Page 55 of The Hitman's Prince

I looked down my chest, my white shirt splattered with coffee but nothing that looked like blood. My hand was another story entirely. I could bend my fingers, which was either a blessing or a miracle, I wasn’t sure. I was sure, though, that time was short and someone had just tried to kill the three of us.

Three.

Fuck.

I yanked my gun from the holster and racked one into the chamber, springing up and aiming toward the massive living room window where we’d gotten hit. Thebuilding across the street was dark, but I already knew of what I’d find when I went over later to investigate.

“Are you all right?” I asked over my shoulder to Jacob, still crouched on the floor.

“I’m fine, but your hand…”

“It’ll keep.” Warm rivulets of blood trickled down my wrist and I hoped my body wasn’t about to make a liar out of me. I counted to ten, relatively confident the shooting had stopped, then snaked my way to the other side of the island where I found Caspian unconscious in a pool of his blood.

“Come help,” I called to Jacob, who scrambled out from behind our hiding place before I’d even finished the sentence. A quick check of Caspian confirmed he’d been shot in the leg and while he’d definitely lost blood, his injury wasn’t life threatening. Jacob reached me and I tugged his shirt over his head and balled it up, pressing it against the wound in Caspian’s leg.

“Is he okay?” Jacob asked.

“He’ll be fine. It’s probably shock.” I took Jacob’s hands and had him hold his shirt down and we both watched how quickly it soaked with blood. “Put pressure on it and talk to him until he comes around.”

“What about your hand?” Jacob asked.

“It’s fucking fine, Priest,” I said, leaving the two of them and heading for the front door. I was certain whoever fired the shots had already fled so there wasn’t any point in running outside oracross the street.

I needed to deal with Caspian and Jacob first, then I needed to make sure Vince was safe. He’d woken early, stroked my cock until I’d come on his fingers, then he’d kissed me and said he had business with Gideon and Fletcher. Cursing, I holstered my weapon and pulled my cellphone out of my pocket. He answered my call on the first ring.

“Pet,” he greeted, and I had to ignore the surge of heat that bloomed low in my belly at the name. I hadn’t decided if it was a degradation or an endearment. I hadn’t decided which I preferred.

“Are you safe?” I asked, leaning against the wall and sliding down until my ass hit the ground.

“Of course. Why? What happened?”

“Someone…Caspian’s been shot. I’ve…” I put my phone onto speaker and tucked it under my arm I could get a better look at my hand. There was a fair amount of blood, and shards of shattered coffee mug were scattered like buckshot into my palm, but nothing that looked like a gunshot by itself or even a graze. I plucked a particularly large piece of porcelain out of the heel of my palm and flicked it down the hall.

“You’ve what?” Vince’s voice echoed off the walls, loud and frantic.

“Took a coffee cup to the hand is all,” I said, letting out a long exhale. “Caspian got shot in the leg. He’ll live, but I don’t know how anyone thought he’d be a good hitman. He can’t handle blood at all.”

The sound of murmured voices from the kitchenfiltered toward me and another breath left my lungs in a rush. Caspian had come to.

Jacob was okay.

Vince was safe.

“Are you with Sinclair and North?” I asked.

My palm was going to need stitches.

“Yes. The whole harem of them and we’re on campus unfortunately.”

I hummed, digging out the last piece of coffee mug from the webbing between my first two fingers. “Can you stay there awhile?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I haven’t had time to look outside. I don’t know who did this. I don’t know where they are.”

I don’t know if they’re coming for you.

“We’ll figure it out,” Vince said at the same time Caspian’s weak voice called out, “I do.”