Natalie took a deep breath and walked into the room. She walked right up to the bed, ignoring everyone but Vince. “Vince? I’m here,” she said, the worry in her voice clear and present.
Bam closed his eyes and placed his hands on Vince again. The corner of his mouth turned up and he nodded. “Talk to him again.”
“Vince, I’m here. And I’ve brought everything I’ll need to clean up your wound and get you healing.”
Bam smiled. “Keep it up. They’re waking up.”
Natalie looked at Valerie. “May I get in there, closer to him, please?”
“Oh! Yes, please do,” Valerie answered, slowly getting herself moving and to the side so Natalie would have access to Vince.
Natalie took the seat that Valerie had vacated. She reached out and smoothed his hair from his face. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Can you wake up and talk to me?”
Vince said nothing. But his hand came up and touched her face, then snaked around behind her neck and pulled her to him. He seemed to breathe a bit easier and turned his face into her hair. His Lion let out a deep, rumbling purr.
“Are you going to let me treat your wounds?”
Vince nodded his head.
“After that, are you going to allow,” Natalie paused, trying to be sure she got his friend’s name right, “Bam?” she asked, looking at Bam. Bam nodded, so she continued. “Are you going to allow Bam to help heal you?”
Vince nodded again.
“Will Lion allow me to heal you?” Bam demanded.
“Lion will allow him to heal you, or I’ll be very upset and I may have to leave,” Natalie said quietly.
Bam started chuckling.
Natalie looked up to see why he was laughing.
Bam grinned at her. “Lion just hurried to the back of his mind to allow me to do whatever is necessary. He doesn’t want you to leave.”
“I need to get these clothes off him,” Natalie said to Bam.
“I can help with that,” Brandi offered.
Natalie looked at the woman, wondering why she was still here, and just exactly what she meant to Vince. He’d told her they were just friends, but he’d just taken a bullet for this woman, apparently. And Natalie was not very happy about it. New relationship, new Mate or not, she was still Vince’s Mate.
“Fine,” Natalie said. “I need his shirt off.” Then she turned to Bam. “And I need some clean water and towels.”
Bam nodded and let loose a quick whistle. Almost immediately Kaid, Bane and Goldy stood in the doorway. “Tell them whatever you need,” Bam encouraged.
“Can I get some clean warm water and towels. I’m sorry, I didn’t think to buy any towels.”
“’Course,” Goldy said and hurried off to get her what she needed.
“Is there anything else we can do?” Kaid asked.
“Not yet. I may need you to restrain him when I begin to probe for the bullet, but for now I just need to get him cleaned up.”
“You got it,” Kaid answered.
The three men hung around the bedroom in case Natalie needed them. Bam kept up his efforts to force bits of his own energies into Vince.
“Let’s get this shirt off of him,” Natalie said, pulling back the covers that had been thrown over him.
Brandi stepped up beside her and grasped the collar of Vince’s shirt in an effort to help Natalie get the shirt off without moving him too much and moving the bullet around.
Natalie lifted the bottom of Vince’s shirt. Once Natalie raised it to his upper chest, Brandi leaned closer to try to gather the shirt and lift it over his head. When she did, Lion surged forth and let out a snarling roar. It was so loud everyone in the room jumped. Bam launched himself from his place above Vince’s head and tackled Brandi, taking her down and away from Vince. Kaid rushed forward, Bane jumped in front of Valerie. Goldy stood between Bam and Brandi, and the bed Vince was sleeping on.
“The fuck?!” Kaid shouted.
Natalie still stood beside Vince, her hands on him, stroking his stomach, whispering to him to calm him.
“Lion didn’t want another female’s hands on him,” Bam explained.
“He knows me!” Brandi objected.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re not his Mate. He don’t want any female other than his Mate touching him. Lion is a bit obsessive about it, I think,” Bam said.
“Ya think?” Kaid said, still trying to come down from the adrenalin rush of an angry Lion roaring and snarling inside his home. “Brandi, you got to go, honey. Go out in the kitchen with everybody else. No reason to go upsetting him like that again. His woman is here now. She’s got this,” Kaid said, holding his hand out to Brandi to help her up.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was only trying to help.”
