when Grace knocked to say she’d left a tray of food outside the door. His attention was solely on Mila.
He plucked at her curls, traced her cheekbones and jawline, and dabbed kisses to her face, palm, and wrist. Not a single touch disturbed her sleep. Nor did the ringing and beeping of their cell phones. Was that normal? He didn’t know.
Panic tightened his chest and stiffened his muscles until they ached. Helena had told him that Mila would sleep for a while, but he hadn’t thought she’d fall into such a deep sleep. The longer she took to wake, the tighter the knot of panic inside him became. It was like there was a large rock lodged in his chest, making it hard for him to take a full breath. His ribs felt too tight, too constricting.
Maybe he should have let Taryn take a quick look at Mila. He could call his Alpha female and ask her to come. She’d—
His heart jumped as Mila’s eyelids flickered slightly. Relief swept through him like a tidal wave. “Hey there,” he said softly. “Can you open those eyes for me?” Seconds ticked by before her eyelids finally fluttered open and her dazed blue gaze found his. He smiled. “There’s my girl. How are you feeling?”
The sleepy glaze cleared from her eyes, and they sharpened as memories no doubt flashed through her mind. She glanced around, and he could almost see her trying to piece together what had happened since she passed out. “Helena healed me?”
“Yes.” He kissed her, craving her taste. “I brought you here. Needed to know you were safe.”
Sensing he expected judgment for taking her away from her pride, Mila petted his chest. “I get it.” In his shoes, she wouldn’t have acted differently. Her cat roused, rumbling a growl as Mila felt the echo of the bullet penetrating her chest courtesy of fucking Rosemary. “Where is the little bitch?”
“Your pride mates detained her, but the police probably took her into custody.”
“I’ll call my parents in a little while and get an update.” Mila fell silent as he flicked open the top few buttons of the shirt she was wearing. He carefully danced his fingertips over the little spot on her chest where the bullet had hit her, as if he needed to be mindful of a wound. “It’s gone, Dominic. I’m healed.” But he still touched her like she was something fragile, like if he wasn’t careful, she might suddenly be gone from his arms. “I’m okay.”
A breath shuddered out of him. “You almost weren’t.”
The note of shame in his voice made her snap, “Oh, hell no. You don’t get to feel guilty.” Her cat would have rolled her eyes if she could have. It was just typical of a dominant male to shoulder the responsibility.
“I left you.”
“You went to make me coffee.”
“If I hadn’t, I could have pushed you out of the way and grabbed the gun.”
Mila shook her head. “She had it hidden in a paper bag. I highly doubt you would have guessed she was armed.”
“But I’d have recognized her.”
“You sure? I only saw a picture of her from an online article, but she looked a hell of a lot different today.”
“She looked like you,” Dominic pointed out.
“Yeah, I noticed.” Damn if it wasn’t fucked up that the woman had changed her appearance to match Mila’s.
“I’d have known her scent. I could have—”
“For all we know, she’d been watching and waiting for you to leave my side before she entered. When she first walked into the barbershop, she didn’t home in on me. She glanced around. She could have been checking that you were a fair distance away before she struck.”
“And if I hadn’t been in the break room—”
She put a finger to his mouth. “Stop. I’m fine.”
He swallowed. “I thought you were gonna die right in front of me. I couldn’t do shit about it.”
“You kept her attention on you. You distracted her. It gave me an opening. I couldn’t have caught her off guard and kicked her hand if you hadn’t.” Mila palmed the back of his head and pulled him closer. He buried his face in her neck and locked his arms tight around her. She sifted his hair through her fingers, soothing him. “Shake off the anxiety, Dominic. I’m okay.”
Lifting his head, he kissed her. It was soft. Deep. Reverent. Mila could almost feel his need to take her, assuring himself she was alive in the most basic way. She was totally up