Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
He smiled. “I think—”
A loud crack split the air. Cassidy’s body jerked. Her eyes went wide with shock and pain. The scent of blood crashed into Eli.
Everyone moved fast.
Heart slamming against his ribs, Eli grabbed Cassidy and, like the others, dropped to a low crouch. Shielding her with his body, he scrambled into the store with his pack mates, dodging the other bullets.
Eli’s stomach lurched as he cradled the pup. She trembled in his arms, her breath hitching, her little face creased in pain and draining of color. A chill swept over his body and settled in his bones as he saw the red stain blooming over the front of her dress. “Ally!”
The Beta female crawled to them. “Did the bullet go straight through, Eli?” she asked, remarkably all business.
He checked. Nodded. Fought to think through the fury that thudded through him.
Cassidy clutched at his shirt. “I don’t want to die.”
“You’re not going to, baby,” said Shaya, taking the little girl’s hand in hers while Ally healed the wound. The redhead’s face hardened as she looked from Zander to Derren. “Find the fucker,” she hissed.
“I want him alive,” Nick bit out, holding a sobbing Willow close. “But kill him if you have to.”
Nodding, the two males left. No more bullets were fired, so the shooter had to be on the run.
Even as Eli could see the pain begin to leach from Cassidy’s face, blind terror clawed at him and coated his tongue. She was just a baby. A baby. And she’d been shot. Shot on his watch. A sense of failure snaked over him and his beast, who let out a mournful howl.
Ally finally sat back, pale. “You’ll be okay, sweetie.”
Shaya set the pup on her lap and held her tight, rocking her from side to side and making soothing noises. Cassidy’s shoulders shook, but her tears were silent. Nick crouched beside them and stroked Cassidy’s hair, whispering reassuring words to her while Willow held her hand.
Seeing Ally sway a little, Eli curved his arm around her, keeping her steady and upright. Healing wounds always took a little something out of her. “Are you okay?”
Ally nodded. “Just … shocked. I mean, it happened so fast. Did anyone else get hit?”
The others all shook their heads.
Eli’s cell began to ring. He whipped out his phone, unsurprised to see his mate’s name on the screen. He answered, “Baby—”
“Please tell me you’re okay,” said Casey. “I’m not feeling any pain from you through the bond, but I know you’re pissed and scared.”
His chest squeezed at the shake in her voice. “I’m fine,” he assured her, surprised at how calm he sounded while his insides were being ravished by sheer panic. “Some shit went down but it’s over now. I’m okay. Everyone’s okay.”
“Define ‘shit.’”
He hesitated. Decided against it. “I can’t really talk right now, but I’ll fill you in later, I promise.”
“Where are you?”
“The mall. As soon as I get back to my territory, I’ll call you, I swear.”
“You’d better, canine, I mean it.”
“I will. I have to go now. Stay safe for me.” He ended the call and pocketed his cell.
“Why didn’t you tell her what happened?” asked Ally.
“For one thing, I don’t think I can get the words out without losing my shit.” He was barely holding it together. Especially while the scent of Cassidy’s blood clogged his nostrils. “Also, Casey adores the pups. She’ll lose her mind when she hears what happened. The first thing she’ll want to do is go after Ignacio.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “You think he sent someone after Cassidy?”
“I don’t know,” said Eli. “It’s possible that the bullet was meant for me. Maybe the shooter kept on firing because they hadn’t hit me. But we have to consider that they didn’t shoot until you all left the store, so there’s a chance I wasn’t the target.
“It won’t matter to Casey, though, if she’s in a blind fury. She won’t be rational. And if I’m not there to keep her calm when I tell her what happened, she might do something dumb like go confront Ignacio herself and demand to know if he had anything to do with it.”
“We need to get Cassidy home,” Shaya said to Nick, nuzzling the pup’s hair.
“We will,” Nick told her. “As soon as Derren and Zander comes back, we’re out of here.”
A human crawled from behind the counter. “Is everyone all right? I called 911. Help should be here soon.”
By then, Eli and his pack mates would be gone. The police wouldn’t help anyway once they realized it was shifter business.
Hearing the mish-mash of voices, Eli flicked his gaze to the shop doorway. A bunch of fucking idiots were so desperate to snap a photo that they were coming close. “We need to leave sooner rather than later,” he told Nick. “We don’t know what the shooter looks like—they could walk in here, acting like a gawker, and we wouldn’t know any different.”