Page 100 of Marked By the Devil

“The guards have said it’s clear,” she repeated, as if she was determined to stay cool and calm no matter what. “Elena, it will be okay.”

“But he’s bleeding,” she cried.

“He’s going to go deaf if you keep screaming,” Carina muttered.

“What the⁠—”

“Just get here,” Wren said, speaking over Elena melting down. “And watch out for the ambulance.”

“Wait!” Mila protested. “We need to move the⁠—”

“No,” Carina said. “Let them handle the body when they come, and we will handle the EMTs.”

Adrik stayed on the line, trying to calm down Elena until I pulled into my driveway.

The SUV that Elena drove was parked out front. So was the backup car that followed her and the other women.

The front door was open, though, and I didn’t waste a second to slam the brakes, park the car, and sprint up there.

“Wren!” I pumped my arms, running to reach her. But I couldn’t have anticipated the scene literally right at the door.

If I’d gone any faster, I would’ve skidded in the puddle of blood.

Paul lay there, unconscious. He was propped against Wren as she pressed her hand to a wound on his chest. Elena paced off to the side. Mila compressed another wound while a guard assigned to Elena helped tie off another shot.

“What the fuck?”

My heart hammered at the gory sight. At the blood. Paul, my old, faithful man, hurt. Wren distressed but in charge.

“Come here,” Adrik said, pulling Elena to him and walking her out of the foyer. “Come here. Breathe. I’m here. Breathe. Let’s go to the pat⁠—”

“No!”

Wren, Carina, and Mila shouted it in unison.

“That’s not… ideal,” Carina said, going with Adrik and Elena to usher her in another direction where she could wheeze and damn-near hyperventilate.

I dropped to my knees, ready to help. To protect. To save.

“Smithson,” Wren said, looking up at me.

That was all I needed to know.

“The property is clear,” a guard told me. “We’ve searched the premises and no one else is here.”

I nodded at him, unable to take my eyes off Wren. She didn’t look hurt, but with so much blood everywhere… I shook my head in disbelief. Stunned this was happening. Shocked that something like this could occur when I wasn’t here to protect her.

“What…” I swallowed, my mouth so dry with how these emotions put me in a chokehold.

“I was upstairs and heard a sound. I grabbed the gun in the nightstand and came down. He lunged at me on the stairs and I…” Her throat flexed as she strained to swallow. “I…”

I nodded, putting my hand over hers and taking over compressing the wound.

“So he’s back there. And I found Paul up here. He used a silencer so I didn’t hear when he…”

I nodded again, hating the fear in her eyes. I loathed the terror that lurked in her green gaze.

“I yelled for help, assuming a guard would still be around. And Elena and the others were just coming back over because they thought I’d want… company… and then the guards with them made sure no one else had trespassed.”