Chapter 36

Laine

I'm ushered out of our suite and the chill of the hallway seems to seep into my bones. It magnifies the shock that has me trembling uncontrollably. Tag's arm is a vice around me, not just guiding but holding me together as we make our way downstairs.

When we get to the med room, there is a man with ginger hair and beard tending to Cora.

My heart aches to see her so shaken, and my eyes sting with a rush of hot tears. "Are you all right? I'm so sorry this happened…"

"I'll be fine, duck."

The gravity of everything that's unfolded weighs heavily on me—the violence, the danger I inadvertently brought into this house, and the pain inflicted on innocent people like Cora.

"Ohmygod, did they find Connor?" I ask, turning to Tag. "He didn't come up from the stables. We went looking but didn't find him."

Tag pulls out his phone, his face a mask of fury, his jaw set hard. "I'll find out."

"Text your men in a minute," the doctor says, pointing to Tag's wet shirt sticking to his side. "I'm not sure if you are aware of it or not, but you're leaking, mate."

Tag lifts the phone to his ear and points to me. "Examine her first. I want every cut and bruise looked at and tended to."

I protest. "Babe, you're shot. I'm fine."

"You're not fine." The stern glare he pegs me with stops me from protesting further.

The doctor turns his attention to me, his expression shifting to professional concern as he inventories the blood on my neck. "What happened here?"

"I was hit from behind…with a piece of lumber."

Tag's anger flares even hotter at my words, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "Fucking hell. I should have been here. This never should have happened."

I reach out for him and am relieved when he comes to me without hesitation. "There was no reason to think Marco would find me here."

"How did he find you?" His voice is a low growl that sends a shiver down my spine.

"He said an Irish chick called him and told him not only where I was but to come at me tonight when you'd all be gone."

The room seems to grow colder at the revelation, and Tag's fury radiates off him like heat from a fire. He lifts his phone again. "Aiden. Get the fucker's phone and look for any incoming calls from Ireland. Laine said he was told where she was and when to come at her. I want to know who called him."

He hangs up and stares at the screen. "Cora, the men have Connor. He was tied up and gagged behind the stables. Looks like he might've broken his leg when he went down, but he's all right."

Cora lets off a groan and sags forward, sobbing.

The doctor finishes checking me over, showing Tag the swelling on the back of my neck and shoulder and the gash that caused the bleeding. "I wouldn't rule out a concussion, but you are well versed in how to care for that."

Tag nods. "Aye, I'll watch over her."

"Now you," I insist.

A tall black man in a tactical uniform knocks on the door. "Just wanted to let you know that I sent the boys down to the stables with the backboard and the truck. We'll have Connor up here as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Andrew." Tag points to Cora. "Escort Cora to the den across the hall. She'll be more comfortable there until her husband arrives.

Andrew dips his chin and moves to wrap a protective arm around Cora to move her out of the little medical room.

When they've gone, Tag takes a seat up on the exam table and works at the buttons of his shirt. "Maybe you'd be more comfortable with Cora in the den, luv. Doc Kelvin can patch me up and I'll join you in a few."

I face him, push his bloody fingers away from the buttons, and take over undoing his shirt. "I'm not going anywhere. You're shot because of me. I'm not leaving your side."

The shirt comes off him in a bloody, sopping mess and I plop it into the stainless-steel sink. By the time I turn around, Doc Kelvin has released the straps of Tag's bulletproof vest and is easing it over his head.

I gasp at the two massive purple bruises blooming on his chest. "How many times did he shoot you? Did I black out?"

Tag chuckles. "No, luv. There was trouble on the way to the fight and we got diverted. That's actually why we were back early. These two shots are courtesy of the McGuires."

The reality of him being shot three times in the past two hours has my head spinning and the room swims. He opens his knees and pulls me forward, so I'm against the exam table and firmly wrapped in his protective embrace.

With my face tucked into the crook of his neck, I breathe in the scent of him, and my world rights itself.