“We know, and it’s not your fault, none of it. But it’s not doing any good with you in here, so please, just wait in the kitchen with the others,” Kaid explained.
“Okay,” she answered, and allowed Goldy to take her to the kitchen.
Bam went back to his place and got situated.
Kaid and Bane each stood on either side of Natalie and watched her try to lift his shirt over his head. She gave up and reached into her pocket, using the bandage snips she kept there while on duty, to just cut it away. The blood around the wound had dried and stuck the shirt to his flesh, so she used some of the water Goldy brought her to wet the fabric so she could remove it without causing any more damage to the flesh of the wound. After a few moments, the dampened fabric began to lift away from his skin as the dried blood softened. Eventually she got the rest of the shirt off him and was able to clean the wound.
Kaid cocked his head to the side. He could hear a faint sheesh, sheesh, whoosh, repeated over and over. “Is he hurting?” Kaid asked.
“I’m sure he is,” Natalie answered as she laid out the items she’d need on a clean towel. A syringe for pain medication, scalpels and forceps. “I’m going to lift him to be sure there’s no exit wound on his back. If not, then I’m going to give him a pain shot before I start probing for the bullet. I want him knocked out before I do that.”
“Okay,” Kaid answered, tilting his head to the other side and trying to listen to identify that sound again. He leaned closer to Vince and realized Vince wasn’t making a sound. “What is that noise?” he asked.
Natalie paused in preparing to inspect Vince’s back and looked around. “What noise?”
“That one, listen…”
Natalie listened carefully then pinned her eyes on Valerie. Valerie stared back at her. “He’s my brother. I’m not leaving until I know he’s out of danger.”
Natalie nodded then looked at Kaid. “I don’t know.”
“I do. It’s Valerie,” Bam said.
“The noise?” Kaid asked.
“Yup. Babies are coming,” Bam added.
“And the noise is her breathing through her contractions,” Natalie explained. “Sorry, Valerie,” Natalie said over her shoulder as she managed with Bam’s help to get Vince onto his side.
“What?!” Kaid and Bane both shouted in unison.
Chapter 24
“I don’t care!” Valerie shouted again. “My husband isn’t here, and my brother, who was supposed to be there with me if I went into labor without my husband, has been shot. As sick as these two have made me, they can wait a little longer!” Valerie declared.
“Valerie, Maverik will have my head if I don’t get you to the hospital. Please, please, let me get you there,” Kaid begged.
“No,” she said calmly, firmly.
Kaid stood beside Valerie where they’d all been banished while Natalie and Bam tried to remove the bullet from Vince’s shoulder.
“Maverik is not gonna be happy!” Bane exclaimed.
“Yeah, well, he’s the one that made me like this. He can just deal with it,” Valerie snapped. Then she pressed her hands to her stomach and started her sheesh, sheesh, whoosh sounds again.
Avaleigh watched for a second. “Does it r
eally help?” she asked.
Valerie opened her eyes and looked at Avaleigh. “What?”
“The breathing. I mean, you see it on television and in movies and they pretend like it does, but does it really help with the pain?”
“Not a damn bit!” Valerie announced. “But, it gives you something to concentrate on other than the pain. But I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die,” Valerie confided.
“Die?!” all the men in the room yelled at once.
Valerie snickered. “Probably. Maybe.” She shrugged. “Maybe not.”
“It is much pain! And you will hope for death if you do not get the drugs. I am correct, aren’t I?” Delilah asked Kaid.
“Oh, hell yeah. I love them drugs and it wasn’t even me that got them,” Kaid said, obviously with a whole new appreciation for everything women went through to give birth to their children.
The door to the bedroom opened, and Bam came out. He held up the end of a small caliber bullet. “She got it. That girl should be a doctor, not a nurse.”
“How’s Vince?” Valerie asked.
