Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
“Stay with me, Steph,” I said. “You have to stay with me.”
I pressed harder onto his chest. Was his heartbeat getting weaker? Each pulse of blood seemed slower.
“Stay with me.” I was begging now. “You did it, Steph. You won. You saved us all. And now, you have to stay with me.”
Again, that terrible, soft sound.
A sob racked my body.
Just stay with me.
ACE
Pain.
It was scorching me. Burning through my entire body. Flames licked at my nerves, my muscles, all the way down to my bones. I heard nothing but the blood rushing in my ears. The coppery taste coated my tongue.
My body gave out. I hit the grass and found myself eye to eye with my brother.
No, the body that used to be my brother.
The corpse.
The coppery taste in my mouth was his blood, as was the sinew between my teeth. In our battle, the first bite had been a warning to get him to submit. Of course, he hadn’t. I was stupid. I should’ve known.
It took him trying to shoot Harley for me to finally do it.
I’d barely been in control. For a moment, I’d felt feral as I charged him. Dragged him to the ground. Grabbed the most vulnerable part of his spine, right beneath his skull, and ripped it out.
A quick death. A painless death. One he didn’t deserve.
I had won.
So why was I hurting so much?
Hawk’s voice. What was he saying? Then-oh, that sweet voice. Soft. Soothing. Harley. Her hands on me.
“Steph, look at me.”
How could I resist that demand? I opened my eyes. When had I closed them? Harley was pale. Her hair was wild, and her face was a splotchy pink in places-new bruises. Her hands were pressed against my chest and covered in blood.
My blood.
Ah.
Sean had shot me.
I realized that now. He’d tried to shoot Harley, and he’d shot me instead. That was better than him shooting Harley. I’d protected her. Even if I didn’t make it, she’d be fine. That was what mattered.
“You have to hang on, Steph,” she whispered. “For me. For our son. Okay?”
Dylan.
My heart clenched with a pain that was more than physical. I’d never see my son again, would I? He’d be okay. He’d have Harley, Hawk, Mia, and Bella. He’d grow up fine without me. But, God, it hurt. I’d only just gotten my mate and my son back. I hadn’t had enough time.
I wasn’t ready to die.
“Stay with me, Steph,” she said. “You have to stay with me.”
I’m trying, I wanted to say.
I’m trying. But it’s hard.
Inside me, my body was trying to stitch itself together, but the bullet was in the way. It was like getting shot over and over again. My muscles and veins stitched themselves together, then were ripped apart by the bullet in the way. Over and over.
Painful. Exhausting.
“Ace.” Hawk’s voice again, coming from somewhere above me. “Ace, you have to shift.”
Shift? Now?
How could I shift when I was so tired? When everything hurt so much?
“We can’t get the bullet out,” Hawk said. “The ambulance is on the way. You’ve got to shift, Ace.”
I rumbled out a moan in acknowledgment. I needed real treatment, and that could only happen in my human form.
“You can do it,” Harley whispered. Her voice was close to my face. “Please. Shift back, baby.”
It took every ounce of focus I had. Every drop of strength I had left.
I pulled my dragon back.
It was, without question, the worst shift of my life. It’d never felt so slow, so painful, so challenging. I felt every bone grinding, every scale sinking inside, every fang retracting. It all concentrated down into the burning, throbbing pain in the center of my chest, and as I transformed into my human shape, the pain somehow escalated.
Someone was screaming. Maybe it was me. The pain fell over me like rain, soaking me down to my bones. Spots of color encroached on the edges of my vision. The agony overwhelmed me, and the darkness dragged me down.
Consciousness came in moments.
Pain. My body being lifted up onto a stretcher.
Lights shining down. An unfamiliar face looking down at me. Pain in my chest. My body still trying to heal around the bullet.
Harley. Where was Harley?
Darkness again.
The stretcher shaking. Movement. The bright lights of the hospital, more unfamiliar faces above me.
Where was Harley?
I made a sound and tried to get up, but found I couldn’t move. Strapped in. Trapped.
Harley. I needed to get to her.
