Chapter Twenty-One #2
“I’ll kill you, you bastard.” Wilkes fired, but Cyrus avoided the shot, his body a blur as he ran at his opponent.
Claws exploded from his fingertips as he leapt.
Wilkes tried to fire again, but the weapon was slapped out of his hands.
He screamed as razor-sharp claws ripped up his chest and across his throat.
Wilkes collapsed backward onto the ground.
Panting heavily, Cyrus stood over him. Vinnie scrambled toward him, screaming his name as she ran.
****
Watching Wilkes’s lifeblood run out of him, Cyrus felt nothing. There was no sense of triumph, only the knowledge that he’d protected his mate. Didn’t matter it wasn’t official. Vinnie was his.
Horror-filled blue eyes stared up at him. “What are you?” Wilkes whispered. His eyes fluttered closed, his breath hitched, and his heart stopped.
Vinnie stumbled to a stop beside him, her eyes wide. “How are you even standing?” She gingerly wrapped her arm around his waist. “Lean on me.”
He blinked, as though coming out of a trance.
“You’re not afraid of me?” She’d watched him gut a man in cold blood.
Wilkes deserved it, but Vinnie had been a deputy her entire adult life and was used to upholding the law.
Cyrus had nothing against it, but in some situations, justice was more important than following the letter of the law.
In his opinion, justice had been served.
He hadn’t expected her to see it that way.
Her brow furrowed and she scowled. “Why would I be afraid of you?”
“I killed a man.” Was she in shock and denial?
“That was self-defense. He was going to kill me.” She buried her face against his shoulder. “Oh, God, I was so afraid he’d killed you.”
He slowly brought his arms around her. “I’m damn hard to kill,” he reminded her.
His legs gave out and he would have gone down hard if not for Vinnie.
Shit, he was weak. The fear-stoked adrenaline that had given him strength had run dry.
The pain roared back with a vengeance. He gritted his teeth to keep from howling.
Blood seeped from his chest with each breath he took.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t die. There’s a damn bullet in your chest.” Eyes wide, she started to put her hands on his chest but stopped. “I have to get help.”
His ears picked up a welcome sound. “Zach’s coming.” And thank God for it. He wasn’t sure he’d make it back to the house on his own.
His brother burst out from the surrounding forest, took in the scene in a single glance, and fell to his knees beside Cyrus. “Status?”
“Nicked my heart and caught me in the leg.”
Zach’s eyes widened and he whipped his t-shirt over his head. “Bullet?”
“Working its way out.” As part of the healing process, anything his body viewed as a foreign object would be pushed out. It hurt almost as much as it did going in, but the bullet had to come out. He panted through the pain.
“What?” Face white as snow, Vinnie brushed her fingers over his face.
“The bullet has to come out before he can start healing.” Zach ripped his shirt, making a bandage. “How the hell did Wilkes get past our security?”
They couldn’t cover every inch of the mountain. Wilkes had been lucky or he’d been looking for perimeter alarms.
“What can I do?” Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
“Keep talking to him.” Zach put his fingers to Cyrus’s throat, monitoring the sluggish beat of his heart. “Almost there.”
“Don’t you dare die on me.” She swiped her cheek against her shoulder and held his hand tight.
Cyrus wanted to wipe the tears away, but lifting his hand was beyond him.
Bruised and disheveled from her skirmish with Wilkes, covered in Cyrus’s blood, she was still the most magnificent woman he’d ever seen.
He blinked, his vision fading in and out.
His entire body went ridged, and he cried out as the metal shoved out from beneath the skin.
Zach shoved the bullet in his pocket. “How in the hell did you get your ass down the mountain and handle Wilkes?” Cyrus winced when his brother tightened the makeshift bandage to put pressure on the wound.
“Had no choice.” Nothing had been more important than saving Vinnie. She was his life. He caught her hand and brought it to his lips, not caring his blood stained it. “Need to get our stories straight.” He was hanging on to consciousness by a thread.
“You’re not going to, you know, disappear him.” She waved at the mountain.
Zach caught his eye and Cyrus gave a shake of his head. They needed to do this the right way. Zach nodded and wiped his hands on his jeans. “We’ll contact the local sheriff.”
“Wilkes is a sociopath, but he’s also a deputy. What if no one believes us?” She chewed on her bottom lip. He wanted to soothe her fears but was forced to leave that to Zach.
“I have the bullet that will match his rifle. We can prove Wilkes shot Cyrus.” He canted his head at the body. “What can they prove? An animal mauled Wilkes to death. There are no other signs of other injury.”
It was a fortunate turn of events. Cyrus would like to say he’d done it for that reason, but it had been entirely instinct. The need for a wolf to protect his mate.
She nodded. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right.” She was holding it together but was beginning to fray around the edges. Her eyes widened. “Where’s Adam?” She looked around, as though expecting to see him appear any second.
Zach turned his attention to Cyrus’s leg. “We were on the far side of the mountain when we heard the gunshot. I stashed him in the walk-in gun safe before I headed here.” Releasing his claws, he ripped the jean fabric until he got to the second wound. “Bullet is still in this one.”