“He’s out like a light. Whatever she gave him, worked like a charm. He never woke up once, didn’t even flinch. Natalie’s already stitched him up and is bandaging the wound right now.”
“Can I see him?” Valerie asked.
“Me, too,” Brandi said, getting to her feet.
“No!” Kaid, Bane, Bam and Goldy all shouted.
“I know you’re not talking to me,” Valerie shot back at them, struggling to stand with Avaleigh and Delilah helping her get to her feet.
“Not you, Valerie. Brandi — she can’t go in,” Bane explained.
“Why not?” Brandi asked.
“His Mate is with him,” Delilah said forcefully.
“I know that. And I’m not interested in that way. But it’s because of me that he’s in this situation. I just want to let him and her both know how sorry I am,” Brandi explained. “He’s my friend. That’s all. I just want to make sure he’s okay.”
“His beast is in control as his human body heals and sleeps. That beast does not want you near him. You are not his Mate, and it would be very foolish of you to think he’d recognize you and differentiate,” Bane said.
“Perhaps it is best if you wait until he wakes. Then you can visit with him and give them both your apologies,” Delilah suggested.
“Maybe you’re right,” Brandi conceded.
“I am always right,” Delilah said haughtily.
Delilah and Avaleigh helped Valerie to Vince’s bedroom and in to visit him. “Natalie, I wanted to see Vince for a moment,” Valerie said on entering.
“Of course. I’ve just finished cleaning him up. He’s still asleep, but he’s comfortable. I’ll keep his pain under control for the rest of the day before I allow him to fully awake. No reason for him to suffer. If he’s hurting too much or gives me too much of a fight, I’ll knock him out again,” Natalie said seriously, not trying at all to be funny.
Delilah looked from Natalie to Valerie and back to Natalie again, then she burst into laughter. “I am liking you very much! I knew that you belonged here, at my side as my friend, and Vince’s side as his Mate. I knew this!” Delilah said.
“Thank you, Natalie,” Valerie said. “I was so worried about him.”
“I know, me too, but he’s going to be fine. He’s going to have to rehab that shoulder, and it may cause him trouble from time to time, but the bullet missed the main joint. It did a lot of tissue damage, but spared the main joint. He’ll be okay, if not a little achy when it’s cold out every year.”
Valerie leaned over and pressed a kiss to Vince’s forehead. “Sleep well, brother. You’ve got the right one, the best one at your side.” She pressed her hands to the small of her own back. “I’ve got to go have these hellions now. I can’t wait any longer, even though neither you, nor Maverik is here!”
“I am here,” Delilah said.
“And I’m here,” Avaleigh added. “You won’t do this alone.”
“And I’ve got Vince taken care of. I won’t leave him. You go take care of those babies. He’s going to be so sorry he missed this. He was really looking forward to meeting them,” Natalie said.
“He was?” Valerie asked.
“He was. He told me about you and the babies and how he couldn’t wait to be here for their arrival,” Natalie explained.
“Come, Valerie, let us take you to meet your hellions! It is a very exciting day — first Vince, and now your hellions!” Delilah exclaimed.
“Yeah, let’s go, now, because I think one of them may be crowning,” Valerie said, huffing out a moan.
“No, no, no, you waited this long, you can wait a little while longer until we get to the hospital,” Avaleigh said. “Imitate that Daddy voice Maverik uses. Oh! Or tell your Lioness to make them wait just a bit longer,” Avaleigh suggested.
“I’ll try. But let’s go, now,” Valerie said, hobbling toward the door.
“Your water broken yet?” Bane asked as Valerie wobbled into the kitchen.
“No,” she answered.
“Then we have some time. Come on, all that’s coming,” Bane said.
“I’ll stay here,” Bam said, “in case Vince needs me.”
“And I’ll stay, too,” Goldy said. “You don’t mind do you, Sadie-girl?”
“Not at all. I was going to offer to stay here with Barron, Daisy and Remi anyway.”
“Really? That would be so helpful,” Avaleigh said.
“I want to go!” Remi complained.
