Tyler (Blue Halo Book 6)

Fury was like a tidal wave inside Tyler. Levi had an innocent woman in his arms, pistol to her temple. A woman whose eyes were wide with fear, her face so pale he was worried she’d pass out.

The room had grown eerily quiet, although he could hear every single person’s heartbeat thundering in their chests.

He stepped in front of Emerson and worked to keep his voice calm. “Let her go, Levi.”

He caught sight of Callum off to the side. His eyes had turned black, and Tyler could almost see his friend’s hands twitching to act. To save the terrified librarian. Problem was, if they moved even an inch, Levi could shoot the woman.

Tyler had to end this without any casualties.

Levi’s eyes were steel, but there was a hint of shake in the hand holding the gun. Which wasn’t fucking good or safe.

“I don’t want to hurt her,” he said quietly, eyes only for Tyler. “I just want my sister. Release her to me, and I won’t kill this woman.”

Fuck, he wished this room wasn’t full of people. He stepped forward. “You know I can’t do that.”

The rim of the gun pressed harder into the librarian’s head. Her eyes scrunched, and there was a collective gasp throughout the room.

“I know who you’re working with. Who all of you are working with. Emerson isn’t safe with you. Now release her! Or I shoot this lady in the head.”

“You hurt her, and I murder you,” Callum snarled with deadly quiet as he inched closer, his hand on his concealed Glock.

Levi met Emerson’s gaze. “Come to me, Em. I’ll keep us both safe.”

Tyler’s chest tightened. And when Emerson took a small step forward, his hand shot across her body, landing on her hip, keeping her in place. She wasn’t going anywhere with him.

She turned to Tyler, her entire body shaking. “I have to,” she whispered. “It’s the only way no one gets hurt.” There was real fear in her eyes. Fear for the woman in Levi’s hold. Fear for Levi that someone would harm him.

He shook his head. “You’re not going.”

Emerson’s eyes flicked between his. If she was trying to figure out if there was any give in him, she wouldn’t find it. Not a single fucking shred.

Suddenly, a new voice boomed. The man who’d touched Emerson’s ass. “Either let her go to the guy, or shoot his fucking brains out already!”

Tyler’s gaze swung to the man, but before he could say anything, Emerson called out to her brother.

“Put the gun down, Levi. Please. She’s innocent.”

“So are you,” he growled.

Again, she tried to inch forward. And again, Tyler stopped her, tugging her body half behind his.

“Shoot him!” the asshole hissed again.

Emerson spoke over him. “Just focus on me, Levi. It’s just you and me right now.” His eyes moved back to her, and there was a small softening in his expression. “You’re my brother. And you’ve always been my protector. I love you, and I need you to listen to what I’m saying right now. I’m safe. These guys are safe. And we all want to help you. I need you to remember who I am and trust me. Release her and let us help you.”

There was a small hesitation. Was he actually considering it?

“I do trust you. It’s them I don’t trust.”

“Trust me to keep us safe, then. Because I know, with everything I am, that these men do not mean you harm. But they also can’t let you kill an innocent woman.” Her voice choked at the end, but she calmed herself.

She’d already witnessed her brother shoot a police officer, and that was still tearing her apart. If he ended up killing this woman right in front of her…in front of everyone…

“Remember when you saved me?” she almost whispered, knowing he’d hear. “My father would have killed me that day if it hadn’t been for you. We both know that.”

There was another flicker of emotion in his eyes. Love. It was there. Below the crazed, wild desperation. He really was doing all this because he thought it was necessary, to save his sister.

She inched forward, and this time Tyler didn’t tug her back, but he kept hold of her arm. “Now it’s my turn. Let me save you. Trust me to save you.”

Levi’s hold on the gun visibly loosened, his tense muscles relaxing slightly.

Her brother was listening. They might actually get out of this without any casualties.

“Put down the gun, Levi,” Emerson begged, her calm voice at complete odds with the situation in front of them. “Let her go and let me help you.”

The next beat of silence was loud. It was like everyone in the room was holding their breaths.

Levi’s finger shifted away from the trigger.

Tyler was just loosening his hold on Emerson’s arm when he heard it. The rustle of movement from somewhere beside him. He turned to look.

