“What happened to me?”
Gage looked concerned. “You don’t remember?”
Wyatt’s eyes narrowed as he tried to recall what happened to land him in Gage’s mad scientist-esque lab.
Valene. Her brothers. The escaped criminals. Correction, the escapedaliencriminals. The rash of recent information regarding aliens and their secrets came back in a rush of memories.
He thought he’d managed to conceal his surprise at seeing the half-octopus half-man alien quite well. He got of a clean shot with the alien weapon before spotting the menacing shadow of another presence behind the odd creature.
Diesel stepped forward as the second alien, a big green meanie with too many fingers, stormed into the room waving a shotgun. Wyatt moved without thinking. He heard the odd hollow sound of the shotgun blast and something that felt like a cannonball hit him in the belly. Valene’s piercing scream followed him down to the floor. Then nothing.
“I remember now. Is Diesel okay?”
Gage nodded. “Yes. And he’s very grateful. His wife is even more thankful and has promised to make you her famous kitchen sink cookies.”
“Kitchen sink cookies?”
“Yes. She puts all sorts of chips and nuts and other good stuff in them. Everything but the kitchen sink.”
“Right.” Wyatt felt a little letdown. He’d half expected some sort of alien ingredient he’d never heard of.
“They are tasty. You might even be glad you took that beanbag round for him.”
“Beanbag round?”That’s why I’m still alive.
“Yep. But at close range I’m sure it felt like you got a thousand snake bites all at once.”
Wyatt started to put a hand to his belly, but didn’t touch it when the pain of the bruise registered. “Wow. That hurts a lot.”
“I’ll bet.” Gage used a needle to inject something into the IV line connected to one of Wyatt’s arms. “This is for the pain.”
“Some alien concoction?”
“Nope. Plain old human remedies for you.” Gage smiled. “But thanks for stepping in front of Diesel. If the bag had hit him in the head, it might have been really bad.”
Wyatt relaxed, taking pressure off the pain in his belly. “I didn’t even think.”
“That’s what they all said. You just shot the prisoner in the face with the shackle stuff and stepped into the blast. But I suspect you thought it was a shotgun.”
Wyatt started to shrug, unused to praise for doing what he would for anyone, but Valene entered the room.
“You’re awake,” she said, looking relieved.
“I am.”
She walked to the side of the bed and took his hand. “You scared me.”
“I heard you scream.”
Her fingers tightened around his. “I thought you got hit with a shotgun blast after saving my brother from getting his fool head blown off.”
“Ain’t nothing but a thing, Vee. Don’t worry,” he said in a soft, casual tone as if it were just the two of them. Gage had moved away and was pretending not to hear their intimate conversation.
“Still, I want to say thank you.”
He squeezed her fingers.
Diesel, Cam and Axel entered seconds later and their semi-alone moment was over.
