Free A Hero Rising by Aubrie Dionne Page B

bad is it? Did she have the courage to even ask?
    James gave her an incredulous look. “Skye, you saved my life.”
    “Grease would have killed us all.”
    “I know. I’m just so impressed.” He touched her cheek with his good arm. “You were really brave.”
    Skye waved his comment off. She felt like a murderer. “Grease bit you, didn’t he?” she said in resignation as she wound the piece of shirt around her arm and tied a knot.
    “Several times.”
    She could barely speak. “Will you be all right?”
    He winced, unable to hide the truth from his face. “I’m not sure.”
    Skye covered her face with her hands. Her world was tumbling down on top of her, and she had no way to hold it up. She’d just lost Grease all over again, James was wounded—possibly infected—and Carly had been knocked unconscious.
    James put a hand on her arm. “The Morpheus in his blood could have infected me, but I’m not sure it’s enough to have any lasting effect. I’m alive, thanks to you, and that’s what matters now.”
    He sat up and gently pulled her hands off her eyes. “You did the right thing, Skye. Never think any differently.”
    Her stomach sickened with the fresh memory of Grease dying from her own hand. She hadn’t been able to keep him from leaving, but she didn’t think twice about stopping him now. Was she more fit to kill than to love?
    James brought her out of her brooding thoughts. “We have to get Carly and find a hovercraft before the city falls.”
    She helped him up, and they jogged to the soil where Carly lay. The girl looked like a fallen angel, an innocent being brought into a hellish world.
    James lifted Carly in his arms. “Come on, we’ve made enough noise to attract all the moonshiners in the city. Let’s get out of here.”
    Skye nodded, refusing to think he hurried because he may not have much time left.

Chapter Nine
    Courage of Love

    Holding Carly in his arms, guilt spread through James like an infection. He shouldn’t have allowed the situation to get out of hand. Compassion was his greatest weakness, and he’d paused when Carly called out to her father. He should have relied on his instincts and shot the man dead on the spot. But that’s what separated the Radioactive Hand of Justice from the Razornecks—placing others above your own needs. Besides, Skye seemed to hold out hope from the initial expression on her face.
    His shoulder ached and the skin was rubbed raw underneath his shirt where Grease’s teeth had punctured the flesh. Instead of feeling dizzy from loss of blood, energy flowed through him, making him hyperaware of every smell and every motion. He hoped the rush was adrenaline, but a little voice in his head whispered his newfound sensitivity resulted from something more.
    “How are you feeling?” Skye asked between huffs as they climbed another flight of stairs to the roof.
    “Doing fine.” He didn’t want to upset her, and he had no evidence to say otherwise. People exposed themselves to Morpheus for months before showing any moonshiner symptoms, yet blood-to-blood transfusion may be different altogether. His anxiety rose when he considered it, so he pushed his worries far from his mind. He had to focus on the mission and get them out of the city to Project Exodus.
    They reached another platform, and Skye pushed open the emergency exit door enough to peer in.
    “Looks like offices. Just a lot of desks and leather chairs.”
    James shifted Carly in his arms and stifled his disappointment. “Let’s keep climbing. Doesn’t sound worth the time to look.”
    The higher they climbed, the more he wondered how self-sufficient Thadious Legacy’s Tower was. Maybe he didn’t need hovercrafts at all. If so, James had trapped them in the middle of a fallen city at the end of the world. Chances were he could get them back to the bunker, but what then? Wait in a cement box for the rest of his life?
    James pushed ahead, taking advantage of his new well of energy. With him