I felt the icy snow and ice on my face –
Chapter Eighteen
Avery
My dragon instincts all but took over.
As Jacy fell onto the snow-covered asphalt, I nearly shifted. I saw the rifle retract into the truck’s window, witnessed the vehicle skid across the pavement as it screamed, tires spinning, into the street. I saw myself flying low over it, grasping the roof in my talons, lifting it, tossing it aside to crash – then setting it, and its murdering occupants – ablaze.
Jacy needed me more. Declan, screaming, crying, in the SUV, needed me more.
I knelt beside my beloved in the icy cold and set my fingers to the pulse in her neck.She’s alive!Her blood pooled on the asphalt under her, melting the snow, and forcing me to turn her over. I had to stop the bleeding.
“Is she alive?” someone demanded from behind me.
“Yeah,” I answered, terse. “Call an ambulance.”
“Is this your son in the car?”
“Yeah.”
I pressed the heel of my hand against the bubbling wound in Jacy’s chest. Half listening, I heard a matronly voice comfort Declan, then more voices surround us. In the dim distance, a siren wailed in response to the catastrophe.
And if Jacy died, a catastrophe would indeed this situation become.
“You’re not gonna die,” I muttered, stopping the terrible flow of blood from her body. I stared into her closed eyes, her parted lips, her pale flesh. “You’re not gonna die. I won’t let you. Breathe, dammit. Breathe. You’re tough. You’re a fighter. We need you, Jacy. You know we need you.”
Paramedics arrived, pushing me aside. They applied oxygen, took her blood pressure, applied blood congealing bandages, inserted tubes that kept her saline levels up. I sat back, dripping her blood, watching, as Declan crawled into my arms. We both stared in grief and horror as the medics worked to perform a miracle.
She’s lost too much blood. What if the bullet hit an artery? Her lungs? Will she die on the table?
I held my weeping son to my chest, and my soul within me died.
***
“She’s resilient, I’ll give her that.”
The exhausted surgeon doffed his cap as he looked at me with Declan sleeping across my lap in the hospital’s surgical wing’s waiting room. “We repaired her artery, removed the bullet. It nicked her heart, and whoever kept the blood inside her saved her life.”
I refrained from saying it was me who did that. “And?”
“With good luck, she’ll recover fully.” He shrugged slightly. “Without such luck, she’ll always have a weakened heart, compromised immune system. The bullet ended up in her shoulder blade – she might have a life filled with pain because of it.”
He nodded politely and walked away.
She’s a dragon, you ass. Jacy has the toughness of a dragon and will heal like one. She’ll be flying within days, bulletor no bullet cracking her shoulder blade. If she survived the initial attack, she’ll recover easily.
I endured the questioning of the police.No, I don’t know the shooter. No, I don’t know why he targeted us. Mistaken identity? That’s possible. We’d just bought an SUV, had dinner, and were headed home. Yeah, this is my son, I hope he’s not traumatized by all this shit.
The officers left cards.Call us if you think of anything.
Yeah, right.
With draconic rage smoldering in my heart, I pondered the reason Jacy came to me. She’d seldom spoken of it, but I knew she’d fled from someone. An ex-husband, boyfriend. One who’d abused her. One she’d feared. I smoothed Declan’s hair from his brow and plotted vengeance.
Come out, come out, wherever you are,I crooned within my mind.You messed with the wrong woman, dude. She’s mine, not yours. And if you want a fight, I’ll sure give you a good one. I’ll burn you to a fucking crisp.
Unless Jacy told me about him, who he was, my rage had no outlet.