The asshole who’d touched Emerson’s ass was lifting a weapon.

It happened so fast, Tyler knew he didn’t have time to stop it.

Still, he lunged. “No!”

Too late. The bullet fired before he slammed into the asshole and grabbed his gun. Tyler turned his head in time to see Levi hit the ground, blood instantly pooling behind his head.

Emerson’s world stopped. For a moment, she couldn’t move. She felt like she wasn’t in her own body. Like she was stuck in a nightmare, watching on in horror, unable to wake up.

Screams echoed in the room around her. Loud rumbles thundered. Heavy footsteps pounded the floor as people fled.

She stood there for another half a second before it finally computed.

Her brother had been shot. In the head.

With an agonized cry, she lunged forward. She made it only a few steps before Tyler’s arms wrapped around her, halting her progress. Restraining her.

“Let me go!” She twisted in his arms, shoved at his chest. But his hold on her was absolute.

His lips touched her ear. “There’s nothing you can do, Emerson. They’ve got him.”

Half of Tyler’s team was on the floor with Levi, but it wasn’t enough. She needed to be there. Touching him. Helping him.

“I need to see if he’s okay!” In her head, she knew he couldn’t be. He’d been shot in the head, and there was so much blood. A crimson river she’d never be able to rid from her nightmares.

A loud sob cracked through the air, and it took her a moment to realize it came from her. Then her knees buckled, and she would have fallen if strong arms hadn’t been around her waist.

“I can’t…” She couldn’t breathe. A pain like nothing she’d felt before burned through her like a wild flame. “I can’t watch him die, Ty!”

Was he already gone? Had he already breathed his last breath?

Her heart squeezed like someone had wrapped a fist around it.

Tyler cupped her cheek. “Then look at me, Em. Focus on me.”

She stared into his stormy blue eyes like he was a lifeline. Like he was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.

When paramedics and police arrived minutes later, Tyler’s team took care of everything.

And when they wheeled Levi into an ambulance, the first flicker of hope filled her chest.

“They’re taking him to a hospital, right?” They’d spent a few minutes working on him…and there was no blanket. They usually wheeled dead people out with a blanket covering the face, didn’t they?

“They are,” Tyler said softly as he led her to the car. He had an arm around her waist and shouldered a lot of her weight. Blake climbed into the ambulance with Levi.

Tyler drove fast, making it to the hospital at the same time as the ambulance. She tried to follow Levi, but a paramedic held up a hand.

“You can’t come in here, ma’am.”

“He needs a guard,” Tyler said before the man could turn away from them.

Blake dipped his head. “I’ll go.”

The paramedic nodded. Blake had probably explained part of the situation in the ambulance. Then they disappeared.

She itched to follow. To force them to allow her to remain with Levi. But Tyler’s arm around her waist calmed her enough to think rationally. She had to wait.

Tyler tugged her the other way. “Come on, honey. Let’s go to the waiting area.”

When they got there, she was surprised to see almost everyone in the room. All the women and most of the men. She knew a couple of the guys had stayed behind to help police at the bar. Through her haze, she’d also noticed Callum comforting the woman Levi had held hostage.

Her chest constricted at the memory.

She spotted Liam, who had a streak of blood on his cheek. He was talking to another paramedic. When the EMT walked away, Tyler led her to his teammate.

Liam focused his attention on her. “Levi was still breathing when they took him into the ambulance, and the paramedic said his blood pressure remained high. Both of those things mean he’s getting oxygen to the brain.”

Some of the devastation that had been crumbling her world around her dimmed. “So he’s doing okay, considering…” She couldn’t finish that sentence. Considering he’d been shot in the head. Considering he should be dead.

Liam’s expression softened. “The bullet didn’t hit him head-on. It traveled the length of the left side of his skull and went straight through.”

“And that’s…good?” She knew she sounded desperate, but that was because she was.

“All of that is good,” Tyler said quietly.

She blew out a long breath and leaned into Tyler’s side. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically, but she wouldn’t be getting a second of sleep or leaving this place. Not until she knew whether or not her stepbrother was going to pull through.