“It’s getting there.” The heart injury was the worst so his body would focus on healing that first. Pain was a living, breathing creature inside him.
His wolf was a silent presence, lending him strength.
“Get me up.” He held out his hand. Zach grabbed it and pulled.
He ignored the dizziness assailing him and concentrated on staying upright. He swayed on his feet.
“Should you be walking on that leg?” Vinnie hovered anxiously beside them.
“No choice.” It was strange to have someone fretting over him. Normally, he’d find it annoying, but with Vinnie it was endearing and oddly comforting.
When Zach scowled at him, Cyrus shook his head. He’d eventually heal. That’s all that mattered. He wasn’t so much downplaying his injury. It was more that he didn’t want to add to Vinnie’s worries.
With his wolf’s scent lingering, he doubted any animals would bother Wilkes’s body for a couple of hours.
After that, there was no telling. The longer they waited to contact the authorities, the more chance of running into trouble.
While they weren’t what you’d call friends, they’d worked with Sheriff Eastridge enough that they had professional respect for one another.
Breathing was harder than it should be. Racing down the mountain with a heart injury wasn’t the brightest thing to do, but letting Wilkes take Vinnie wasn’t an option. If he’d bled out saving her, he’d have been fine with that.
“Tough bastard,” Zach grouched, wrapping an arm around him, all but carrying him.
It took longer to get home than it should have because of Cyrus’s weakness.
He cursed it while at the same time giving thanks for the strength of his wolf.
Two men could have died on the mountain today.
They’d gotten lucky. Another inch and he wouldn’t be here.
Vinnie stayed beside him, holding his hand the entire way. His connection to her had saved him, their bond a powerful thing.
He remembered his daddy saying he knew his mama was the one for him the second they met, that it was that way for the men in his family.
Cyrus hadn’t put much stock in it. Then he’d met his mystery lady all those years ago.
Even though she was human, his wolf had known what he hadn’t been able to admit—Vinnie was his.
While it wasn’t official, in his heart he’d already claimed her. There wasn’t anything his wolf wouldn’t do to protect her. It had given him the extra strength he’d needed to push past his serious injuries.
Once inside the house, they headed down the hallway to his bedroom.
Zach eased him down on the bed while Vinnie went to work on his boots.
“Pictures,” she blurted. He and Zach looked at her.
“We need to take pictures in case the sheriff’s department needs proof.
” Zach snagged his phone from his pocket and tossed it to her, but her hands shook too hard for her to focus the shots.
She thrust it back at Zach. “You’ll have to take them. ”
“I need to shower.” He had no idea how he was going to stay on his feet, but he wanted the blood off him.
Vinnie’s brows lowered and her lips thinned. “No.”
“It’s not just my blood on me,” he reminded her. It was best to get rid of any evidence.
She swallowed heavily and nodded. “You’re right, but you’ll stay put on the bed. We’ll get you cleaned up.” She rubbed her hands over her face, her shoulders slumping with fatigue. He wasn’t the only one who’d been through hell his afternoon.
“Mom?” Adam hovered uncertainly in the doorway.
Vinnie spun around, started to grab her son, but stopped, holding up her bloodstained hands.
Adam swallowed heavily. “What happened? Are you okay?” Vinnie’s shirt was missing and there were bloodstains on her stomach, upper chest, hands, and arms. Her arms and back were covered in scratches and already showing signs of bruising.
If Cyrus didn’t know it was Wilkes’s blood, he would have been worried, so he didn’t blame Adam for his concern.
“It’s not my blood. Well, mostly not mine. We’re both fine.” Giving a ragged cry, she grabbed Adam and hugged him tight. He locked his arms around her and looked at Cyrus, his eyes widening at the amount of blood on him.
Then Vinnie pulled away, a scowl on her face. “Why did you leave the walk-in gun safe before someone came to get you?” Despite the pain, Cyrus smothered a smile while Adam rolled his eyes.
“There’s a monitor, Mom. Zach gave me the codes so I could see what was happening on the outside cameras.”
“Right. Zach, you call the authorities and your brothers. Adam, find a basin of some kind and whatever bandages you can scrounge.” Pride filled him at the way she took charge of the situation.
Zach raised an eyebrow over her orders—things he would have done regardless—but nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry. That was way out of line. This is your mountain, your home, your family.”
“We’re all family,” Cyrus told her. If he had his way, he’d make it permanent.
Zach gave a curt nod. “Come on, Adam, I’ll show you where you can get everything you need before I call the sheriff.”
Vinnie rubbed her hands over her face. “Sorry about that.” She sat down hard on the side of the bed and began to shake. “Oh, God. You could have died.”
“So could you.” He’d almost lost her. The helplessness he’d experienced watching Wilkes drag her away would haunt him for the rest of his life. Death didn’t frighten him, but the idea of losing her terrified him.
His leg chose that moment to remind him a bullet was still lodged there. Groaning, he grabbed it, felt the metal push its way out. The blood loss and trauma had severely weakened him. He heard Vinnie yelling for Zach as the room faded around him.