Page 109 of Hero's Prize

Ella was here. She was alive. “Ella?”

She cupped his jaw with her hands. “He’s down. Tony is completely out. You stopped him. Let’s move away from him.”

She kicked the gun away from Tony’s motionless hand. Colton stayed where he was. Nothing felt right at all.

“I didn’t know if you would understand my message. I’m so glad you did.” She turned and smiled at him, that angelic smile he wanted to see every day for the rest of his life.

But right now, something was very wrong.

“Butterscotch.” The word came out slow, slurred. “I think I might be having another panic attack.”

All the color drained from her face as she looked over at him then ran to catch him as he toppled over.

“My other panic attacks didn’t feel like this.”

He felt pressure against his midsection.

“It’s not a panic attack. You’ve been shot.”

“Colton! Stay with me, Colton!” Ella grabbed Colton as he fell over. He was already out cold. She continued putting pressure on the bullet wound in his side.

He had dived in front of the bullet that Tony had meant for her.

She glanced over at Tony, wondering if she needed to restrainhim, but after the beating Colton had given him, he wouldn’t be waking up for quite a while.

And if he did wake up, she would shoot him herself. Right now, all that mattered was Colton. She needed to get him to medical attention now.

He groaned, regaining some consciousness, and she grabbed his hand and pushed it hard against his side.

“Pressure. Do you hear me, Colton? Press hard.”

He groaned unintelligibly, but his hand stayed there when she moved hers away. She rushed into the cabin’s small kitchen and started opening cabinets.

“First aid kit. Where are you?”

She found it in the third cabinet she opened then rushed back to Colton’s side. The wound didn’t seem to be near any vital organs, but she wasn’t a doctor. Plus, you didn’t need a medical degree to know that he was bleeding a lot, and that was going to become a problem.

She had to get him back to her car. But that was at least a mile away, and there was no way she could carry him.

She wrapped up the wound as best she could with the medical supplies, which should at least help slow the bleeding. But he was going to have to help her get him moved. She slapped his cheeks gently.

“Colton. We’ve got to go. We need to get you to the car.”

“Nap.”

“You can nap when you get to the car.”

Colton’s phone rang, and she saw it was Callum Webb.

“Callum, Colton’s been shot.” She could hear the hysteria in her own voice.

The older man muttered a curse. “How bad?”

“Not critical, I don’t think, but he’s bleeding. A lot. I need to get him to the car.”

“What about Tony?”

“He’s unconscious. Colton beat him pretty bad.”

---