“We’re pinned down,” he shouted into the radio. “If we even pop our heads out, they’re going to whack us like a couple of moles.”
“We’re coming to help,” Genevieve called out. “Just hold on.”
“Don’t,” Caleb answered. “If you take a single step into this corridor, you’ll be dead before you can get a shot. You two need to go back the way we came and work your way around behind these guys. I need you to either take them out or at least make them duck for a few seconds.”
Neither Hudson nor Genevieve was very thrilled with that plan, but after a moment, they agreed to it.
“We’re on the way,” Hudson said. “But you two have to hold on for us, okay?”
Caleb didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he stuck his arm around the rocky outcropping they were hiding behind and fired half a magazine’s worth of ammo at the men across the tunnel from them. The number of bullets that came right back at them was terrifying, and Brielle pressed herself against Caleb as tightly as she could.
“Hudson and Genevieve are going to come back as fast as they can,” he said soothingly. “We just have to keep these guys off us until they do.”
As another burst of gunfire tore into the wall near them, Brielle resisted the urge to tell him that might be easier said than done. Instead, she pressed her face against Caleb’s muscular chest and hoped for the best.
“Um…I know this probably isn’t the best time to have a serious conversation, but there’s something I need to tell you,” Caleb said, something in his tone making her lift her head. “And please don’t think I’m telling you now because I don’t think we’re getting out of here. It’s just that getting pinned down like this has made me realize I should have told you way before this.”
She flinched as another bullet bounced off the wall so close to her head that she swore she could feel her hair flutter from its speed. Caleb gazed at her in concern, which only worried her more than she already was. That was saying a lot, considering they were currently hiding behind a piece of rock barely big enough to conceal a bunny—or at least it felt that way—waiting for an army of nuclear weapons to go off.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, for the first time praying this wasn’t going to be one of those bizarre “it’s not you it’s me” kind of conversations.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said quickly, as if he’d read her mind. “It’s just that there was something I wanted to tell you after the briefing at the warehouse, but I didn’t get the chance, and I need to tell you before I go out of my mind. Even if it freaks you out.”
Hearing that made Brielle more uncomfortable than she’d been before, but she bit her tongue, telling herself she needed to wait and see where this was going.
“This is going to sound insane,” he said, pausing to fire several more rounds down the tunnel toward the bad guys to keep them from moving any closer. Then she had to wait impatiently as he awkwardly reloaded in the tight space available to them before looking at her again. “But I’m asking for you to listen with an open mind until I get it all out there, okay?”
All Brielle could do was nod, even if she was on the verge of screaming at him to spit it out already. People shooting at them was bad, but this was worse.
“I was drawn to you from the first moment we met,” he said, and even though she knew it was a trick of the mind, the sounds of gunshots and wailing alarms somehow faded away until it was simply the two of them having a quiet, private moment together. “I’ll admit that I tried hard to ignore it. Mostly because I’m stupid, but also because I was scared. I didn’t think someone like me would ever have anything good in my life. Definitely not anything as good as you.”
She gazed at him intently, part of her wanting to think she knew where this was going, especially since her recent conversation with Misty was still fresh in her mind. But she forced herself to wait as patiently as she could for him to continue.
“Based on what you said at the warehouse about me being the man you’re supposed to be with, I want to believe you’re feeling this connection between us, too.” When she nodded, he continued. “So I don’t want you to freak out when I tell you that…well…we’re soul mates.”
Brielle had been sure she was ready to hear this—until Caleb said the actual words. Then the air left her lungs so rapidly she didn’t see it coming. Soul mates. Misty hadn’t been kidding. This was real. She’d met the man that destiny had decided she was supposed to be with for the rest of her life.
Caleb must have taken the expression on her face as one of panic because he took her hand in his free one, pausing a second to shoot at someone trying to sneak up on them.
“I know what you’re probably thinking,” he said urgently, like he was worried she’d jump up and try to run off right in the middle of the firefight. “That being soul mates means we don’t have any say in this and that what we feel for each other isn’t real, that it isn’t love. But you know what I think about all that?”
“What?” Brielle murmured breathlessly, barely able to get the word out.
“I think, who cares?” he said. “All I know is that I love you, and I don’t care how I got here. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me—an omega werewolf who has spent his entire life alone. You’re The One for me, and I hope that, in time, you can come to accept that I’m The One for you. And before you ask, I want you to know that I’m willing to give you all the time you need to figure that out. I won’t push you or anything.”
It took a second for the words to finally filter in. But in the end, there was no denying what she’d heard.
He loves me.
The words created a warmth inside her that she’d never experienced—or expected. It was almost as surprising as the fact that Caleb, a big omega with anger management issues, could be so romantic. She’d certainly never expected that, either.
When she didn’t say anything, alarm clouded Caleb’s handsome features. He opened his mouth—almost certainly to apologize—but Brielle couldn’t have that. Wrapping her hand behind his head, she dragged his mouth to hers. And as bullets ricocheted off the walls and floor around them, she kissed him so hard that he’d never doubt she loved him as much as he loved her.
She pulled back, ready to tell him she loved him, too—as crazy as it was to fall in love with a man this fast, she was still going to tell him—but then the radio chirped, interrupting their perfect moment.
“We’re in position to take out the enemy,” Hudson announced. “Please tell me you two are ready to move or this is going to be the shortest rescue in history. Because if any of them get their weapons turned our way, Genevieve and I are screwed. We’ll have absolutely no cover once we step out into the corridor.”