Page 249

“You didn’t look all right,” Harley said. “We thought you were going to die, Steph.”

Hawk nodded. “It was bad.”

Before I could respond to that, there was a knock on the door. “Stephan Cole?”

“Yes?” I asked.

A doctor in a white coat stepped inside. She was a small, severe-looking woman with dark hair cropped short around her angular face. “Glad to see you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” I admitted.

“That’s to be expected,” she said, glancing down at the clipboard in her hands. “You lost a lot of blood, Mr. Cole. With your alpha shifter physiology, surgery was challenging and took longer than we would’ve liked. We were able to successfully remove the bullet, but you were so weak we had to keep you in a medically-induced coma for nearly forty-eight hours to give your body time to heal.”

Two days? Jesus. No wonder Harley looked so bad.

“They almost lost you on the table,” Harley whispered, squeezing my hand. “They weren’t sure you’d wake up from the coma.”

“With that in mind,” the doctor continued, “we’ll be keeping you here for observation for a few more days.”

Hawk and Harley both looked at me, and I knew they were both expecting me to push back. Before all this happened, I would’ve. I hated feeling weak, or like I needed care. I often pushed myself too hard and licked my wounds in silence. I didn’t want anyone else to see me hurt. See me weak.

I knew better, now. I was stronger with my family beside me. My mate. If I was to be to be the alpha this clan needed, I needed to heal properly.

“That’s fine,” I said. I glanced sidelong at Hawk. “Don’t look so shocked.”

“Damn, a near-death experience will really change you,” Hawk muttered, but there wasn’t much humor in his voice.

“Good,” the doctor said. “I’ll give you some time to rest up. The nurses will be in shortly to get your vitals.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Harley said. “For everything.”

The woman smiled warmly at Harley, then nodded at me and Hawk as she left the room. She closed the door behind her.

I sighed heavily and tipped my head back. That short conversation had left me exhausted.

“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I didn’t mean…”

“Nothing that happened was your fault,” Hawk said firmly. He sat down at the edge of the bed. “Nothing. Okay? It was Sean. It was all him.”

“He shot you,” Harley said. “Because he was trying to shootme.”

“There was nothing you could’ve done differently,” Hawk said. “Don’t apologize, okay?” His voice broke a little. “Not for this.”

I realized, then, how terrifying this ordeal was for Hawk. It had been so hard for him to accept that Sean was beyond saving. Until the very last moment, he’d maintained hope that our brother might come back to us. That was what he’d wanted more than anything else.

And then Sean had shot me. Hawk must’ve thought he was going to losebothhis brothers.

“Okay. I won’t apologize, Hawk.” I squeezed his forearm. “You did good, brother. If you hadn’t been there to tell me to shift, I would’ve passed out in my dragon form.”

His eyes widened. “Seriously?”

I nodded. “Yeah. You saved me.” I turned to Harley and squeezed her hand, too. “You, too. Your voice kept me conscious. I knew I had to hang on for you.”

That made Harley cry again, which set Hawk off, and my tears finally fell. When we all noticed we were doing it, we broke out into exhausted laughter.

The tears were of pain but also relief.

“We made it,” Hawk said, breathlessly. “We really made it.”