Page 31 of Rumble of the Crumble

I awoke to the sound of distressed crying, and grizzly noises of flesh being torn from bone. The pain in my head from the pistol whipping the fucker had given me was going to be a minor price to pay when I hauled his fucking ass to jail for the last time.

As the thought ran through my pounding skull, my eyes finally focused and the sounds I could hear made sense. I all but fell off the chair at the sight of my lion, drenched in blood and attacking a bloody pulp that I suspected had once been Amell, by what remained of his clothes.

Enough, Leo. You need to stop now, you're hurt.

Maximus’s voice boomed in my head. Already reaching carefully towards Leonidis, I paused and glanced at the huge lion in the doorway.

Leo is hurt?I gasped in alarm when my sluggish brain caught up.

He’s been shot.

“No. No. No,” I wailed, twisting to drag my mate away from the mess, now only worried for his safety. Before I could do more than grab his mane, he slumped, his face mashing into the mess.

“Leo, don’t you dare die on me. You hear me,” I cried, tears streaming down my cheeks as I hauled the dead weight of my mate closer to me, trying to lift his head so I could look at him.

Working my fingers into his bloodied fur, they slipped and slid in the junk. There was so much blood I couldn’t tell what was his and what wasn’t.

A naked Maximus was there, bending next to me. “Let me help. Drew is bringing Doc Picker.”

“He needs to go to the hospital.”

“We need to get the bullet out before we move him,” Maximus argued.

I glanced about the burned out building. “Not here! Fuck, this is all my fault!”

“We’ll take him outside, lay him in the soil. He’s ingested your blood, Doc said the healing nutrients in the soil could help him.”

We staggered outside, with me doing my best to keep my fingers in the slippery fur, and not drop my mate when my own legs were like rubber. My lion was bigger and heavier than I ever imagined.

Breathless and sweaty, with a pounding skull, we managed to drag him into a clear patch of soil.

“What did you mean, this is your fault?” Maximus growled from his position next to Leonidis's large head.

“I came without backup, got myself pistol whipped and called to Leo.”

Maximus gave me a searching look. “There’s more to this. You aren’t saying everything.”

A truck screeching to a halt stopped the conversation. A moment later Doc Picker appeared carrying a medical bag.

“Come on, make room, I need to get to him.” Doc Picker all but shoved me aside, so I crawled around the other side next to Maximus, who was still eyeing me suspiciously.

“This is gonna be difficult, I’m gonna have to dig into his shoulder muscle, which will hurt.”

“Fuck!”

“Just do it, he’s losing too much blood,” Maximus said, while I struggled not to fall apart at the very thought of the pain Doc was about to inflict on Leonidis, who had already suffered so much.

“You’ll need to hold his head so he doesn’t try to bite me.” He looked at me, then at Maximus. “And you need to keep hold of his damaged front leg.”

Everything went in slow motion, yet raced through my head as I held Leonidis, looking at his closed eyes.

Baby, Doc needs to dig out the bullet in your shoulder. It’s gonna hurt, but I’m here and so is your pride. We’re all here for you.

I never stopped talking as Doc Picker used a huge pair of forceps to dig into the hole in Leonidis’s shoulder, making it bleed profusely. At the lack of response, a wave of panic shot through me.

“He’s injured, his mind is protecting him. He’s not dead.”

Doc Picker’s voice floated over my head as I willed Leonidis to open his eyes. Minutes passed, possibly hours for all I knew, as I stroked the matted fur and told my lion how much I wanted him. How I was going to treasure him for the rest of our lives and beyond into the afterlife.

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