Kai.

‘I’m coming! Keep talking to me,’ Kai told me but I was too sleepy.

‘Blood loss.’ My thoughts weren’t working right. More power flooded me. Alpha power. Kai was giving me all that he had.

I looked up at Max. His eyes were wild, face streaked with blood. “If I die, you can be second again,” I joked with a slurred voice.

His retort was garbled as he reached out and smacked my face hard, making my drooping eyelids fly open. I tried. I tried so damn hard to stay awake and keep talking but in the end, I failed.

Headache

I awoke with a racing pulse and a headache from hell. Witches’ wine had nothing on this sucker; there was a constant pounding drum in my brain. Sitting up too quickly, I was slammed with a wave of dizziness. Kai grabbed my shoulders and pressed his face to mine. “DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN,” he commanded.

I winced. “Shhh.”

He backed up a little.

“I didn’t plan on getting shot. Geez.”

I reached around slowly and felt my back. Smooth skin. I took a deep breath, clear. This werewolf healing thing was insane.

“I’m like indestructible,” I stated.

Kai’s eyes were yellow as he glared at me. “No, you’re not. You almost bled to death. Max saved your life and you’ve had two blood transfusions aided by the witches.”

Shit. Then all of the memories from last night came back to me.

“Earl!”

Kai nodded. “Took one in the arm but will be fine. Has already been discharged from the hospital. You saved his life.”

I sighed and reached out for Kai’s hand. His hair was wild and I knew he hadn’t slept. I hated that I did this to him, but it wasn’t like I asked for it. 

“RAIDOS?” I knew the answer.

I could hear Kai’s teeth grind from my place on our bed. He nodded. “They intended to take you out. Semi-automatic long range rifles. Waiting in the trees.”

I frowned. “How did they know we would be there? The drones are all gone, right?”

Kai seemed to consider this. “I think we have a mole.”

I sat up straighter. “Really? In the pack? No way!”

Kai shook his head. “No, in the militia.”

There were over six hundred guys in the militia and Earl couldn’t know them all personally. It was a definite possibility.

I whistled low. “What do we do?”

He shrugged. “Keep a close eye for now. I told Earl about it. We should stop sparring practice with them, pack only.”

That didn’t sound like a great plan.

“Kai, we were just starting to bond with them.”

“Pack only!” His neck veins were bulging so I didn’t argue. Maybe later.

There was a knock at the door. I inhaled. Max.

“Come in, Max,” I called out to him softly, trying to will my headache away.

He opened the door and met my gaze, shaking his head.

“I can’t believe you did that to me.” He threw his arms in the air.

I laughed. “Everyone needs to quit acting like I wanted to be shot!”

Max sat at the edge of the bed. “All I’m saying is trouble sure seems to follow you. Kai would have killed me.”

Kai nodded. “Yes, I would have.”

Max smirked but I leveled his gaze with mine. “Seriously, thank you.”

Max returned my serious look and nodded. “You realize Kai will never let you out of the house again, right?”

I glared at Kai, who glared back. “This just means we have to take out Layla now. RAIDOS won’t be after me once they know she is gone. The sooner we end this threat, the sooner we can move on.” Anger rumbled in my chest. “Enough bullshit. Let’s kill this bloodsucker.”

Max stifled a laugh at my comment and Kai cut him a glare.

Then Kai suddenly stood. “You get some rest. I have to make a few phone calls.”

‘Kai,’ I started but he cut me off.

‘I held my dying, bleeding wife and thought all hope for my future happiness was over. Now you want to run back into danger the first chance you get! I get to be pissed!’ he roared.

I flinched. Shit. He was right. That must have been awful for him. I remembered how awful it was for me when RAIDOS had captured him and I had gone in to get him back. They had him naked and strapped to a gurney, a few of his fingers cut off. He had been in rough shape and it had terrified me.

‘You’re right. I’m sorry.’

Kai nodded, Max stood and they both left the room. Well, that didn’t go as planned. I sighed and decided to take a shower to get the crusty blood out of my long hair.

When I went out to get breakfast, I saw that Kai had made me a veggie omelet and was cleaning the dishes. All was forgiven, that was my Kai. He couldn’t stay mad at me for too long and he always worried if I had eaten enough. I wrapped my arms around him and leaned in to cradle my nose against his neck. He took a deep breath and I felt his possessive love settle into the mate bond. He didn’t want me to ever leave this house again.

“You want to lock me in the basement with Jeremy, don’t you?” I joked.

He gave a short bark of laughter. “Yes, I do.”

I chuckled and pulled away from him, smiling.

He pushed the omelet in front of me. “Eat,” was all he said, kissing my forehead before walking back into his office.

I did and it was amazing. Kai made omelets with a touch of Indian spices in them; they were beyond delish. I chugged some orange juice and realized my headache had eased. Feeling better, I went to find Kai and heard him yelling loudly on the phone in his office.