Authors: Joyee Flynn
“I am his mate, Peter,” Kelley replied with a shaky voice. Damn that woman! She was lying to a crazed man to help protect them. “
Austin
’s at the office. You know how he is, work, work, work, work. It gets old really.”
“Bullshit,” Peter hissed as Garreck pulled the cell phone out his pocket and wrote up a quick text for help. At that moment he was forever grateful that
Austin
had insisted he learn how to text and use the cell. “
Austin
said he had two mates. If you’re one of them, where is the other?”
“Wolf’s out running errands for
Austin
,” Kelley answered smoothly. “I can call them to come home if you want.”
“Do you think I’m that stupid?” Peter shrieked, and Garreck cringed when he heard a loud smack. That bastard hit Kelley! “You’ll alert them somehow that I’m here, and they’ll bring in the
Calvary
.”
“I’m his mate,” Garreck said loudly after he entered the room. He tried not to pay attention to the fact Kelley was holding her cheek and how pale she was. No, he needed to focus on the man holding the long knife and that had the gun tucked in the back of his pants. Peter whipped them around and held the knife to Kelley’s throat.
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed and loosened his hold on Kelley. “A hot guy like my little dragon would never give some twerp like you a second look.”
“Oh really?” Garreck snickered and lifted his shirt. He knew it was stupid to egg the man on, but right then his only goal was to buy time and get that very sharp knife away from Kelley. Garreck turned to the side so Peter could see the pronounced baby bump he had. “I’m carrying
Austin
’s child. I am his mate.”
“He said no to me for some used bitch like you?” Peter snarled as he let go of Kelley. The second the man took a step towards him and away from her, Garreck took off. He raced out of the kitchen and towards the front door. Turning the knob, he yanked open the door and ran. Yes, it might not have been the smartest move to be out in the open with a crazy man chasing him.
But all he cared about was getting Peter away from Kelley and Dante. He needed to buy time until help arrived. And then he remembered that Tiny or Wolf would be at the guard station by the main gate. Since Peter had showed up the first time,
Austin
always had one of them on guard.
“Get the fuck over here you piece of shit,” Peter screamed behind him. Garreck didn’t even glance over his shoulder. He was too focused on getting to help. Unfortunately, when he got to the gate, he realized how bad things really were. Tiny was lying on the ground with so much blood it made Garreck’s knees go weak. The wound was in his head, and while Garreck knew that dragons were immortal, even a gunshot to the head had to kill them, right?
He didn’t have time to decide as he heard Peter getting closer. Garreck made a split-second decision and decided to circle back to the patio behind the house. Maybe he could get back into the kitchen that way and lock Peter out.
“Fuck,” he swore when he saw his plan backfiring. Peter had stopped running halfway between the house and the gate, watching him intently for Garreck’s next move.
“You’re not getting out of this alive, cunt,” Peter sneered as he stepped closer.
“Really? It’s obvious I’m male, and yet all your insults are for a woman,” Garreck said, rolling his eyes as he moved towards Peter. He needed to stay out of arm’s length distance, but if he could get close enough to then get around Peter, he’d have a chance. He might not be tall or useful in a fight, but Garreck could run, baby weight and all. “No wonder
Austin
doesn’t want you. You’re fucking dense, man.”
“He’ll want me when you’re dead.”
“Yeah, I can totally see
Austin
ignoring the fact that you killed his mates and friend and take you back. Totally sounds like him.”
“Who says he’ll think it was me? From what I hear, there’s a price on your head from your old employers. I just didn’t know if you were men or women or what you looked like. All I knew was my little dragon mated two pathetic ex-whores.”
“He’s not
your
anything, besides ex-boyfriend,” Garreck growled, tired of this man acting as if his mate belonged to Peter. Just as he got close enough to make a break around him, Peter lunged for him.
“No,” he heard someone roar as Garreck dove out of the way. He cringed when he felt someone cover him with his body and figured Peter was going to stab him. But then he heard
Austin
grunt. What the fuck?
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, my little dragon!” Peter cried out. Garreck started to panic then.
Austin
moved off of him, and he was finally able to roll over. His mate had a pinched face that told Garreck he was in pain.
“I love you,” he said as he stood up and hugged
Austin
fiercely. “I knew if I distracted him long enough, you’d come save us.”
“I’ll always come for you, sweetheart,”
Austin
replied before sinking to his knees. Garreck helped ease him down, and it was then he saw the knife sticking out of
Austin
’s back.
“Where’s Tiny?” Wolf asked as he cuffed Peter with some type of extra-strong metal bands.
“Peter shot him,” Garreck answered, his eyes filling up with tears. He saw the pained expression over Wolf’s features and shook his head to answer the unasked question. Wolf threw back his head and roared, his voice sounding more dragon than human at the moment.
“
Austin
? Garreck?” Kelley yelled from the doorway.
“We need help,” he shouted back. “Tiny’s been shot in the head, and
Austin
’s been stabbed.”
“Call the King. He wants Peter,”
Austin
whispered, taking shallow, quick breaths. “Make sure they look at Tiny. You’d be surprised what we can heal from, sweetheart.”
