Page 97 of Mountain Defender

Shudders shake my body, rattling my teeth.

Gage!

I know I should be doing something. Calling the police. Finding something to use as a bandage.Anything. But the fear is too powerful. The horror is too great.

Did he sacrifice himself for me?

God.That’s not what I want. Gage is so much better than me. He deserves a good life. A long life. Not to be shot and?—

“Rory!”Strong arms wrap around me, hauling me against a hard chest. “Ah, baby. It’s okay.” One big hand strokes my hair, shaking a little. “It’s okay. It’s over.”

I can’t make myself move. My muscles don’t want to work.

Sobbing continues in the background, rising in volume.

“It’s okay, baby.” Lips press to my head. “She can’t hurt you. Look.”

Gage touches my chin, turning my head. On the floor is Melissa, restrained by those trusty zip ties. The gun is nowhere in sight. And she looks unscathed, not a drop of blood on her.

Fear shoots through me and I jerk away from Gage to scan his body. “Gage. The blood. Where is it? Are you?—”

Then I see it. The dark crimson spreading on his upper sleeve.

All at once, my body unfreezes.

I clamp my hand over his arm, feeling sick at the sticky heat beneath it. “God, Gage, you’re hurt, oh, God, she shot you, we need to get help, I need to find a bandage, something…”

“Baby.” Gage hugs me to him again. “It’s just a graze. I shouldn’t have even been hit, but with it so close, and I was trying to make sure she didn’t get you. But it’s nothing.”

“Nothing?” I tilt my head back to look at him incredulously. “You were shot!”

“It’s not the first time,” he replies calmly. “Although I hope it’s the last.”

“I’m sorry,” sobs Melissa from the floor. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just miss Vince so much.”

Sympathy twinges, despite everything she did.

“Are you really okay?” I ask Gage. “But your arm.”

“A couple of stitches. At the most.” As he looks at me, guilt fills his eyes. “I’m so damn sorry, Ror. This shouldn’t have happened. This is all my fault.”

I’m so focused on Gage’s arm—which, at closer look, appears to be a graze, just like he said—that his words don’t register right away.

A second later, they do. And I’m immediately shaking my head. “It’s not your fault, Gage.”

Misery twists his features. “She’s here because of me. Not you. You could have been shot.Fuck. She could have killed you.”

Though my body is still in full-blown panic mode, I force it under control. I can freak out later, when this is all over. When we’re back home, with Gage checked out and bandaged up, me taking care of him for a change. But now? He needs to hear this.

“It isnotyour fault,” I repeat. With the hand not clapped over his bleeding arm, I touch Gage’s cheek. “You couldn’t have saved Vince. And he knew the risks, just like you and your teammatesdid. It’s horrible that he’s gone. But it is not your fault. Just like you’re not to blame for what Melissa did.”

“Ror…”

“I mean it.” Holding his gaze, I continue, “She needs help. But that isn’t on you. And there is no way you could have known this would happen.No way.”

“But I brought you here,” Gage starts.

“Yes. And you protected me. Again. Like you always do. You took a freaking bullet for me, which I’m really upset about. Please don’t do that again, okay?”