James shoved a table in front on the door, then he took a gun from his waist and threw it at Angel who caught it. Kaiden raced down the passage and into his room.

I was fixed to the spot unable to comprehend what was happing.

"How many?" Angel asked, his exterior calm

How could he be so calm when my rising panic was making it difficult to breathe?

"Too many," James replied and my blood froze. "We have guys an hour out."

They shared a look that spoke volumes. What did that mean for us?

Angel's hand wrapped around my arm and he yanked me behind the kitchen counter in the open plan living area. "You stay here. You do not move."

I nodded.

"You don't move from this spot. Do you understand?" His eyes leveled with mine and I nodded again.

I wasn't as brave as they were to face the danger head-on. Even after all my training with James, I was still too scared to be of any help.

Fear fixed me to the spot where I huddled out of sight as Angel left me. I managed to peer around the side of the counter to see James by one window and Angel by the other. The driver was huddled behind the sofa.

Kaiden returned with guns and something that looked like a bullet proof vest.

Another shot pierced the air and the window shattered as Kaiden bent down to fasten the vest to me. He was rough and quick.

I was in shock and trying to figure out what was going on. Memories of Bruno came rushing back at that same panic that had held me then held me now.

When Kaiden made a move to stand I stopped him with a hand to his arm. "I need you all to get out of this safely. All of you." I emphasized, not able to fathom if something happened to them. He nodded, like he had the power to grant my request.

There were more shots and I closed my eyes unable to face the fear that something would happen to the people I loved. I even held affection for James, who was firing off shots as fast as they were coming in.

Bullets hit above me, leaving holes in the wooden cabinets.

"One shooter at two o'clock," James called out.

"I got him," Kaiden replied, tersely.

"Another one at eleven o'clock." It was James calling out all the positions.

It was still dark outside, making it much more difficult to spot the enemy.

There was so much shooting I couldn't tell which were ours and which were theirs. I pressed my hands over ears trying to fight the panic that clawed me from inside.

We were unprepared. We had been caught off guard and it had been all my fault. If I hadn't left we wouldn't be out in the woods somewhere trying to fight a battle we had already lost. There was no way this would have happened if we had been back at the house.

Slowly, unable to hide any longer, I moved to be able to watch, hoping and praying for some sort of miracle.

Despite being taken by surprise they worked like a team, calling out instructions and executing them. It was the years they had grown up together that allowed them to work this efficiently.

"I'm out," Angel yelled and Kaiden threw him a magnum.

Angel caught it and reloaded the gun.

The fear in me respected how they all faced the danger with a confidence I had wanted to foster.

The driver stood by the third window with Kaiden. He was the only one besides me who struggled to keep up with the shooting. Then he gasped. A deep crimson stain appeared on his shirt as he fell to his knees. He had been shot in the shoulder.

I couldn't just do nothing. This felt like the Bruno scene all over and again. I had sworn I would do things different if I ever had the chance. Now was the time to step in and help.

I squeezed my eyes closed, building up the courage to do what I hadn't before.

There was no way I would be able to live with myself if I didn't do something to help. I worked out the safest way the get to the injured man before I started to crawl toward him.

When I reached him, he had his hand pressed to the wound.

"Let me see," I said, as I ripped the shirt open. He flinched.

"It's okay," I soothed, swallowing to try and keep myself from feeling sick at the sight of his wound.

"It hurts," he moaned, closing his eyes briefly.

Slowly, I rolled him slightly over to check the back of the wound and was relieved to see an exit.

"It looks like it's gone straight through."

"I told you not to move," Angel said, taking a break between firing shots.

"He needs my help," I replied over the shooting. "I can't just sit and do nothing."

Even if we were all going to die, I couldn't do nothing while someone needed my help.

But it wasn't like I had any training or experienced but I kept my hand on the wound and applied pressures while assuring my patient that everything would be okay, even if I had no idea if that was even true.

It kept him calmer and I felt like I was helping in some way. I wasn't some helpless woman who couldn't handle a stressful situation.

Then there was a shot that came through the back door in the kitchen. Wood splintered.

"We're surrounded," James announced.

I fought the thought that we wouldn't make it out of this alive. Kaiden, James and Angel didn't miss a beat and continued to return fire.

"I'm out," Kaiden announced, when he ran out of bullets.

He moved to asses the driver's wound and take over from me.

I tried to wipe the blood from my hands onto the shirt I wore.

Angel swore. "Me too."

James was the only one still shooting.

The panic rose in me. Was this how I was going to die? It was a thought everyone experienced when they were in a position they knew there was very little chance of surviving.

Angel huddled by the window as he got his phone out and made a call. I watched his expression for any sign of hope but there wasn't any.

"Our guys are still too far out."

They wouldn't get here in time.

There was no hope.

Then when James stopped shooting, all the shooting ended. A desperate heavy silence settled over us. It was hard to assure the injured driver when I knew none of us would make it out.

We had no way of defending ourselves.

I sat back on my hunches and my eyes locked with Angel. How was this happening just when we had started to clear the air and figure things out?

James backed away from the window and bent down to retrieve a knife from a holster on his leg. It reminded me of the pig and my stomach turned.

Angel moved to where I was. I stood and he took my hand into his.

I could hear someone yell something outside and James moved to the window.

"What's going on?" Kaiden asked, his hands still on the driver's wound.

James looked over to me. "They are here for her. If we send her out they won't kill the rest of us."

Angel's hand tightened its grip on mine. They all shared a look as I reeled from the knowledge that if I was willing to die, I could save them.

I looked to Angel and he immediately shook his head when he saw my expression. "No. It's not even an option."

He refused to even consider it.

When I looked to James, his grip on his knife tightened and I knew his answer. He was ready to fight.

Then Kaiden shook his head when my eyes drifted to his. "Never thought I would agree with Angel on anything but there is no way we are handing you over to save ourselves. I know your adrenaline is off the charts so I'm going to put this down to a momentary lapse in reason."

I bit my lip to stop the emotional wave I was riding from drowning me.

"We are in this together," Angel said.

"Don't I get a say in this?" I asked, trying to find a way for them to agree to it.

James stood and walked over to stand on the other side of me. "No."

I couldn't watch them die for me, even if I ultimately joined their fate.

The driver moaned as Kaiden applied more pressure to the wound.

There was no place to run or to hide. The shooters would figure out we were out of bullets and then they would move in.

For the first time in my life, I felt a real fear. The type that makes you look back on your life, feeling all the regret at the things you never did and should have.

I looked to the man beside me. My heart filled with emotion.

"I love you," I blurted out. I didn't want to die without telling him how I felt.