Several Hours Earlier

    “spanThey took a shot at me with my pregnant baby mama three fucking feet away,” I grind out, lying on the table in the makeshift hospital room that Easton keeps in the Shadow Security outfitting warehouse. “I am going to rip Costa’s heart out with my bare hands.”

    “Simmer down,” Easton says ndly.

    “I’m serious. I need to get patched up fast so I can get out there and fuck some shit up.”

    Easton and Trigg must have some weird psychopath telepathy going on.

    That, or weird half-brother vibes.

    They each grab an arm, pinning me to the table.

    Easton shows no mercy as my wound bubbles with blood. “Trigg and I will regroup to make a n once you’re safely at home and recovering. For now, keep your ass on the hospital bed, or I will have the doctor sedate you.”

    “Fuck no,” I hiss, shaking my right arm out of his hold. It hurts like a bitch since that’s the shoulder that was clipped. Calling it my trapezius would be more urate, but Shaw already gave me shit about how the bullet likely would have missed me if I didn’t skip leg day.

    Whatever.

    I like to work my shoulders and arms.

    If they’re not going to let me go on the offensive after this, I need to get back to Quincy as soon as possible. She was freaking out, and I know she’ll want to see with her own two eyes that I’m okay.

    “Then lie back and cooperate while Dane patches you up. The wound packing Leo did is not going to keep you from bleeding out. You’re concerningly pale,” Easton growls.

    “Oh, he’s definitely going to need a transfusion,” Dr. Dane says. Fuck if I know if that’s his first orst name. “I’m just waiting for the database to load to make sure I have his blood type on hand.”

    “Ridge and I are a match,” Shaw says, pushing off the wall in the corner. “He direct donated to mest time I got pegged.”

    “I still prefer to use cleared donor blood unless we have no other option,” the doc says.

    I frown as my vision gets even fuzzier. “Yeah, just hurry up. I’m pretty sure I’m about to pass out.”

    And I promptly do exactly that.hr

    I’m not dead.

    Dr. Dane hooked me up with the good drugs.

    The bullet went straight through and didn’t clip anything vital.

    I got lucky.

    It’s hard to be grateful when all I can think about is if Quincy is going to say enough is enough.

    I don’t think she can technically break up with me when I don’t know if we’re even dating, but I did ask to court her. That’s supposedly like going steady for alphas and omegas.

    At least that’s what I was taught.

    She better not try to break up with me over this.

    Costa was already going down, but I swear to fuck I’m going to make that son of a bitch suffer. This is exactly what I was telling Quincy when I said the bad guys don’t y by the rules.

    Even among contract workers, there’s a code we follow.

    You don’t involve women and children.

    Hell, I’ve had opportunities to take out a target but held off because they had their wife or kid with them. Sometimes you get a window, and you either take it or you might not get another for a month. Still, you wait it out, even if your target is a grade-A piece of shit, because the goal isn’t to traumatize the target’s family.

    These are unwritten rules, much like you never risk harming a civilian toplete a contract.

    Whoever Costa hired has no honor.

    Fuck.

    My head is swimming with the pain meds. I don’t even know if my thoughts are making sense.hr

    “You are going to be able to keep yourself vertical, right?” Shaw asks, holding open the door that leads from the garage to the back hallway. “The stairs might be pushing it.”

    I squint and try to remember how high to lift my foot to hit the step.

    Damn.

    Dr. Dane is my new best friend.

    He came through with the good drugs.

    “We should have gone with Easton and let Valor handle getting Ridge inside,” Leo says, wrapping his forearm around my lower back.

    “In case you forgot how to climb stairs, you lift one foot at a time.” Shaw cracks a shitty smile.

    “I’m more than capable of walking up the stairs,” I grumble. “You guys are dicks.”

    I don’t p Leo’s arm away solely because I’m still light-headed. If I take a header into the concrete, that would take the day from questionable to downright shitty. It’s a slow process, but I make it up the stairs, and Shaw steps inside to get out of the doorway.

    “Hartley and Quincy are still here, right?” They better not have bolted while I was in surgery.

    “They’re here,” Shaw says as Leo releases me to close the door behind us.

    “Well, thank fuck for that. Don’t leave with my meds or the extra dressings,” I grumble, shuffling along down the hallway.

    I’m shirtless because mine was ruined, and no one thought to bring me a backup, but whoever is here can appreciate my impressive stomach.

    I’ve put a lot of work into maintaining this physique—mainly beer and pizza.

