6. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

E nzo couldn’t sleep. Something felt off, as if his world was about to shift. It seemed ridiculous but there he sat at the kitchen table at three in the morning, watching the darkness outside his picture window.

Enzo heard Jazlyn’s suite door open and then close. He didn’t realize she was home. As of late, she’d been slinking in and out as if she had something to hide. Or more like she had someone she spent the night with.

She hadn’t talked to Enzo about it and Enzo wouldn’t pry. Jazlyn might be his child, but she was an adult.

She came into the kitchen and jumped a mile high when she saw him. She clutched her chest as if her heart would pound out of it if she didn’t. “Holy crap. Dad!”

Enzo raised his eyebrows and waited. She’d get to the reason she was lurking around in the middle of the night soon enough.

“I just got home.” She put a pod in the coffee machine and stuck her mug under the drip. And then she leaned against the counter with her arms folded at her chest without any prompting from him, she said, “I met my mate. He’s an auto mechanic. You know the one in town next to the dry cleaners. That’s his business.”

“Congratulations.” Enzo figured it might have been something like that. “Is he kind to you?”

Oh yeah, Jazlyn had hearts in her eyes even before she answered. “Very kind. And gentle. Sort of the gentle giant type, actually. He’s a dragon shifter.”

When she bit her lips, he sensed a but coming. Enzo helped her along. “But?”

“But he’s an ex-con.” She held up her hand before Enzo could say anything. “He went to jail for burglary when he was nineteen. He’s paid his dues. Now he owns and runs a business, same as me. And hasn’t been in trouble since getting out.”

“So he’s around your age?” Shifters lived a long time. An age gap wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. It wasn’t a concern, regardless.

What worried Enzo was a dragon shifter going to prison. Not being able to shift while inside probably left some lasting damage. For Jazlyn’s mates’ sake, Enzo hoped he hadn’t been in there for very long.

“Just turned thirty.” She smiled in the way someone did when they were in love and had a great time the night before. “We celebrated it together.”

Enzo smiled and sipped his coffee. “Seems like you had a good time.”

“I did. We did. So good we bonded.” She took a deep breath and bit her lip. “I’m moving in with him.”

Enzo expected it, especially since she’d come in at such an early hour. She had intended to wait up for Enzo and talk to him first thing in the morning. But it still felt as if his heart sank a little. But he was happy for her. As happy as he was for Raylee.

And he was happy for himself too, because it might mean he’d have grandbabies in the future. Not that he would pressure his kids, but he looked forward to little Galloways running around.

“Well, you know you always have a home here. And you’re just across town, right?”

“It’s that small green house next to his business. It’s within walking distance of my bookstore.”

Enzo would have commented, but someone pounded on his front door. Enzo scowled and made his way to the foyer. Jazlyn followed.

Enzo held up his hand, telling her to stay behind him as he sniffed the air.

He smelled Raylee and his mates. But beyond that, he smelled something else. Cinnamon and blood. The blood smelled sweet, but there was a lot.

Someone was crying.

He growled as he opened the door.

Daruss carried an unconscious man. Raylee, Jude, and one other young man hovered behind him. Beyond that was a dark-haired man as big as Enzo.

Enzo noticed them only because he needed to determine if they were a threat.

He growled at Daruss, baring his teeth. “He’s mine.”

Raylee sucked in a breath. “What the heck, Dad?”

Enzo took the blond man from Daruss and held him to his chest. He wasn’t a small man. He had the height of a dragon shifter, but he didn’t have the muscular build some had.

Mate.

“What happened?” Enzo carried his mate through the house. He had a bedroom he’d converted into what was a hospital room, equipped with most of the stuff he’d need to treat any number of emergencies.

A doctor never fully retired. Especially one who had a son mated to the alpha of a biker gang. Daruss hadn’t surprised him by showing up in the middle of the night needing help. He expected it to happen a lot sooner.

What he hadn’t expected was Daruss showing up, carrying Enzo’s mate. Hell, Enzo had thought finding his mate was a lost cause. He’d lived a lot longer than the boy in his arms. So many years had gone by, Enzo had thought he lost favor with the gods.

Beneath the blood and cinnamon was something else. Ink. Paper. Lead. Those scents clung to the young man as if they were as much a part of him as the organs in his body.

“I’m not sure.” Daruss had never sounded so shaken before. Not even when Jude and Raylee had been in danger, and they’d had to stay with Enzo for a few days. “He was shot. I have some of my guys searching for the shooter.”

Enzo growled and held his mate closer. His dragon rose to the surface, taking over for a moment. His instinct was to go to his bedroom and lock them inside, hide his mate from everyone. But he laid him on the hospital bed and forced himself to view him as one of his patients.

Enzo met Raylee’s gaze and started giving orders. “I need his clothing off.”

Tattered shreds were all that remained, as if he had shifted without taking them off.

Raylee grabbed scissors from the shelf and handed them to Enzo.

Enzo started cutting. He needed to see his injuries. “Is anyone else hurt?”

“No. They seemed to target Landry.”

Landry. “That’s his name?”

“Yes. Landry Dorsson,” Raylee answered.

“He’s a Galloway now.” Enzo didn’t know he was going to claim Landry until the words left his mouth.

“Might want to have that conversation with him first. He’s definitely gonna have a few things to say about it. If he fucking lives.” Daruss’s voice broke. He pulled Jude into him as he watched Enzo and Raylee work on Landry.

“Start an IV. And then get his vitals.”

Raylee nodded, pulling on gloves. He set about finding a vein. “He won’t heal like a shifter, Dad.”

Enzo nodded. He’d find out why after he saved his life.

As soon as Enzo had the remains of Landry’s shirt off, he found where the biggest issue was. Or likely anyway.

Enzo turned him just enough to see if the bullet had gone through. A part of him didn’t want it to because the exit wound might have been close to Landry’s spine, depending on the trajectory of the bullet. But the exit wound was there, and it was close to his spine.

Enzo cursed.

He grabbed a towel and then snapped his fingers at the big guy behind Daruss before pressing the towel to Landry’s wound. “Hold that there.”

The guy did as Enzo asked. “I’m Izzy.”

“Push. Be firm.”

Izzy didn’t take offense.

Raylee rattled off the vitals.

Enzo finished cutting what was left of Landry’s pants. “I’ve got you, mate. We’re gonna fight together now.”

Raylee didn’t need to be told to give Landry pain medicine. He even got the dosage right.

Enzo cursed again when he saw another bullet wound on his upper thigh. “Went through.”

It wasn’t as serious, so Enzo kept searching. The one on the inside of his thigh could be a problem. The bullet was still there.

Enzo bit his wrist before focusing on the chest wound.

“Move,” he told Izzy.

He let his blood drip into the wound.

Landry groaned. He tried to push Raylee away from him.

“Just let us help you, mate. Let us fix it.” Enzo’s blood would go a long way to helping. As his mate, it would heal him a little faster, but not as much as his own shifter genes could.

“Everyone needs to get out except for Raylee.” Enzo adjusted Landry’s leg to get a view of the wound there. They would likely have to turn him onto his stomach.

When Landry whimpered and mumbled a protest, Enzo let his leg go. He brushed Landry’s hair off his forehead before kissing him. “I’m going to take the bullet out of your body, baby. It’s in your thigh. I’ll have to move your leg to get it out.”

Enzo figured telling Landry what was happening would help ease his mind.

Landry nodded and then relaxed.

“You’re going to be okay.” Enzo hoped he could keep that promise.