“I hope so,” Garreck whispered as Kelley came racing towards them. “There was just so much blood.”
“Everything will work out, Garreck. I’ll never leave you and Dante, okay?”
“I know you won’t, big guy,” he replied gently as he leaned
Austin
against him.
“I’m going to pass out now. Kelley knows what to do. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Garreck cried as
Austin
went limp against him. Seconds later Kelley was there, and Garreck relayed what
Austin
had said.
“You stay with him. I know what to do,” she said firmly. He nodded as she pulled out her phone and started making calls. She raced over to the guard station as sirens sounded in the distance. Of course she called for help after he’d gone outside. The gates slid open for the ambulance came barreling through towards them.
Garreck was in a fog as people started surrounding him. Dante was suddenly at his side yelling to let the paramedics help
Austin
. He backed away and let them work as helicopter landed on the edge of the property on the helipad.
“Tiny’s alive,” Kelley shouted at the top of her lungs. Garreck let out a soft cry at the news and clutched Dante to him. The medivac people raced to her as the EMTs loaded
Austin
in the back of the ambulance. “It’s a flesh wound to the head, but he’s breathing.”
Wolf passed Peter off to some guys who were dressed in the same security uniforms of
Austin
’s company. He barked out a few orders and ran to where they were loading Tiny on a gurney. Dante and Garreck sat there on the grass in shock the whole time.
“You fucking idiot,” Kelley cried out, suddenly at their side as she knelt and threw her arms around Garreck. “You stupid, stupid man. You don’t taunt a crazy man with a knife who wanted
Austin
’s mates dead.”
“Oh yeah, you’re much better,” he shouted as the helicopter took off with Wolf joining them to be with Tiny. The ambulance pulled out at the same time, and Garreck sighed in relief that
Austin
was getting help. “You lie and tell Peter that you’re
Austin
’s mate so he’ll go after you.”
“I couldn’t risk him hurting you and the babies,” she sobbed and held on to both of them tightly. “You guys are my family, and I couldn’t let him get to you no matter what happened to me.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Dante shouted in a panic, finally saying something. “I was building a new site for
Austin
, and suddenly I hear sirens and shouting and all sorts of chaos.”
“We’ll explain on the way to the hospital,” Kelley answered as they all got to their feet. She called out some orders to the remaining men, and one of them raced to the garage. Garreck could barely get his feet to move now that the adrenaline rush was over. They shuffled over to the driveway as the man pulled up in
Austin
’s SUV, and they got in.
Next thing he was able to focus on was when they pulled up to the hospital and got out. Kelley led them inside and smoothly told the nurse that she was
Austin
’s wife. They were led to a small waiting area while the doctors were looking at their dragon. Garreck listened as Kelley filled Dante in on what happened, adding bits to the story when he could.
Sometime during the never-ending wait, a nice lady came and gave them some clean scrubs to change into. It was then that he realized Kelley was covered in blood, and he wasn’t faring much better. They went to wash up as best as they could in the bathroom and change.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dante said firmly to a man in a lab coat. Garreck wanted to roll his eyes how the drama never seemed to stop. He was gone maybe ten minutes, and now something else was wrong!
“Look you’re either his mate or someone’s mate,” the man hissed as he glanced around. “You’re pregnant, and I know
Austin
’s a dragon.”
While humans knew about dragons, there was still a lot of animosity towards them, and they normally hid what they were the best that they could. But there wasn’t much they could do about hiding what
Austin
was when they had to bring him to the hospital.
“Dante, it’s okay. The doc’s a dragon, too,” Kelley said softly as he raced from the other bathroom to the men. “He’s a friend of
Austin
’s.”
“Oh, sorry, doc,” Dante replied sheepishly as his cheeks heated up. Garreck went over and wrapped his arms around the man. This was hard on all of them after all. “Yes, we’re his mates. I didn’t want to risk admitting that to the wrong person.”
“No, you were right to keep quiet,” the doctor said and rubbed his hands over his face. “
Austin
’s fine. The knife punctured his lung, but it’s already healing up, and he can breathe just fine. There was no other major damage done, and I suggest you guys get him out of there before the staff notices that he
is
healing that fast.”
“So now he just needs rest and to recoup?” Kelley asked as she was already pulling out her phone.
“Yup, he’s going to be good as new in a couple of days, Kelley,” the doc answered and gave her a soft smile. He patted Garreck and Dante on the shoulder in a sign of comfort before turning and heading back through the doors he came out of.
The next hour was another flurry of events. Wolf sent guys to help them get
Austin
home since he refused to leave while Tiny was still in surgery. It seems the bullet was more of a graze shot. It took a chunk out of poor Tiny’s head, but not enough to fracture or damage the skull. But head wounds bleed a
lot
, and that’s why it seemed as if he was dead.
Austin
’s crew got them home and helped get
Austin
to bed. After they left, they crawled in and joined their sedated mate. It wasn’t until Garreck plastered himself to the side of
Austin
’s body that he finally felt himself start breathing normally. The whole thing had been so taxing on him that he couldn’t help the tears that over flowed his eyes.