She nodded and hurried to her office,falling into the chair behind her desk. She pulled the rag away andflinched at the sight. She’d need stitches. If the bullet had beensix inches to the left, it would’ve killed her, and that would’vebeen bad…like bad, bad.
She was the human embodiment of MotherNature, but she didn’t have the extra abilities like the shifters.If she was mortally wounded, it would kill her. If she died,so did the earth and all its inhabitants.
The sound of emergency personnel arrivingeased a little of the tension she was feeling. Thankfully, thediner had been slow, and only a handful of customers had been therebetween the breakfast and lunch rush. From what she’d seen beforeGarrett arrived, no one was injured. She’d taken the worst ofit.
The blood slowed from the pressure she waskeeping on the wound, but it wasn’t stopping. The moment she wentto stand from her seat, she felt a wave of dizziness come over her,sending her ass right back into the seat.
“Woah,” the sheriff gasped as he entered heroffice. “You’re white as a ghost.”
“Blood loss,” she frowned. “I need anothertowel. There are some under the sink.”
“What?” he asked, going to her attachedbathroom to grab what she needed. The male looked worried for once,and that scared her. What had happened outside after she was sentto the office? “Why aren’t you healing?”
“I won’t heal like them,” she admitted,accepting the towel. The sheriff produced a pair of blue latexgloves from his pocket and quickly put them on. “Let me look atit.”
When she pulled away the new towel, Garrettnarrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you have their healingabilities?”
“I am Mother Earth,” she reminded him,refraining from rolling her eyes. “I heal as the earth heals…withtime.”
“Are you serious?” he snarled, his eyesflashing white. The angel inside him was rearing its head, andwhile she appreciated it, she didn’t really want to discuss toomuch of her life with the lawman.
“Look, Garrett,” she began after a longsigh. “I need stitches. There is no need for an antibiotic. I canuse the earth for any infections I might get from the wound.”
“Can you go to a human hospital?” he askedas he swatted her hand away from the rag, using his gloved hands toput pressure to the wound.
“I…I really don’t know,” she answered.Honestly, she didn’t know if they would question her should theydraw blood. She was in human form, but she didn’t know if herchemical makeup was the same as the humans. “I don’t want to riskit, though.”
“Well, someone out there knows about you,”he growled. “This had to be connected to the bears. No one shootsup the town. We don’t have that type of violence here.”
Garrett was right. Olive Branch was a safe,quiet little town. They’d had some run-ins with a few bad eggs, butthey were mostly from the Memphis area, trying to come across thestate line to look for more homes to rob, but the sheriff’sdepartment had kept that to a minimum.
“Whoever it is, I want them found, Garrett,”she ordered, feeling her eyes swirl. “They came here to hurt me,and in the process, they hurt humans.”
“The humans are fine,” Garrett assured her,taking a peek at the wound as he knelt at her side. “No one wasinjured.”
“Still, they were attacked, and I don’t wantthem to be scared to come here,” she fretted. Gaia loved thehumans. Well, the good ones. The ones who destroyed her earth werethe lowest of scum. Whoever shot up her business was going to begrouped into that category as far as she was concerned.
“Let me call the pride’s healer to come hereand stitch you up,” Garrett offered. “I don’t think you should begoing to the hospital.”
“I think you’re right,” she replied, andhissed when he removed the rag.
“Your bleeding is under control, and that’sa good sign,” he replied, but his brow was furrowed. The lawmanused his other hand to retrieve his phone from his pocket. “Youscared me, Gaia.”
“I scared myself, Garrett,” she replied ashe connected the call with the panther’s doctor.
“Stay here,” the sheriff ordered. “I’ll gocheck on things out front and get someone over here to either boardup your windows or replace them before the day is through.”
“Thank you.”
The door to her office was pushed open asDrake, Rex, and Gunnar entered, stopping in their tracks when theysaw the sheriff still holding the rag to her arm. They all startedyelling questions at the same time, and she couldn’t understandanyone while they growled through their questions.
“Calm down,” she warned, raising her freehand in the air. “I’ll explain everything.”
“Keep pressure on that, and I’ll be back,”Garrett stated as he nodded toward the bears. She took over withthe rag and watched as the male left the office. He didn’t evenflinch when all three of the Morgan brothers growled in hisdirection.
“So, what the hell just happened?” Drakebellowed.
“Have a seat, calm down, and I’ll fill youin,” she promised and relaxed in her chair for the first time sincethe bullets had started flying in her diner.
Chapter 8
Anna Claire paced as she waited to hear fromher mate. Ransom was across the room, rolling his eyes at her.Tessa had been sorting through the package Tulley had deliveredhalf an hour ago, and Ada was watching the two cubs play on theliving room floor.
“No news is good news,” Tessa reminded her.“If anything happened to Gaia, Drake would’ve called already.”
“I guess you’re right,” she replied andpressed a hand to her stomach. The thought of someone shooting upher diner made Anna Claire sick. “Do you think it’s thehunters?”
“At this point, I’m sure it was.” Tessasighed and dropped the packets of seeds on the table. “The sheriffis working to find out who the hacker is, and I’m positive he’salso trying to get the information taken off the internet.”
Anna Claire bit her finger as she thought.The dark web was accessible, but what would they search for to findthe information the hacker was releasing to the public? She reallywished she had
