Page 6 of Shielded By My Mate

“We should get to the hospital,” she says urgently. “You’ll need stitches, maybe even surgery.”

I love that she’s so concerned about me. I want to tell her I’m fine, that I’m already healing, but I don’t know if she can handle that right now. She seems panicked and frazzled, which makes sense. It seems like she’s been through hell.

I want to ask her what happened. I need to know so I can keep her safe.

“It’s a small town. I’ll call the doctor,” I say, already grabbing my phone to call Christian, the pack’s doctor.

I step into the kitchen, grabbing two glasses of water.

“Hey, Ansel, how’s it going?” Christian asks as soon as the call connects.

“Good, er, bad.”

“Okay,” he says with a laugh.

“I’ve been shot.”

“So, really bad then,” he says seriously.

“It’s not bad. I found my mate. She’s hurt her ankle. Not sure about other injuries.”

“Where are you?”

“My place.”

“I’m on my way,” he says, and a second later the line goes dead.

I take a deep breath and call Russo next.

“Hey, I’m almost at the diner. Are you already there?” he asks.

“No, change of plans.”

“What’s up?”

“I found my mate, man. She’s here at my place, but she’s hurt. Two men were chasing her. They had a gun and shot me. I’m okay, but I need help to track the guys who were after her.”

“Shit. Okay, I’m on it. I’ll call some of the other guys, and we’ll get to work on finding them.”

“Thanks.”

“Does she know who they are?”

“I haven’t asked her yet. Christian is on his way here now to examine her and get the bullet out of my shoulder. I’ll try to find out more information.”

“Got it.”

“They were out back. I saw them running to an old red pickup truck.”

“We’ll start there. I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks, Russo.”

“Of course. Oh, and congratulations, Ansel.”

“Thanks.”

“See you in a minute.”