Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Thigh,” Chance said, reaching for her. He wrapped his hands around it as I rose to my feet. We carefully carried her out of the room, stepping on anything that was in our way.
Reese barely glanced at us as she tried to put pressure on my mother’s wound. It didn’t seem to be making much of a difference, since it looked like the blood had mostly stopped already.
Forcing myself to look away, I carried Lucy through the kitchen to the hospital room.
Inside, Alice was just finishing up stitching a horrendous slash across Sven’s throat. He was out cold.
“Alice?” I called as we laid Lucy on the bed. Chance climbed on with her, his hand still gripping her thigh.
“I’ll be right there,” she replied, her voice rough. She turned to face us, and her eyes were dark with fear.
“Sven?”
“It wasn’t complete,” she said as she rushed to the sink. She quickly started scrubbing the blood from her hands. “The old fool made it back into the house. Lucy?”
“Thigh,” Chance replied.
“How bad?”
“Bad.”
“Baby,” I whispered, brushing Lucy’s hair back from her face. “Baby, wake up.”
“All right, let me see what we have,” Alice ordered Chance as she tugged a pair of gloves on. She grimaced when he let go.
“Alice,” Reese bellowed from the living room.
“Go tell her that I’ll help Mattie when I’m able,” Alice ordered Chance. “And please tell her that a gut wound won’t kill your mother, will you?”
“Do you know where Beau went?” Chance asked as he strode for the door.
“I sent him outside to find Matthias and Josiah.” Twisting, she grabbed a pair of shears off the little rolling table between the beds and began cutting Lucy’s leggings off. Beneath them was a large hole.
I looked at it with foggy detachment.
I’d seen hundreds of bullet wounds. Thousands, maybe. It was familiar, that hole.
“Ambrose,” Alice bellowed.
I looked at her in surprise.
“Stay with me, kid,” she ordered.
I nodded.
“Start an IV,” Alice said briskly.
“Right,” I said, my fingers tangling in Lucy’s hair as I pulled my hand from her cheek.
I reached for the supplies as Alice mumbled to herself. “No exit. Didn’t hit the bone. Where the hell is it?”
Setting out the supplies I’d need, I looked at Lucy’s arms. I wasn’t even sure where to place it. She was covered in blood and scratches. Reaching for the wipes on the cart, I froze when Alice called my name.
“I don’t care if she’s your mate,” she chided. “Go wash and glove.”
Fuck, I needed to get my head right.
I half-ran and half-stumbled over to the sink and began to scrub. Lucy would be okay. There was no other possibility. The Gods wouldn’t be cruel enough to take her when I’d just found her. I scrubbed harder. The Gods wouldn’t take Charlie’s sister, not after he’d lost his mate.
“Gloves,” Alice shouted.
I grabbed a towel to dry my hands and turned back toward the bed just as Matthias and Josiah stumbled into the room.
“How bad?” Alice barked.
“Two GSWs,” Josiah replied. “Side and shoulder.” He helped his brother lower to the floor.
“You’ll have to get in line, sweetheart,” Alice replied, all business. “Where the hell have you been?”
Matthias let out a choked laugh. “Taking care of the stragglers.”
I pulled on a pair of gloves.
“Josiah, you’re good?”
“Pretty much.” He limped toward the bed.
“Scrub,” Alice ordered him. “Take over for Ambrose.”
“Lucy?” Matthias asked, leaning over to see the bed.
“Gunshot to the thigh,” Alice replied as I reached the bed and leaned down to kiss my mate’s forehead. “It’s still in there.”
“I can start the IV,” I said, leaning back up.
“You’ll sit there and make moon-eyes at your mate,” Alice countered. “You’re in no shape to be any help.”
I nodded and pulled the gloves back off so I could lay my bare hands on her skin. I swallowed against the lump in my throat as I carefully pulled a piece of hair away from her neck and set it behind her.
“Damn, Ambrose,” Josiah said with a whistle as he began to clean her arm. “Your woman’s a fighter.”
I nodded, staring at Lucy’s face. She was so out of it that her eyes weren’t even fully closed. A sliver of white was showing between her lids. The round cheeks that I loved so much hollowed out because of the way her jaw hung slightly open.
It felt like I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.
“There you are,” Alice mumbled.
Lucy jerked.
Josiah lifted Lucy’s hand and sniffed it, letting out a noise of surprise.
“Was she shooting?” he asked Alice.
“Wake up, baby,” I whispered, putting my face close to hers. “Open those pretty brown eyes for me.”
“Best she’s not awake for this part,” Alice said dryly. “And yes, she was.”
“No shit?” Josiah asked.
“No shit,” Alice replied. “More than half those bodies in the living room are hers. Porch too.”
“Fucking hell,” Matthias said tiredly from his place on the floor.