Page 54 of Bound

Declan falls to the ground, and a blood-curdling scream rises from my lungs as I try to push myself from the couch to get to him.

I can’t lose him.

Not now.

Not after everything we’ve been through.

Finn fires from the threshold of the doorway, and both Yuri and Emil fall to the ground not far from Declan. His third shot hits the Pakhan. It knocks him off-kilter, but he grips the cream countertop of the small kitchen island and pulls himself to his feet. His eyes widen as the rest of the Evans brothers pour into the room. Turning his back, he blindly fires a few rounds as he retreats down the hall toward the fire escape.

Screaming his name as I rush forward, I fall to my knees when I reach Declan. I cannot contain my uncontrollable sobbing with fat tears streaming down my face. Moving on autopilot, I try to roll him onto his back. Liam joins me, easily flipping him over, and I gasp in horror at the sight. He hasn’t just been shot in the chest. He has two other bullet wounds—one in his side, and another in his shoulder, about two inches above the round placed by the Pakhan.

“Dec, baby…” I weep as I stroke his face. “Please, baby… I just got you…”

“Shhh,mo chéadsearc,” he groans, placing his hand over mine. “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily.”

Relieved beyond measure that he is still alive, I throw myself onto him to squeeze him tightly, causing him to grunt in pain. “I’m sorr–”

“Don’t you dare be sorry.” He pulls me back onto him and squeezes far too tightly. Yet, even though his embrace is so tight it hurts, I only want him to hold me closer. “I’d take a dozen more if it meant I got to touch you again.”.

“This is super fucking sweet and all,” Conor grits, clearly in pain of his own, “but you two do know that there are more fucking Bratva on their way, right?”

“Do we get to push your fucking Life Alert button, old man?” Finn hovers over us both. “Or do you think you can get your old arse off the floor?”

Even riddled with bullet wounds and in obvious pain, Declan looks as though he could spring from the floor to beat the piss out of Finn, who’s smirking like nothing just happened.

And suddenly, I’m beyond certain that he’s going to be perfectly fine.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

DECLAN

Two days later…

“Declan Cathal Evans!” Quinn exclaims. “Get your ass back in that bed.”

After leaving Emil’s apartment, I apparently lost consciousness as we were going down the stairs of the adjacent building to get back to the Tahoe and Suburban. My recollection is fuzzy, but between everyone who has come to repeatedly check on me, I’ve managed to put the pieces together.

Liam and Tristan carried me down the stairs and a half block to the SUVs. When I was unceremoniously loaded into the back, they drove me to the nearest twenty-four-hour animal hospital, where some poor veterinarian was threatened at gunpoint to perform surgery on me. Losing blood faster than he could work, Liam, Tristan, and Finn all literally pumped their life into me to keep me alive.

Rud ar bith do mo dheartháir.

I continue to get out of the bed, pained. “If you’re going to bark orders at me like that,mo chéadsearc, you better plan to beclimbing into it as well, fully prepared to ride my cock. If not, I’m not staying in this fucking bed.”

She throws her hands in the air, very aware that she is not going to win this argument with me. “At least let me get someone to help you downstairs.”

“I can do it myself.” I wince as I bend down to slide on a pair of pants. Being careful to not tear my stitches, I fumble through, pulling a Henley over my head and eventually working my arms into the sleeves.

“Seriously?” Tristan scoffs from the doorway. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Something that needs to be done.”

Something that should’ve already been done.

“You are a stubborn fuck.”

“I need to go see Rory,” I half-lie.

I’ll get there eventually.

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