“He’s right next to you. I think he’s just waiting to catch you,” Stephanie said softly.
“Why would he catch me?” And why did everything look so fuzzy?
“You do realize you’re bleeding profusely, right? Now, put down the gun and let me apply pressure to that before you pass out.”
Lacy hadn’t even noticed the gun was in her hand, yet when she moved to hand it to Stephanie, the pain that shot through her shoulder nearly blinded her.
Once her vision cleared, Lacy noted two things. One, she was on the ground with her shirt wadded against her shoulder, and Stephanie all but on top of her holding pressure. Second, was a large black wolf that was herding Ethan back to the trees.
“No!” Lacy tried to call out, but her voice cracked and died in her throat.
“He can’t be here right now, Lacy,” Stephanie soothed. “He needs to be human and clothed, or he’s likely to be shot himself. We’ve got to get you to the hospital, too. You may need surgery. It looks like a through-and-through, but there’s no telling what the damage is without some scans.”
While Lacy understood that, she really wanted Ethan with her. She hadn’t been able to tell him she was staying.
Of course, once the paramedics arrived and the morphine was given, Lacy wasn’t really in any shape to talk anyway.
Chapter Fifteen
Shot.
Lacy had been shot, and all because he hadn’t gotten to her in time. He’d failed her. He’d failed to save his mate from a deranged killer.
Now, Ethan paced the waiting room floor, snarling every time someone tried to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, arm, back…
The next person to touch him was liable to lose a digit.
For nearly two hours, he had been unable to feel anything through their bond, and Ethan felt as if his sanity was hanging on by a frayed thread. If he lost her, he wasn’t sure what he’d do.
“She’ll be fine, Ethan.” Stephanie kept trying to assure him of that, but there had been so much blood. She was a human, and they were so much more fragile than werewolves. “She’s tougher than she looks, but let me see if there are any updates.”
Out in the hall, Ethan saw a man in a white lab coat coming their way only to be stopped by Stephanie, who smiled broadly and waved Ethan out.
Finally!
Tearing from the room, he was at her side almost instantly. “So?”
“She’ll be just fine. There’s some muscle damage and a few torn ligaments, but I don’t feel surgery is necessary at this point.” The doctor relayed his information in such a calm and collected manner that Ethan felt some of his tension ease. “We’re giving her fluids and a unit of blood, but she should be fine to go home tomorrow, provided she doesn’t develop any complications.”
“Thank you,” Stephanie spoke up, asking the main question he wanted an answer to. “Can she have visitors now?”
“Of course, though I would like to keep it to a minimum. She needs plenty of rest right now.”
As soon as Ethan had the room number, he was off at a quick clip to search for his mate. Peering in from the doorway, he took in the sight of Lacy’s small frame nestled in the hospital bed. A tall pole stood beside it with fluids and blood hanging in plastic bags that flowed down into the tubes running to her small hand. Her right shoulder was engulfed in a large, bulky bandage, and Ethan felt guilt assault him once more.
He moved to the chair next to her bed. He took comfort in the steady rise and fall of her chest. Knowing that Stephanie and the doctor were confident in her recovery gave him some relief, but he really wanted to see her lovely violet eyes.
Ethan reached out and slid his hand, palm up, beneath hers where it rested on the bed. He wasn’t about to touch her injured arm. This one had an IV protruding from the back, but he needed to hold her, and if all he could hold was her hand, that’s what he’d do.
“Lacy? Baby, can you hear me? Please wake up,” he begged. “I’m so sorry. I tried to give you the space you asked for, and as a result, I failed to keep you safe. Please forgive me.”
“I was trying to save you, you big dope.” Her voice was low, sleepy, but it was still the most wonderful sound in his world. Lacy’s heavy lidded eyes watched him, her hand giving his a slight squeeze.
But wait. “What did you say?” She’d tried to save him?
Lacy attempted to shift in the bed but winced when her shoulder protested the movement. “Angel, which is not a very fitting name, was going to shoot you. I couldn’t let her do that.”
She’d been defending him? It had all happened so fast, but as he replayed the scene in his mind, Ethan realized she was right. Lacy had taken a bullet that was meant for him.