Barely Winging It (16 page)

A gunshot sounded, and pain blossomed through his
chest. The shot came from the human still holding his mate. Not looking at his
wound,
Dyltun
grabbed the shooter by the neck and
squeezed until he heard the snap of his neck.
Dultyn’s
free hand wrapped around his mate as the dead body fell into a heap onto the
ground before him.

Looking up, he saw the other human had moved away but
was now currently guarded by Bogdan while a naked Henry was on the cell.
Dultyn
held his freezing cold mate tightly to him. She
remained limp as he wrapped the blanket around her, grateful he’d thought to
bring it. He didn’t like how shallow her breathing was, and as drops of rain
hit her face, she didn’t flinch.

Worry filled his entire body as he looked up at the
others. Henry looked up, and their eyes locked. “Enzo says
Alphy’s
in bad shape, and the doc is working on him. Take her back, but they don’t know
when the doc can look at her.”

Dultyn
nodded, and once again spreading his wings, he leaped into the air. Pumping his
powerful wings, he was in the air and flying back towards the pack house.

Dultyn
started
losing strength as the burning in his chest became more prominent. He doubled
his focus on his destination as he made his way through the unfriendly weather.
Once the pack house was within sight, he was silently relieved Seamus was on
the porch waiting. He landed heavily on the ground and sank to his knees, but
didn’t release his mate until he knew for sure that Seamus had a secure hold on
her. As Seamus was pulling her away, that was when he noticed blood covering
the blanket.

Dultyn
barely heard Seamus shouting for help. “
Dultyn
,
you’re shot. You’ve lost a lot of blood. Don’t move.”

He staggered to his feet as a few others hurried out
to help.
Dultyn
brushed them off and insisted on
following the doctor.

“I’m not leaving my mate.” His low, gruff voice
brooked no argument.

Dultyn
could see the doctor war with his frustration but instead of arguing, conceded
and motioned for him to follow. Her anxious and worried brother, Reese, was
waiting for them just inside the door. Seamus rattled off a list of what he
needed as he started up the stairs.

“Bring them to Havana’s room.”

Reese scurried away to do as he asked as
Dultyn
struggled to follow Seamus up the stairs to Havana’s
room.

Inside her room,
Dultyn
watched protectively from the foot of the bed as the doctor placed Havana on
her bed and removed the blanket surrounding her. He growled at the sight of her
skin so pale and of the IV port taped to her arm.

He watched Seamus do a quick check over her before
Katie and Reese hurried into the room. Katie placed many things on a nearby
dresser.
Dultyn
heard her instruct Reese what to do,
but his mind was fuzzy and couldn’t follow along.

“Katie, come here and take samples of what is in this
IV port. I want to know what it is. They gave her something that her metabolism
isn’t burning off like it normally would. Reese, you’re going to help me check
out
Dultyn
.”

Dultyn
glanced down at his chest. His skin was tougher and thicker than a human’s and
even most other
paranormals
’, so he wasn’t concerned
when he saw a small hole and a light amount of fresh blood adding to the
already crusting drying blood around the area of his left pec.

He kept his eyes on Havana while the doctor inspected
his wound. “You’re lucky you have such thick skin, and the guy shot you with such
a small caliber. It’s just barely below the skin, but I will need to dig it out
before you roost.”

Reese, who was standing close, watching and assisting,
asked, “Why before he roosts?”

Seamus didn’t take his eyes off his task as he started
to use his tools to dig the small slug out. “Because like shifters who heal
faster when they shift, gargoyles’ wounds heal when they roost. If I can’t get
it out before he turns to stone, then I’ll have to reopen the wound when he
wakes.”

Dultyn
kept his eyes on his mate and clenched his teeth and fists while the doctor
removed the bullet. He felt weaker after the doctor was done.

Connie knocked lightly on the door and entered.
“Seamus,
Bronya
just arrived, and she needs your
help.”

With a curse from the good doctor, he sprinted out of
the room with Katie and Reese following. Connie silently followed but not at
the same speed, leaving
Dultyn
alone in the now
silent room with his unconscious mate.

Dultyn
took slow steps to stand beside the bed where his mate lay. He didn’t know what
to do. Another knock on the door had him looking up to see Connie entering with
a glass of orange juice.

“Here, you need to keep your strength up.” Her voice
sounded tired and strained with worry. It wasn’t until that moment
Dultyn
remembered that Connie’s daughter, Gale, was in the
plane.
She must be so worried
, he
thought.

“Thank you.” Taking the glass, he downed it all and
handed the empty container back to her. She took it and quietly exited the
room.

Throughout the night, Katie and the doctor came to
check on Havana. They would take a look at his bullet wound as well, but they
were more concerned with what was put in Havana’s system that kept her out for
so long. Her heart rate was low, and even though they did hook up an IV, all
they could do was monitor her.

He didn’t know how long he stood there. He only moved
to the foot of the bed when Seamus and Katie would come to check on Havana
without working around him as much. Finally, he felt the pull of the dawn
approaching. Refusing to leave, he had no choice but to let his roost take
place. He moved, once again, to the food of her bed and with dawn cresting the
horizon, surrendered to it, petrifying him into a stone guardian at the foot of
her bed.

****

Sunday

Havana’s ears rang as she started to wake. Her
thoughts were fuzzy, but her bladder hurt. She needed to get up and use the
bathroom. A hand curled around hers. She recognized her brother’s voice. “Hey,
sis, can you wake up?”

Can I wake up?
Pff
, of course I can. What kind of question is that?
But as she tried to say anything out loud, her body
felt too heavy and she started drifted back to sleep. Hands grabbed her
shoulders and lightly shook her. “Come on, sis, wake up.”

