Page 37 of Falling for her Guardian

A bomb!

He dropped her suitcase and dove through the portal, wrapping himself around Seren and calling for Willow to run from the bomb.

As the bomb exploded, everything went first bright white and then terrifyingly dark.

Seren was tackled from behind by Storm, who carried her a few feet with his momentum before they both tumbled to the ground. He shouted for Willow to run and said there was a bomb.

A bomb?

And then it went off. Storm was wrapped around her, and he growled loudly and then went quiet.

Or she’d gone deaf. She couldn’t really tell.

There was a humming quiet in the darkness as she lay gasping for breath in Storm’s arms, protected by his big body and cushioned on the ground by her backpack that had gotten caught under her when she’d fallen.

She heard the echoing sound of people yelling, and she blinked a few times to clear the haze from her vision. Then, she had to squint as bright flashlights caught her.

“Ow, shit,” she said, lifting a hand to shield her eyes.

“You okay?” a man said, his voice sounding far away even though he was close to her.

“My ears aren’t working right,” she said, shaking her head. “Storm?”

She swiveled to look at him, but he wasn’t moving. His eyes were closed, and she could smell the coppery tang of blood.

“Storm!”

People moved around them, and she leaned over to see that his back had been ripped to shreds by the bomb. He was bleeding profusely, the white snow turning dark red underneath him.

“No! Shit, Storm! Help him!”

Someone pulled her to her feet and her vision tunneled.

“I’ve got you, Seren.” She looked up and found Storm’s brother, Hunter, holding her.

“Storm,” she said.

“We’ll get him to help, but you need help too.”

She wanted to argue that Storm needed more help than she did, but everything went suddenly sideways, and she barfed up the entire dinner and dessert, then passed out.

“Ow, ow,” Seren said, pressing her hand to her forehead. Everything was ringing in her head. Bells on top of bells.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

“Melody?” she asked, thinking she recognized the voice of one of the elf healers.

“Yes, it’s me. Hunter brought you in with Storm. You two have been spending a lot of time in the infirmary.”

“Is he okay?”

She sat up slowly, Melody helping her. Her vision was a little blurry but cleared, and she realized her hearing was back to normal.

“He’s…still unconscious. I gave you some healing medication to speed up your natural healing abilities.”

“What about Storm?” She turned on the hospital bed and looked down at herself. She was in a gown and alone in the room with the healing elf.

“He’s very injured, Seren. Santa has tried to heal him, but he won’t wake up.”

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