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We stayed like that for a long few moments. I untied Harley’s bun, then ran my fingers through her hair. It soothed both her and me. My exhausted, barely conscious dragon managed to purr at the contact. After a few minutes, Hawk finally sat up and grabbed a bottle of water from the shelf in the room. I suddenly realized how thirsty I was, and at my wide-eyed expression, Hawk laughed and handed me a bottle. I guzzled half of it before I leaned back against the pillows with a sigh.

“You can eat some real food tonight, too,” Harley said. “I’ll bring something over.”

“That’d be better than hospital food,” I said.

“Dylan will want to know you’re eating well, too,” she said.

“How is he?” I asked. My heart ached, and not just from the gunshot wound. “Is he okay?”

“He was scared,” Harley said. “Worried.”

“We told him about your condition,” Hawk said. “Thought about trying to hide it while things were still dicey, but…”

“But he’s got his dad’s sense for lies,” I said. “I bet he didn’t let you off easy.”

“Nope,” Hawk said with a warm smile. “I thought he was going to bite my head off if I didn’t tell him the truth.”

“If he’s going to be the alpha one day, he deserves to know what’s going on with the clan,” Harley said.

“That’s right,” I agreed.

“I’ll bring him over tonight,” Harley said. “He’ll want to see you.”

My dragon hummed his approval. We wanted to see our son, too. It felt like I hadn’t spent any real time with him in weeks because I’d been so caught up in this mess.

Now, I could stop being just his protector. I could finally be his dad. Full-time.

“What about Sean’s guys?” I asked.

“Caught,” Hawk said. “Two ran off, but Striker tracked them down quickly. They’re in clan custody.”

“Who were they?”

“Goons. Nobodies.” Hawk sighed. “Canadian, it looks like. Enforcers are already in touch with Michel to get them back over the border and out of our territory for good.”

“Good riddance,” Harley muttered.

“And Blakely?” I asked.

“Still looking for her,” Hawk said.

Anger burned low in my gut. Even weakened, and in this much pain, the thought of Blakely running free out there was enough to make my dragon hiss.

“And when we find her, I’ll strangle her myself,” Harley said.

I chuckled as I ran my palm over her nape. “Anything you want, babe.”

“I’ve got guys tracking her,” Hawk said. “We’ll find her. She’s got nowhere left to run.”

“Good. And any police involvement?”

“You literally just woke up,” Hawk said. “How do you have this many questions?”

“I’m the alpha,” I said. “It’s my job to have questions.”

“No police involvement,” Hawk said. “Since Forrest resigned, they’ve mostly left us alone. Even with that, though, the cops weren’t alerted to the challenge. We were deep enough in the woods that no one outside the clan knew it was happening.”

I looked at Hawk closely. “And the cleanup?”