Havana tried to open her eyes and blinked blearily
around. “What happened?” Her words sounded rough and slightly slurred to her.

“You got kidnapped,” he simply said as he helped her
to her feet.

Havana’s head was bent and her eyes were nearly shut
as her brother helped her into the hallway to the bathroom. She scuffed her
feet on the floor on her way. After standing her in front of the toilet, Reese
quickly exited the bathroom, closing the door as he went. She could hear his
voice through the door. “I’ll be right back. I’m
gonna
go get Seamus. He told me to get him when you woke.”
 

Havana was washing her hands when she heard her
brother return. Opening the door, she saw Seamus waiting with Reese in the
hallway. He looked at her and smiled. “I’m relieved to see you up. How are you
feeling?”

Each got on one side of her as she made her way back
to her room. “Groggy. I’m really, really groggy. What happened?” Entering her
room, she froze as she saw her mate in stone form standing at the end of her
bed. As she made her way around, she saw worry etched on his face. Havana reached
out and ran a hand down the smooth and warm stone. She had to have been out for
a long time if
Dultyn
had already come out of his
roost and back again. Then the memory hit her. It wasn’t much of a memory, but
she remembered the prick of a dart. A chill ran down her spine, and goosebumps
prickled her skin. “What happened?” she whispered.

“You were abducted. It is quite a story actually. Why
don’t you lie down and let me examine you while your brother fetches you
something to eat. I’d like to take more
blood samples, if
that’s
all right with you.”

Havana turned to the doctor in surprise. “More? Ok,
doc, spill it. What’s going on?”

While ushering her to her bed and taking the blood
samples, Seamus told her everything he knew about the previous day’s events. “
Bronya
forced their plane down but crashed herself. Nix
flew out but stayed with the plane when it crashed, until help arrived. Don’t
worry. Your brother will make a full recovery, and Gale and
Bronya
suffered only slight concussions, bumps, scrapes, and bruises.”

“
Alphy
got hurt?
How bad?”
Havana felt shaky. She leaned back and tried to
relax while she drank down the water her brother had brought up.

“It wasn’t too terrible. He is a tough bear. He
protected both girls during the crash. From the sounds of it, if Nix hadn’t
have flown out right before the crash, he could have been killed. There was a
nasty branch that skewered his seat. Your brother wasn’t wearing his seatbelt
and was able to shield the girls from another branch. He deflected it.” Seamus
paused.

“And?”

Seamus looked reluctant to tell her. “And the branch
went through his side.” He hurried on. “It missed all his major organs. So as I
said, he’ll make a full recovery.”

Havana sat back and breathed out. Her brother had been
through worse, but that didn’t mean it was any easier to hear. Looking up at
her mate, she relaxed a bit.
At least I’m
not alone anymore
.

Seamus cleaned up his mess of needles and plastic
wrappers. “They shot you up with some kind of sedative that actually works on
paranormals
, so I would like for you to rest today until I
know it’s completely out of your system. If you need anything, ask for Reese,
but if you want me, I won’t be too far. I will be back, at least for when
Dultyn
comes out of roost.”

“Why would you want to be here for that?”

Seamus paused as if he just got caught saying
something he shouldn’t have. Havana raised a brow at him and narrowed her eyes.
Seamus stood up and coolly looked back at her. “He was injured retrieving you. However
there shouldn’t even be a scar by the time he wakes, but I just want to make
certain.”

“Injured? How?
Where?”

Seamus rolled his eyes. “His skin is far tougher than
any of ours, so don’t freak out.”

“You can’t tell me not to freak out and expect me not
to freak out. What the hell happened to my mate?”

“He was shot.”

Alarm pinged off the lining of her stomach, and her
breath left her in a whoosh.
My mate was
shot?
“Where?”

Pointing to
Dultyn’s
smooth
chest, Seamus said, “Upper left pec. As you can see, there aren’t any marks,
which should indicate that when he comes out of roost, that he should be
completely healed. Their bodies are quite remarkable.”

Havana’s eyes roved over the smooth chest of her mate
and every place else, making sure she didn’t find any marks on him. “Are you
sure he’ll be all right?”

“He should be fine. It hardly penetrated his skin.
It’s when they are damaged while they are roosting that is something to worry
about. That is when they are most vulnerable. Now rest.”

Seamus left, leaving her in a quiet room with a giant
gargoyle standing guard at the foot of her bed. She mused to herself at that
thought as she began to eat the breakfast her brother had brought her right
before the doctor left. She had her very own giant stone guardian.

As she ate, she began to worry about her brother. His
room was right next door.
What the doctor
won’t know … right?

Havana was a bit dizzy as she stood, so she moved
slowly, placing a kiss on her mate as she passed. Arriving at her brother’s
door, she didn’t hear anything, so she knocked lightly.

“You should be in bed.”

Havana jerked around at the sound of Reese’s voice.
The movement put her head in too much of a spin, and she lost her balance,
falling hard on her butt on the floor. Reese’s scent surrounded her as his
hands carefully grabbed her arm and wrapped it around his shoulders. He placed
his other hand around her back and grabbed her hip and helped her up. “I know
Seamus told you to stay in bed. You should have listened.”

Havana kept her eyes closed trying to slow the
spinning in her head. She opened them as she was set down on the bed, and
looked up at her younger brother. “Where’s
Alphy
?
Seamus said he would be all right, but he’s not in his room.”

She saw his lips thin as he frowned. He spoke as he
helped situate her back in bed. “Seamus has him in the medical room above the
garage. Gale is with him. Good thing those beds are extra-large.”