Mending the Beast (Awakening Pride #10) - Lacey Thorn Page 0,14

way. Isaac was gone now. Shot by a shifter who’d attempted to get Gabriel’s mate and take her back to the doctor who’d experimented on her when she’d been a baby. Daniel’s dad had been a bastard most of the time, but he’d done a good thing when he’d protected Kenzie. He’d saved her life, saved Gabriel’s, as well since his brother would have been lost without his mate. But even in death Isaac Erikson was still wreaking havoc and leaving messes for his sons to deal with.

“Come on, now,” Finn said as he followed Laura into the room. “He’s finally awake, and you’re going to drown him with all those tears.”

Laura let her mate help her up, cupping Daniel’s face as she straightened. “You scared the hell out of me! Damn you, Daniel! Don’t ever do that again. They said your lion wasn’t healing you. We didn’t know what was going on. I thought…” She paused, unable to complete the rest of her sentence as she burst into tears again, this time burying her face in her mate’s chest while Finn shot him a glare.

She’d thought he was going to die. He wasn’t so sure he hadn’t. He hurt. More than he ever had in his life. He wasn’t going to share the fact that for the first time in his life, his lion wasn’t easily accessible to him. It felt as if he were alone. That was disconcerting for a man who’d always known he was as much lion as man.

“No such luck,” Daniel quipped softly, but the dirty looks turned on him let him know they didn’t appreciate his humor. He held out his hand to Gabriel and took the ice chips from him. He poured some more in his mouth, letting the cool soothe his throat.

“Daniel.” The commanding voice washed over him as his eyes darted to the door where the pack alpha stood. Tah. Reno and Logan were both behind him, crowding the entryway until Tah stepped in and moved closer. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” Daniel said, but the look Tah gave him let Daniel know the other man wasn’t buying it.

“Laura?” Logan moved toward his sister and her tear-stained face, sharing a look with Finn. While Gabriel and Daniel had basically adopted Laura as their sibling, Logan was her brother by blood.

“She’s relieved to see Daniel awake,” Finn offered, and Logan nodded, giving her a pat on the back.

“You gave us one hell of scare,” Reno said as he moved to stand at the foot of Daniel’s bed. “Amia was sure we’d lost you. Hell, we did on the way from Chicago to home. If not for Tony and his helicopter, we might not have made it here with you clinging to life.”

“I was trying to get to the white tiger. See if I could help. I thought it was you at first. It was chaos. Hunters everywhere.” Daniel’s voice was still rough but better.

“My sister,” Reno said, hands tightening on the footboard.

“She okay?” Daniel asked, though he was sure if she wasn’t, he would have heard someone mention it.

“Yeah. She and her mate are here. I’m hoping we can convince them to stay,” Reno admitted. “We could use them here. Tony, too.”

“Package deal.” The man in question walked through the door with a grin for Daniel. “Good to see you, my man. Gave me quite the adrenaline rush trying to keep your sorry ass alive.” Tony laughed, earning several glares from the rest of the pack, but Daniel found himself grinning back.

“Good to keep your skills sharp,” Daniel offered, earning another laugh from Tony.

“True enough,” Tony admitted. “Either way, it’s good to see you up. I’m sure you’ll be hauling ass out of here as soon as you can. I know I would.”

“He’s not going anywhere,” Gabriel declared, and Daniel sighed.

“Last I checked, I was a grown-ass man, brother. Capable of making my own choices.” There was a bit of a growl to his voice. Not enough, though. And not from his lion. Daniel needed to figure out what his lion needed to bring it out of slumber or whatever it was in.

“A good day to die. A good fucking day to die!” Gabriel practically roared it the second time.

“Your brother’s right, Daniel,” Tah agreed. “You need to stay here until we know you’re fully healed. You might not be so lucky a second time.”

Daniel bit his lip, not saying a word. He understood the command in Tah’s voice, but he had no