and a large number of people poured into the barbershop.
Archie and Dominic went straight to Mila, who’d promptly passed out.
Crouching at her side, Dominic’s stomach lurched—she was so pale and pasty; sweat beaded her upper lip and forehead. “Baby,” he whispered, his voice as shaky as his hands. Cursing, he put pressure on the wound. God, there was so much blood. His wolf paced and raked at the ground, seething, panicked.
“We need a healer in here!” Archie yelled, his face set into a mask of alarm. “At least the bullet went straight through,” he said to Dominic. “She wouldn’t be lying in a puddle of blood if it hadn’t.”
Now that he could see the exact location of the wound, Dominic couldn’t understand how the fuck she was still alive. “How is her heart still beating?” It was weak and irregular, but it was there.
“She has isolated dextrocardia,” said Archie. “Her heart is on the right side.”
Dominic’s eyes fell closed. Something so simple had saved her damn life.
Helena knelt beside them. “You can move your hands, Dominic. I can heal her.”
Dominic didn’t move an inch. Just watched as Helena laid a hand on Mila’s shoulder. As usual, the air went static. He faintly felt a crackle of healing energy work its way through Mila.
“It’s all right,” Helena told him. “She’s fine now. Just weak and tired from blood loss, so she may sleep awhile.”
Lifting his hands from the wound, he saw that it had closed. “Thank fuck.” Dominic scooped Mila up and held her to him, breathing her in. His eyes stung, and the back of his throat hurt. His wolf pressed against Dominic’s skin, nudging her, wanting her to wake.
Her parents rushed over and made a fuss, stroking her face and kissing her hand even though she remained unconscious, but Dominic didn’t let Mila go. Couldn’t. He needed to feel the reassuring weight of her in his arms or he’d lose his fucking mind.
Hearing a pained cry, he flicked his gaze to the corner of the shop. Luke had detained Rosemary, the fucking bitch, pinning her wrists behind her. She was writhing and spitting insults, but the male held her easily while Tate and the enforcers examined her gun and questioned her.
Dominic tightened his hold on Mila and stood just as her Alpha approached. “I’m getting my mate out of here.” He needed her to be someplace safe.
Vinnie nodded. “We can’t keep this incident within the shifter community. Humans in the street saw Rosemary in here and heard the gun go off. If we hadn’t assured them that we’d already made a 911 call to report a hostage situation, they would have called it in themselves—in reality, of course, we called our pride mates on the police force. People are out there, waiting to snap photos that they might then sell to the press.
“Take her out the rear exit, away from the cameras and nosy-ass spectators. Evander’s out there—I sent him to get his car, and I’ve instructed him to drive you both to her apartment building so you’re out of sight and don’t need to walk there. To explain that she’s healed, we’ll downplay her injury a little to the police and say you took her to your Alpha so that she could heal Mila.”
Dominic shifted Mila ever so slightly in his arms. “Tell your cops they won’t be getting a statement out of her. I don’t want any more of this fucked-up shit touching her. You tell the little white lie that she’s now part of my pack—it’ll place her out of the reach of human authorities.”
Vinnie gave a slow, satisfied nod. “We can do that.”
Her eyes wet, Valentina pressed a kiss to Mila’s head. “You keep my girl safe, Dominic. Understood?”
Dominic nodded. “Believe me, Valentina, she’s my absolute priority.”
After giving Mila’s hair one last stroke, James lightly slapped him on the back. “Go, get her out of here.”
Shooting one last glare at Rosemary, who was now shrieking his name, Dominic spun on his heel and stalked through the shop, down the length of the narrow hallway, and out the back door.
Evander was pacing near a gleaming black Mercedes. He halted as they approached, his brow creased in concern, and opened the rear passenger door. “Is she all right?”
“Unconscious,” Dominic bit out, sliding into the car. Cradling her, he kissed her temple, his eyes falling shut. She’d come far too close to death. Had bled profusely from a bullet wound right in front of him, and he’d been