Page 131 of Theirs to Rule

Talon's voice brought me back. "I'm at the hospital. We’ll talk when you get here." He was ready to hang up when I stopped him.

"Wait. Was anyone else hurt?"

"Two of my men were killed. Ryker took a nasty shot to the leg, but he’ll live. But Vance…” Talon’s voice seemed to choke on the words trying to escape his mouth. “Vance is fighting for his life."

The words hit me like a physical blow. I sank back into the chair, Elise's hand still clutched in mine, her eyes wide and scared. This happened because of me. There were people dead, because of me. Two so far, but it could get worse...

It could be Dante.

"We'll be there as soon as we can," I said, the determination in my voice belying the fear that churned in my stomach.

After hanging up, I looked at Elise, trying to muster a reassuring smile. "We have to go to the hospital. Dante's been hurt, and Kage... Kage's been taken."

Her eyes filled with tears, but she nodded, a brave little soldier.

I blinked back my own tears. Dante. What if we got to the hospital and it was too late? What if he was gone? And Kage. I needed Kage here, his strength, his sureness. I needed Ty—I didn’t care if he was an asshole sometimes. He was my asshole, and I wanted all of him, alive and well.

The drive to the hospital was a blur and when we got there, men from Devil's Outcasts lined the hallways. Among them, I spotted Raye, the fiery-haired bartender from Devil’s Engine, her usual vivacious demeanor nowhere in sight. She was folded into Talon’s arms, her body shaking with sobs.

As we approached, a doctor emerged from the ICU, his expression somber yet hopeful. "It was touch and go for a while, but Vance should make a full recovery," he announced, and a collective sigh of relief swept through the corridor.

Raye immediately straightened, wiping her tears. I want to see him," she demanded, her voice laced with a mixture of relief and desperation.

The doctor shook his head gently. "It’ll be about an hour before you can see him. He needs to be under observation after the surgery."

"That's not soon enough," she argued, her voice cracking with emotion.

Talon placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We’ll give them thirty minutes," he said in a calm, steady voice that reminded me oddly of Dante's soothing baritone.

I felt a wave of helplessness wash over me. Here I was, surrounded by people who were fighting their own battles,offering support to one another, and yet, Kage, Ty, Dante—my anchors in this storm—were all beyond my reach.

I bent over, a sharp pain lancing through my chest, not from physical injury, but from the unbearable weight of fear and uncertainty. I felt Elise's arm wrap around me, her presence a small comfort in the swirling chaos of my thoughts. Then her arm was gone, and thicker, stronger arms embraced me.

For a fleeting moment, I thought I was imagining things, my brain conjuring up comfort where there was none. But as I looked up, the sight that met my eyes almost knocked the breath from me. It was Dante, battered and bruised but unmistakably alive.

"Dante!” I gasped, relief and worry flooding through me.

"Hold on to me," he murmured, his voice a low, warm croak against my ear. "I've got you."

His words unleashed the floodgates, and tears I'd been holding back streamed down my face. Dante held me tighter, offering silent support as I cried out the fear and tension that had built up inside me.

After a few moments, when my sobs had subsided into shaky breaths, Dante gently pulled back to look at me, his own face a mask of concern marred by superficial wounds and bandages that hinted at bullet grazes.

“You’re hurt,” I said.

“I got hit in the shoulder.” Dante said, his voice trying to mask the pain he was feeling. “Hurt like hell but it’s out and I’m not in any danger.”

“I’m so glad. Kage and Ty… can you track them?” I managed to ask, wiping at my eyes with the back of my hand, desperate for some sliver of hope.

Dante shook his head, a look of frustration crossing his features. "No. We never got the trackers synced.”

As if on cue, my phone buzzed in my pocket, the sound startlingly loud in the quiet of the hospital hallway. I pulled it out, my heart hammering in my chest. It was a text from Ty.

My hands shook as I read the message:

In a warehouse. Kage and Bianca are here, along with others. Their captors are getting ready to transport them.

I read the message aloud to Dante, my voice barely above a whisper, the words sounding unreal even to my own ears. He’d found Bianca. And she was alive!

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