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“Please tell the operator you overreacted, and you’re going to drive your friend to the emergency room yourself,” Anatoly said gently, handing her phone back.

Mila blinked and frowned. No, that wouldn’t work. She needed to make Anatoly understand that Carter needed more help than that.

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “He needs an ambulance.”

Anatoly’s eyes went wide, then he leaned in closer and cupped her chin. She couldn’t look away. “ He doesn’t need an ambulance. It’s only a few scrapes. He wants to go home and sleep it off. You want to make him happy, right? ”

All her doubt slid away as she stared into Anatoly’s glowing eyes.

“Yes,” she agreed.

He let go of her chin, and she talked to the 911 operator. The woman was nice but in a hurry. She demanded Mila’s name and warned her that the call was being logged so if she called again then refused service, they’d need to check anyway.

Mila felt bad for wasting their time and apologized profusely before the woman hung up on her.

“Well done,” Anatoly said as more people flooded into the alley. Mila was relieved to see so many familiar faces. There was Rissa, Zander, Harper, and Silas.

“What happened?” Rissa asked, going down to her knees next to Mila.

“I smell durmin,” Zander announced.

“Durmin?” Mila asked, blinking up at him. The earlier calm was starting to wear off, letting fear tighten her chest. On top of that was growing confusion and the strong feeling that something that she didn’t understand was going on.

Everyone went quiet for a moment and stared at her.

Then Anatoly stood up and held out a hand to Zander. “I need to borrow your phone. I’m going to call Gio.”

Zander handed over the phone and then went back to checking Carter over. Anatoly walked off with the phone.

“Is Gio a doctor?” she asked Rissa. “Can he help Carter?”

“How bad is he?” Rissa asked Zander, ignoring Rissa’s question.

“I’m trying to see, but Babette won’t let me touch him,” Zander said. Babette was perched on top of Carter’s chest. She was growling and snapping at Zander when he tried to touch Carter.

“Babette?” Mila said, reaching out to the little dog. Babette didn’t try to bite her, but she did grab hold of Mila’s sleeve and pulled, as if trying to drag Mila on top of Carter too.

“Babette!” Mila tugged at her sleeve until she almost lifted the little dog off. Babette let go, but then whined and nudged Mila’s hand, trying to push her to touch Carter.

“I’m helping,” Mila promised, letting her hand rest on Carter's naked hip. She refused to look down to see why her hand was wet. It had to be blood, why wasn’t anyone calling for help?

No, they were calling someone. A man named Gio.

Babette licked her face as she stared at Carter’s eyes. They were closed but not relaxed. He was awake and in pain. That was good, right? Pain meant you weren’t dead. Pain meant a body wasn’t ready to let go of their soul yet.

Rissa and Zander were both talking to her, but she couldn’t hear anything. There was a roaring in her ears as she watched his eyes relax and the muscles under her hand went limp.

“No,” she whispered. “Please don’t die.”

“Mila.” Anatoly’s voice drew her attention away from Carter’s face. He was kneeling next to her, his eyes glowing again. Why wasn’t she worried about that glow?

“We’re going to put Carter in your van,” he said. “You’re going to drive him to Gio. This is very important, do you understand?”

She nodded her head. Of course it was important, this was Carter’s life they were dealing with!

“Gio has people that will see to Carter’s injuries,” Anatoly continued. “When you get him to Gio, Carter will be cared for and safe. Gio will take care of everything.”

“Gio will take care of everything,” she repeated.

“Where’s your phone?” Anatoly asked.

She blinked, then looked around. She’d dropped it and didn’t remember where.

“Here it is,” Rissa said, thrusting it out to Anatoly. He typed on it as Silas got her attention.

“I need you to get Babette or I can’t pick up Carter,” he said.

Mila gathered Babette in her arms. Once the dog was safely in her arms, Silas picked up Carter without looking like it was hard at all. He was gentle, but Carter still let out a groan.

“I’ll get the back open,” Harper said, rushing to the back of the van.

Mila moved to follow her, but Anatoly stopped her with a hand on her arm. Babette didn’t like that and tried to bite him. He pulled his hand back with a hiss.

“If you were bigger, you’d be a formidable protector,” he grumbled. “I’m lucky you’re the size of a baguette.”

Mila was shocked at the laughter that bubbled out of her. For some reason, her laugh made Anatoly shake his head.

“I can’t believe how hard it is to keep you under thrall,” he muttered. Before she could ask what he meant, he handed her the phone back, careful to keep clear of Babette.

“I’ve put the address in your phone,” he explained. “It’s not a complicated route. You’re better to drive safe than fast.”

She nodded her head. The van was useful for many things, but speed wasn’t one of them. “I won’t go fast.”

The sound of the van door’s slamming shut made her jump. Scrambling to her feet, she turned to see all of them emerging from behind the van.

“We put him on the bed,” Rissa said. “That’s a nice set up back there. Way better than when I lived in a Corolla.”

Rissa lived in a car for a while? Mila filed that information away to examine later. Rissa walked her to the driver side of the van.

“In you go,” she said. Mila climbed in and let Babette go.

The dog trotted into the back and curled up next to Carter.

The man was so big, his feet over hung the bed she’d been sleeping in for the last few weeks.

The guys had tucked her blankets around him, and he looked like he was asleep instead of potentially mortally wounded.

“Here are the keys,” Rissa said, handing them to her. “Gio’s waiting for you.”

“Um, right,” Mila said, debating about driving Carter to the nearest hospital.

“Mila?” When she met Rissa’s gaze, the other woman gave her arm a squeeze. “You promised to take him to Gio. You promised all of us. If Carter was awake, he would make you promise too. Don’t back out of that promise.”

Mila found herself nodding. Yes, she’d promised to go to Gio, nowhere else. She clipped the phone into the dashboard holder and activated the navigation.

“I’ll get him there,” she promised, starting up the old van.

Rissa gave her a nod and backed away to shut the door. “Call me when you need to talk, my friend. Any time, day or night.”

With those words, Rissa joined Zander and Anatoly where they were waiting for her at the end of the alley.

Mila didn’t see them walk away together. She was too busy getting the van out of the tight alley and following the instructions on the phone.

“Hold on, Carter,” she said. “I only just met you, I’m not ready to lose you!”