Page 78 of Shield and Savior

Well, that’s never a good phrase, ever.

Alana watches me like she’s making a decision. “Macie,” she calls out.

“Yeah.”

“You can trust Izzy.”

I guess running into a burning building scores you a few brownie points.

Once the commands are issued, Alana allows the medical team to examine her. The EMTs ask me a ton of questions while giving me oxygen. Someone gives me a blanket as I sit on the side of the ambulance. Lance is already on a stretcher. He’s also bleeding, but it’s his arm and back that’s a mess. “Is he okay?” I ask, but no one answers me.

I want to scream and run to his side, but he’s already loaded up, and there’s some douchey firefighter in my way.

The sirens sing as they drive away with the only man I’ve ever loved.

ChapterThirty-Nine

Lance.

It’s been three days since the explosion. My hearing and vision are returning, but there’s a constant ringing in my ears. Between the beeps of the monitors and the hum of the machines in my hospital room, I can’t tell how much of my brain is making up the sounds or filling them in.

The boys came by after school today, loading me up with pictures and get-well cards. Izzy was treated for smoke inhalation but got off pretty much unharmed. Thank God.

I don’t have much memory of what happened after the explosion. I assume Alana carried me out. In the haze and noise, two angels stood beside me and saved my life. But I’m pissed at everyone too. What if Izzy had gotten hurt? What would happen to Drew? Why would Alana put herself in such a dangerous situation? Why did Specs shoot when he did? Why did I run in so unprepared? We have golden horseshoes up our asses.

The only thing I know for sure is Delta used his connections from Mastodon to free Mike from the holding cell. They planned their attacks to divide and conquer, to weaken Mastodon and the Four Families. If it had worked, Majesty would be hitting the streets in a week. But it didn’t. And now two of The Deviant’s agents are dead.

Still, it’s the timing of everything that’s bothering me. Drew’s father stayed away for ten years and suddenly showed up, attacked and stalked her aggressively. Alana was worried she had a mole in Mastodon. Best I can figure, Delta fed Mike Bringsea Izzy’s local address. But how did he find her down south in the first place?

Our insider at the FBI already scrubbed the network, and Izzy’s address wasn’t on file. Using Izzy to get to the Four Families doesn’t make sense. She was never involved. It all feels too…personal.

My nurses flutter in and out, adjusting things, asking me questions. I do the best I can to answer them, but I don’t know if my answers are right. The nurse drops off another set of flowers and gifts.

Besides the broken arm, the burn that will need skin grafting, smoke damage to her lungs, and the concussion, Alana is doing fine. She’s pissed that she needs to take a six-week brain break, where she can’t do any major thinking. Which is a herculean task for her. She gets fifteen minutes a day to use her gray matter, and it will eventually work its way back up to full time. It’s not like she has a whole business and an investigation she needs to run.

Izzy comes in and sits on the side of my bed. She still has a lingering cough from the smoke, but she seems to be uninjured. It’s the greatest gift I could’ve gotten.

She pushes my hair out of my eyes. Some of it was burned off, but it should all grow back. I’m kinda afraid to see the damage. She says it isn’t bad, but I don’t know what her definition of bad is. “How are you feeling today?”

“Pain meds are nice to take the edge off. They’re sending me home tomorrow. I’m not sure why they’re keeping me here tonight.”

“I heard the nurses talking. You’re getting gold star treatment since the owner of the hospital put in a special request.”

Owner of the hospital? Izzy hands me my phone, and after a quick google search, I’m surprised but not shocked at all. It’s a Cerberus Medical Collective hospital. Hadeon owns it. Because of course he does.

“How are you holding up?” I take her hand and press it to my lips. She tastes like hand lotion. Not the best flavor, but it makes her skin soft.

She gives me a little shrug. “So busy I haven’t had time to process all the terrible things. I almost lost my son and you in the span of an hour. It’s a lot.” Her eyes get all glassy as she blinks a few times. “I keep waiting for a moment when everything calms down, and I can breathe…without coughing.”

“I’m so sorry about this.”

She pulls her hand away. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But you’re sad and hurt, and I didn’t protect you from that.”

She shakes her head and rests it on my chest, careful not to tangle in any of the wires. “It’s not your job to protect me anymore. We’re a team now. We protect each other.”

My throat tightens, and my eyes burn, even without the smoke. She saved me. She saved Alana. If Izzy hadn’t come in when she did, Alana and I would be past tense. Alana would never leave me, but she was moving too slow. At some point, she must’ve reached that conclusion. She would’ve died carrying me instead of walking away and saving herself. Then, like an angel, Izzy comes out from the smoke and flames and helps us down.

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