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"Lucan."
Gabrielle pushed aside the chenille throw that covered her and swiveled to put her feet on the floor. Her heart was racing, squeezing tight in her breast with every frantic beat.
"I don't like the sound of this, either," Savannah said, sliding a tense look around the room.
Gabrielle, Savannah, and Danika poured out of the apartment to greet the warriors, none of them saying a word, hardly breathing as they hurried toward the arriving elevator.
Even before the steel door slid open, it was apparent from the urgent sounds within that bad news was coming.
Just how bad, Gabrielle had not been prepared for.
The stench of smoke and blood hit her nose like a physical blow. She winced at the foul odor of war and death as she strained to get a clear picture of the situation in the elevator car. None of the warriors were coming out. Two were down on the floor of the car, three others were crouched around them.
"Get some clean towels and blankets!" Gideon shouted to Savannah. "Bring as many as you can, baby!" As she sprang into action, he added, "We're gonna need some wheels, too. There's a gurney in the infirmary."
"On it," Niko answered from within the elevator.
He leaped over one of the two ravaged forms lying supine on the floor. As he passed, Gabrielle saw that his face and hair and hands were black with soot. The warrior's clothing was torn, his skin peppered with easily hundreds of bleeding abrasions. Gideon bore similar contusions. Dante, too.
But their wounds were nothing compared to the massive injuries sustained by the two Breed warriors who had been carried, unconscious, off the streets by their brethren.
Gabrielle knew from the leaden weight in her heart that one of them was Lucan. She crept forward, and caught her breath to see her fears realized.
Blood pooled beneath him, spilling wine-dark out onto the white marble of the corridor. His boots and leathers were shredded, as was most of the skin on his arms and legs. His face was an ugly mess of soot and crimson cuts. But he was alive. He curled back his lips and hissed through extended fangs when Gideon had to move him in order to apply a makeshift tourniquet to stanch a gash on his arm.
"Shit - I'm sorry, Lucan. It's pretty deep. Jesus, it won't stop bleeding, either."
"Help... Rio." The words came out in a dark growl, a direct command, even though he was lying flat on his back. "I'm good" - he broke off with a pained snarl - "Damn it... want you to... look after... him."
Gabrielle kneeled down beside Gideon. She held out her hand to take the end of the binding from him. "I can do that."
"You sure? It's ugly. You really gotta get your hands right in there to pull it tight."
"I've got it." She nodded toward Rio, who lay nearby. "Do as he says."
The injured warrior on the floor beside Lucan was plainly in agony. He, too, was bleeding profusely from torso wounds and horrific damage to his left arm. The mangled limb was wrapped in a blood-soaked rag that might have been a shirt. His face and chest were burned and lacerated beyond recognition. He started moaning, low in his throat, a piteous sound that brought hot tears to Gabrielle's eyes.
When she blinked them away, she found Lucan's pale gray eyes locked on her. "Nailed... the bastard."
"Shh." She smoothed sweat-dampened strands from his battered brow. "Lucan, just be still. Don't try to talk."
He ignored her, though, swallowing on a dry throat and then pushing the words out. "From the nightclub... son of a bitch was there tonight."
"The one who got away from you?"
"Not this time." He blinked slowly, his look as fierce as it was stark. "Can't ever... hurt you now..."
"Yeah," Gideon drolly piped from where he was working on Rio. "And you're damn lucky to be alive for it, hero."
Gabrielle's throat constricted further as she gazed down at him. For all his protestations that his duty came first and that there never could be a place for her in his life, Lucan had been thinking of her tonight? He was bleeding and injured, partly because of something he did for her?
She picked up his hand and held it to her, cradling the part of him that she could, pressing his bent fingers close against her heart. "Oh, Lucan..."
Savannah ran up with an armful of the requested supplies. Niko followed closely behind, pushing the rolling hospital bed ahead of him.
"Lucan first," Gideon told them. "Get him into a bed, then come back for Rio."
"No." Lucan groaned, a sound of determination more than pain. "Help me up."
