Page 10 of Fated to the Dragon King (Alpha Dragons’ Fated #4)

Alaric

Damon and Fiona drove away at high speed and down the road, the car’s tires kicking up a noisome cloud of dust and gravel.

I could have caught them. Chased them down from the air, flamed the vehicle until it was little more than a chunk of molten metal. No bodies would have remained behind. Just a pile of hot ash floating on the sea breeze, no way to identify them.

I didn’t dare chase them.

Hayley took the bullet meant for me. She lay on the ground, bleeding heavily, her breath far too shallow, her skin almost translucent with shock and blood loss. If I didn’t get her to a hospital in the next few minutes, she’d certainly die.

“I’ve got you,” I said to her, my voice hoarse with panic. “Hayley, I’ve got you.”

Enclosing her within my powerful talons, I gently lifted her to my chest. Terrified I’d kill her, I carefully closed my long foreclaw over her ghastly wound in the hope of keeping her from bleeding out.

Muttering a prayer to the goddess of my people, Lanokota, I launched myself skyward.

Help me. Don’t let her die. I need her to live.

Not caring that I might be seen by humans, I flew over the city.

Though I usually flew over the ocean, my wings beating lazily within the strong sea winds, I knew the city well enough from a height.

The traffic, the street lights, far below guided me toward one of the major hospitals.

I dipped my left wing and banked toward it, diving fast, hoping against hope there were no people in the staff parking lot behind the hospital.

As I dropped lower, I searched the area for humans.

At this late hour, no one walked from their cars to the staff entrance or vice versa.

All appeared quiet, and darkness illuminated only by fluorescent lights on their tall poles.

Back winging, I dropped to the asphalt as close to the building as I could get.

I shifted into my human body, Hayley in my arms.

“Hang in there, Hayley,” I muttered, my shirt soaked in her blood. “Hang in there.”

I know she couldn’t hear me, but I heard her raspy breathing, the faint thudding of her heart. I ran for the emergency entrance, trying to not jostle her. I yelled as I ran, bellowing at the top of my lungs.

“Help! Help me! She’s been shot! Help!”

Two paramedics, lounging near a stopped ambulance, saw and heard me approaching.

As though a bloody madman ran toward them with a woman in his arms every day, they instantly unloaded a gurney from the ambulance’s rear doors.

By the time I reached them with Hayley, they took her from me and set her on it.

My shouts must have been heard inside the emergency ward as well, for nurses in scrubs rushed from the automatic doors to help the EMTs.

Within seconds, they hustled the gurney with Hayley inside.

I stumbled after them, gasping for breath though I hadn’t run far.

Chasing the gurney and the medical team pushing it, a nurse spun around and halted me before I entered the trauma room they took Hayley to.

“You can’t come in,” the nurse said crisply, pointing past me. “Wait over there.”

“But –”

“Wait over there.”

She dove into the trauma room and shut the door in my face. Though I peered through the window, I saw little of Hayley as the swarm of doctors, nurses, and EMTs around the gurney worked to save her life.

Dispirited, scared, I paced to the waiting area. The big room was mostly empty, but those few people there stared at me as though I’d hurt Hayley myself and planned to hurt them as well.

I need to call someone. I need to do something. Unable to think, I paced the waiting room, trying to collect myself. All that came to my mind was the terrible image of Hayley running from me in terror, then collapsing, shot, in my arms.

Why did she run from me? She tore her hand from mine as if burned, then bolted like a hare. What on earth made her do that?

If she hadn’t, maybe she wouldn’t have been hurt.

Maybe I’d be dead. Too busy quarreling with Hayley, letting my anger cloud my mind, bamboozled into thinking Damon and Fiona were far away in another country all contributed to my possible demise.

I may well have stood with Hayley by my side, gazing at the ocean, while Damon gunned me down.

I clenched my fists, my anger roiling. They will die. No returning for a fair trial. I will be both judge and executioner. I will hunt them down like rats and cut their throats.

“We’ve notified the police.”

I turned. The pretty nurse who shut the door in my face looked up at me, her scrubs stained with Hayley’s blood. “Will you tell me what happened?”

I nodded and swallowed hard. “A drive by shooting. At the coast. In the parking lot at the overlook.”

“You don’t know who shot her?”

Opening my mouth to say his name, I quickly shut it again. This was between Damon and me. “No. It happened so fast.”

“We’ve taken her to surgery,” the nurse said, watching me closely. Possibly, she guessed I kept information back. “She’s lost too much blood.”

