Blood Legacy

13

There was no way I could stay on the sidelines while both of them risked their lives for me. Liam, are you okay?

Yes, I'm almost there. He howled, and it didn't sound far away at all.

At least, he was near.

The tan wolf attacked Micah. He raised up on his two hind legs and landed on Micah's back. Micah immediately fell backward, throwing all of his weight so that he landed hard on the other wolf.

Kai bared his teeth at the scared man and ran straight at him. Kai’s eyes locked on the hand holding the gun.

Micah stood back up on his four legs, and he went for the wolf's neck. The other wolf countered his move, moving his neck, but it was too little too late. Micah sunk his teeth into his flesh, causing the other wolf to wail.

When the older man turned around to find out what was happening, his eyes widened as he saw his friend being taken out. Kai was only inches from his hand when the guy aimed his gun at Micah at the last second.

No.

The gun went off, and I jumped in front of Micah. Even though he didn't like me, he had just saved me, and I couldn't let him go like that.

Mia! No! Liam's dark brown wolf ran into the room a split second before the bullet hit me in my left shoulder. The impact forced me to fall backward, and I thudded to the ground.

R

aw pain poured through me. When the bullet had first hit, I hadn't felt anything, but now it was the most excruciating pain I'd ever experienced.

Liam's dark brown wolf ran to me, his frightened eyes looking me over.

I'm fine. Obviously, I wasn't, but the truth wasn't going to put him in the right headspace.

Don't even lie to me right now. His wolf whimpered as he sniffed my wound.

Evan ran into the room in human form, his eyes landing on me. He hurried over, dropping down beside me. "Mia, what the hell happened?"

"The man that Kai is fighting.” I stopped, taking a deep breath. The pain seemed worse when I spoke. “Tried to shoot Micah." I turned my head to find Micah staring at me with blood dripping from his mouth. The man he'd been attacking lay still at his feet.

Then, I turned my head to Kai. He had the guy's hand that had been holding the gun crushed between his teeth, not letting him get free. The gun was only a few feet away from them.

Thank God, neither one of them was hurt, or I'd have gotten shot for no good reason. Evan squatted down beside me and gingerly touched my shoulder.

A deep growl emanated from Liam.

"Stop it." Evan glared at him. "I'm checking her wound. You’re being an idiot." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "I need you to sit up so I can see whether it went all the way through your body."

"Okay." I wanted to say no, but there was no point. We had to see how bad off I really was. I

gritted my teeth as I began to rise. The pain was so bad I felt dizzy, but I pushed through it. Luckily, Evan helped me up with my good shoulder.

"It didn't go through." He took a deep breath. " It's not lethal, but we'll need to get the bullet out as soon as possible before she bleeds out." His eyes went to Liam. "Go round the others up. We need to figure out who took her and why so we can leave and get her cleaned up." Liam shook his head no. I'm not leaving you.

Please, I want to go home. I stared into his eyes, desperate.

Fine. He backed away and ran out the door. Call me if it gets worse. This will only take a few minutes.

"I can't believe you took a f*****g bullet … for him." Evan's gaze flickered at Micah and then settled back on me. "He's been an asshole to you."

"In all fairness, haven't all four of you been?" It was meant to be a joke, but it fell flat.

Evan winced at my words. "Yes. Yes, we have." He stood up on his feet again and glanced at me.

"Can you stand?"

"I think… so." God, it really hurt, but it wasn’t like being on my feet was going to make it any worse. Warm blood spilled down my shirt and onto the ground. "Why are you in human form?"

"The same reason Micah was supposed to be. All of us heirs aren't in the same pack, so we can't communicate in wolf form. Some of us must stay human. Micah and I are the strongest in human form, so it makes sense that we stand on two legs instead of four. We have a change of clothes in the SUV just in case something like this happens though. We all need to be in human form to handle this." Evan flattened his hand and pushed hard on my wound.

A loud groan left me, and my head began to spin. "Aw, s**t. A little warning would've been nice." Tears spilled out of my eyes, and I had to remind myself to breathe.

Micah's dark brown wolf moved to stand behind me, supporting some of my weight. A small whimper left him.

It was strange having two heirs take care of me. If this would've happened just two weeks ago, they all would've left me behind to die.

"I promise I'll behave." The older man's voice shook, and for the first time, I got a good look at him.

He was balding and on the thinner side. He had to be around the same height as me, but there was something truly odd about him. His eyes looked younger than his actual appearance. He tried to lift both of his too-thin hands in the air and then took a deep breath.

Kai growled but dropped the man's hand from his mouth. He ran over and grabbed the gun before trotting back over to us.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." The man grabbed his wrist and held on to it tight.

Right then, a sandy brown wolf entered the room, walking backward as he growled and stared right at the tall man stepping through the door. Liam came from behind as they herded the other man next to the scared one.

"We've got it from here." Evan nodded at them. "You have to put pressure on your wound. I need to keep an eye on these two idiots while the others shift back."

I'll be back in a moment. Tell Micah and Simon to stay while Kai and I shift back. Liam nodded at Kai, and the two headed for the door.