“You want to go sit in the hospital again for hours while Aunt Valerie has her babies? Just like we waited for Aunt Delilah to have hers?” Avaleigh asked Remi.
A look of horror crossed Remi’s face. “Is that where ya’ll are going? No! No way, no sir! I’m staying here with Maw Maw Sadie!”
Bane handed Daisy to Sadie. “We’ll be home soon, sweet girl.”
A horn sounded outside. “That’ll be Delilah,” Kaid said, kissing his son and handing him over to Sadie, who handed Daisy over to Goldy, so she could take the baby. “Call us if you need us. When you put him to sleep, make sure he’s in a semi-upright position, so he doesn't scorch his fingers if he belches. If he’s semi-upright, he shouldn’t belch quite as often or as bad. If he does, call us, and we’ll come home right away.”
“I have it, Kaid. Delilah has allowed me to watch him while she’s slept several times, as have you. It’s all good. I know what to do,” Sadie said chuckling. “First time parents…” she mumbled, bouncing Barron and talking to him.
The growl of a car engine could be heard as Delilah’s Camaro could be heard tearing out of the yard. “They’re on their way,” Bane said.
“And we’re on ours,” Kaid said, grabbing the keys to the Suburban. “Everybody in that’s going!”
People started filing out of the kitchen.
Natalie came up the hallway and into the kitchen. “May I get a glass of water, please?” she asked the room in general.
“Sweetie, you can get whatever you like. Are you hungry?” Sadie asked her.
“A little, yes, now that everything is under control.”
“Have a seat and I’ll make you a little something to eat and get you some water,” Sadie offered.
“I’m going to go back and sit with Vince. Can I just come back in a little while?” Natalie asked.
“Why don’t I just bring it to you in Vince’s room?” Sadie asked.
“That’d be wonderful,” Natalie answered, relief flooding her face.
Brandi stood from the table. “I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”
“For what?” Natalie asked.
“For Vince being injured.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault,” Natalie started to say, but Brandi cut her off.
“It was. No matter how many times you or his family say it wasn’t, it was. If I hadn’t called for help, he’d not have come after me, and my husband wouldn’t have shot him. My fault,�
� Brandi said again, emphatically.
Natalie paused for a moment and took a good look at Brandi. The woman was obviously distraught at Vince being hurt. And she’d been beaten. Her face clearly showed that she’d been in a struggle and most likely on the losing side of it. “Did your husband do that to your face?” Natalie asked.
Brandi nodded. “I don’t know what else he had planned, but when I fought him, he did this to me.”
Natalie nodded. “Then it’s a good thing Vince considers you a friend. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have come after you. And you may not be alive today. Vince came after you because he cares about the welfare of his friends. He cares about you. And he’d be very upset if he knew you were out here beating yourself up over something that it’s in his instincts to do — protect his. You’re his friend, these people are his family. He’d do it all again in a heartbeat for any of them. For me. And for you.”
“You’re too kind,” Brandi said.
“No, I’m just honest with myself. He chose you to be in his inner circle, that means you’re good people. I can only guess how distraught he’d be if he’d failed and you’d been lost. I have no doubt he’d choose personal injury over losing a friend he could save every single time.”
“He would indeed,” Kaid said quietly from the door, where he stood waiting to see what would happen.
Natalie opened her arms, and Brandi walked into them. They shared a hug, then Brandi pulled away, wiping her eyes. “Kaid, will you drop me at Vince’s Place? I need a shower and to crash for a little while.”
“I will, we drive right past it, come on!” he said, holding the door open for her to walk through.
Brandi paused at the door and looked back at Natalie. “He loves you so much. I wouldn’t let him sleep on the way back here. I was afraid he wouldn’t wake up, so I made him talk to me. All he talked about was you. He adores you. And now, having met you, I can see why. You’re a perfect match for him.”
“Thank you, Brandi,” Natalie said. “Would you like me to call you when he wakes, so you can come visit him?”
“Yes! I’d like that very much.”
“Then I’ll call you soon,” Natalie said.
Vince's Place Page 23