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She had an arm wrapped around Rico’s back, trying to hold his weight up. Jessie was on his other side, arm around his waist. Rico’s face was pinched and he was gritting his teeth. His left pant leg was soaked with blood.
Ox and Joe were in front of them before anyone could speak. Elizabeth and Jessie handed him off to the Alphas. “I’m fine,” Rico muttered, trying to put on a brave face. “Just clipped me. Looks worse than it is.”
“Those bastards,” Jessie growled, hair hanging in wisps around her forehead. “I’m going to kill them.”
“We’ll get the hunters,” Joe told her, kneeling in front of Rico. “We’ll—”
“Not the hunters,” she snapped. “Although you bet your ass we will. I’m talking about Chris and Tanner. I’m going to fucking murder them.”
I looked back at the stairs, waiting for them to appear. “What did they do now?”
She whirled on me, looking furious. “They—they—goddammit, what is with the men in this pack? Why are you like this?”
“They told us to run,” Robbie said quietly, looking down at his hands. “Told us to get away. They… the hunters surprised us. A group of them. Elijah wasn’t there, but. Rico was hit, and Chris took Rico’s gun and told us to run. That we needed to get Elizabeth away from them.” He took in a shuddering breath. “Chris said he didn’t want Elizabeth to ever be hurt by them again.”
Elizabeth reached up and wiped a sweaty lock of hair from Rico’s face. “They were very brave. They gave us time to get away.”
I barely knew I was speaking. “Are they… are they still alive?”
“Yes,” Ox said, watching as Joe tore Rico’s pant leg. “They’re still alive. I didn’t… I was so focused on Mark and Carter that I didn’t even feel them being taken.” He breathed heavily out his nose. “They’re alive. And angry.”
“The Lighthouse,” Carter asked, voice harder than I’d ever heard it. “Do the hunters know about the Lighthouse?”
Rico shook his head, groaning as Joe pressed his fingers around the wound on his leg. “Don’t think so. We were far enough away. Covered our tracks. Bambi, she—anyone tries to come for them will get a face full of buckshot. She’s hard-core like that.”
“It’s not bad,” Joe told Ox. “Winged him. Took a chunk out, but the bullet isn’t in him.”
“Told you,” Rico said as he grimaced. “Lucky shot, anyway. If Chris hadn’t taken my gun, I would have shot the bastard between the eyes. Pendejo. Had sideburns. You know how I feel about sideburns.”
“Jessie,” Ox said, “get the med kit. We need to get this cleaned and wrapped.”
Jessie nodded, turned, and ran back upstairs.
“Great,” Rico muttered. “Because that’s going to feel good.”
“Shut up,” I told him, nudging Joe out of the way. “It’ll scar. Bambi seems like the type that likes scars.”
He perked up at that. “You think? Because if she gets over the whole I-run-around-with-werewolves thing, that’d be pretty cool and—oh my god, why are you touching it? I’m bleeding, Gordo!”
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nbsp; I pressed my palm flat against the wound. The raven’s talons tightened around vines and thorns as I pulled the pain as best I could. It rolled through my arm and into my chest, wrapping itself around my heart and squeezing.
And then Elizabeth said, “Mark?” and I hung my head.
Mark growled in response.
“What happened?” she asked, and everything felt blue coming from her. “Why is he—”
“It was Gordo,” Kelly spat, sounding furious. “Gordo made him like this. Gordo made him turn into an Omega and—”
“That’s enough,” Ox said, and everyone fell silent. Jessie came back down the stairs, white box clutched against her chest. The mood had shifted drastically in the few seconds she’d been gone, and she kept her mouth shut as she knelt next to me. She moved my hand, and Rico hissed as the pain returned. I stood slowly, letting her take over.
Elizabeth was watching me with an inscrutable expression. “Gordo?” she asked. “Is that true?”
I took a deep breath. “It is.”
Her eyes flashed orange, but that was all. “Why?”
