“I’ve got the girl. Let’s go.”
Not daring to reach out to Michaels or Thatch, as soon as my eyes landed on Jenson with a woman thrown over his shoulder, I manoeuvred the girl into my arms and hauled arse. “Kent,” I said en route, “two coming out. Doc’s unconscious. Last girl’s also out of it. Make sure medical is on standby.”
“Head out the front. There’s a team waiting.”
“Got it.” Trying not to jolt the slight girl in my arms, I slowed down just as I approached the door. Before I could reach out, it opened, the same guy, Meadows, at the door.
“I’ll take her.” He reached for her, and I readily handed her over. Any other time, I would have been eager to see her safely in an ambulance, but with the fight still raging between the vamp, Thatch, and Michaels, I needed to get back there.
“Thanks.” With a quick turn, I dashed back through the steel door, finding Michaels pulling himself up off the floor and Thatch flying through the air. Eyes wide and fear crashing through me, I pulled my gun, switching off IH. As I shifted my finger, the vampire snapped his gaze to me. His eyes were shot through with red, nothing I’d ever seen before.
I pulled the trigger, emptying the round. Each bullet missed its mark. The vamp moved so fast he outran a bullet. What the hell? Pausing, the vampire tilted his head. The sound of feet headed in our direction. As if that was his cue, he spun on his heel and charged the concrete wall, breaking through the barrier as if it was no thicker than cardboard.
“Out the back,” I hollered, trying to redirect the help coming our way. It worked, the sound changing direction. My plan to do the same cut short when Thatch’s groan sliced through the air. Following the scent of his blood that had also registered, I went to my knees before him.
Anger fought worry for dominance as my eyes arrowed in on the metal rod protruding from his side, a few inches left of his belly button. With my hand pressing against his chest as Thatch started to come to, I prepared myself for battle. A hurt shifter could likely lash out or simply react and try to jump up, potentially doing lasting damage. No way could I let that happen to Thatch. He’d already been through enough.
“Michaels.” My voice was steady despite the anxiety clawing through me.
His groggy moan was his response.
“You doing okay, man? What do you need?”
Thatch’s eyes rolled behind his lids, and I held on to him a little firmer.
Michaels’s grunt was followed by “Yeah. Took a whack to my head. Nothing else. All good.”
Relief had me taking a deep breath. “Okay, good. Get your arse here then and call the EMTs in.”
“Fuck. Thatch?”
“They’re on their way,” Kent said through the comms.
“Yeah. He’ll be o—”
Wide, panicked eyes peered back at me as soon as Thatch came to. His chest twitched under my hand. A loud inhale through his nose came next, and he glanced away from me, his head moving, searching almost frantically.
“Hey, there.” My voice brought his attention back to me. “Thatch, you’re okay. Just focus on me and take some slow, shallow breaths, yeah?” Miraculously, calm laced my voice, and I willed my heart rate to slow. “We need help to get this out of you safely, okay, so that means keeping your arse still and letting these guys”—I tilted my head to the crew who’d just entered the room, assuming they were the EMTs Kent had sent—“do their thing, then we can get you patched up and let the new awesome shifter healing do its magical mojo shit, yeah?”
When the right side of his mouth tipped up into a smile, despite the pain registering in his eyes, I was sure I was going to start stroking his face inappropriately and whispering sweet nothings to him. It took everything in me to not do that.
When I’d seen his body thrown like a ragdoll by that jacked-up vampire and then registered his pain, despair had hit me harder than I’d thought possible. Without a doubt, Thatch meant more to me than a boss or a friend. And while I hadn’t been fooling myself to the contrary, I had convinced myself that something between us could wait until this investigation was locked up tight. But his prone form, the scent of his blood, the fear in his eyes… all of that had hit me harder than a freakin’ bowling ball.
Losing him….
I shook my head, a flash of emotion taking flight inside me.
A gasp of breath and a wince followed Thatch raising his hand to me. Wide-eyed, I realised his intention and leaned over a little, allowing his palm to cup my cheek. “I’ll be fine,” he croaked. “The magical mojo shit will start working soon.” He coughed and groaned loudly, his hand falling and landing on the steel pole in his side.
It was enough of a wake-up call for me to say, “Okay, hero. Paws off, and no getting handsy while we’re in public.” I cast a glance to the young EMT, a panther shifter by her scent, crouching next to me. I threw her a wink. “It’s a problem, I know. When I come in such a spectacular package as this…” I shrugged, then focussed once more on Thatch, whose eyes shone from his most recent movement. “… it’s no wonder even the big man in charge gets the feels.”
The woman blushed while Thatch groaned and Kent said, “You made me lose my damn appetite.”
“WILL YOU STOP?”
I froze and looked at the iced tea and slab of cake I was carrying. “You don’t like iced tea and chocolate goodness?” Disbelief had me raising my brows. “Did something else happen when that vamp kicked your arse? Did the steel cut through some sort of good-taste artery, or are you just being a stubborn idiot who
