“You should have killed me a long time ago. Then your mate wouldn’t be about to bleed out in front of you,” said Viktor. His lion went crazy, and in a fast move he brought his claws across the front of Viktor’s chest, slashing open his jugular on the way down and feeling immense pleasure in the fact it was he who would bleed out. He continued to claw at Viktor until there was nothing left but the tattered remains of a body lying on his floor, and Maverick was sure the bastard was dead and wouldn’t be able to hurt Kettah again.
Kettah.
He was by her side in the next instant. Nudging her with his head, he whimpered. She mumbled something, and even though she was weak from her blood loss, she lifted her hand and ran it through his mane. Maverick shifted back into his human form, not caring that his arm had a bullet wound in it, or that he was naked, and scooped her up. There were three corpses on the ground, and only a small puddle of blood where the other male should be. If the fucker had left, then all the better. He headed out of the apartment, but before he left walked out the front door he grabbed two throws that were over the couch, one for her and the other for him. He hurriedly made his way through the broken glass that littered the hallway, through the broken door that they had burst through, down the stairs, and out to his truck. He heard Trace’s motorcycle before the headlight pierced the night. When he had gotten the call from his friend, which seemed long ago but in reality was just a short time, he had known Viktor’s men were in Sweet Water. They had been asking around about him at Dakota Dark’s. It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that one of the employees came to tell Trace about the males inquiring about Maverick. By then Viktor’s men had already found where he was.
Trace pulled his Harley to a stop and was striding forward just as Maverick pulled open the passenger side door of his truck.
“I came over right away, but they are having that damn festival and I had to take the back road.” Trace looked between him and Kettah, and he sensed the man’s bear right below the surface. “Who do I need to take care of?” Trace cracked his knuckles and started toward the garage.
“It’s done. There isn’t anyone alive in there.” Trace stopped and eyed the garage before looking back at Maverick. He had his cell out and was punching in Luke Landon’s number, the local physician and only male he trusted with this. “You know any guys that can get rid of the bodies?”
Trace nodded. “Yeah, man, just get her to the doctor.” Maverick was already in the truck before Trace finished talking.
Maverick couldn’t get to Luke’s fast enough, especially when his mate was bleeding out in his truck, and the threat of her dying right before him was a very real possibility.
****
Maverick lifted Kettah out of the cab of his truck and tucked her closely to his body. Blood marred his chest and arm, some from his own wounds, but the majority of it was from his mate. The deep gash on her thigh wasn’t bleeding as steadily as it had been, but he knew nothing about wounds like this. He knew about bullet holes to heads. His home was a bloody mess, but none of that mattered. The only thing he cared about was getting Kettah to Luke’s office and getting his mate healed. She was too weak from the blood loss to fully shift and help with the healing process, so Doctor Landon needed to tend to her wounds so she could shift enough to speed the process along. His heart was beating a mile a minute, because the danger that Kettah had been in, and the very real thought that he almost lost her, had fear moving inside of him like a vicious animal, waiting to tear him apart from the inside out.
It was dark, and the only lights on were the streetlamps, casting their muted yellow glow. Luke had been patching up his and Trace’s wounds after hours for years, and he was the only male they trusted when it came to tending to them. They could heal themselves, even withstand some pretty gruesome wounds, but there were times when it was just a bit too much to handle, and they needed medicine only Luke could deliver, and where confidentiality were pretty fucking important. There was just something inside of the cougar shifter that told Maverick he was genuine, without the taint of vileness and deceit that he picked up in people a lot. He hated bringing him into this, especially now that he was mated and had a family of his own, but Maverick was desperate for the first time in his life.
He moved swiftly and quietly to the back door of the building, and it opened right as he reached it. Luke stood on the other side, a soft glow surrounding him. He ushered Maverick inside, shut the door and locked it before facing him. Luke’s concerned gaze was on Kettah.
“Hurry, follow me.”