Page 56 of Bikers & Bars

“Why was that comment directed at me?” Hazel questioned her alpha as she tried to appear innocent.

“Please just make protecting you easy,” Zaven pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Sounds boring and not like me at all,” Hazel tossed back, pushing her hair over her shoulder. Even with all the emotional turmoil going on I couldn’t hold back a watery laugh.

“Hazel,” Maximo growled as my best friend shot a wink in my direction. She was trying to make me feel better and I loved her for it.

“Where’s Sienna? And Teagan?” I asked, looking around surprised to not find them here.

“Teagan wasn’t feeling good so she was escorted to Sienna’s house. Yuri has a high quality security system there and they are taking care of her. Plus, hospitals aren’t a great place for babies, so Sienna said she’d call you all on the hour for updates,” Sutton offered.

I nodded a few times. That made sense. Though a bit of worry did spike in me when he said that Teagan wasn’t feeling good. Hopefully, it was just exhaustion from pregnancy.

“We need to go check on the club,” Loki said as he finally let me go. “Romeo is going to stay with you and Viper. Let us know the moment something changes.”

Romeo nodded as Hazel pulled me to her.

Before I could even ask them to stay safe, Loki and Bane were gone.

My gut told me that there was more they weren’t telling me. Even Maximo got quiet when I glanced in his direction. But with no answers forthcoming, I focused on what I could do right now and that was to be here for Damien.

Hours passed before a doctor came out to see us.

“Damien is out of surgery but he’s going to be under for a few days. His body needs time to heal and his injuries were extensive. But we are hopeful that he has a good prognosis.”

If they were hopeful then why the sedatives? Why did it always feel like someone was keeping things from me?

“Why can’t he wake up?” I asked, squeezing Hazel’s hand, needing reassurance. This wasn’t the time to not ask questions, I didn’t care if this doctor was busy.

“Damien’s head injury was severe enough that there was some swelling on the brain. Putting him under will give his body the time to rest and some of the swelling can go down on its own. There are a few broken bones but the good news is that we were able to remove one of the bullets in his chest. The other is too close to his spine to chance going in for it. But people live with bullets in them every day.”

My lips parted in shock, breathing sped up with every sentence as the doctor prattled on as if he wasn’t talking about an actual person. He wasn’t just a patient. Damien was mine. My alpha.

I didn’t realize I yelled it out loud until Maximo was there, holding my arm to hold me back from going after the doctor.

“Eliza. He’s doing everything he can,” Maximo reassured me gently, a sharp glance in the doctor’s direction had him scurrying away. “I’ll make sure another doctor will be on his case going forward.”

“Thank you,” I managed roughly, trying desperately to keep control of myself.

“His brain and body need time to heal,” a nurse started, repeating a bit of what the doctor said. Her tone was much gentler and understanding as she held my gaze. “Being under sedation will give him that time to recover. Some things we won’t know until he wakes up, but the doctors are very optimistic that he will recover fully.”

“Thank you,” I managed to the kind beta that sought to reassure me where the doctor hadn’t.

“Can I see him?” I looked around at the people near me.

“We can arrange that,” Emiliano and Alessandro replied at the same time. I had no doubts that the chaos twins would make it happen. It was nice having people to fight for me when I couldn’t do it myself just yet.

They went off to grab some nurses as I pulled out my cell phone to call Loki. It went right to voicemail.That’s weird.

So, I tried Bane and it did the same thing.

Something wasn’t right.

“You can go back, it’s only two people usually but they’re letting all three of us go with you,” Emiliano explained. “Considering the circumstances, it was the wise choice.”

I nodded numbly and let Hazel tuck my arm in hers and lead me through the double doors. After I saw Damien, I would figure out what was going on with Loki and Bane; right now, my mate needed me.

The twins clearly knew the way to Damien’s room. I just followed dutifully behind them until we got there.

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