“Will she be all right?”

She must be okay. She has to be. This is my fault. Mine. And his.

“It’s too soon to tell,” she answered. “She was given a transfusion. If she makes it through the surgery, she has a chance.”

“All right. I’ll wait here.”

With a quick nod, the nurse spun on her heel and strode away.

I returned to my pacing, my head clearer.

I’ll deal with the police. Give them the same story, I don’t know why someone shot at us, it happened too fast, no, I didn’t see the driver or the passenger, yeah, there were two of them.

The passenger shot through the window, no, I don’t know if they wanted me dead, or Hayley.

Hayley works for me, yeah, we were on a date, so what, that’s not relevant.

No, I don’t have any enemies. No, I don’t think Hayley does, either.

I pulled my cell from my pocket and called Willow.

***

“Her sister should be notified.”

I sighed, stretching my legs, my butt sore from sitting in the hard plastic waiting room chair all night.

Willow sat beside me wearing a rumpled shirt and jeans, but didn’t appear at all uncomfortable from sitting so long.

After drinking cup after cup of coffee, I felt jittery inside while craving sleep.

I wouldn’t sleep, or leave the hospital, until I knew that Hayley was going to pull through.

“I know,” I replied, absently wondering what Medusa’s reaction might be. “Later though. It can wait.”

The police had come and gone hours ago, the waiting room was empty, save for Willow and me. At this hour of nearly four in the morning, the hospital’s pulse was at near death. Hayley had survived the surgery, but her condition was so serious that the doctors still feared she’d die.

Willow patted my hand. “She’ll be okay. She’s tough.”

“Is she? She’s so small, delicate.” I shook my head. “She’s not like us.”

“Except she is like us. In many ways. I’ve come to believe she was chosen for you.”

“I think the gods made a mistake.”

“They don’t make mistakes, dear one. I knew the moment I first saw Hayley that she was special. Incredibly so.”

I sighed again. “You’re the one the gods talk to. I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“That’s why I know Hayley will survive.”

I cocked an eye at Willow. “So, why are you sitting here in the hospital waiting for word on her condition?”

Willow grinned. “Because the gods like it when we sweat over things that aren’t in our control, but rather in theirs.”

“Terrific.” I rolled my eyes. “I wish they’d leave me out of their plans.”

“You can run, but you can’t hide. Now cease and desist with the self-pity, you’re giving me a headache. You’re sure the shooters were Damon and Fiona?”

“As sure as I can be.” I rubbed my jaw, remembering. “There were two, a driver and the gunman. I’m positive the shooter was Damon. It was dark, but the moonlight glinted off that ring he wears.”

“And it wasn’t Hayley’s ex?”

I shook my head. “I thought about him. If he wants her in his bed, he wouldn’t kill her. Nor can I see Medusa firing a gun. She’d scratch Hayley’s eyes out while pitching a fit, not kill from a distance. And who’d help her commit murder?”

“No one, I imagine,” Willow agreed. “Not someone in her social circles.”

“Nor did she have time to hire a killer. So really, Damon shot at me and hit Hayley instead.”

“Unless her ex intended to kill you.”

“I doubt he knows I exist.”

“Then we’re back to Damon and Fiona.” Willow sighed. “We have to find him, Alaric.”

“He obviously gave my private detective the slip.”

Willow stared down at her clasped hands. “He’s forcing me to choose between you. I can’t.”

“You won’t have to.” I pulled her under my arm and kissed her temple. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“Because you plan to kill him.”

“He’s not giving me much choice here.”

Willow stood up, drawing away from me with her arms over her chest, hugging herself. She said nothing for a long time. Nor did she look at me. When she finally spoke, her voice was so low I almost couldn’t hear her.

“My first loyalty is to you,” she murmured. “Nor can I ask you to spare his life. He’s done great wrong not just to you but also to our homeland.”

“What are you asking of me, Willow?”

“Don’t make me watch him die.”

I went to her, wrapping my arms around her. Willow didn’t cry. She never would. But she buried her face in my chest and took one long shuddering breath after another. I simply held her, offering what comfort I could, unable to make the promise she asked of me.

“Excuse me?”

Willow lifted her head, half turning toward the voice that came from behind us. I dropped my left arm from her, but kept my right over her shoulder. “Yes?”

A tired looking doctor with a stethoscope draped around his neck stood watching us. “I’m told you’re the shooting victim’s husband?”

“Yeah. I am. Is she going to be all right?”