Page 17

CERBERUS

“She’s gonna be okay,” Azrael says, hand on my shoulder. “Your woman, she’s a fighter.”

“Yeah,” I croak out.

I want to believe him, but it’s hard to do just that when I know the chances. Hell, she coded right after we got here. It was lucky enough she made it that long. I don’t know what’s going on. The last thing I heard was them shouting for OR trauma two.

For all I know, she could be dead right now, and no one has been here to tell us that she didn’t make it.

Fuck.

I hate hospitals.

Reaper, Tombstone, and Angel were all sitting across from me. Ivy and Sutton close to their men. Angel’s ol’ lady was somewhere in the hospital, hopefully with Ember.

None of us has spoken since we were ordered to this private waiting room.

Ember’s blood still stained my hands. I couldn’t get it off. I didn’t want to. It’s all I have of her right now. I need it to be able to feel close to her, even if it sounds stupid.

I want to know who the fuck shot her. If I could go back, I’d make sure the bullet hit me instead of her. She doesn’t deserve this. I should have protected her.

“I didn’t protect her. I broke my promise to her.” My words are quiet, but I know the others in the room hear me.

“You didn’t break your promise to Ember, Cerberus,” Ivy speaks up from her perch on Reaper’s leg. “No one could have known there was someone waiting like that. Any of you could have been the target.”

“But it wasn’t just anyone. It was Ember,” I growl. “She’s been through hell enough times that this shouldn’t be happening to her. Not again.”

I knew how Ember lost her parents in a fire. Because of that, she grew up the rest of the time in the clubhouse, not a home. Not that her uncles didn’t love her. Then there’s what happened to her while at school. The latest being her getting kidnapped on her way home from work. Now this shit.

I’m willing to bet I know who the fuck did this, but I’m not worrying about it right now. I need to make sure she’s alive and going to survive this before I take on anything else.

“It’s on me,” Reaper grunts, voice filled with remorse. “Shouldn’t have told you to take that drama outside.”

“It’s not on you either,” Ivy states, curling herself around my Prez. “Just wait until Ember’s out of this. She’ll tell you. This isn’t on any of you. Now, stop thinking about that and instead think of what you’re going to do when you catch the bastard who put Ember in the hospital.”

“I know exactly what I’m going to do,” Tombstone snarls. “I’m going to make them wish they never squeezed that trigger.”

“We find out who did this, I’ll rip them to shreds.” I would do more than rip them to shreds. No mercy will be handed out to the one responsible for putting Ember here.

More hours pass before Stella and another doctor enter the waiting room. Stella looks exhausted, but that’s about it.

I get to my feet and step forward. “How is she?”

“Are you her husband?” the doctor with Stella asks, looking at me.

“This is her husband, Jase, and her uncles,” Stella answers for me.

Husband? Did Stella really lie about that?

“Right.” The doctor nods and introduces himself. “I’m Doctor Calvin. I worked on your wife. It was touch and go for a while, but we managed to stop the bleeding.”

“So, she’s okay?” I ask, watching him closely.

“We lost her twice more on the table. Right now, she’s in recovery and will be transported to ICU.

The next twenty-four hours or so are critical.

” Doctor Calvin goes on to explain several other things, but I don’t pay attention.

My thoughts were on the fact that she’s still not out of the woods yet.

“When can I see her?” I need to see her. I won’t be okay until I can see her for myself.

“Soon as they have her situated in the ICU, someone will come get you,” Doctor Calvin remarks, nods, and turns, leaving us all alone.

“Love, what didn’t he tell us?” Angel asks, pulling his woman into his arms .

“Like he said, Ember coded twice on the table. The next twenty-four hours for sure are critical, however, so are the next few days. She’s going to have to heal.

It could be days before she wakes up, and honestly, that is good.

Means her body is healing. Though, we’ll be monitoring her closely.

Making sure nothing happens to keep her from waking up. ”

I listen closely to Stella and nod.

“Wanna explain why you called Cerberus Ember’s husband?” Reaper explains.

“She’s his ol’ lady. Just as good as being married, right?” Stella retorts. “They weren’t going to allow him in unless that is who I told them he is. They don’t want anyone in the ICU who’s not a close relative. We all know Cerberus isn’t leaving this hospital.”

She’s got that right. I wasn’t leaving my woman here alone. No matter how much I hate fucking hospitals.

Stella says a few more things before kissing Angel briefly and stepping away. “I’ll send a nurse to come get you as soon as she’s in her room. I’m gonna go stay with her until she’s situated.”

“Thank you, Stella,” Reaper and Tombstone both say simultaneously.

Angel doesn’t say anything, but he’s watching his woman like only a man would watch the one he loves.

“Thanks, Stella,” I add my own gratitude to the mix.

Nodding, Stella leaves the room.

Turning my attention to the rest of the room, I allow myself to relax. Though only marginally. I won’t fully relax until she’s out of this place.

“We need to find out who did this to her?” I finally say. “I want to find them and make ‘em pay.”

“We’ll find them,” Angel snarls. “Don’t you worry about that.”

“Harvester and Thanatos stayed behind with Scythe. Scythe was looking over the monitors while the others went to look around in the direction the bullet came from,” Reaper announces.

“You know cops are going to be here and asking questions soon,” Styxx speaks up from where he’d been standing, back against the wall, keeping quiet. “We’re gonna have to give them something.”

“We give them the basics. We don’t know who the hell did this,” Reaper retorts, curling his lip in fury.

“I want them out of it as much as we can keep them out of it.

“Azrael, get back to the clubhouse with Hellhound and Daemon. I want anything and everything that could be used as a cause for a warrant off property. You know where to take it. ”

“It’ll be taken care of.” Azrael nods, slaps me on the shoulder, and makes his way out of the waiting room.

Moving back to one of the seats, I call out to my best friend.

“Yeah?” he says at the door, looking back at me.

“Find Jon Coleman. See if he has anything to do with what happened.” The fact this shit happened right after he pulls out of the clubhouse doesn’t sit well with me.

“I’ll find him.” Azrael growls.

“Take him to the cabin when you do,” Tombstone snarls.

Nodding, Azrael takes off to do what he’s told.

Me, I sit down and wait until I’m able to see Ember. Nothing else matters but seeing her. She’s all that matters. Always.