He doesn’t protest, but I can hear his pained grunts as he moves into the shrubs. I turn and the smoke is starting to clear. Kyle is on the phone, yelling, and then the gunshots start again. One goes right past Kyle and he drops to the ground, barking something into the phone. I raise my gun and shoot in the direction of the shots, still not clearly seeing where they’re coming from.

“Delaney, get out of the way!” Kyle yells.

Three men appear in the smoke and haze, and raise their guns. I don’t think, I shoot one right in the leg, sending him down with a bellow. Kyle must notice too, because the other one goes down with a roar of pain. The third takes a shot, narrowly missing me. I point my gun and shoot, hitting his shoulder, then I spin and see Kyle on the ground, grasping his stomach.

I run over, adrenaline pumping, and drop to my knees. He’s got blood coming from his belly in thick rivulets. “You’re okay,” I whisper, tearing off my jacket and pressing it to his stomach. “You’re going to be okay.” He coughs and blood splutters from his mouth. Tears prickle in my eyes as I put pressure on the wound.

The police are coming. They are. He called them. God, please tell me he called them.

I lift my head to glance at a wounded Jax still in the shrubs, and see two men approaching from the opposite direction. They’re so quiet I didn’t even see or hear them, but they’ve got their guns pointed on Jax. No. I won’t lose him. I look down to Kyle, and the blood covering my hands, but I know I have to do this.

I gently let him go, pull out my gun and stand.

“No, Delaney,” Kyle splutters.

I don’t listen. I run full throttle towards the men. The first one turns and his eyes widen with surprise before he raises his gun. I shoot mine before he even gets the chance, hitting him in the stomach. He goes down with a roar of pain, and then I swivel towards his friend, but I’m too slow. He shoots and the bullet grazes me, hitting my shoulder enough to cause fire-like agony, but not enough to penetrate.

I drop my gun and gasp, the pain unlike anything I’ve ever felt. He takes aim again and I look into his eyes. This is it, he’s going to kill me. I close my eyes, saying a silent prayer, then I hear a loud thump. My eyes pop open and I see Jax on top of the man, his fist driving over and over into the man’s face, blood spurting everywhere. My training kicks in and I run over, ignoring the blistering pain in my shoulder.

“Jax, don’t kill him!” I scream.

Jax slams the man’s head once more and he’s knocked out cold, then he rolls off with a bellow of agony. There’s blood soaking his pant leg and he’s white as a ghost. Police sirens blare through the now-quiet space and I breathe a sigh of relief as I hear the shouting of voices. I drop down beside Jax, and take his head in my lap. He’s drifting in and out of consciousness, and I’m right there with him.

The pain is so intense I can hardly breathe.

“Would you look at that,” I whisper before my world goes black. “You saved me.”

That’s the last thing I remember.

*   *   *

I’m sitting in a horrible hospital gown beside Jax, who is in the hospital bed beside Kyle. I refused to be anywhere else but by their bedsides, and because my injuries were less, the nurses let me come in here and sit beside them for a few hours. Nak made the orders to let that happen. Jax had to have surgery on his leg, and Kyle was also in surgery for over eight hours, but both of them are stable and in recovery.

Kyle hasn’t woken yet, but Jax is slowly coming to. He’s staring at me, his eyes hazy. I had a piece of the blown-up car lodged in my back, and that’s why it hurt so much during the fight. It wasn’t a big piece, but it left me with a wound that required twenty-five stitches. My shoulder took eight and I had a bad gash on my head that got one. But I came out of it better than both of these men.

Kyle was touch and go, the doctors said it was a matter of minutes that saved his life. The pressure I put on his stomach helped. The police arrived and quickly made arrests. Six of the twelve gang members were there, and they’d planned for Jax to be killed by that bomb, but if not, they were ready and waiting to take him out themselves. One of them spoke after they were arrested and they managed to get the rest, with enough charges, they assured me, to get them locked away for life.

Jax is officially free, and no longer in danger.

That relief is huge.

“Hey there, hero.”

I turn and see Nak standing in the doorway, two coffees in hand. I smile weakly. “Hey there.”

“Can I come in? I brought caffeine.”

I nod. Nak walks in and hands me one, then looks at my gown. “Nice gown.”

“Ha-ha,” I rasp.

He sits beside me on the double sofa and studies me. “Things still the same with these two?”

“Jax is stirring.”

Jax’s eyes are closed again now, but he’s fidgeting, so I know he’s coming out of it.

“It was a dangerous situation you were all in, it’s lucky you got out alive.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Nak reaches over and takes my hand. “You felt something none of us did, and you acted on it. If you hadn’t, Jax and Kyle wouldn’t be here today.”

“I just did my job,” I say, staring at the coffee warming my hands.

“No, you saved two lives.”

“Technically, Jax saved mine.”

Nak grins. “I bet that felt good for him.”

I smile weakly. “Probably.”

“You showed strength out there tonight, Delaney. You made a decision to act on instinct and you saved them. That took courage and skill. Because of that, I’m cutting your suspension to only two weeks, and that’s purely so you can recover.”

“You want me back?” I whisper.

“Of course I do. I read the statement you gave the police. You were a true bodyguard out there tonight.”

I nod.

“You don’t want to come back?” he asks.

“Of course I do,” I say. “But … I just…”

“It scared you, didn’t it?”

My bottom lip trembles and he reaches over, putting his arm around me. “Your job is dangerous, and you got hit hard on your first real case. This is going to take a while to process. But you don’t have to be put in this situation again, Laney. If you want small to medium cases, like some of the members take, especially those that have families, then you are more than welcome to do that.”

“That wouldn’t bother you?”

He shrugs. “It’s your life and you have to do what’s best for you, not me.”

“And Kyle?” I whisper.

“Kyle made a near-fatal mistake tonight. He put Jax in that car without checking it. I have no choice but to let him go.”

My heart pounds. “Please don’t, Nak. Kyle loves his job. He loves it more than anyone on this team.”

“He made a mistake.”

“He did, but he nearly lost his life because of it. Don’t fire him. Start him from the beginning again, put him on small cases until he proves himself, but please, for me, don’t fire him.”

Nak studies my face. “Why would you want that for him, when he’s done nothing but give you heartache?”