Page 26 of Broken

It wouldn’t come. It wasn’t fused to his wrist—it moved slightly, but the catch didn’t work at all.

Still in slow motion, he got to his feet. His leg felt perfectly normal. He looked down at the bracelet again.

His voice dangerously quiet, he growled, “What the hell did you do?” But he already knew.

Ireland opened her mouth to speak, and then the door burst open, and men in SWAT gear poured in.

Cole turned in a flash, gun drawn. Ireland raised her hands. This time light flashed from her fingers, pure and strong, and he felt the bracelet on his wrist tingling.

Just in time, he jumped in front of the magic. It flared around him harmlessly, and then got sucked into the bracelet.

Damn good thing. “Stand down, Tinkerbell,” he said.

They were Outlaw Ridge wolves, led by Gunn, his alpha.

They all faced each other for a second, frozen, and then Gunn lowered his weapon and echoed the order to his own men. “Outlaw Ridge, stand down.”

They lowered their weapons. Now that the door was open and he was no longer dying, Cole could hear the sounds of battle outside, as Gunn’s team fought the Retrievers. The Ridge to the rescue. “Do we need to get out there?”

“Not you.” Briefly, Gunn directed most of the team back outside. “We’ve got it under control. No thanks to you. Why didn’t you report in?”

Cole evaded the question. “I was under direct orders from Thanatos.”

Gunn was obviously not pleased with that excuse. “Yeah. He’s pissed about it too.” He looked Cole up and down, his gaze fastening on his torn pants and the amount of blood soaked into them. “You’re wounded,” he said. “Dobe, check him out.”

Besides being one of Gunn’s lieutenants, Dobe was qualified as a field medic. He holstered his weapon and strode forward.

“I’m fine,” Cole said irritably. This disaster was bad enough without them fussing over him.

“Let him check it,” Gunn said. It was clearly an order.

Cole sighed. “Whatever.” He knew they wouldn’t give up until he said yes, and Gunn’s wolf was already on the edge.

Dobe crouched down in front of him and pulled back the torn cloth. He ran his hands over Cole’s thigh, poking and prodding at the scar. “Does that hurt?”

“It’s a little sore.”

Dobe moved another fold of cloth, and a bloody bullet dropped out and plinked on the floor. One that had probably previously been inside his leg. “How many bullets did you take?” Gunn demanded.

Cole shrugged. “Dunno. I wasn’t really counting.”

Dobe said accusingly, “At least six bullets tore up that leg.”

Like it was Cole’s fault. Well, he supposed it had been, since he’d jumped in front of said bullets. “Probably,” he agreed. “Shattered the bone, too.”

They were both staring at him now. “So what the hell happened after that?”

But before he could answer, the front door slammed open again, and Boomer walked in, with what seemed like half the strike team behind him.

“Are you okay?” Boomer demanded. He looked down at Cole’s blood-soaked pants. “Fuck. Your leg.”

“It’s fine. It healed.”

Dobe, still crouched in front of him, said, “Bend it for me.” Cole rolled his eyes, but Gunn growled so he did as he was told. Dobe said, “Now jump up and down.”

As if he was going to jump up and down like an idiot in front of everyone. “Fuck you. I told you it’s fine.”

Boomer turned to Dobe. “Is it?”