"That's it, wildcat. Just breathe." Tag runs a caress of gentle circles on my back, and I sag into his hold. He has become my safe place, my harbor from the storms of life.

"Promise me you're all right."

His hold on me grows tighter as he eases back and meets my gaze. "As long as you are safe and in my arms, I'm fine. Now, let's let Kelvin patch me up and we'll go upstairs and rest together, pushing the scare of the night out of our minds."

I meet the strain of the evening in his gaze and swallow. "I'd like that."

Tag

I barely hold it together long enough for Doc to stitch me up and bandage my side. In the end, I thank him as quickly as I can, tell Aiden to get everyone sorted, and take Laine back upstairs to my childhood bedroom.

No matter what she might say, I don't want her facing the king's suite with the images of me gunning her husband down so fresh in her mind.

Especially with what I need to do next.

"In here?" she asks when we arrive at the door to my old room.

"For tonight, yes. We'll see how you feel about being back in the suite tomorrow after everything is cleaned up and washed with the light of day."

She doesn't argue, so I take her inside and turn on the bedside lamp. "How's the headache?"

She prods the back of her head with a tender touch and then shrugs. "I've got one hell of a lump, but Kelvin says it'll go down in the next couple of days."

When I get her to the side of the bed, I tug her top up her ribs and toss it to the floor. Next, I undo her pants and shove them down her thighs. "I need you naked, Laine."

"What? Now?"

I ignore the surprise in her voice and reach around her to get rid of her bra. "Aye, right now. I know you told Kelvin you're all right, but I need to see it for myself. Marco didn't hurt you in any other way, did he?"

My voice is strangled as I ask, but I have to be sure. She said they haven't been a couple in a very long time but did him finding out she moved on anger him? Did he take that anger out on her?"

Gentle hands cup both sides of my face and she forces me to focus on her. "You know the whole story. I'm fine, see?"

She steps back and rests her bare bottom on the edge of the mattress. She's naked, and she is, indeed, whole and seemingly unharmed.

I drop to the floor between her legs and the impact jars my side and my vision fritzes. I don't fucking care. The beast inside me is raging that my woman was almost taken from me, and I need to assure myself she's safe.

Pressing a firm hand against her navel, I push her back enough to get my mouth on her core.

She lets off a feminine sound, but doesn't fight me. "You don't have to. I really am…"

I suck her clit into my mouth, swirling my tongue around the sensitive bundle of nerves as I slide two fingers into her sweet pussy.

"…fine."

The muscles inside her grab hold, throbbing around the pumping of my digits and I reach deeper, curling my finger against her G-spot.

"Tag!" she pants, her voice shredded as she grinds against my mouth.

Normally, I take great pleasure in drawing out her release and building her up over and over again.

Tonight, that's not what I need.

After the violence of the night and knowing another man laid hands on her, I need to hear her cry out in pleasure. "Come for me, wildcat. I need to feast on your pleasure."

Her breathing hitches and a rush of warmth wets my lips. I give her a moment to ride out her pleasure and then I stand, unzip my pants, and smile down at her flopped back on my bed.

Swiping my hand first over my face and then through the moisture at her entrance, I slick my cock. Lifting her knees, I pull her bottom back to the edge of the bed and sink into her in one strong thrust.

We both cry out from the invasion.

"I won't last long," I grunt, pushing inside her as far as our joined bodies will allow. "I just need to be inside you—to feel you milking my cock."

She groans and though I'm likely ripping open my stitches, I feel nothing but the ecstasy of Laine's heat and the rightness of marking my female. Even though she assured me Marco would never come between us, now that I've ended that possibility forever, I'm feeling more than a little possessive.

"Tell me you're mine, wildcat."

"I'm yours, Tag. All yours."

"Forever," I breathe.

"Forever."

My hips thrust forward, and I tip my head back, grunting through the pleasure/pain of filling her with my cum.

All mine. Forever.