, so it was easier to stay hidden from the view. I cursed my massive windows while I led Rene behind the kitchen island, crouching the entire way. I stopped behind it and peered outside. There was movement by the fence, behind the bushes… I counted at least four people, and I thought I saw a silhouette of a gun…

“Fuck…”

The door to my garage was at the very back of the kitchen. I had a nice, strong pickup truck right behind the door. We could use it to bust down the door and my gates to get to safety. But we’d have to show ourselves to get to it, and we’d have to drive past those people.

But it was our only option.  

“Rene? Baby?” I whispered, cupping his cheeks. He didn’t react to me. “Baby, if you can hear me, you have to stay down but run as fast as you can to that door, okay?”

No response… He didn’t even blink. Even his alpha was scared out of his mind. I just had to… I’d carry him if needed.

With a racing heart, I looked out the window again. I saw dark figures moving, but still staying by the fence. They were regrouping… We had no time to waste. If we had any luck on our side, no one would look inside. I hoped the darkness was enough to hide us from their view.

“Come on, baby,” I whispered, pulling him with me when I hurried out of our hiding place and headed to the door.

Seconds later, I burst through it, pulling Rene with me, then closed it. I turned to face my cars and hurried straight to the truck. I listened to the sounds coming from outside, but heard nothing. Maybe they hadn’t noticed us yet…?

“Get in the car, baby,” I said when we got to it, but at that moment, they opened fire.

I yanked Rene behind my Mercedes when the first wave of rapid fire quickly ate away at my garage door, destroying my cars. So they did notice us… And they had assault rifles…

“We need to go, we need to go…” I told Rene, pulling him back to the door we just came from, shooting at the enemy until my clip was empty.

We burst through the door again, and didn’t stop there. While the gunmen were focusing on tearing down the garage, we were free to run through the kitchen without them realizing we weren’t by the cars anymore. But when we rounded the corner and entered the living room, I heard the glass breaking in the kitchen.

I had a new plan already. There was a smaller gate at the back of my yard, so if we were quick, we could use it to escape. It would take them a while to get around my–

The living room windows blew up, sending glass and debris and fire in our way. I stumbled back, shielding Rene with my body. Something big hit me on my side, knocking me out of balance, but I stayed up on my feet. I heard shouting and more gunshots just outside the building. We had no choice but to retreat, so I pushed Rene out of the living room, blindly firing my gun at the enemy, hoping I got at least a few good hits.

But how many were there…?

“Come on – this way, this way…” I mumbled, wobbling a little when I tried to run. There was something wrong with my side… The hit… Fuck, it was painful… “This way, baby…”

We retreated into the entrance hall, but there were already people behind the front door, trying to tear it down. The enemies who’d broken into the garage were already making their way through the kitchen. The basement was a dead end… All we could do was get upstairs, and… And?

“This way,” I coughed and ran up the stairs with nowhere else to go.

On our way to the very back of the second floor, I pushed over all the chairs and bookshelves to slow down the enemy. We reached my office, the very last room at the end of the hallway, and hurried in. I shoved Rene into the safety of the furthest corner and went to push a big cabinet in front of the door. My side… Every push felt like someone was stabbing me with hot iron…

Once the door was blockaded, I turned back to Rene, getting ready to fight, but I suddenly felt dizzy. The world spinning around me, I wobbled closer to my baby boy, but fell on my knees before I could reach him.

“Michael!”

Rene was by my side in a heartbeat and dragged me the rest of the way to safety – if there was safety in this house anymore. I heard gunshots and smaller explosions, and I could smell fire. Rene rested me against the wall, right below the window. He was crying silently when he leaned over me, his scared, teary eyes right in front of me.

“Michael… No… Michael…” he whispered, his voice broken when he pushed my clothes aside to see my side. He froze for a moment, then lifted his hands and stared at his bloodied skin. There was a lot of it. “No, no, no, no… You can’t die now,” he told me, panicking.

I stared up at him, at his beautiful blue eyes… “Baby… You have to go,” I whispered, and coughed in pain. “Climb out the window.”

“No. No, no, no… You promised,” he whispered, pressing his hands hard on my wound, using my clothes to try to stop the bleeding.

“Please, baby, you have to run,” I said, trying to take his hand, but my strength was fading. “Please. Go.”

“You promised I can stay with you,” he whispered, his desperate cries breaking my heart. “I just found you…”

I could hear shouting and rushed footsteps outside in the hallway, approaching us as the enemy searched through the rooms.

“I can hold them back… You have to go, baby. Don’t let them kill you,” I muttered, trying to get the empty clip out of my gun, but it was getting slippery from my blood. “Save yourself.”

“You said I can stay with you forever,” he said. “I’m not leaving you.”

Someone shot through the door, but we weren’t anywhere near it. I tried again to get the clip out of my gun, but my hands were failing. My body was slowly losing the battle.

“Rene… You have to go,” I told him when the people started breaking through the door.

“I won’t leave you,” he said. “You promised I can stay with you.”

The door was going to give up at any second… There was no time left. It fucking hurt knowing I’d failed to protect him. My baby boy… My true mate, my darling boy… But my body was too damaged… There was nothing I could do… And that future I thought we would have… I would never see my baby boy thrive… We had only a couple of seconds left together… That was our whole future together…

How did this night turn out like this…?

“Mercer! Give us the boy!”

“Never…” I breathed out, but there was nothing I could do.

The door was crackling loudly, almost off its hinges, but the cabinet was still holding them back. I looked up at Rene. My Rene… My beautiful boy.

“I love you, my sweet boy…” I whispered. “You should’ve run.”

“You promised I can stay with you,” he said, taking the gun from me. “So you better not leave me.”

“I don’t want to leave you,” I said, coughing again.

“Then don’t. Promise me you won’t leave me,” he whispered, taking off the empty clip and putting in a new one.

“It’s over for me…”

“Promise me!”

He’d never yelled before…

I smiled up at him. “I try not to.”

The door burst open, sending the cabinet flying on the door. I saw three people behind it, peering in with their rifles ready, searching for us. But they never saw us. Rene aimed the gun, and three quick shots later, they all fell dead on the floor.

I let out a tired laugh, trying to keep my eyes open. The smell of roses was strong now…

“Now I get it…” I whispered when Rene continued pressing on my wound. “Beautiful… and dangerous… like a rose…”

“Stay with me, Michael,” he whispered. “My love. My light in the dark.”

“I love you…” I muttered. “I’ll watch over you… I promise.”

My Rene… He would be fine… He could protect himself. I didn’t want to leave him, but my body was tired. I didn’t want to go, but it was my time. I could feel it.

“Michael, no… No, please, stay with me…”

I couldn’t see him anymore.

“Please, I love you…”

I wished I could stay…

“Don’t leave me…”

I wished…