Chapter 24 #3
At that moment, Kellen and Grace staggered over. Grace freed Stephen, while Kellen released Leo's legs, then his neck, but before he could remove the gag, Samara stopped him. "Keep that in place."
Kellen gave her a confused look.
"Trust me."
He did just as Stephen crawled over to Leo to give his brother comfort.
Already Samara could see that the skin around Leo's neck was returning to its normal color, but that wouldn't last while the bullet was inside him.
"I'm going to have to cut under the ribs to find the bullet. Kellen, you need to keep Leo's head, hands, and shoulders still. Do not let him move no matter what."
"What about you?" Kellen knelt above Leo's head even as he asked. "If you touch the bullet, you'll get burned by the silver as well. Your gloves are too big for you to reach in and grab the bullet."
She hadn't thought about that in her pressing desire to save Leo.
"If I can handle drinking colloidal silver, I can handle touching a silver bullet for a few seconds.
Stephen, you get his legs, same thing. Don't let him move.
Grace, you need to get your hands inside his body along with mine and keep him from healing until I find the bullet. Can you do that?"
Grace’s gray eyes widened in horror at what Samara was about to do. "Yes, I can."
Samara looked Leo in the eyes. "I'm so sorry Leo. This is going to hurt worse than the silver. I've studied human anatomy. I know where to cut to keep your heart beating and your stomach and liver intact, but it's still going to hurt like hell."
Kellen held Leo’s wrists tight, even though Leo cried out around the gag in his mouth. Once Leo’s head was clamped between Kellen’s knees, Samara knew she had to start. She checked to make sure Stephen was lying on top of Leo's legs.
Taking a deep breath for courage, Samara broke the skin with the knife and made a clean first cut.
Leo groaned, but his brothers held him down.
Grateful for her grandfather's insistence that she keep her knife sharp, she managed to keep the slice small enough so she could get her finger inside.
Grace kept the skin apart so it couldn't close.
She found nothing within the length of her finger, which meant she had to cut deeper. Leo's muffled screams begged her to stop, but she knew he wouldn't want her to until she found that damned bullet.
"You're going to need a wider cut if you want me to keep him from closing up." Grace had to use three fingers on each side of the wound as it was.
"Damn it." Samara had no choice but to widen the wound before she slipped two of her fingers inside of Leo. It felt like an hour but could only have been a few minutes when her finger brushed something and immediately burned like a bonfire. No doubt, that was the bullet. "Found it!"
Trying to be delicate, she had to use the tip of her finger to slip under the bullet and push it up until she could curl a second finger around it. Leo's agony reached a crescendo, his body tense as a drum and slick with blood and sweat.
"Just a little longer. I'm so sorry. Please hold on just a little longer," Samara begged. Then the bullet rose high enough for her to force it out of the hole. Ignoring her own pain, she wrapped her hand around it, pulled it out, and tossed it as far away as she could.
Grace let go of Leo's skin, and Kellen removed his gag. He gasped and moaned, curling onto his side, rocking himself back and forth as he rode out the healing process.
Kellen stood and held his hand out to pull Samara to standing. "Let's give him some privacy."
The three of them moved far enough away so Leo wouldn't feel as if they were staring at him but also close enough in case he needed them.
"What are we going to do with the bodies?" Samara asked, looking around. "There's only so many you can bury near the river before someone notices."
Kellen rubbed his wrists that were already losing the blue tinge. "Let's worry about that after we've all healed up and get you some clothing."
Only then did she remember she was naked. How quickly she'd forgotten.
"We should go to the gym first—"
Her suggestion was cut short by a loud soul-crushing howl of grief and pain. They all turned toward Leo, who had shifted, his pale gray wolf stood where his blood still soaked the ground. He turned in a circle, tail down, as if unsure of where he was.
Stephen knelt down, arms outstretched, inviting his brother to rejoin them, but Leo howled again, the mournful sound worse than the first. Then he raced past Stephen, not looking back as he bolted into the woods before anyone could react.
"Oh, Leo..." Samara thought to shift and chase him, but Kellen pulled her close instead.
"Let him go. He'll be okay."
"Are you sure?" Samara certainly wasn't. “Do you think he’s going to try and track down Josiah?”
Kellen kissed the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her, warming her against the cool evening air. "Yes, I'm sure he’ll come back when he’s ready. Josiah has too much of a head start, and it’s going to be a while until Leo stops hurting."
Samara closed her eyes, the horror of what Leo had suffered as she operated burned into her conscience.
“Leo’s a strong omega. He’s always been the first to leap into battle, take the first hit and keep fighting till the end, always knowing that Stephen and I had his back.
” Kellen pulled her to his chest and stroked her hair.
“He’s done this before, and he always comes back.
We’ll wait here in Winterbourne until he does. ”
Samara’s breathing slowed to a normal rate as she absorbed Kellen's comfort and hoped he would take comfort from her too. Despite everything else that had happened, she was secure in knowing that Kellen loved her and they would always be together.