    Oh, and wings and burgers.

    I love a good Italian spread too.

    All the carbs.

    Damn.

    Now I’m kinda hungry, in addition to being fucked up from whatever Dr. Dane popped into my IV before pulling it. Hopefully, the pills will keep up with the pain because I’m going to have to pretend like this little scratch doesn’t hurt a bit—at least in front of Quincy.

    Everything is bright as shit, which might be why I’m squinting so much.

    I pull my good arm up, mindlessly checking for my sses.

    Motherfucker.

    Those dicks cost me my favorite pair of sses. Not that my aviators really matter, considering the circumstances, but it’s just another thing to be pissed about.

    Low talking spills from the living room as I make the left to head into it, and I squint even harder to figure out why the ce is decorated for a baby shower.

    Not to mention, Briar and Saylor are here. So is Omen, but at least he has a purpose. I mean, I guess it’s nice that they threw Quincy a baby shower to take her mind off things.

    She’s sitting on Hartley’sp in my recliner and smiling at something Briar said.

    It’s good that Briar and Saylor came over. Having femalepanionship probably put her at ease more than if she hade home to a house full of mercenaries. Shadow Security is kind of a testosterone fest.

    King spots me first. He struggles to his feet, and his entire ass shakes with excitement.

    “d to see you’re in one piece,” Omen says from his spot on the floor where he was busy spoiling King with scratches.

    “Yeah, except for that chunk of my shoulder,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I was kinda fond of it, but ording to the doc, it’ll grow back.”

    Omenughs. “I believe the word you’re looking for is heal.”

    “That too.” I shrug and immediately regret the choice.

    “Please help me up. This is getting embarrassing,” Quincy says with a huff.

    Hartley grins, leaning the recliner forward and helping her up with his hands on her hips.

    I love that chair.

    It’s supersized to fit my giant ass, and it rocks and swivels. Not to mention, it has a lie-t setting that I used a lot when King was a puppy. He pissed all over everything the first few weeks after I brought him home, especially at night. He’d walk to the end of my mattress and piss right there ande back and lie by my head.

    Eventually, I realized that if he slept on my chest in the chair that when he walked down by my feet, it was time to go out. Everyone told me to crate train him, but they didn’t see him the night I found him. I don’t think he’d been out of that tiny-ass three-by-four-foot cage in weeks.

    “You’re okay,” Quincy whispers,ing to a stop in front of me. “God, I’ve been so worried. Can I hug you? Or will that hurt too much?”

    I chuckle, wrapping my good arm around her lower back. “I’d risk popping a stitch to pick you up, if you asked me to.”

    “Don’t be ridiculous.” She buries her face in my bare chest, twisting sideways slightly to amodate her stomach. “All I could focus on was hoping you’d be okay, but now that you are, I’m tempted to throat punch you all over again for just standing there shielding me. You probably could have gotten him first if you weren’t worried about me. We’re never leaving the house again.”

    “When we first got back from Germany, my instincts freaked out any time one of my guys tried to leave the apartment,” Saylor says.

    I appreciate her trying to help Quincy feel like her reaction is normal, but things are a little different here. We can’t just camp out indefinitely.

    “That might be a problem. You still have doctor’s appointmentsing up.” I soothe my hand over Quincy’s back.

    Not to mention, I nned a special excursion for us tomorrow. That was before I got shot, but I really don’t want to miss out on a chance to experience at least one ultrasound before she delivers. I found a 3D/4D ultrasound ce that can record the heartbeat so we can keep it forever, along with her movements on the screen. We’ll also get pictures.

    Fuck.

    I really don’t like the idea of Costa costing me that experience, but I don’t want to needlessly risk Quincy or the baby’s safety.

    “Did you happen to see Keir?” Briar asks, shoving off the couch. “It’s probably time for us to get out of your hair.”

    “We’ll keep watch once you guys head out,” Leo says from behind me.

    I pull Quincy into the living room with my hand on her lower back to give Leo and Shaw room to get through to Saylor. “We didn’t see Keir, but I’m sure he’s out there somewhere.”

    “Well, damn. Someone go find my alpha and make sure he’s okay,” Briar says, nting her hands on her hips.

    “Give me two seconds to kiss my omega, and I’ll brave the cold to find your husband,” Shaw says,ughing. “Although, for the record, that man ispletely capable of keeping himself alive.”

    Quincy looks up at me, blinking her big blue eyes. “I’m very overwhelmed. Can we go upstairs now?”

    I chuckle. “Yeah, sweetheart.”

