It was her. The smile on her face, the gleaming amusement in her eyes, the color in her cheeks.
Everything our fathers had ever shared about what it was like to find your Omega had been true.
Now that I had Kitania, there was nothing that would keep us apart.
Especially since D told us she’d agreed to bond. I couldn’t fucking wait to make this connection between us official.
This woman? She was mine.Forever.
A sound cracked through the air, and my body reacted before my mind could catch up. One second, Kit’s melodic laugh surrounded me; the next, it morphed into a shocked cry of pain.
Blood blossomed across her arm as we all moved in unison, our training and instincts taking over. We formed a human barricade around her, our bodies tensed and ready to absorb any further assault. Gio shoved Kit down, his massive frame curling over her like a living shield.
“You got her?” Marco’s voice was sharp, urgent.
“Go!” Dimitri barked, and Marco took off at a sprint toward the car. The engine roared to life within seconds, tires shrieking as he swung the vehicle around, jumping the curb to meet us on the sidewalk.
We moved as one, hustling Kit into the backseat with swift, practiced motions. The doors slammed shut, and we were on theroad in a flash, the city a blur of neon and asphalt whipping past as Marco drove like a demon possessed.
“What the fuck!” Gio roared while Dimitri and I frantically patted down our trembling mate, checking for injuries and trying to see where the bullet hit.
“I-it’s my arm.” Her voice was shaky, pinched and pained, her breath coming in ragged pants.
Her palm peeled away, covered in hot, sticky blood. The sight of crimson staining her pretty sweater along her bicep made me want to vomit.
My Omega was hurt. Shot.
Someone had fucking shot her.
My vision went hazy at the edges as a rage the likes I’d never experienced hit me like a freight train—hard, fast, and all at once.
Dimitri was already on his phone, the notes a low, dangerous growl as he spoke to the person on the other end. “We’ll be there in five.” He hung up abruptly, barking out, “Doc’s at the club.”
A car horn blasted as Marco wrenched the wheel and took a corner so hard the vehicle listed sideways, but speed limits were irrelevant. Every second counted. Every drop of her blood that soaked into her clothes was a ticking clock. What if the bullet hit an artery? What if she bled out?
“Tommy!” Dimitri called, and I realized it wasn’t the first time he’d tried to get my attention.
“Yeah,” I rasped, blinking rapidly to bring myself back.
“Doc said to make a tourniquet and apply it above the gunshot wound.”
This. This was something I could do. Swallowing thickly, I reached for Kit and quickly found the tear at the center of the growing red stain, the place the bullet had pierced. I ripped it open, inspecting the injury the best I could in the dark interiorof the car. Hands covered with her blood, tore a section off the bottom of my shirt, then bound it high on her bicep.
Déjà vu hit me square in the chest. Our roles had been reversed the night we met, and fuck what I wouldn’t give to have taken that bullet for her. To save her this pain. This agony.
Her whimpered groan sliced at my heart. I’d done that. I’d made her pain worse. And yet, it was a necessary evil to try and stop the bleeding.
“We’re almost there,” Marco shouted from the front, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.
Kit’s face was a mask of shock, her lips pale and trembling. She wasn’t crying—she was too far gone for that—but the misery in her eyes was enough to flay me alive. This was supposed to be a perfect night, and now...
“We need to add compression,” Giovanni said, pulling his shirt off and pressing the balled-up fabric against Kit’s wound.
She flinched and let out another small, tortured whimper. The sound made my fists clench so tightly I thought my bones would snap.
Blood beaded on Kit’s lip as she bit into it hard enough to break the skin, all in an attempt to curb her agony. “Who knew getting shot would hurt so much?” She tried to joke, but it fell horribly flat. “I-I’m okay. I promise. It just… hurts. I don’t think it’s life threatening.”
“Doctor. Now.” It was all Dimitri could manage, his Alpha so close to the surface each word was a clipped bark.