“Fuck, Paige…”
I’d waited my whole bloody life to hear him say my name like that, like you would oxygen or water, like I was essential to his survival. His fingers dug hard into the guardrail of the bed as I heard Lorcan making a call, alerting the others. My mates, I thought.
“Jesus, sweetheart. I…”
I wanted to lift my hand, cup his cheek, brush away the tears that formed in his eyes, then spilled down his cheeks, but something held me back.
“Beta Klein, I’ll need you to move to do my evaluation. It’s, of course, wonderful that the heir has woken, but she may not be out of the woods yet. She was hit incredibly hard.”
“Of course.”
I hated them right then, the people that had helped keep me alive, because I watched Mason pack it all up again, tamping what he felt down deep inside him. Was it going to stay there? my eyes asked. Even when the doctor asked me to look at him, I stared at Mason, waiting for some sort of sign. My gaze was pulled away by Lorcan putting the phone down. He just nodded, my mate, seeming to know exactly what I was thinking.
“When can I get out of here, Doc?” I rasped.
I needed to get home, pull my loved ones in close, and then find out who the fuck hurt my dad, then me.
“Earliest possible date that’s safe to take her home, Doc,” Mason said, regarding the man steadily. “Someone tried to kill her. They won’t get a chance again, and you don’t want another attempt taking place here.”
The doctor had been about to protest, but his mouth closed with a click at that.
“I don’t want her out of here before she’s well enough, but if it’s a matter of rest and pain relief, prescribe what you need and let her go into our care. We’ve got the guns, we’ve got the mechanisms to protect her, and we’ll use every single one of them,” Mason said.
“The others are coming,” Lorcan said to me in a low voice. “We’ve been sleeping in shifts, making sure you’re safe.”
I finally moved my hand, my limbs feeling heavy and clumsy, but when I reached for him, he met me more than halfway, cradling my hand in his.
“It’s OK. It’s gonna be OK.”
It wasn’t. A wave of tiredness came over me as the nurse gave me some pain killers, but as I sagged back on the bed, the awful stabbing in my head eased. I stared at the two of them, unable to look away as Mason conducted the negotiations with the doctor.
Mine, mine, mine… throbbed inside me, unable to settle and slow until all of my men were in the room.
Chapter 2
A fighter takes a hit, gets up, and keeps on going.
I’d been released from the hospital with a fistful of painkillers and a whole lotta warnings, but left I had. Initially, in a wheelchair, but as soon as we got to the carpark, I was up and out of it, but shaking, weak. How had that happened so fast? Whoever had tried to bring me down had done a damn good job.
But not enough.
Mason, Lorcan, they all swept in to try and help me, but I shook them off as I shot them apologetic looks. I wasn’t trying to be a hard-arse, except I was. They nodded, hovering like mother hens as I walked towards the car. Everything hurt, every footfall feeling like an explosion in my head, but I kept on going.
“She’s bruised, but the fracture to her skull has repaired itself. The headaches will persist for a little while. As the swelling goes down, they will stop. Just keep her quiet, still, and hydrated until they ease. Use the painkillers as directed. Waiting for the pain to reappear isn’t helpful,” the doctor had said to the guys as they quizzed him about releasing me.
Bruised I could deal with, fractured gave me a start. My jaw muscle flexed as I kept moving, but I was forced to stop that by a spike of pain in response. Lorcan got in the backseat and held a hand out to me as I got in. A wash of blessed relief came at his touch, wiping the hurt away, or at least beating it back somewhat. I looked up into those deep green eyes, saw it all there, up on the surface—pain, fear, anger, need, and worry, so much worry. When I glanced at the rear vision mirror, Mason’s eyes reflected the same swirl of emotion. The cab of the car felt too small to hold all of that, all of us.
“The others are at home,” Mason said. “They wanted to be here, but we need someone there at all times, just in case whoever it was comes back.”
My head jerked up at that, the pain letting me know what a bad idea that was.
“You think they will?”
I hated the waver in my voice, but Lorcan’s hand took mine as Mason turned around.
“If they do, we will fuck them up.” Each word was bitten off precisely.
I nodded, feeling it, that which had been tamped down, kept deep inside until I was well enough to deal with it. My wolf, she stretched, got to her feet, and then bared her fangs at this unseen enemy. We would take out this coward lurking in the shadows, swiping at me with man-made weapons, no doubt the same one who took out my father without even giving him the courtesy of fighting back. My fangs lengthened in my mouth, ready to rend and snap.
“Let’s go home,” I said in the hoarse voice of my wolf.
I arrived back to a wall of men.
“We’ve changed the codes to the gates