    It goes back to that whole thing where I couldn’t deny her if I tried.

    My eyes dart to Hartley, and he shakes his head before I can even ask if he’s nning toe up with us.

    “I’m going to stay down here for a bit, but if you need anything, just text me.”

    Nodding, I try not tough.

    All it took to finally get some one-on-one time with my baby mama was to be shot.

    Yeah, my life isn’t a clusterfuck or anything.hr

    It can’t even be four in the afternoon, and I’mid up in bed. Not that I shouldin, especially with the tender little bundle of omega next to me. She’s curled up on her side as close as she can get with her stomach pushing against my left side. I’ve got that arm wrapped around her back, but if she would just lie directly on me, the day would be looking up significantly.

    Quincy is gentle, barely touching my skin as she runs her fingers over my chest. “You have a ton of scars. We’re going to have to get you a bulletproof vest. Do they make entire bodysuits out of that stuff?”

    A bark ofughter escapes my lips, and I bite back a groan. This isn’t nearly as bad as the gut shot I took eight years ago, but it seems worse because Quincy is here to witness the aftermath.

    “How’s our daughter?” I murmur, using the arm wrapped behind her back to brush over her stomach.

    “She’s good,” Quincy says. “Not moving at the moment, but just give it a few minutes. Anytime I getfortabletely, she wakes up. That probably means we’re going to be in for a wild ride once she’s born.”

    “I can’t fucking wait,” I tell her truthfully. “But I’m also not mad about having a few weeks to get to know you better.”

    “Me too. I definitely don’t want to rush her arrival. Does six weeks count as a few?” Quincy asks. “Never mind, hardly any babies are born on their actual due date, anyway.”

    “You are safe here, Quincy. I know today was a shit show, but my boss is finally engaged in knocking the threat out as swiftly as possible.” I tilt my head until I can see her face. “We will protect you and the baby at all costs.”

    Her pretty pink lips blow together as she exhales. “Yeah, I saw firsthand what you were willing to do to keep me and the baby safe, so it’s very easy to believe you.” She pushes up on her forearm and struggles to scoot higher until her face hovers just above mine. Pulling her hand from my chest, she cups my jaw, turning my face even more to hers. “I have such mixed feelings about this morning. Pregnancy has turned me into an irrational, hormonal gremlin. Because rationally, I know if one of us had to get shot, then it should be the not pregnant person. And at the same time, I’m so angry with you for getting shot for me.” Sheughs mirthlessly. “None of my emotions make much sense, so I’m just going to say thank you.” Her thumb brushes my lips, and she pushes her mouth to mine.

    She’s soft, and I love the way her tits press against my chest as she teases her tongue around mine. My hand cradles her stomach, but I wish I could hold her face. The position doesn’t allow for that. Not unless I was going to move my right arm, but the doc made it clear that I need to give it time to heal if I want to be back to my old self by the time the baby gets here. He gave me a sling, which I won’t be wearing. I do n to take it easy, though.

    Quincy pulls back, taking a deep breath.

    There’s a pink tinge to her cheeks that makes my heart thump erratically.

    “Can we talk about making sure you’re safe and protected too?” She runs her fingers over my cheek, but I wish that sexy look woulde back. “How can we guarantee this won’t happen again?”

    “They upped the ante,” I murmur, trying to keep myself focused.

    Dammit.

    I want more kisses.

    And full range of motion with my arm so I can make all the naughty positions I’ve been dreaming of a reality.

    “We won’t be leaving the house without a backup team, and that’s outside of me and Trigg. Easton called in a few guys who are normally based out of Virginia. One team is going to help out with your friend Sutton. The others will rotate around where they’re needed, but we’re no longer being hunted. Shadow Security is going on the offensive.”

    “Shit,” she whispers. “I really need to check in with Sutton. So much has been going on…” Her teeth dig into her lower lip. “And she’s involved in all of this because of me.”

    “Nah, sweetheart. She’s involved because Trigg has no chill when ites to you. That’s not your fault.”

    “Still…”

    “She’s got Knox and a couple guys from the office with her. They’re going to protect her, but truthfully, today proved she’s probably not on their radar at all.”

    Quincy stops holding herself up on her forearm and cuddles up to the left side of my chest while her freezing-ass toes dig into the side of my calf. “I appreciate you guys looking after her. Maybe I’ll call her once you fall asleep. You need rest.”

    I tilt my head down and almostugh. She’s the one with her eyes closed. “I’ll do my best.”